Artist: John Adamson (1810 - 1870)
Nationality: British
Movement:
Media: Photography
Influences:

Biography:
Primarily a well-established medical doctor, John Adamson was curator of the St. Andrews Literary and Philosophical Society Museum in Scotland from 1838 to 1870. While serving in this position, he came into contact with Sir David Brewster who first told him of the invention of photography. Brewster, principal of the St. Andrews colleges, had learned about the break through from his friend, William Henry Fox Talbot. Interested by the concept, Adamson began learning and practicing the medium, producing mainly portraits and country scenes of his hometown.

Artworks in Museum Collections: (40)
Click the artwork titles below to see actual examples of artwork or works of art relevant to works by John Adamson.

J. Paul Getty Museum -
Miss Thomson of St. Andrews
J. Paul Getty Museum -
John Henning as "Edie Ochiltree"
J. Paul Getty Museum -
Rev. Dr. John Macdonald
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Sydney Adamson, Leslie"s Weekly - Out Today, 1900
J. Paul Getty Museum -
James Linton
J. Paul Getty Museum -
Newhaven Fishermen
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Penrhyn Stanley Adamson Stanlaws, Collier"s Weekly. The War, 19th - 20th century
J. Paul Getty Museum -
Reverends & John Hamilton
J. Paul Getty Museum -
Rev. Dr. Thomas Guthrie
J. Paul Getty Museum -
D. O. Hill
J. Paul Getty Museum -
Rev. Dr. Abraham Capadose
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts -
Artist: David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson Title: The Reverend Robert Young Date: about 1845
J. Paul Getty Museum -
Ayr Presbytery
J. Paul Getty Museum -
Miss Elizabeth Rigby
J. Paul Getty Museum -
Rev. Dr. James McCosh
J. Paul Getty Museum -
Rev. Peter Jones
J. Paul Getty Museum -
Thomas Chalmers, D. D.
Museum of Fine Arts -
Hill and Adamson, Scottish, 19th century Inclusive of David Octavius Hill, Scottish, 1802-1870 Inclusive of
The Metropolitan Museum of Art -
[Newhaven Fishwives], ca. 1845 David Octavius Hill (Scottish, 1802-1870); Robert Adamson (British, 1821-1848)Depicted: Newhaven, ScotlandSalted
Museum of Fine Arts -
Hill and Adamson, Scottish, 19th century Inclusive of David Octavius Hill, Scottish, 1802-1870 Inclusive of
J. Paul Getty Museum -
Sir David Brewster
J. Paul Getty Museum -
The Letter
J. Paul Getty Museum -
Rev. Dr. John Reid Omond
J. Paul Getty Museum -
Free Church Committee
J. Paul Getty Museum -
Reverend Jaffray and Dhanjiobai Nauroji
J. Paul Getty Museum -
Arbroath Presbytery Group
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
John Kay, John Campbell of Blythewood, 1784
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John Steuart Curry - John Brown 1938 Lithograph Arkansas Arts Center American
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John Singleton Copley - John Gray 1766 oil on canvas The Detroit Institute of Art American
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John Singleton Copley - Mrs. John Greene 1769 oil on canvas Cleveland Museum of Art American
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John Vanderlyn - John Sudam 1829-1830 oil on canvas National Gallery of Art American
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John Wollaston - John Stevens c. 1749-1752 oil on canvas National Gallery of Art American
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John Singleton Copley - John Greene c. 1769 oil on canvas Currier Museum of Art American
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
John Sartain, Portrait of John A. Sutter, 1850
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
John Smibert, John Nelson, 1732
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John Hoppner - John Granville 1790-95 oil on canvas The Detroit Institute of Art English
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John Frazee - John Marshall 1834-35 marble Boston Athenaeum American
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John Smibert - Mrs. John Pitts 1735 oil on canvas The Detroit Institute of Art American
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John Johnston - John Peck c. 1795 oil on canvas National Gallery of Art American
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John Durand - Mrs. John Lothrop c. 1770 oil on canvas National Gallery of Art American

Artnews Articles and Exhibition Information: (11)
Click on any of the links below to read about artnews or exhibitions related to Adamson

Scottish National Portrait Gallery: Facing the Light: The Photography of Hill and Adamson
The Scottish National Portrait Gallery houses the main collection of Hill and Adamson's work, as part of the Scottish National Photography ...
J. Paul Getty Museum: Light in the Darkness: The Photographs of Hill and Adamson
Hill, a painter, and Adamson, an engineer, initially teamed up to prepare photographic studies for Hill’s large historical painting commemorating the formation of the Free Church of Sc...
NSA Gallery: Three Short Exhibitons to be Displayed
MAIN GALLERY
One continent, many facets
The fourth De Beers Shining Lights Awards Collection Last year De Beers commenced the fourth De Beers Shining Light Awards, and entrants were asked to draw inspiration from the rich symboli...
Art Dealers Association of Greater Washington: Art At The Millenium: Part II
...
Scottish National Portrait Gallery: The Art of Documentary
The enthusiasm for documentary photography - the study of people and societies - continues to be important in Scottish practice. This exhibition focuses on groups of photographs by a number of photographers, working in an...
Scottish National Portrait Gallery: The Fine Art of Photography
Among the twentieth-century work on show will be photographs by Alfred Stieglitz, Bill Brant, Roger Fenton, Eve Arnold and Annie Leibovitz. ...
National Portrait Gallery: The Beautiful and the Damned: The Creation of Identity in 19th Century Photography
Highlights of the exhibition include rarely seen surveillance images of suffragettes issued to art galleries to help them identify possible vandals, an intriguing series of portraits of murderers and their victims, fascinating...
Milwaukee Art Museum: Industrial Strength Design: How Brooks Stevens Shaped Your World
The exhibition is an appealing blend of the nostalgic, the familiar and the futuristic and provides a compelling retrospective of the evolution of American popular and material culture from the 1930s to the 70s. The exhibition presents four time ...
Strand on Volta: Meat and You: Works by Graham Caldwell, Frank Day, Stephen E. Lewis and William Newman
Graham Caldwell’s work captures perfectly the mystery of being in a natural history museum for the first time. Using glass, he transforms organic forms – objects that are lightweight, gentle, and organic – into objects that are heavyweight, massiv...
Metropolitan Museum of Art: Photography: Processes, Preservation, and Conservation
The exhibition is made possible by the Henry Nias Foundation, Inc. Philippe de Montebello, Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, explained, From its in...
Dahesh Museum of Art: First Seen: Photographs of the World's Peoples (1840-1880)
From the moment an image could be fixed on paper, photographers and adventurers sought to capture and record both the familiar and exotic aspects of their world. Although landscape, antiquities, architecture and objects of all description came b...

Further Artwork and Information:

Adamson
Dr. John Adamson (Getty Museum)
John Adamson
John Adamson
John Adamson
John Adamson and Associates
John Adamson, Publishing Consultants
John Adamson (II)
John Adamson Jacobs
Diary

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