David Octavius Hill - George Combe, 1788 - 1858. Phrenologist

Die National Galleries of Scotland betreuen eine der weltweit besten Sammlungen westlicher Kunst vom Mittelalter bis heute. Zu diesen Beständen gehört auch die National Collection of Scottish Art, die wir stolz in einem internationalen Kontext präsentieren. Schottlands privilegierte Position in der Geschichte der Moderne verleiht dem Land eine reiche fotografische Tradition. Seit den Anfängen des Mediums erforschten kleine Gruppen von Wissenschaftlern und Gentlemen Laien dessen technisches und künstlerisches Potenzial. Eine solche Gruppe bildete sich um den Optikwissenschaftler Sir David Brewster in St. Andrews, und professionelle Studios - darunter die Partnerschaft von Robert Adamson und David Octavius Hill - wurden ab 1843 in Edinburgh gegründet. Ab Mitte der 1850er Jahre trug der technologische Wandel zu einer dramatischen Expansion der Fotografie bei, wobei große kommerzielle Betriebe von der Familie Valentine in Dundee und George Washington Wilson in Aberdeen gegründet wurden.

Robert Adamson (1821-1848) was a Scottish chemist and pioneering photographer, best known for his collaboration with the artist David Octavius Hill in the early days of photography. Born on 26 April 1821 in St Andrews, Scotland, Adamson grew up in a family of shipowners. In 1843, Adamson met David Octavius Hill, a painter, and the two formed a partnership that would contribute significantly to the development of photography as an art form. Their collaboration began at a time when the calotype process, an early photographic technique, had just been introduced by William Henry Fox Talbot. The calotype process produced an image on paper coated with silver iodide, allowing multiple positive prints to be made from a single negative. Adamson and Hill set out to document various aspects of Scottish life and culture, including landscape, architecture and portraiture. They are particularly famous for their depictions of the people of Newhaven, a fishing village near Edinburgh. This work culminated in the production of a collection known as the 'Disruption of 1843', which captured scenes from the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. Tragically, Robert Adamson's career was cut short by his untimely death at the age of 26 in 1848. The exact cause of his death remains uncertain, but it is widely believed to have been related to the chemicals used in the photographic process, which were often toxic. Despite his short career, Adamson's contributions to the early development of photography, particularly through his collaboration with David Octavius Hill, have had a lasting impact on the history of the medium.