Newhaven Fishwives, Jeanie Wilson and Annie Linton

Description

Hill and Adamson’s four-year collaboration yielded around 3,000 photographs, including portraits of members of the middle and upper classes and, in what may be the first social documentary project, of the working class. Included in their survey of contemporary life were numerous portraits of the fishermen’s wives in the villages around Edinburgh. The women, garbed in distinctive striped skirts and aprons, cleaned their husbands’ catch, then carried it in wicker baskets to the city where they offered it for sale. They were reported to be hard bargainers. Hill and Adamson respectfully recorded not only their likenesses but also their names.

Provenance

David Octavius Hill; Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh; David Octavius Hill; Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh

Newhaven Fishwives, Jeanie Wilson and Annie Linton

David Octavius Hill

1845

Accession Number

1987.18

Medium

salted paper print from calotype negative

Dimensions

Image: 29.5 x 14.4 cm (11 5/8 x 5 11/16 in.); Matted: 45.7 x 35.6 cm (18 x 14 in.)

Classification

Photograph

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund