{{Short description|British photographer (1853–1943)}} {{redirect|F. H. Evans|the Welsh author|Frank Howel Evans}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} [[File:Evans by kasebier.jpg|thumb|Frederick H. Evans, photo by Gertrude Käsebier]] '''Frederick H. Evans''' (26 June 1853 – 24 June 1943) was an English photographer, best known for his images of architectural subjects, such as English and French cathedrals.<ref name="Lyden2010">{{cite book|author=Anne M. Lyden|title=The Photographs of Frederick H. Evans|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o0RPwiPSaqEC|year=2010|publisher=Getty Publications|isbn=978-0-89236-988-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=A Record of Emotion: The Photographs of Frederick H. Evans|url=http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/frederick_evans/|website=The J. Paul Getty Museum|publisher=The J. Paul Getty Trust}}</ref>
Evans was born and died in London. He began his career as a bookseller, but retired from that to become a full-time photographer in 1898, when he adopted the platinotype technique for his photography.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Coburn|first1=Alvin Langdon|title=Frederick H. Evans|journal=Image, Journal of Photography of George Eastman House|date=December 1953|volume=2|issue=9|pages=49–50|url=http://image.eastmanhouse.org/files/GEH_1953_02_09.pdf|accessdate=30 June 2014|publisher=International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House Inc.|location=Rochester, N.Y.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130312194158/http://image.eastmanhouse.org/files/GEH_1953_02_09.pdf|archive-date=12 March 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> Platinotype images, with extensive and subtle tonal range, non glossy-images, and better resistance to deterioration than other methods available at the time, suited Evans' subject matter. Almost as soon as he began, however, the cost of platinum - and consequently, the cost of platinum paper for his images - began to rise. Because of this cost, and because he was reluctant to adopt alternate methodologies, by 1915 Evans retired from photography altogether. <ref>{{cite web|title=Artists: Frederick H. Evans|url=http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artMakerDetails?maker=1822 |website=The J. Paul Getty Museum|publisher=The J. Paul Getty Trust}}</ref>
Evans' ideal of straightforward, "perfect" photographic rendering - unretouched or modified in any way<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/66293.html|title = "A Sea of Steps," Wells Cathedral, Stairs to Chapter House and Bridge to Vicar's Close}}</ref> - as an ideal was well-suited to the architectural foci of his work: the ancient, historic, ornate and often quite large cathedrals, cloisters and other buildings of the English and French countryside. This perfectionism, along with his tendency to exhibit and write about his work frequently, earned for him international respect and much imitation. He ultimately became regarded as perhaps the finest architectural photographer of his, or any, era - though some professionals privately felt that the Evans' philosophy favoring extremely literal images was restrictive of the creative expression rapidly becoming available within the growing technology of the photographic field.
Evans was also an able photographer of landscapes and portraits, and among the many notable friends and acquaintances he photographed was George Bernard Shaw, with whom he also often corresponded. Evans was made an honorary fellow of the Royal Photographic Society in 1928, he was also a member of the Linked Ring photographic society.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/artists/1786/frederick-h-evans-british-1853-1943/|title=Frederick H. Evans (British, 1853 - 1943) (Getty Museum)|website=The J. Paul Getty in Los Angeles|language=en|access-date=2020-04-24}}</ref>
==Gallery== <gallery> File:Frederick H. Evans (British - Ely Cathedral- A Memory of the Normans - Google Art Project.jpg|''A Memory of the Normans'' (1903) File:Frederick H. Evans (British - Ely Cathedral- Across Nave and Octagon - Google Art Project.jpg|''Across Nave and Octagon'' (1903) File:Frederick H. Evans (British - Height and Light in Bourges Cathedral - Google Art Project.jpg|''Height and Light in Bourges Cathedral'' (1903) File:Frederick H. Evans (British - In Sure and Certain Hope - Google Art Project.jpg|''In Sure and Certain Hope'' (1904) File:Frederick H. Evans (British - York Minster- "In Sure and Certain Hope" - Google Art Project.jpg|''In Sure and Certain Hope'' (1903) File:Frederick H. Evans (British - York Minster- Into the North Transept - Google Art Project.jpg|''Into the North Transept'' (1903) </gallery>
==References== <references />
==External links== {{Commons category}} * [http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/artist/1250 Frederick H. Evans] at the [https://web.archive.org/web/20120427145431/http://www.artic.edu/aic/ Art Institute of Chicago] * [https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20110612050635/http://www.gallery.ca/en/see/collections/artist.php?iartistid=1678 Cybermuse] * {{cite web|title=Frederick H. Evans|url=http://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=1774|website=The Collection, MoMA, Museum of Modern Art, New York|accessdate=30 June 2014}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Frederick H.}} Category:1853 births Category:1943 deaths Category:History of platinum printing Category:19th-century English photographers Category:Photographers from London