THOMAS WEDGEWOOD

Thomas Wedgewood was born in 1771; his father Josiah Wedgewood which was born in Etruria was a potter and an industrialist, while Josiah was a potter and used chemicals to achieve glazes on his ceramics, his son Thomas made the use of chemicals to explore the process to fix an image, he never actually succeeded in that but his research was a big contribution to the further development in photography.

In between 1790 and 1795 was the time, in which Thomas conducted his experiments mainly in his father workshop, 1802 was the year in which Thomas together with Sir Humphrey Davy presented a paper named “An Account of Method of Coping Paintings upon Glass, and making Profiles by the Agency upon Nitrate of Silver” (Photograms, Art and Design, 2004 - 2011) to the Royal Institution of Great Britain. This was the process of making images on paper via the use of silver nitrate, a technique that is not very different from the process used in our days. Thomas also managed to produce patterns on materials such as leather, glass and ceramics, however these where not really permanent images, still they are referred to as photograms.

Wedgewood Ceramics

Thomas’s experiments stated that “understanding the method by which the outlines and shades of painting on glass may be copied, or profiles procured, by the agency of light” (Photograms, Art and Design, 2004 - 2011) unfortunately he failed to find a way to fix the images and rendering them permanent.

Photograms, Art and Design, 2004 - 2011. The Photogram - a History. [online] 

Available at: < http://www.photograms.org/chapter01.html > [Accessed 22 October 2013].

Revolutionary Players.  Thomas Wedgwood: the Godfather of Photography. [online] 

Available at: < http://www.search.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/engine/resource/exhibition/standard/default.asp?resource=5231 > [Accessed 22 October 2013].