Anna Atkins

1842 saw the invention of the cyanotype, a photographic technique that results in blue monochrome images. Atkins used this method to make pictures of ferns, feathers, flowers and seaweed. She made her work in the name of science, but today some of it looks like modern art to our eyes. It took Atkins ten years to produce the estimated 10,000 cyanotypes she used to make individual versions of Photographs of British Algae – each handmade copy of this photo book is unique. In 2016 the Rijksmuseum was able to purchase an excellent copy.