Peter Henry Emerson
Ricking the Reed

ArtistBritish, born Cuba, 1856–1936
CultureBritish
Titles
  • Ricking the Reed
  • from the series Life and Landscape on the Norfolk Broads
Date1886
Place depictedEngland
MediumPlatinum print
DimensionsImage: 9 1/8 × 11 1/4 in. (23.1 × 28.6 cm)
Sheet: 9 1/8 × 11 1/4 in. (23.2 × 28.6 cm)
Mount: 11 5/16 × 16 5/16 in. (28.7 × 41.4 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by M. Robert Dussler, Scott Schwinger, Tilman Fertitta, Robert H. Allen, Jack Sweeney, Thomas Coleman, John H. Adger, Steve Patterson, and Jamey Rootes in honor of Robert C. McNair and the Houston Texans at "One Great Night in November, 2000"
Object number2000.575
Not on view

Explore Further

Department
Photography
Object Type
Description

P. H. Emerson drew his subjects from the environment and daily rituals of rural life in East Anglia, the marshy coastal region northeast of London. He passed along his expertise in more than a half-dozen books, the first and most important of which was Life and Landscape on the Norfolk Broads, lavishly illustrated with platinum prints such as this one. Instead of straightforward documentation or contrived tableaux, Emerson opted for a more impressionist vision, inspired by the work of painters such as Jean-François Millet. Emerson blazed a trail that would be followed by the American Pictorialists, the Photo-Secession, and modern photography.


Provenance[Lee Gallery, Winchester, Massachusetts]; purchased by MFAH, 2000.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Inscribed in pencil, verso, top edge: EMERSON
Inscribed in pencil, verso, top right: S2034
Inscribed in red, verso, center: 27
Printed in black, center of cover sheet: PLATE XXVII. // RICKING THE REED

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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A Reed-Cutter at Work
Peter Henry Emerson
c. 1885
Platinum print
96.682
During the Reed-Harvest
Peter Henry Emerson
c. 1885
Platinum print
80.9
Setting the Bow-Net
Peter Henry Emerson
c. 1885
Platinum print
2004.431
A Norfolk Boat-Yard
Peter Henry Emerson
c. 1885
Platinum print
2004.433
The Fringe of the Marsh
Peter Henry Emerson
c. 1885
Platinum print
2004.432
A Ruined Water-Mill
Peter Henry Emerson
c. 1885
Platinum print
2000.317
Cantley: Wherries Waiting for the Turn of the Tide
Peter Henry Emerson
c. 1885
Platinum print
2000.318
Gunner Working Up to Fowl
Peter Henry Emerson
1886
Platinum print
94.438
cropped recto of sheet
Peter Henry Emerson
c. 1885
Platinum print
2012.623
Taking Up the Eel-Net
Peter Henry Emerson
c. 1885
Platinum print
85.295
Snipe Shooting
Peter Henry Emerson
c. 1885
Platinum print
84.303
The Fowler's Return
Peter Henry Emerson
c. 1885
Platinum print
91.1569