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that fit into a series of stepped registration holes. In order to create scientifically useful multiple exposures, the process required three photographers, one to expose the sensitized glass, one to move the glass, registering it with the pins and one to note the time of each successive exposure using a chronometer. Two sizes of plates were used. The large plates were exposed every 54 seconds. The smaller plates were exposed at a rate of 1.9 second intervals.
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581:– Illustrations are 20 mounted albumen photographs by John Moran of art works by E.B. Bensell, V. de V. Bonfield, John Faulkner, T.J. Fenimore, S.J. Ferris, James Hamilton, Ridgway Knight, G.C. Lambdin, Edward Moran, Peter Moran, Thomas Moran, W.T. Richards, Samuel Sartain, Christian Schussele, T. Henry Smith, N.H. Trotter, S.B. Waugh, W.H. Willcox, I.L. Williams, and G.B. Wood, Jr.
361:, one of the eight American teams to join the 1874 international scientific effort to record the Transit of Venus across the sun, which would allow scientists to more accurately establish the distance between the Earth and the Sun. The effort helped unravel one of the primary mysteries of Solar System astronomy, the true value of the
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The photographic equipment selected by the US expedition was the
American Optical Company's "Venus Camera Box". The unit used a special negative plate holder that allowed the photographer to take multiple exposures in register. Able to slide both vertically and horizontally, the holder employed pins
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After 1865, the art of John Moran "disappeared" into collections of photographic prints and historic documents. His seminal artistic photographs were "one-off" (individually hand printed and mounted) albumen prints and therefore limited in quantity. Original John Moran prints are over 150 years old
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The hospital, a major military facility, was built in 1862 on a lot of 27 acres, situated between
Stenton, Germantown, Springfield and Abington avenues in Philadelphia's Chestnut Hill. Moran photographed a series of views of the hospital's innovatively-designed circular layout. Moran's exterior and
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Moran understood photography could achieve more than merely recording a moment, saying in 1865 "She (photography) can present imagery with a reality and force nearly rivaling the painter, and in some respects, superior." “But it is the power of seeing and deciding what shall be done, on which will
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In the 1850s, Moran was a pioneer in advancing photography as a medium of artistic expression. Moran said, "In photography, as in any work of art, the merit lies, in the power of seeing and deciding what shall be done...It is this knowledge, or art of seeing which gives value and importance to the
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Moran often created photographic images working alongside his brother Thomas as his brother painted the same subject view. Moran's photographs were images that balanced meticulous attention to detail with general atmospheric effects — techniques mirrored in his brother's paintings. Moran often
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Moran said "Art in all its forms is the form of thought, and the photographic work which rises to this plane is the expression of the ideas of the photographer. Nature... becomes plastic to his touch, and he moulds her to his judgment through (the photographer's) power to see the beautiful."
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Four times during every 243 years, Venus passes between the Sun and Earth allowing its silhouette to be observed by skilled and amateur astronomers around the world. The transit of Venus occurs in pairs. The first of the pair that took place in the 1800s occurred on
December 9, 1874.
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372:. Even though clouds and intermittent rain covered the sky at his station at Barrack Square in Hobart Town, Tasmania, Moran and his team in Australia brought back over 300 photographic documents, including 125 images of the Transit of Venus.
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New York auction house sold a Moran albumen silver print showing the demolition of the Bank of
Pennsylvania. The sale price at $ 32,000 (equivalent to $ 44,711 in 2023), set a new auction record for an original John Moran print.
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By the early 1890s, Moran resumed painting, joining his brothers Edward and Thomas in New York City where he wrote about art and exhibited his paintings. A widower, living with his son Thomas Sidney Moran, he died there in 1902.
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Moran was the one photographer among his accomplished siblings. Brothers Thomas, Edward and Peter trained as lithographers and became painters. Moran's sister
Elizabeth married an artist and her two children became painters.
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In the late nineteenth century, the dry photographic plate was perfected. It replaced the wet collodion process Moran had used for years. He apparently lost interest in photography and resumed painting as a creative outlet.
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greatly benefitted from having their work printed in magazines, art books and other publications. Consequently, photographers who followed Moran became better known to the public. Moran has been overlooked for decades.
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In addition to using photography as an artistic medium, Moran was recruited and hired as a photographer documenting scientific projects for the U.S. government. One of those projects, according to his obituary in
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to determine the best route for a canal across the isthmus. Moran documented the trip with numerous still photographs, including many stereographs which were widely reproduced and sold throughout the world.
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also known as
Chestnut Hill Hospital for a series that he published for sale. Moran's photos were issued as both mounted photographs and stereographs soon after the facility was completed.
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Moran is listed in local
Philadelphia directories as a lithographer in 1856, occasionally listing his profession as artist. He was first listed as a photographer in the 1859 edition of
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Moran's photographs pre-dated rotogravure and halftone print reproduction, so his work was not able to be known by the public on a mass-market scale. Later photographers like
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and Peter Moran, Moran was a member of a network of
Philadelphia-based artists, historians, and scientists who recognized photography as a fine art in the years before the
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Moran was mentioned often in the photographic press in
America and Europe for both the aesthetic and technical quality of his photographs, and his theories on the medium.
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interior views included photos of special medical wards that could be isolated for patients with infections and then novel centralized storage facilities for supplies.
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photographer and artist. Moran was a prominent landscape, architectural, astronomical and expedition photographer whose career began in the
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In 1871, Moran was hired as the official photographer during the second survey to the
Isthmus of Darien in Panama, led by US Navy Commodore
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The Artists' Fund Annual: A Collection of Twenty Photographs From Original Designs By Members of the Artists' Fund Society of Philadelphia
259:(US) said in 2016: "It is thought John Moran photographed "Wissahickon Creek near Philadelphia" (c. 1863) as an antidote to Civil War."
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works of certain photographers over others. There are hundreds who make, chemically, faultless photographs, but few make pictures..."
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photographs. Moran's images were printed on stereographic cards that were widely distributed and viewed using the newly developed
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Moran's pioneering body of nineteenth-century early photography is being rediscovered, appreciated and collected. In 2010,
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It is felt Moran was a humanistic, Arcadian photographer, employing his photographs of nature in a metaphorical way. The
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Transit of Venus 1874 - Observations of the Transit of Venus, 9 December 1874; Made at Stations in New South Wales
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805:"East of the Mississippi: Nineteenth-Century American Landscape Photography October 6, 2017 – January 7, 2018"
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A stereograph showing a man sitting at the base of a tree in a tropical rain forest taken by Moran at Woods,
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436:, 1862, albumen silver print, 19.4 × 15 cm (7 5/8 x 5 7/8 in.), collection of William L. Schaeffer
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John Moran at Harbor Town, Tasmania, December 1874 while leader of the US Transit of Venus Expedition
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included a human subject in his images, providing the viewer an easily relatable sense of scale.
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More than a record: An analysis of the stylistic development in W. H. Jackson's Photography
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Photographic print showing the Transit of Venus across the Sun, taken December 8, 1874 at
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200:, 1871, Albumen silver print - Digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program
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mentioned Moran's role as "one of the pioneer photographers of this country".
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740:"Interesting Current Chat in the Camera Circles of the District of Columbia"
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1010:. Vol. 4. New York City, New York: Scovill Manufacturing Co. July 1874
237:. He appears in city directories as a photographer from 1860 through 1885.
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Moran, John (March 1865). "The Relation of Photography to the Fine Arts".
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East of the Mississippi: Nineteenth-Century American Landscape Photography
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Moran, John (March 1865). "The Relation of Photography to the Fine Arts".
558:, 1871, albumen silver print, 27.6 × 20.2 cm (10 7/8 × 7 15/16 in.),
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depend the value and importance of any work, whether canvas or negative.”
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on May 31, 1844, having traveled with his mother and then six siblings.
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In addition to single photographic views, Moran also photographed many
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The Photographic News: A Weekly Record of the Progress of Photography
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Moran, John (June 1875). "Thoughts on Art, Nature and Photography".
579:. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Artists' Fund Society of Philadelphia.
1056:"SALE 2395 Photographs at Christie's New York, October 6 - 7, 2010"
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Moran was an early advocate of photography as art. Several of his
516:, 1871, albumen silver print, 20.3 x 27.9 cm (8 x 11 in.),
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1036:. Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. February 20, 1875. p. 3
719:"John Moran (1831-1902), The First American Art Photographer"
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Moran served as chief photographer on the U.S. expedition to
1004:"The Expedition for the Observation of the Transit of Venus"
869:"Mower U.S.A. General Hospital, Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia"
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landscape photographs appeared as frontispieces in Wilson's
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Eclipses, Transits and Comets of the Nineteenth Century
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658:"John Moran and Art Photography in America: 1855–1875"
101:(February 1831 – February 19, 1902) was a pioneering
635:Moran, John (October 1875). "Reflections on Art".
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235:Mc'Elroy’s Philadelphia City Directory, for 1859
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603:"The Relation of Photography to the Fine Arts"
368:Moran sent back reports of his travels to the
16:British born American photographer (1831-1902)
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956:. Springer International Press. p. 225.
188:Advocate of photography as an artistic medium
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144:John Moran was born during February 1831 at
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857:(MFA). Rochester Institute of Technology.
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1124:Opus 24: Rome, from the Campagna, Sunset
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664:. United States of America. May 23, 2017
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684:"New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957"
37:Photograph and signature of John Moran
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472:Broadhead’s Creek, Delaware Water Gap
451:Broadhead’s Creek, Delaware Water Gap
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324:Isthmus of Panama Expedition of 1871
1258:19th-century American photographers
1156:The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone
1132:The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone
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874:The Library Company of Philadelphia
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514:Tropical Scenery, Street, Chipigana
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1164:Grand Canyon of the Colorado River
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853:Beckner, Sarah (August 1, 1990).
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1030:"The United States S.S. Swatara"
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155:At the age of 13, he arrived in
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906:. February 20, 1902. p. 9
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767:. February 20, 1902. p. 9
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518:The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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788:The Philadelphia Photographer
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637:The Philadelphia Photographer
628:The Philadelphia Photographer
594:The Philadelphia Photographer
217:Pioneer artistic photographer
925:Russell, Henry Chamberlain.
601:Moran, John (May 26, 1865).
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1140:Colburn's Butte, South Utah
984:. August 5, 1875. p. 3
929:. Sydney University Press.
330:Thomas Oliver Selfridge Jr.
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116:A brother of the painters
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827:"National Gallery of Art"
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562:, Los Angeles, California
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499:, Los Angeles, California
370:Philadelphia Photographer
246:Philadelphia Photographer
178:Moran's 1902 obituary in
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978:"The Astronomer's Work"
950:Cottam, Stella (2015).
662:National Gallery of Art
476:National Gallery of Art
455:National Gallery of Art
257:National Gallery of Art
113:area during the 1860s.
1008:The Photographic Times
556:Wilds of the Isthsmus.
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283:Mower General Hospital
277:Mower General Hospital
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163:on the passenger ship
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879:World Digital Library
717:Panzer, Mary (2017),
493:Limon Bay, High Tide.
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575:Moran, John (1868).
560:J. Paul Getty Museum
539:J. Paul Getty Museum
535:View near Chipigana.
520:, New York, New York
497:J. Paul Getty Museum
394:and now quite rare.
242:albumen silver print
227:Limon Bay, High Tide
92:Photographer, artist
198:View near Chipigana
1216:Emily Kelley Moran
1182:Thomas Moran House
982:The New York Times
904:The New York Times
765:The New York Times
478:, Washington, D.C.
457:, Washington, D.C.
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317:The New York Times
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181:The New York Times
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126:American Civil War
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963:978-3-319-08340-7
900:"John Moran Dead"
761:"John Moran Dead"
434:Blackberry Bushes
363:astronomical unit
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65:February 19, 1902
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1198:Mary Nimmo Moran
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1109:Thomas Moran
1065:. Retrieved
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161:Pennsylvania
157:Philadelphia
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111:Pennsylvania
107:Philadelphia
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67:(1902-02-19)
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1253:1902 deaths
1248:1831 births
1227:Mount Moran
1167:(1892–1908)
1159:(1893–1901)
271:stereograph
267:stereoscope
1242:Categories
1210:John Moran
1061:Christie's
884:January 4,
645:References
412:Christie's
303:Darién Gap
150:Lancashire
99:John Moran
54:Lancashire
25:John Moran
1212:(brother)
1206:(brother)
1116:Paintings
1034:The Argus
359:Australia
248:in 1864.
132:Biography
73:Manhattan
56:, England
1040:June 20,
1014:June 26,
988:June 20,
910:June 20,
771:June 20,
745:June 22,
689:June 22,
617:June 22,
347:Honolulu
225:Moran's
103:American
1191:Related
1175:Museums
419:Gallery
349:station
1200:(wife)
1151:(1895)
1143:(1873)
1135:(1872)
1127:(1867)
960:
933:
630:: 179.
586:Essays
309:, 1871
307:Panama
229:, 1871
165:Thomas
122:Edward
118:Thomas
83:, U.S.
613:: 247
569:Works
1069:2020
1042:2020
1016:2020
990:2020
958:ISBN
931:ISBN
912:2020
886:2014
835:2020
813:2020
790:: 3.
773:2020
747:2020
691:2020
670:2020
619:2020
81:N.Y.
62:Died
43:Born
1244::
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