
Chartres Cathedral—North Porch
<p>Frederick H. Evans painstakingly planned his images of cathedral interiors and printed them equally carefully, on platinum paper that maximized the rich range of grays. The photographer and gallerist Alfred Stieglitz devoted an issue of his deluxe journal <em>Camera Work</em> to Evans’s oeuvre, writing that “of the thousands who have photographed cathedrals, none has imbued his pictures with such poetic qualities coupled with such masterful treatment.” Evans considered his photographs individual works of art at a moment when they were not yet entirely accepted as such, emphasizing that status further by carefully mounting or framing them. Here he surrounded his image of Chartres Cathedral with a hand-drawn border.</p>
Catalogue
- Year
- 1900
- Medium
- Platinum print
- Dimensions
- Image/paper: 25.1 × 19.7 cm (9 15/16 × 7 13/16 in.); Mount: 50.9 × 34 cm (20 1/16 × 13 7/16 in.)
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Artist
- Frederick H. Evans
Artist

Photography
Frederick H. Evans was a British photographer and architect whose platinum prints of English and French cathedrals established him as a master of architectural photography in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Working exclusively in platinum and bromoil processes, Evans created luminous, architecturally precise images that emphasized the spatial and spiritual dimensions of Gothic interiors. His photographs, characterized by exacting compositional control and a palette of cool grays and subtle tonalities, moved beyond documentary record to achieve what he termed 'the poetry of architecture.' Evans was also a prominent book designer and advocate for the platinum process in fine art photography.
Full artist profile →More
More by Frederick H. Evans
Bourges Cathedral: Porch on West Front
1908 · Platinum print
Bourges Cathedral, West Front
1908 · Platinum print
Chateau D'Amboise, Chapel
1907 · Platinum print
The Pillars of Durham
1907 · Platinum print
A Norfolk Piscina (Little Snoring Church)
1906 · Platinum print
Château Meillant, Chapel Door
1906 · Platinum print
Record
Verified by WattsOS- Artist
- Frederick H. Evans
- Year
- 1900
- Medium
- Platinum print
- Dimensions
- Image/paper: 25.1 × 19.7 cm (9 15/16 × 7 13/16 in.); Mount: 50.9 × 34 cm (20 1/16 × 13 7/16 in.)
- Watts ID
- WW-1900-105479
Source
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Source
- aic
- Reference
- View at source
- Status
- verified





