Poems in Stone - 5/3/2010 4:34pm

Gothic cathedrals are miracles in stone, glass and light.  Spanning the mid-12th century through the mid-16th century, these magnificent buildings reflect the majesty and grandeur of God.

      Gloucester Cathedral, Cloister Walk (12th century)

          Photographed by Frederick H. Evans, 1890

This Sunday I attended an exhibition at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles: “A Record of Emotion, the Photographs of Frederick H. Evans.” It was sublime.

Frederick H. Evans (1853-1943) was a British bookstore owner who bought a quarter-plate camera and began to take pictures in 1883. His first images were “photo-micrographs” of tiny natural specimens, such as the cross-section of a sea urchin magnified under a microscope to reveal striking forms and patterns. He submitted his photos to the newly formed Photographic Society, and in 1887 he received a medal for his contributions. Although technically “scientific photography,” the aesthetics of the naturally repeating patterns and forms of his “photo-micrographs” motivated his work.

Soon he turned his attention to larger subjects: medieval Gothic cathedrals. “It is the beautiful,” he said, “rather than the antiquarian aspect that attracts me.” Photographing these “poems in stone” became his passion, and he created sublimely beautiful images. Writing in “Camera Work #4” (1903), Evans notes: “There are no more abiding memories of peace, deep joy, and satisfaction, of a calm realization of an order of beauty . . . than those given by a prolonged stay in a [medieval Gothic] cathedral . . ..” See, for example, “A Sea of Steps,” Evans’ photo of the stairs leading to the Chapter House in Wells Cathedral (1903).

                                          “A Sea of Stairs”

Notice the stairs on the photo’s left, leading through two archways to a closed door, illuminated from above. Stairs, of course, speak of ascending, and the archways speak of spiritual thresholds through which one passes as one ascends. The stairs on the photo’s left are worn from countless people climbing them, but the door at the top is dark and closed, barring entrance. It is the path trod by many.

In contrast, the less used stairs on the photo’s right sweep steeply, gracefully upward into bright light which floods from above, suggesting fullness and openness. Evans said of this photograph: “The beautiful curve of the steps on the right as they rise to the height of the Chapter House floor, is for all the world like the surge of a great wave that will presently break and subside into smaller ones.” It is the path less taken, mysterious and beaconing.

In an article he wrote for Amateur Photographer (1904), Evans advised photographers, “Try for a record of an emotion rather than a piece of topography . . . wait until the building makes you feel intensely . . . then try to analyze what gives you that feeling . . . and then see what your camera can do towards reproducing that effect.”

When Evans photographed a Gothic cathedral he typically stayed on location for several weeks. From early morning to dusk he paced the naves and cloisters, studying the interior, framing possible images in his mind. After choosing what he wanted to photograph he made extensive notes on the changing effects of light as it illuminated the dimly lit interiors at various times during the day. Next, he photographed the image using a double-coated plate, allowing him to capture the effects of light without losing detail in the shadows. From the resulting hundreds of images he then selected those that captured the essence of a scene and he photographed them, printing them on glass, not paper. Evans felt strongly that “paper, with its lack of depth, its abrupt stoppage of image at the surface, will not fully or adequately exhibit the entire value and charm of these infinitely related planes, but glass can and does when properly handled.”

The result is hauntingly beautiful and spiritually profound images of Gothic Cathedrals, those miracles of stone, glass and light that reflect the very face of God.

“A Record of Emotion, the Photographs of Frederick H. Evans” runs at the Getty Museum February 2 – June 6, 2010. Admission is free. Here’s a link to the Getty’s website: http://www.getty.edu