Robert Adamson

Robert Adamson (26 April 1821 – 14 January 1848) was a Scottish chemist and pioneer photographer at Hill & Adamson. He is best known for his pioneering photographic work with David Octavius Hill and producing some 2500 calotypes, mostly portraits, within 5 years after being hired by Hill in 1843.

Early years

Adamson was born in St Andrews, one of ten children of Rachel Melville and Alexander Adamson, a Fife tenant farmer. and apprenticed as a millwright for several months.

Career Adamson was keen on becoming an engineer, but ill health led to him pursuing photography. He was taught calotype by his brother, John, and by the physicist David Brewster of the University of St Andrews in the late 1830s. Adamson's brother John, a general practitioner, lecturer, and curator of the University Museum, produced the first calotype in Scotland in 1841. Adamson, established his photographic studio at Rock House, Calton Hill Stairs in Edinburgh, on 10 May 1843. In June, Brewster recommended Adamson to David Octavius Hill (1802–1870), a painter of romantic Scottish landscapes, who hired him; This painting, however, would not be completed until 1866, long after his death.

The first studio specializing in calotypes in Edinburgh, Hill required calotypes from which he would paint. Distinguished persons from many fields came to be photographed by the partners and within a few years they had taken the art scene by storm in Scotland. some say 3000 or more, included local and Fife landscapes and urban scenes, including images of the Scott Monument, under construction in Edinburgh. They produced several groundbreaking "action" photographs of soldiers and – perhaps their most famous photograph – two priests walking side by side. Their depictions of groups and children were unrivaled. Graham Fyvie, Robert Cadell and Robert Cunningham Graham Spiers, by Robert Adamson. By mid-1847, the studio stopped production due to the failing health of Adamson. Thinking to recuperate amidst his family, Adamson returned to St Andrews. He died of tuberculosis on 14 January 1848, at the age of 26.

In 1851, the works of Hill & Adamson's appeared at The Great Exhibition. Hill returned to painting, but it wasn't until 1872 that their work was rediscovered. In 1905, 1912, and 1914, some of their works appeared in Camera Work. There were also several New York City exhibits at Alfred Stieglitz's 291 Art Gallery and at the National Arts Club.

Partial works Miss Justine Munro Miss Grizzel Baillie, Scotland Mrs. Barbara (Johnstone) Flucker Opening Oysters Bringing in the catch Officer of the 92nd Gordon Highlanders Reading to the Troops, Edinburgh Castle The Fairy Tree at Colinton The Gowan The Minnow Pool The Rev. Dr. Jabez Bunting, Scotland Dumbarton Presbytery Willie Liston Redding the Line

In fiction Rock House and Adamson feature in Sara Sheridan's novel The Secrets of Blythswood Square (2024) set in 1846. In the book, Hill and Adamson's fictional assistant, Ellory Mann sets up her own photographic studio in Glasgow.