Monday Morning Museum: Roger Fenton

Self-Portrait by Roger Fenton

Roger Fenton – Sunday 28 March 1819 Bury, Lancashire, England to Sunday 8 August 1869 London, England

English Photographer

Moscow, Domes of Churches in the Kremlin, 1852

“Fenton photographed the cupolas of the Cathedral of the Assumption at eye level, from the lower bell arcade of the Ivan the Great Bell Tower, the city's highest building, looking west over Cathedral Square toward the churches of Terem Palace. The view shows, behind the cathedral, the modest Church of the Deposition of the Robe as it looked before a twentieth-century restoration would revive its original design. The Cathedral of the Assumption, built in 1475-79 by the Bolognese Ridolfo (Aristotele) Fioravanti for Grand Prince Ivan III, was the focal point of Russian religious life, where czars were crowned and patriarchs interred. Combining medieval Russian features with the harmonious geometry of the early Italian Renaissance, the church symbolized Moscow's ambition to be recognized as "the third Rome," replacing Constantinople, fallen to the Turks in 1453, as the center of Orthodox Christianity. Photographing from above and showing only portions of buildings and roofs, Fenton infused the composition with an exhilarating sense of airiness and light, the memorable image taking on the power of the architecture itself to proclaim the spiritual aspirations of a people.” – Metropolitan Museum of Art

Last Monday’s Artist – John Marin
Next Monday’s Artist – Florine Stettheimer

“Monday Morning Museum” logo created by Adrean Darce Brent