John Blakemore
Literature
John Blakemore, Photographs 1955-2010, **Dewi Lewis Publishing, 2011 (illustrated full page p.182)
tinted
John Blakemore has written of this photograph: ‘Tulipomania’
that period in the 17th century when the tulip became an object of
commerce, so highly valued that fortunes were made and lost trading tulip
bulbs, gave me the initial idea for the ‘Tulipomania’ images. I was making the
final images for inclusion in ‘The Stilled Gaze’, the monograph of my tulip
images and thought that for the past few years I had
myself been a sort of ‘tulipomaniac’. I decided
to make an image of the fictitious, the imagined , study of a 17th
century tulip fanatic.
‘Tulipomania’ 1 was
my first attempt, I had been making the hangings of dried tulips which adorned
the walls and various images of tulip paintings. Though I liked the image I
felt it lacked gravitas and was tonally
much lighter than the images that it would share exhibition wallspace
with.
I started again,
lining the alcove with dark materials and using one of my images framed. The
resultant image had the mood I was seeking, became ‘Tulipomania 2’ the image I
used for the cover of my tulip monograph.
The negative was
made on Ilford FP4. 5x4.
I try to work very
simply all my 5x4 images, both landscape and still life, were made using one camera, an MPP, and one lens ,
a Symmar S, 180mm. Using only window light plus reflectors, ‘Tulipomania’2 was
unusual, in that I also used a torch to
add light to the area of the framed photograph.
The print was made by me. Archivally processed
and selenium toned.