Platinum: Master Prints by Master Printers

Platinum will showcase the beauty of the platinum print through the work of diverse international photographers and artists from the early 20th century to the present day.

Platinum-palladium is a traditional printing technique, dating from the 19th century, favoured by photographers and collectors due to the tonal range of the prints. Platinum prints are amongst the most permanent man-made objects – it is thought that a platinum image, properly preserved, can last more than 5000 years. The painterly quality of the platinum print was embraced by masters of photographer in the early 20th Century such as Edward Steichen and Alfred Stieglitz, who called the process ‘the prince of all media’. This quality, coupled with the tonal depth has led to the adoption of platinum printing across landscape, fashion, still-life, portraiture and fine art photography.

The exhibition aims to demonstrate the quality and versatility of platinum. Many of the prints in the exhibition are drawn from the amana salto studio based in Japan, Salto Ulbeek in Belgium and 31 Studio in the UK – some of the finest platinum printers working in the world today. These printers all use skills, materials and technologies to experiment with historic and modern printing methods to master the platinum print.