A Platinum Photograph by Edwin Hale Lincoln

Edwin Hale Lincoln (1848-1938)

Madame Histe Roses

Platinum Print circa 1910

Edwin Hale Lincoln was a master of the Platinum Print. A veteran of the Civil War, he was actively creating beautiful photographs until his death at the age of 90 in 1938. Lincoln was so dedicated to the aesthetic of platinum photography–with its richness and dramatic range of tones–that he began ordering prepared paper from the Platinotype Company in England when American manufacturers switched to cheaper silver-based papers.

Finally, when the Great Depression forced even the Platinotype Company to cease production, Lincoln rode a train all night to reach the doorstep of an expert who could teach him how to make his own platinum papers by hand. Lincoln insisted on learning the technique–even though he was nearly ninety years old!

Lincoln’s career culminated in the publication of The Wild Flowers of New England, a work produced on order for connoisseurs that by 1914 consisted of four hundred platinum prints in portfolios or bound into volumes. Complete sets are exceedingly rare today.

“Madame Histe,” named for the antique variety of rose depicted in the present photograph, was a cultivated flower, and thus this magnificent composition is not included in Wild Flowers. This print, obtained from a descendant of the photographer, was unmounted when found and may be the only example in existence.

Lincoln’s photographs were praised by leading magazines of the American Arts & Crafts Movement. His work was published in Gustave Stickley’s The Craftsman for March, April, May and June of 1915. Lincoln was the subject of a profile in the March 1915 issue.

Photographs by Edwin Hale Lincoln are found in dozens of major institutional and private collections, including those of the Museum of Modern Art, the J. Paul Getty Museum, George Eastman House, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Hallmark Collection.