Fullerton Exhibition: Early Days of Long Island

Fullerton Exhibition Of Photographs Of Long Island

Here at the Nazmiyal Blog of Design and Style, we take great pleasure in all forms of artistic expression. While antique Oriental rugs are our great passion, we also appreciate work such as the new exhibition at the Heckscher Museum of Art in Huntington, NY, which showcases the photography of Hal B. Fullerton, a nineteenth century employee of the Long Island Railroad, whose amateur photography of a nascent Long Island is both charming and impressively composed.

For starters who was Hal B. Fullerton ?

Hal B. Fullerton was indeed a nineteenth-century amateur photographer. He is known for his contributions to early photography, particularly in the United States.

Hal B. Fullerton was a prominent amateur photographer during the late 19th century. He was recognized for his work with the wet plate collodion process, which was a common photographic technique of that era. Fullerton’s photographs primarily documented life in New York City and its surroundings during the late 1800s. His images captured scenes of everyday life, street scenes, architecture, and portraits.

Fullerton Exhibition: Early Days of Long Island by Nazmiyal Antique Rugs

Fullerton Exhibition: Early Days of Long Island

While not as famous as some other photographers of his time, Fullerton’s work provides valuable historical insights into the people and places of the late 19th century. His photographs are now considered valuable historical artifacts, offering a glimpse into the past through the lens of early photography.

What is photographer Hal B. Fullerton best known for?

Hal B. Fullerton is best known for his contributions to early photography during the late 19th century. He is recognized for his work with the wet plate collodion process, which was a common photographic technique of that era. Fullerton’s photographs primarily documented life in New York City and its surroundings during the late 1800s. His images captured scenes of everyday life, street scenes, architecture, and portraits.

While not as famous as some other photographers of his time, Fullerton’s work provides valuable historical insights into the people and places of the late 19th century. His photographs are now considered valuable historical artifacts, offering a glimpse into the past through the lens of early photography.

Hal B. Fullerton photography exhibition at the Heckscher Museum of Art in Huntington, NY

When the work of a nineteenth century amateur photographer and special agent for the Long Island Railroad are the basis for a special exhibition at an art museum, there must be an interesting story to be told. Beginning on April 27 and running through August 4, the Heckscher Museum of Art in Huntington, New York is showing just such an exhibition, titled “Scooters, Cranberry Pickers and ‘Whirling Dervishes’: Hal B. Fullerton’s Long Island,” a showing that consists of 31 original photographs that have been meticulously restored by admirers of Fullerton’s work. And while the photographs themselves are appealing and exciting compositions, it really is the story of their genesis that is most interesting.

In 1897, Hal B. Fullerton was charged by the Long Island Rail Road to create a campaign that would attract the masses to Long Island – both to visit and to settle. Something of a renaissance man with a background in agriculture, Fullerton took to the assignment with tremendous aplomb: his first publication – simply titled “Cyclist’s Paradise” – was responsible for attracting more than 150,000 cyclists to Long Island, which Fullerton had extensively photographed for the publication. And while Fullerton was never formally schooled in photographic technique, Lisa Chalif, who is curating the exhibition at the Heckscher Museum, has said that she is “impressed by the aesthetic and tonal qualities” of Fullerton’s work, which she believes has strong artistic merit.

Hal B. Fullerton Photography Of cranberry Pickers on Long Island by Nazmiyal Antique Rugs

Hal B. Fullerton’s photography includes many shots like this of cranberry pickers on Long Island. Rustic and charming, these photos brilliantly showcase their subjects.

Indeed, according to the Hecksher, Fullerton’s photographs “capture the picturesque, agrarian charm of [Long] Island, while also revealing aesthetic conventions seen in contemporary painting of the period.” This sentiment is one that has been echoed by Fullerton’s admirers, most especially be Neil Scholl, the individual perhaps most responsible for the Heckscher exhibition. According to Mr. Scholl, Fullerton “was a great documenter of Long Island, but he was also a great photographer.”  Scholl, who is himself a photographer based in Huntington, spent four years visiting the Suffolk County Historical Society in Riverhead with a colleague, photographing Fullerton’s negatives and then cleaning up those images in Photoshop – all on his own time.

The result of Mr. Scholl’s dedication and hard work is a fantastic exhibition of some truly remarkable photography. Fullerton’s work – which ranges widely in subject matter – is, despite Fullerton’s lack of formal training, largely representative of trends in painting and photography that were contemporaneously important, with some of the photos venturing on the abstract. According to an exhibition panel, Fullerton, like his contemporaries, “believed that the modern world demanded an avant-garde approach to art.”

Fullerton's more abstract minimalist photo of a boat by Nazmiyal Antique Rugs

Fullerton’s more abstract minimalist photo of a boat

What makes “Scooters, Cranberry Pickers and ‘Whirling Dervishes’” a unique artistic exhibition is the unique story of the man behind it. Hal B. Fullerton may not have been an artist in the conventional understanding of the term, but the body of work he left behind has been inspirational and appealing to very many people. Combining the rustic charm of a layman’s work with the sophistication of an expert’s best compositions, the photography of Hal B. Fullerton has an enduring beauty that serves as a window into an age gone by.

This art blog about the Fullerton Exhibition, was published by: Nazmiyal Antique Rugs

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