Lot 641: Alexander Hamilton, Scottish b.1950- "Wild Iris,

Alexander Hamilton, Scottish b.1950- "Wild Iris, I, II and III", 1991; unique cynotypes, three, ea. 102.5x65.5cm, (3), (may be subject to Droit de Suite) Note: Alexander Hamilton grew up in Caithness, Scotland. He studied Drawing and Painting at Edinburgh College of Art. After qualifying, he spent six months recording the plants on the uninhabited island of Stroma, creating his first photogram images. This marked the start of a 40 year journey exploring connections to plants and landscapes. Using paper made sensitive by coating with chemicals that turn a vivid cobalt blue when exposed to the light, the cyanotype process records in bluish-white the image of anything that casts a shadow on it. Made famous by Man Ray in Paris in the early 1920's, the cameraless technique is applied here by Alexander Hamilton to capture the still and ethereal elegance of wild flowers from the Scottish highlands. Often the stamen from the living plant remain embedded in the fibre of the paper itself.