San Diego Seaweed

A member of the Wild Flower Preservation Society, respected Chicago printmaker Bertha Jaques worked to preserve endangered plants. These often became the subjects of her cyanotypes, blueprints she made primarily between 1906 and 1908, using commercially available paper. Working both domestically and abroad (she was known to bring a roll of paper with her on her travels), Jaques placed plants on the paper and exposed it to light to produce a direct impression, known as a photogram. Deemed both creative and educational, making photograms of botanic specimens was considered especially suitable for women. This image of seaweed from San Francisco reveals an interest more in visual form than science: over the course of a lengthy exposure, it appears that Jaques selectively removed elements from the composition to vary the hues of the print in an attractive way.