On English Lagoons by Peter Henry Emerson, published in 1893, offers a vivid account of the author’s year-long exploration of the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads. This picturesque yet challenging network of rivers and wetlands in Eastern England served as the backdrop for Emerson’s journey aboard the wherry Maid of the Mist. Beginning in September 1890 and extending through the historic winter of 1890-1891, the work reflects Emerson’s evolving relationship with photography, art, and the philosophical principles underpinning his earlier naturalistic ideals.
At the time of this project, Emerson was grappling with both the critical backlash to his treatise Naturalistic Photography for Students of the Art (1889) and his own doubts about the viability of photography as a fine art. These tensions, combined with his deep fascination with the Broads, shaped the thematic and aesthetic core of this work. The project juxtaposes the natural beauty of the region with the resilience and toil of its human inhabitants, emphasizing seasonal transformations and the interplay between transience and permanence.
Visually, the project marks a stylistic transition for Emerson. As in his earlier projects such as Life and Landscape on the Norfolk Broads (1886) and Pictures of East Anglian Life (1888), the photographs here utilize selective focusing, a technique inspired by his own studies of human vision and perception. However, in On English Lagoons, this method becomes part of a more interpretive approach, reflecting his evolving artistic philosophy. The images balance sharpness and softness, engaging the viewer with scenes that mimic perception while also signaling a shift toward introspection and poetic sensibility.
Rather than being a straightforward documentation of life and landscape, On English Lagoons emerges as a meditation on the expressive potential and inherent limitations of photography. Emerson’s growing philosophical doubts, which ultimately led to his recantation of naturalistic photography, infuse the project with a reflective complexity. This work bridges the gap between his earlier commitment to precise naturalism and his later embrace of a more interpretive artistic vision.
While not as celebrated as his earlier works, On English Lagoons has since been recognized for its introspective tone and innovative photogravure printing. Its visibility has been sustained by later exhibitions featuring selections from the series, while Emerson’s broader achievement was acknowledged soon after with the Royal Photographic Society’s Progress Medal (1895), situating the book within the arc of his late-career refinement.
