Gathering Water-Lilies

The English photographer Emerson captured rural life at the end of the 19th century in a series of photo books. This is plate IX in Life and Landscape on the Norfolk Broads. Like the painters of his day, Emerson too truthfully recorded the life of farmers and fishermen, but with a certain emotional intent. This picturesque quality was admired by the Pictorialists, who considered photographs as works of art in their own right.