About this artwork
Buckham was the leading aerial photographer of his day and was renowned for his atmospheric shots of the landscape. He felt that the most spectacular cloud formations and theatrical light could be captured on “stormy days, with bursts of sunshine and occasional showers of rain”. Over the years Buckham amassed a vast collection of photographs of skies which he could integrate with a separate landscape photograph to enhance the drama and create a more impressive composition. This is an example of one of his shots of an impressive cloud formation. It also features an autogyro emerging from within the depths of the clouds. A spectacular contraption that seems remarkably unstable against the power of nature, this autogyro was in fact painted in by Buckham.
Updated before 2020
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artist:Alfred G BuckhamEnglish (1879 - 1956)
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title:Autogyro
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date created:About 1920
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materials:Silver gelatine print
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measurements:38.10 x 46.10 cm
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object type:
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credit line:Purchased with the assistance of the Art Fund 2008
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accession number:PGP 197.20
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gallery:
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subject:
Alfred G Buckham
Alfred G Buckham
Alfred Buckham's first ambition was to be a painter, but after seeing Turner's pictures in the National Gallery, he returned home and made a bonfire of his own work. He was the first head of aerial reconnaissance for the Royal Navy in the First World War and later a captain in the Royal Naval Air...