Julia Margaret Cameron

Julia Margaret Cameron (1815–79) was one of the most important and innovative photographers of the 19th century. Criticised in her time for her unconventional techniques, she is now celebrated as a pioneering portraitist. 2015 marked the bicentenary of her birth and the 150th anniversary of her first museum exhibition, the only one of her lifetime, which took place at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1865. Drawing on the V&A’s invaluable collection, curator Marta Weiss chronicles Cameron’s artistic development, also presenting, for the first time, a group of photographs recently identified as belonging to Cameron’s artist and mentor, G. F. Watts. This find sheds new light on previously unrecognised aspects of her experimental approach.