MARCUS ADAMS (1875-1959).- TRAVELLING HALF PLATE CAMERA

c.1939, A unique and custom-built, improved sliding box design, half-plate camera, with Carl Zeiss Jena 25cm f/4.5 Tessar lens (451181) optics G, Removable J.H Dallmeyer Pneumatic shutter, with fully articulated, ball and socket, front standard, ground glass back and single double dark slide. The camera is bespoke - fully adjustable and designed to produce images of the highest quality whilst also being portable and easily manoeuvred.

Adams, a celebrated photographer of children, was forced to close his Dover Street studio during the Second World War, primarily due to the mass evacuation of women and children from the Capital. The evacuation amounted to the largest mass migration in British History. Adams had previously developed innovative ways to capture the true character of the children he photographed in his studio, and he designed this traveling camera to pack into the box at the base of the two mounting arms. This allowed him to move around the country freely, continuing his work and taking photographs of children at their new homes.

Provenance:

Estate of Marcus Adam's Widow

Reference:

https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw280916/Photomontage-of-Marcus-Adams-with-his-travelling-camera

https://www.rct.uk/about/press-office/press-releases/marcus-adams-royal-photographer#/

https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw280914/Marcus-Adams-with-his-travelling-camera-designed-and-built-by-himself