{"id":3222,"date":"2015-05-12T11:29:15","date_gmt":"2015-05-12T15:29:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/preserving\/?p=3222"},"modified":"2015-05-12T11:29:15","modified_gmt":"2015-05-12T15:29:15","slug":"james-leon-williams-dentist-photographer-philosopher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/2015\/05\/12\/james-leon-williams-dentist-photographer-philosopher\/","title":{"rendered":"James Leon Williams: Dentist, Photographer, Philosopher"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Williams_James_Leon\"<\/a>
\nJames Leon Williams was a dentist, scientist, scholar, artist, and philosopher. While he is most noted as the first to discover plaque and the inventor of modern dentures, he was also a\u00a0photographer of considerable ability, using photographic techniques\u00a0for both artistic and scientific purposes. As a scientist, his microphotographic research\u00a0confirmed the relationship between bacteria and tooth decay. As an artist, he was amongst the few\u00a0American photographers to fully recognize\u00a0the photogravure process as not only a technique for reproducing photographs, but an artform in its own right.\u00a0Williams’ work\u00a0is most akin to the\u00a0school of photography founded by Peter Henry Emerson, where creating an atmospheric composition with soft peripheral focus would most closely resemble nature. He produced two fine photogravure picture books, “The Home and haunts of Shakespeare” (1892), and “The land of Sleepy Hollow and the home of Washington Irving” (1887). His work on the home of Washington Irving was a collaborative effort with the well known Irving illustrator, Felix Darley. The book celebrates the work of Washington Irving, his literary importance and enduring popularity.<\/p>\n

According to his biographer, George Wood Clapp, “Dr. Williams seems equally at home with the microscope, the pen, the palette, and the graver. He is at once a student, a writer, a scientist, an artist, and a sculptor. Above all, he is a philosopher.”<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

According to H.M. Cartwright, historian of photomechanical processes, \u201cOf all photoengraving methods there is none which produces such rich and satisfying results as photogravure. The reason for this is to be found in the method of printing. It is an intaglio process and, therefore, the quantity of ink which is transferred to the paper can be considerable, and it shares with mezzotint among hand engraving processes the resulting richness of tones.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
Description:<\/dt>\n
Irving, Washington. The land of Sleepy Hollow and the home of Washington Irving :a series of photogravure representations, with descriptive letter-press. New York:\u00a0G.P. Putnam\u2019s Sons,\u00a01887.<\/span><\/dd>\n
Persistent Link:<\/dt>\n
http:\/\/nrs.harvard.edu\/urn-3:FHCL:14011001<\/a><\/dd>\n
<\/dd>\n
<\/dd>\n
<\/dd>\n
<\/dd>\n
<\/dd>\n
<\/dd>\n
<\/dd>\n
<\/dd>\n
<\/dd>\n
<\/dd>\n
<\/dd>\n
<\/dd>\n
<\/dd>\n
<\/dd>\n
<\/dd>\n
<\/dd>\n
<\/dd>\n
<\/dd>\n
<\/dd>\n
<\/dd>\n
<\/dd>\n
<\/dd>\n
<\/dd>\n
<\/dd>\n
<\/dd>\n
<\/dd>\n
<\/dd>\n
Repository:<\/dt>\n
Widener Library<\/dd>\n
Institution:<\/dt>\n
Harvard University<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

James Leon Williams was a dentist, scientist, scholar, artist, and philosopher. While he is most noted as the first to discover plaque and the inventor of modern dentures, he was also a\u00a0photographer of considerable ability, using photographic techniques\u00a0for both artistic and scientific purposes. As a scientist, his microphotographic research\u00a0confirmed the relationship between bacteria and tooth […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2559,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2559"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3222"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3240,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3222\/revisions\/3240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}