A Winter's Sunrise

Marsh Leaves, in which this image appears, was Emerson’s last book of photographs. Published in 1895, it is generally considered his best and most influential body of work. He had moved from naturalism to a graphic style so radical that it sometimes verged on abstraction. This looser, more expressionistic, and emotional late style helped lay the groundwork for Pictorialist photography, which dominated fine art photography in the early 20th century.