The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of May 7, 2026

A horizontally oriented white paper features a central photogravure of a misty landscape in muted gray tones. Frosted grasses and reeds fill the foreground, leading toward a wooden fence on the left. In the hazy middle ground, two dark animals graze in a field with spindly, leafless trees. A pale sun glows through the thick, hazy sky in the upper right, casting a soft, atmospheric light over the scene.

A Winter's Sunrise

before 1891, published 1895

Peter Henry Emerson

(British, 1856–1936)
England
photogravure
Image: 12.8 x 6.9 cm (5 1/16 x 2 11/16 in.)
Mr. and Mrs. Roger J. Lerch in Memory of Carl J. Lerch and Winifred J. Lerch Endowment 2025.17
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

In 1886, the year after completing medical school, Peter Henry Emerson became a full-time photographer and published his first book of photographs.

Description

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.
  • {{cite web|title=A Winter's Sunrise|url=false|author=Peter Henry Emerson|year=before 1891, published 1895|access-date=07 May 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2025.17