REJLANDER, OSCAR G(USTAV)

born 1813 died Jan. 18, 1875, London Swedish painter and photographer who, in his efforts to elevate photography to the status of an art, made photographs in imitation of the painting of the day. Rejlander received his general education in Sweden, and he studied painting and sculpture in Rome. After considerable travel he settled in England and from 1853 practiced photography there. Many of his works achieved the painterly effect he sought by combination printing. His most famous work, The Two Ways of Life, a sentimental allegory done in 1857, was made by combining more than 30 negatives. Shown in the Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition of 1857, the photograph was purchased by Queen Victoria for Prince Albert. A series of photographs of facial expressions and gestures made by Rejlander was used by Charles Darwin in his Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872). Although he had a period of critical acclaim, he died impoverished.