View from Philae Looking North
- Francis Frith, English, 1822-1898
- Born: Chesterfield, England
- Work Locations: Liverpool, England, Egypt
The British photographer Francis Frith made this photograph on the first of three journeys he undertook up the Nile River in the 1850s. Frith’s view looks north—downstream—from an island at the First Cataract, near Aswan. In the left foreground stand three pillars that are part of the temple complex colonnade. The right foreground is littered with rubble from the collapsed structure, while cobbles and dirt fill the site’s lower levels. The standing and ruined parts of the temple blend visually with the granitic forms and the boulders that tumble into the river beyond. The river itself follows a series of zigzagging curves that lead the eye past clusters of palm trees to a low false horizon and mountains in the extreme distance. Even with its abundance of historical and archaeological connotations, View of Philae is a poised and quiet image that creates the impression one is witnessing the scene in solitude—something the best tourist photographs still do today.
- "Photography & Vision: The Influence of Joyce and Ted Strauss"—Denver Art Museum, 6/8/2014 - 1/25/2015
