From the 1840s, scientists were using photography to record and measure phenomena which lay beyond human vision. The beauty of these early images and the revolutionary techniques developed for scientific study, shaped the history of photography and heavily influenced modern and contemporary art photographers.

Revelations showcases some of the earliest photographic images from the National Photography Collection by figures such as William Henry Fox Talbot and Eadweard Muybridge alongside striking works by modern and contemporary artists including Harold Edgerton and Hiroshi Sugimoto.

Image at the top: Blow Up, Untitled 1, 2007, Ori Gersht © Ori Gersht, Private Collection