Michael Pritchard's Blog – July 2013 Archive (20)

Purpose of the Job: To research, develop and deliver content for an innovative programme of exhibitions, displays, multimedia and events.  This will include internationally significant, innovative exhibitions delivered for Media Space, working with colleagues at the Science Museum.

To ensure all processes & documentation is adhered to, liaising…

The Bodleian Libraries' public appeal to secure the Talbot archive has led to forty-two previously unknown photogenic drawings being discovered. They have been given to the Bodleian Library.

After hearing about the Bodleian’s campaign, Noel Chanan, biographer of John Dillwyn Llewelyn, was approached by Sir John Venables-Llewelyn, great-great grandson of the…

Oxford, 31 July 2013 -- The Bodleian’s appeal was launched in December 2012 with an initial deadline of the end of February 2013 to raise £2.2 million pounds needed for purchasing the Archive. A significant grant of £1.2 million from the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) late last year gave the appeal a vital boost. Thanks to the most recent gift from the…

In July 2013, the Musée Maison Nicéphore Niépce in St Loup de Varennes - founded and exclusively financed by the Speos International Photography School since 1999 -- was nominated Maisons des illustres by the French Ministry of Culture in the presence of high-ranked French government representatives. The house where the world's first photo was…

20 July: One of the oldest, extant, dedicated photographic archives in the world, the Barnardo's photographic archive, currently housed in Barkingside, East London is under threat. Following its digitisation the archive will be transferred to another organisation or will be destroyed.

Over the next few months, Barnardo's will be having its entire photographic archive…

An oil portrait of Benjamin Brecknell Turner is being offered by a British seller on eBay. The auction closes on 28 July. According to the auction entry Turner was was one of Britain's first photographers and a founding member in 1853 of the Photographic Society of London. 

See the auction entry here: …

A website has been set up to showcase photographer Andrew Paterson, whose studio was based in Inverness between 1895-1980. He was an internationally renowned, multi-award winning artist-photographer. His services were sought over several decades by many leading political and commercial figures of the day. In 1935 the Glasgow Daily Record wrote that…

To coincide with the imminent 350^th anniversary of Philosophical Transactions, the world’s oldest scientific journal, The Royal Society and the AHRC research project “Publishing the Philosophical Transactions” are organising a conference, to be held at the Royal Society in March 2015, on the history of science journal publishing.  Phil.Trans. has a long association with the early history of photography.  

Publish or Perish? Scientific…

Bernard Quaritch Ltd has confirmed the acquisition by the Hong Kong based Moonchu Foundation of the Terry Bennett Collection of Early Chinese Photography, now to be known as The Moonchu Collection of Early Photography of China.  Comprising approximately 10,000 photographs from 1844 to…

We are looking for a Curator to take responsibility for the BFI National Archive’s collection of posters, designs and museum objects as part of a fixed-term maternity cover post, commencing late September/early October 2013. Working as part of the BFI curatorial team you will be required to document, develop, research and interpret the poster and designs…

Photography was invented by William Fox Talbot in the world of the English country house. The leisured and affluent upper classes went on to make an art form of their new toy, creating intimate portraits of stunning beauty. Their work stands as poignant testament to a way of life that has all but vanished.

With a Preface by Michael Pritchard, Director-General of the…

A non-profit research project named Daguerreobase launched by the Nederland’s Fotomuseum, and joined in 2009 by the Fotomuseum of Antwerp with the aim of generating as much as knowledge as possible, by identifying preserving and disclosing detailed information on daguerreotypes held in Dutch and Flemish collections. A dedicated website…

The Getty Conservation Institute has joined with the Arab Image Foundation, the Art Conservation Department of the University of Delaware and the Photograph Conservation Department of The Metropolitan Museum of Art to form the Middle East Photograph Preservation Initiative (MEPPI).…

Dr Gil Pasternak has been appointed Senior Research Fellow in Photographic History at De Montfort University. He was previously at the University of Huddersfield. 

Dr Gil Pasternak studied for his Ph.D. in the History of Art Department at University College London (UCL), specialising in the theory and history of photography in the context of fine art, visual and…

This book is the first extensive survey of early Chinese photographers in any language. It is profusely illustrated with more than 400 photographs, many of which are published here for the first time, including a fine selection of Foochow landscapes from the studios of Lai Fong, China’s leading photographer during this period, and Tung Hing.

Early chapters introduce…

An iconic Swansea building where a pioneering scientist took one of the earliest ever photos of the moon will soon be brought back to life. Swansea Council has signed a 25-year lease with the Penllergare Trust for the 19th Century equatorial observatory and laboratory at Penllergare Valley Woods that once formed a local hub for stargazing.

The historic building, also a…

A Royal Passion: Queen Victoria and Photography will be shown at the J Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, from 4 February-8 June 2014. The exhibition has been curated by Associate Curator, Anne Lyden and the accompanying book includes essays from Sophie Gordon and Jennifer Green-Lewis. 

In 1839, just two years after Victoria became queen of Great Britain and…

De Montfort University is pleased to announce the availability of one Wilson Fellowship for its MA in Photographic History and Practice. The Fellowship offers £5,000 toward the defrayal of tuition and other costs related to the MA, and is open to all students UK, EU and International. To…

In a 2½ hour session today of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee  at the Palace of Westminster on the ‘Future of the Science Group’, Ed Vaizey, under-secretary of state for Culture, Communications and Creative Industry and Ian Blatchford, Director of the Science Museum Group (SMG) both unambiguously stated that Bradford’s National…

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