Michael Pritchard's Blog – October 2020 Archive (18)

Sophie Gordon, head of photographs at the Royal Collection Trust (RCT), Windsor, has now confirmed publicly that she is accepting voluntary redundancy. She has been at the Collection for 15 years. The RCT is undertaking a significant restructure following a fall in visitor numbers and revenues as a result of COVID-19. The Trust is also making compulsory…

In this talk I will discuss my work to draw to together the disparate photographic archive of the West India Regiments. Scattered across the Atlantic in public and private collections, photographs of the men who formed the first 'official' British Army regiment made up of men of African descent represent the men in contradictory…

A short post on BPH has drawn attention to the current owners of the Hills and Saunders negative archive selling off negatives individually on eBay. The collection is - or was - owned by Pete Boswell who posted on BPH about his acquisition…

Photographica is a new French-published magazine which aims to support and show research around the history of photography for university and museum level. It is supported by the Société française de photographie…

Photoria is a new resource documenting female photographers and associated trades, working in Australia between 1850 and 1950. It currently has some 400 names with, most likely, more to be discovered and documented. 

See and explore here:…

Flints Auctions is offering an early experimental camera, believed to be c.1840, with an estimate of £50,000-70,000. The camera is made from mahogany, with a simple back retained by a wedge and with a simple lens in a brass mount. The back carries a series of small pinholes, which were presumably from pins used to fix sensitised paper to it (see…

BPH heard late yesterday afternoon that the British documentary photographer Chris Killip had died at his home in the United States. Killip was born in the Isle of Man, and started his career by assisting Adrian Flowers in London. From 1969 he began concentrating on his own photography. In 1977 he became a founder, exhibition curator, and advisor at…

The British and Commonwealth collection, based at Bristol Archives, consists of objects, photographs, films, papers and sound archives reflecting the occupations and interests of mainly white British people living and working in many parts of the former empire during the late 19th and 20th centuries. The new online…

London's Photographers' Gallery and the Photo London fair are amongst the largest beneficiaries of today's Arts Council England investment of £257 million in 1,385 venues, theatres, museums and cultural organisations, through the first tranche of Culture Recovery Fund: Grants programme.

The announcement was only for Round 1 of grants applications under…

Chiswick Auctions is delighted to offer a historically important album of early photographs by Captain Thomas Honywood (1819-1888), notable for taking the earliest known photographs of Sussex. He is also responsible for the invention of the photographic technique known as Nature Printing. This important album of his private  photographs will be offered in the…

Alan Denney and Tamara Stoll discuss their new book The Rio Tape/Slide Archive, published by Isola Press, in conversation with Anne McNeill, Director of Impressions Gallery. Programmed as part of …

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were passionate collectors of photography from the announcement of the medium. Following their purchase of the Osborne estate in 1845, this locality became an important setting for the early photographic experiences of the royal family. The presence of the royal family at Osborne House contributed to the Isle of Wight becoming…

Roger Taylor, photo-historian, has been recognised in the 2020 Queen's birthday honours list with a MVO  - Member of the Royal Victorian Order - for 'services to the Royal Collection'. Taylor's association with the collection started in the late 1970s with a project for World Microfilms, it developed in to a landmark exhibition with Frances…

The long history of the renowned Alinari photographic firm, founded in 1852 in Florence, reached a turning point in December 2019 as the regional government Regione Toscana acquired the company's millions of photographic objects, documents, specialized publications and historical technical equipment; the acquisition of the digital assets will soon complete…

A new Community Interest Company Developed in Birmingham has now formed, co-directed by Jo Gane, Philip Singleton and Anna Sparham. Its aim is to build upon the work produced in 2017, led by the late Pete James.

In line with Pete’s wishes and intentions, Developed in Birmingham CIC will continue to explore and expose the city’s rich…

Hansons auctioneers in Staffordshire is offering a lot from a descendent of the important photographer Arthur Lamont Henderson relating his his royalty photographers. Estimated at £15,000-25,000 the lots consists of royal portraits and other examples of his photographic work. The auction takes place on 13 October 2020. 

See:…

Join TORCH | The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities Humanities Division for an online in-conversation with Prof Geoffrey Batchen and Dr Lena Fritsch, discussing the work of pioneering British photographer and botanist Anna Atkins (1799-1871). Her innovative use of new photographic technologies linked art and science, and exemplified the potential…

This online talk, part of the Photo Oxford programme, is delivered by one of the leading researchers on early women photographers, Rose Teanby. It focuses on British women photography pioneers from its earliest days. Many early women photographers have been hidden from history or rarely highlighted despite their unique contribution to our photographic…