BPH has learnt with much sadness of the peaceful death on sunday evening of the museum director, historian and broadcaster Colin Ford, aged 91 years. Colin was the founding Head of the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television, Bradford, in 1983 and led the museum for its first decade. He was actively involved in photography from 1972 until his death.  

Colin's career…

By/For: Photography & Democracy is a collaborative partnership between three photographic historians, Dr. Tom Allbeson, Dr. Colleen O’Reilly, and Helen Trompeteler. We are delighted to announce that our second season of programs will begin in February 2026. Please join leading thinkers Anne Cross & Matthew Fox-Amato, Vindhya Buthpitiya, Leigh Raiford, Jeehey Kim, Zahid…

This is the first book dedicated to Cornelia Bentley Sage Quinton (1876-1936). The text retraces the visionary career of the first woman director of a major art museum in the United States. From her appointment as director of the Albright Art Gallery in Buffalo in 1910, Cornelia Sage left her mark on American institutional history, as well as on the history of photography, notably by…

The Lycée Champollion, in collaboration with Grenoble Alpes University and the Maison de l’Image in Grenoble, continues its series of international study days on various themes and techniques related to the photography of Michael Kenna (1953-...), a British photographer whose work has been exhibited around the world.

This second study day aims to highlight another major…

Frank Watson examines the relationship between photography and sound. Today: Frank's guest is James Hyman, Director of the Centre for British Photography, talking about his early interest in photography, meeting Henri Cartier Bresson and collecting British photographers’ work. He reflects upon setting up the Centre in Jermyn Street, London and discusses the exhibitions,…

This conference investigates theories, histories and methodologies relating to photographic images that are, for different reasons, unseen or unseeable. In the past twenty years, theorists and scholars across disciplines have raised the idea of the invisible image in various ways: discussing “operational” images intended for machine-reading rather than human viewing, and “invisual’…

Newcastle's Side Gallery has published an update on its future which includes confirmation that the gallery will not re-open. This has prompted a backlash on social media from those who had supported the gallery's appeal for support, previously noted on BPH (see here), and had expected the gallery space to return.  

Managing Director, Laura Laffler, posted a statement on the…

Back in May BPH reported on the auction by Bonhams of the only known portraits of Ada Lovelace, comprising two daguerreotype portraits by Claudet from c1843 and a daguerreotype copy of a painting of Lovelace. The lot was withdrawn…