The Bodleian Library's first curator of photography, Phillip Roberts, has left his post to spend more more time with his family, Writing last week on X, formerly Twitter, Roberts said "I decided to stop being the Bodliean’s [sic] photography curator The library has been wonderful, but the loves of my little life are 300 miles away and I want to be part of a family I’m tired of trains and sleeping on my own. My life is more than my work and my work doesn’t give me the things that I really want. I’d rather be in love".
He added that "I’m sad because I have built something really special in Oxford The Bodliean [sic] is going to be one of the country’s most important photographic collections. It’s one of the very few places able to collect complete photographers archives (and one of the few collecting at all). British photography desperately needs somewhere committed to preserving its history. Oxford has the resources to guarantee the survival of vulnerable archives and to give weight to an underresourced photo heritage sector".
Phillip Roberts joined the Bodleian in March 2022 as as Bern and Ronny Schwartz Curator of Photography. He was previously at the National Science and Media Museum, Bradford.
At the Rijksmuseum, we conduct cutting-edge research into our collection every day. For example, delving into the stories behind the photos or the purposes for which they were created. As a curator of photography, you connect history and art, making important themes from past and present visible. It's a challenging position where you bridge art, history, society, and the public.
You'll be responsible for the collection of photography from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries and closely involved in all aspects of scientific research, publication, and interpretation of works in this field. You'll also propose new acquisitions and play a significant role in exhibitions and presentations.
Your main tasks are:
Carefully managing the assigned collections and ensuring their registration and accessibility;
Conducting scientific research and publishing on photography;
Organizing and contributing to exhibitions and smaller presentations;
Sharing expertise with both specialists and a wider audience through publications, lectures, and tours;
Monitoring the art market and proposing acquisitions of photography for the museum;
Maintaining contacts with collectors;
Representing the Rijksprentenkabinet in the field.
Photo Oxford has appointed Katy Barron as its new director. She has been involved in Photo Oxford since 2021 and played a key role in the delivery of the last highly successful festival. Katy is a photography curator, Chair of the Board of Trustees of Photofusion and has worked with museums, galleries, festivals, collectors and artists. She studied at the Courtauld Institute and Magdalen College Oxford.
Paul Bullivant, chair of Photo Oxford said: "We are delighted to be working with Katy and look forward to sharing her passion, energy and ideas with you. I also want to take this opportunity to confirm that the next Photo Oxford Festival will take place in October and November 2025. Meanwhile we are running a series of exciting events with a range of partners during 2024 and in the run-up to the festival next year".
The National Trust has launched its new book 100 Photographs. The book was showcased with a public talk from national curator of photographs Anna Sparham at The Photography and Video Show on 17 March, followed by a launch event in partnership with the book's sponsor CEWE.
Spanning the history of photography from the 1840s to the present day, the book showcases 100 photographs chosen from the more than 250,000 held in collections at Trust properties. Alongside works by photographers such as Julia Margaret Cameron, Edward Chambré Hardman, Dorothy Wilding, Angus McBean and Jane Bown are remarkable images captured by less familiar practitioners. Professional studio portraits, landscapes and images of war sit beside family groups, domestic scenes and travel photographs by talented amateurs who provide glimpses into the way we have viewed and recorded the world over the last two centuries. Many of these photographs have only recently been discovered and are reproduced here for the first time. More than 25 per cent of the photographers highlighted are women.
The book is currently available through National Trust shops and then through bookshops from 4 April 2024.
Tate London has appointed Singaporean Charmaine Toh as Senior Curator International Art (Photography). She replaces Dr Yasufumi Nakamori who was appointed in 2018 and has returned to the United States.
Charmaine Toh has curated over 30 exhibitions ranging from small solo shows in independent spaces to large survey exhibitions in museums. At her former role as Senior Curator at National Gallery Singapore, she led the exhibitions Living Pictures: Photography in Southeast Asia (2022), Chua Soo Bin: Truths and Legends (2019) and Earth Work 1979 (2016) and contributed to Awakenings: Art in Society in Asia (2018-2019) and Siapa Nama Kamu: Art in Singapore since the 19th century (2015).
Prior to that, Toh curated exhibitions at ACC Gwangju (2015), the Fukutake House at the Setouchi Triennale (2013) and BankArt Yokohama (2011). She was also co-curator of the 2013 Singapore Biennale. With extensive commissioning experience, she has worked with artists such as Danh Vo, Ho Tzu Nyen, Erika Tan, Amanda Heng, Vertical Submarine, Li Hui and Matthew Ngui. Charmaine is also the founder and Director of The Art Incubator (2009-2015), where she worked with over 20 emerging artists to develop new work via residency programmes.
She received her PhD from the University of Melbourne. She is the author of Imagining Singapore: Pictorial Photography from the 1950s to the 1970s (Brill, 2023). She has published in numerous catalogues and journals, and has contributed to Survey Practices and Landscape Photography Across the Globe (Routledge, 2022) and An Alternative History of Photography (Prestel, 2022). She is the editor of History and Imagination: Modern Photography from Singapore (2021), Earth Work 1979 (2016) and Reflect/Refract: Essays on Photography (2013).
The Photographic Collections Network is a specialist subject network, providing support for UK photographic collections. PCN aims to ensure that the value of photographic collections is acknowledged and maximised for the public benefit, in order that people can understand their own heritage and that of others.
We are on the journey to becoming a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), and this will bring great opportunities for us to expand our reach and provide support for the UKs photographic collections and heritage. We are looking for people to help us to build this potential so we can better deliver on our aims. Are you the person that can help lead this change? We are looking to recruit Trustees to help steer our organisation during an exciting period in its development.
As part of PCNs commitment to supporting photographic collections and heritage, we need to develop our organisation and our sustainable future. As part of this journey we are looking to create a new board of trustees. We are also looking to secure long term sustainable premises that better support our activities and ambition. Currently we are seeking an interim Treasurer while we set up PCN as a CIO. There is the opportunity for the interim Treasure to apply to remain as PCN Treasurer when CIO status is achieved. At this time we will recruit additional Trustee roles.
Our ideal candidate for the interim Treasurer would have accountancy qualification or an equivalent level of experience and expertise in accountancy and charity finance and reporting. A person working in Finance, Governance, Legal, with Charity experience either through an executive or previous Trustee role would be suitable. The candidate Ideally would have professional experience with organisational Governance and Financial management. A background in the photography or understanding of collections sector is not necessary but an enthusiasm and interest in the charitable sector is. If you have any of the skills listed above, we would love to hear from you.
Interim Treasurer Role: Key to our fiscal responsibility we require a treasurer to oversee our finances as we become a CIO and continue to deliver our engagement programme for the Museums, Collections and Photographic Heritage sector supported by Arts Council England. The interim Treasurer will liaise with relevant staff, advisory board and Board members to ensure the financial viability of the organisation.
You will oversee the financial matters of the Photographic Collections Network in line with good practice and in accordance with the governing document and legal requirements, and report to the Board of Trustees at regular intervals about the financial health of the organisation. The interim Treasurer will ensure that effective financial measures, controls and procedures are put in place, and are appropriate for the charity.
PCN welcomes applications from people of all backgrounds and would love to hear from applicants who belong to groups underrepresented in the charitable sector.
As part of the Women and Worlds of Learning in Europe: From the Medieval to the Modern Day conference, Rose Teanby, a PhD student at De Montfort University, will present a paper on Friday, 12th April, titled 'A Woman’s Place?: Photographic Education in England 1839 – 1861'
Women and Worlds of Learning in Europe: From the Medieval to the Modern Day 12-13 April 2024 (|registration closes 31 March 2024) Oxford, History Faculty Building, George Street £8 (without conference dinner) Details: https://www.womenandworldsoflearning.com/
The Photographers’ Gallery has announced the appointment Amanda Gray as the new Chair of the Board of Trustees. Working closely with Director Shoair Mavlian, Amanda will lead the Board in supporting the Gallery’s vision to be the home for next generation photography.
Amanda Gray is a Partner at international law firm, Mishcon de Reya, specialising in art law and the related field of luxury assets. Amanda has been a trustee of the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA); is the Honorary Legal Counsel for Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft, Sussex; is the co-chair of the Art Lawyers Association; and is also a member of the Responsible Art Market committee, London Chapter.
Amanda Gray said: “It is such a pleasure to be joining The Photographers' Gallery to work with Shoair Mavlian and her team. The Photographers' Gallery has a rich and vibrant creative legacy of photographic programming, exhibitions and curatorship and it is an exciting time to be involved in the Gallery's next phase. Since 1971, The Photographers' Gallery has held a central and leading role in the history of photography. It is therefore such an honour to play a small part in this treasured institution's journey as it continues to flourish. The photographic image has never been more significant in witnessing and commentating on our society and the recent sell-out Daidō Moriyama show was indicative of that. As a visitor to the gallery in Great Newport Street many years ago, I could scarcely have imagined that I would find myself lucky enough to step into this role many years later. I have large shoes to fill and I hope I can achieve half as much as former Chairs, such as Matthew Stephenson and Michelle Shuttleworth, who have done so much for the Gallery.”
Director of The Photographers’ Gallery, Shoair Mavlian said: “I’m delighted to welcome Amanda Gray to The Photographers’ Gallery as our new Chair of Trustees. Amanda brings with her a wealth of experience which I’m sure will support the Gallery’s goals and purpose over the coming years. It is an exciting time for the Gallery and we look forward to welcoming Amanda into The Photographers’ Gallery community.”
The Photographers’ Gallery explores how photography is connecting, captivating and radically changing our world today. The Gallery’s programme and spaces – from exhibitions, events and digital platforms, to the galleries, shop and cafe – all explore the beauty, complexity and future of photography. Right outside the Gallery, the very best of contemporary photography is shown for free, day and night, in Soho Photography Quarter. tpg.org.uk
The UK's Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has published visitor numbers for its sponsored museums. The Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA) has also done the same. Of particular interest are those for the National Science and Media Museum, Bradford. Other photography venues such as the V&A Museum do not report individual gallery visitor numbers, and other venues report numbers in annual reports, or to sponsoring bodies such as Arts Council England.
NSMM:
Year
DCMS
ALVA
2019
439916
439916
2020
110092
110092
2021
95361
95,179
2022
177847
177,847
2023
93546
93,545
The NSMM closed in June 2023 with an expected re-opening date of late 2024, ready for 2025's Bradford Year of Culture.
ALVA has published visitor numbers back to 2006 and BPH has reported historical numbers in the past.
The Ben Uri Gallery and Museum recently hosted an interview with James Hyman, art historian, gallerist, curator and co-founder, with Claire, of the Centre of British Photography. The interview looked at James's early education, his career as a critic and art historian, and as a gallery owner. It then turned to the Hyman Collection (41m 50s), photography in Britain (42m 31s), and audiences for photography (44m 20s). James notes "photography is one of the best value areas of the enture art market".
The ethos and thinking behind the Centre for British Photography is explained (50m 10s) and James then turns to the current position of the Centre and its aspirations for the future (1h 00m 03s) which include educational partnerships, touring exhibitions and acquiring phootgraphers' archives.
The Jan/Feb 2024 issue of Stereo World carries new research by Rebecca Sharpe in to the Stamford photographer and stereographer Elizabeth Higgins (1828-1899). The research was prompted by the discovery of stereocards by Higgins dating from c1859.
Rebecca Sharpe, 'The hidden depths of Elizabeth Higgins (1828-1899). Early Lincolnshire stereo photographer' Stereo World, v.49, no. 4 (Jan-Feb) 2024, 12-19
Join the V&A for an exploration of the work of one of Vogue’s first and most influential fashion and portrait photographers. During his glittering career in Europe and America, George Hoyningen-Huene collaborated with the likes of Cecil Beaton, Horst P. Horst and Lee Miller, and befriended Hollywood’s brightest stars. V&A Curator Lydia Caston and Condé Nast Corporate Photography Director Ivan Shaw join author Susanna Brown to discuss Hoyningen-Huene’s extraordinary life and legacy.
This event celebrates the publication of the major new book from Thames & Hudson, George Hoyningen-Huene: Photography, Fashion, Film.
“In 2012, I found a piece of material in a rock pool that changed my life. Mistaking this moving piece of cloth for seaweed, started the recovery of synthetic clothing from around the coastline of Britain for the next ten years”.
Two hundred and two ‘specimens’ of clothing and garments recovered from one hundred and twenty-one beaches mimic different species of marine algae, with the intention to raise awareness about the over consumption of synthetic plastic clothing also referred to as ‘fast fashion’, which is currently having the greatest impact on global climate change.
After seeing an original copy of the book, ‘Photographs of British Algae, Volume 1’, by Anna Atkins, at The Royal Society in London, Barker was captivated by its detail and significance, for the way it changed how we looked at science in 1800’s, but more importantly for the possibility to re-create similar work that could engage how we look at science in connection with a present-day critical issue.
In this new presentation titled ‘Cyanotype Imperfections’, instead of the Atkins ‘Cyanotype Impressions’, the book includes 202 cyanotype images and 8 cyanotype text pages using original 1800’s J Whatman paper that Atkins used from the original Turkey Mill in Kent.
Art curators will be able to recover images on daguerreotypes, the earliest form of photography that used silver plates, after a team of scientists led by Western University learned how to use light to see through degradation that has occurred over time.
Research published in Scientific Reports – Nature includes two images from the National Gallery of Canada’s photography research unit that show photographs that were taken, perhaps as early as 1850, but were no longer visible because of tarnish and other damage. The retrieved images, one of a woman and the other of a man, were beyond recognition.
“It’s somewhat haunting because they are anonymous and yet it is striking at the same time,” said Madalena Kozachuk, a PhD student in Western’s Department of Chemistry and lead author of the scientific paper. The image is totally unexpected because you don’t see it on the plate at all. It’s hidden behind time,” continues Kozachuk. “But then we see it and we can see such fine details: the eyes, the folds of the clothing, the detailed embroidered patterns of the table cloth.”
The identities of the woman and the man are not known. It’s possible that the plates were produced in the United States, but they could be from Europe.
For the past three years, Kozachuk and an interdisciplinary team of scientists have been exploring how to use synchrotron technology to learn more about chemical changes that damage daguerreotypes.
Invented in 1839, daguerreotype images were created using a highly polished silver-coated copper plate that was sensitive to light when exposed to an iodine vapour. Subjects had to pose without moving for two to three minutes for the image to imprint on the plate, which was then developed as a photograph using a mercury vapour that was heated.
Kozachuk conducts much of her research at the Canadian Light Source (CLS) and previously published results in scientific journals in 2017 and earlier this year. In those articles, the team members identified the chemical composition of the tarnish and how it changed from one point to another on a daguerreotype.
“We compared degradation that looked like corrosion versus a cloudiness from the residue from products used during the rinsing of the photographs during production versus degradation from the cover glass. When you look at these degraded photographs, you don’t see one type of degradation,” said Ian Coulthard, a senior scientist at the CLS and one of Kozachuk’s co-supervisors. He is also a co- author on the research papers.
This preliminary research at the CLS led to today’s paper and the images Kozachuk collected at the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source where she was able to analyze the daguerreotypes in their entirety.
Kozachuk used rapid-scanning micro-X-ray fluorescence imaging to analyze the plates, which are about 7.5 cm wide, and identified where mercury was distributed on the plates. With an X-ray beam as small as 10×10 microns (a human scalp hair averages 75 microns across) and at an energy most sensitive to mercury absorption, the scan of each daguerreotype took about eight hours.
“Mercury is the major element that contributes to the imagery captured in these photographs. Even though the surface is tarnished, those image particles remain intact. By looking at the mercury, we can retrieve the image in great detail,” said Tsun-Kong (T.K.) Sham, Western’s Canada Research Chair in Materials and Synchrotron Radiation. He also is a co-author of the research and Kozachuk’s supervisor.
This research will contribute to improving how daguerreotype images are recovered when cleaning is possible and will provide a way to seeing what’s below the tarnish if cleaning is not possible. The prospect of improved conservation methods intrigues John P. McElhone, recently retired as the chief of Conservation and Technical Research branch at the Canadian Photography Institute of National Gallery of Canada. He provided the daguerreotypes from the Institute’s research collection.
“There are a lot of interesting questions that at this stage of our knowledge can only be answered by a sophisticated scientific approach,” said McElhone, another of the co-authors of today’s paper. “A conservator’s first step is to have a full and complete understanding of what the material is and how it is assembled on a microscopic and even nanoscale level. We want to find out how the chemicals are arranged on the surface and that understanding gives us access to theories about how degradation happens and how that degradation can possibly or possibly not be reversed.”
As the first commercialized photographic process, the daguerreotype is thought to be the first “true” visual representation of history. Unlike painters who could use “poetic licence” in their work, the daguerreotype reflected precisely what was photographed.
Thousands and perhaps millions of daguerreotypes were created over 20 years in the 19th century before the process was replaced. The Canadian Photography Institute collection numbers more than 2,700, not including the daguerreotypes in the institute’s research collection.
By improving the process of restoring these centuries-old images, the scientists are contributing to the historical record. What was thought to be lost that showed the life and times of people from the 19th century can now be found.
Image (top right): National Gallery of Canada//Western University. An image of a woman is recovered from a 19th-century daguerreotype that had tarnished almost beyond recognition. A novel process, developed at Western University and Canadian Light Source Inc, mapped its mercury content and brought the 'ghost' back to life.
(Below): Left: An image of a man is hidden in this tarnished 19th-century daguerreotype. A novel process, developed at Western University and Canadian Light Source Inc, mapped its mercury content and brought the 'ghost' back to life. Right: An image of a man is recovered from a 19th-century daguerreotype that had tarnished beyond recognition. A novel process, developed at Western University and Canadian Light Source Inc, mapped its mercury content and brought the 'ghost' back to life.
Mid-century comics on both sides of the Atlantic portrayed children as camera users through product advertisements, photography competitions, and—especially—fictional depictions of heroic child photographers. In the illustrated hands of comic characters like “Kid Click” and “Snapshot Susie,” cameras could figure as tools for conquest (paralleling weaponry and surveillance devices) or operate as metaphorical moral compasses for personal development, decency, and altruism. In this lecture, Annebella Pollen explores how these comic adventures, particularly when triangulated with the camera promotions and children’s photographs on parallel pages, offer a productive space for understanding children’s media production and the mediation of their world.
The call for a £500 stpiend to support research in to the Bill Douglas Centre for Cinema History collections closes at 12 noon on 18 March.
The Bill Douglas Cinema Museum at the University Exeter, UK, is both a public museum and a rich research resource for scholars of moving image history. The museum is named after the renowned filmmaker Bill Douglas and was founded on the extraordinary collection of material he put together with his friend Peter Jewell. In the twenty-five years since its opening, the museum has received donations from many sources and now has around 90,000 artefacts on the long history of the moving image from the seventeenth century to the present day.
Thanks to the support of the Bill Douglas and Peter Jewell Fund we are again able to offer a small number of stipends for 2024 for scholars, researchers, and practitioners to enable research using the collections at The Bill Douglas Cinema Museum. We are inviting applications for two categories of award:
UK stipends - available to academics, postgraduate students and other researchers based in the UK, and are worth up to £500 each.
International Stipends – available to scholars and other researchers from outside the UK and are worth up to £1500 each.
The monies are to be used for travel and accommodation costs incurred while visiting the Museum to undertake significant research that will be enhanced by access to its collections. Proposed research should contribute to publications or other demonstrable outcomes, such as films or artworks. Successful applicants will be required to write a blog post for the museum’s website about their research following their visit. You will find details of previous years’ stipends and the blogs that stipend holders contributed at http://www.bdcmuseum.org.uk/research/research-at-the-bill-douglas-cinema-museum/stipends-at-the-bill-douglas-cinema-museum/ The monies should be spent by the end of December 2024.
BPH has only just spotted this...Are you an experienced Senior Curator and a specialist in photography? Do you have experience of mounting exhibitions, conducting original research, and publishing on the history of photography? Are you actively engaged in widening access to photography and making it more inclusive? Then we want to hear from you.
This position is an ideal opportunity for an established Senior Curator to be part of our enthusiastic and dedicated team within Collection & Research. You’ll work across all four of our amazing Galleries based in the heart of Edinburgh.
In this role you will be researching, managing, and helping to use and share our exciting and extensive photography collection and related archives for our audiences. You’ll also represent the organisation at conferences / seminars. You’ll be responsible for our world-class collection of 55,000+ photographs and its growth in areas that fulfil our commitment to Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion.
You’re likely to have a wide network of contacts as well as experience in competing and securing funding through philanthropy and public grant-giving bodies. You must also have exhibition and publication experience with excellent communication skills.
Meet John Herschel, much less famous today than either his father or his aunt yet in his day he represented the very definition of what a scientist should be. In 1824, as the BRLSI began, he too was just starting out. On the 8 June, there will be a Conference dedicated to every aspect of the life & work of this great man, but for today let’s just get to know him. What did he do? Why should we care about him? What were his politics? What was his family life like? Come along on 3rd March and find out.
This introduction to John Herschel will prepare us for the all-day conference on Saturday 8th June 2024,
Emily Winterburn is one of the authors for the forthcoming Cambridge Companion to John Herschel. She is also the author of a biography of John’s aunt, Caroline Herschel (The Quiet Revolution of Caroline Herschel, 2017) and completed her PhD on the Herschel family in 2011. She is the former curator of astronomy at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. Today she is a teacher and writer living in Leeds. She is also honorary vice president of the Society for the History of Astronomy.
Rare early photographs of Chinese women from the Loewentheil Photography of China Collection will be exhibited for the first time in New York as part of Asia Week New York. Dragon Women: Early Chinese Photography curated by Stacey Lambrow runs from March 14th – May 15. Admission is free.
Dragon Women: Early Chinese Photography celebrates the Year of the Dragon and the representation of women in the earliest photography of China. This is the first exhibition devoted to the depiction of Chinese women in early photography. The 50 photographs include the first photographic portraits of Chinese women, most made in the 1860s and 1870s. Many have never before been shown. The exhibition examines women’s place in society in the late Qing dynasty and their depiction in historical photography of China. It also presents work by the few known early female photographers of China.
Highlights include a rare photograph by the first known Chinese female photographer, Mae Linda Talbot, and works by Hedda Morrison, Isabella Bird, and Eva Sandberg Xiao. Masterworks abound including photographs by Chinese and international artists such as Sze Yuen Ming Studio, Pun Lun Studio, A Chan Studio, Lai Fong, John Thomson, and Thomas Child. The exhibition showcases the diversity of Chinese women and their experiences during the final decades of imperial China.
The dragon is an integral part of Chinese culture. The origin of dragons in Chinese mythology extends back to the earliest recorded dynasties, where male and female dragons were revered as powerful and benevolent creatures created by the gods to govern the world. Unlike the evil, fire-breathing European dragon, the Chinese dragon is an auspicious and multifaceted figure. It is both powerful and benevolent, fierce and elegant. The dragon also symbolizes imperial power.
This exhibition held in the Year of the Dragon reclaims the feminine power of the dragon and honors all Chinese women. It includes iconic photographs of Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908) by her Court photographer Yu Xunling (c.1880-1943). Cixi, one of the most powerful women in Chinese history, was referred to as “Dragon Lady.” Some caricatured her as a uniquely sinister, manipulative, and cold-blooded ruler. However, scholars agree that the Empress’s contribution to empowering and advancing opportunities for women is an important part of her legacy, thereby revising this one-dimensional view.
The early photographic portraits of women in Dragon Women challenge the negative and shallow stereotype of the “dragon lady.” The term remains a pervasive stereotype, often used against women who are unapologetically driven or have agency and power. It is particularly pernicious as a Western stereotype of East Asian women.
The exhibition portrays and honors women of various ages, classes, and social circumstances. The diversity of the “dragon women” in the photographs more authentically reflects the power and complexity of the dragon.
For the majority of women at the end of the Qing dynasty, being photographed was off-limits for social and financial reasons. Qing society perpetuated the conservative ideas of previous dynasties, and the majority of women were isolated in their homes. Some of the women in these images chose to be photographed, while others submitted to the photographer for other reasons. Some of the photographs were made as personal family photographs and others were produced for popular consumption to portray the women as “exotic.” Regardless, the camera immortalized their images and offer us a rare and complicated view into the lives of Chinese women during a period of modernization in China.
Most late Qing dynasty photographs of Chinese women depict unnamed sitters and a great number of the portraits were created by photographers who at this time remain unidentified. As research into the history of photography of China advances, more of the names of the Chinese women appearing in nineteenth-century photographs will be discovered and more of China’s pioneering photographers will be identified. Certainly, more of the early photographers working in China will prove to be women.
The Loewentheil Photography of China Collection includes the largest selection of nineteenth-century photographs of Chinese women in the world. In photography’s most formative years Chinese women were involved in the art in a myriad of ways. Their presence exerted a profound influence on the development of the art of photography. Women worked alongside men in photography studios, sometimes as the wives and daughters of studio owners, or as printers, finishers, retouchers, colourists, camera operators, or studio managers. In addition, women participated as subjects of early photographs. Early photographs of Chinese women, rank among the greatest nineteenth-century photographs ever made.
Dragon Women: Early Chinese Photography. First Exhibition of the Earliest Photographs of Chinese Women 10 West 18th Street 7th Floor, 14 March – 15 May 2024 Opening Celebration March 15 from 6pm to 9pm, with a Lion Dance with rare Female Dancers at 7:00 https://loewentheilcollection.com/
About the Loewentheil Photography of China Collection
The Loewentheil Photography of China Collection, based in New York, is the finest and largest holding of historical photographs of China in private hands. It contains many thousands of photographs spanning the earliest days of paper photography from the 1850s through the 1930s. The majority date to before 1900, including the largest selection of nineteenth-century photographs of Chinese women in the world.
The University of Brighton's Centre for Design History is hosting a double professorial book launch on 17 April at M2. The event will launch Cold War Photographic Diplomacy: The U.S. Information Agency and Africa, by Darren Newbury and Art without Frontiers: The Story of the British Council, Visual Arts and a Changing World, by Annebella Pollen. It will be an opportunity to hear from the authors and celebrate the publication of their books.
