12 November 2013 – Royal Museums Greenwich (RMG) today acquired a world renowned and nationally significant collection of photographic and archive material. The Gibson archive presents one of the most graphic and emotive depictions of shipwrecks, lifesaving and its aftermath produced in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The material was acquired at the Sotheby's Travel, Atlases, Maps and Natural History Sale.

The archive of dramatic and often haunting images, assembled over 125 years (1872 to 1997) by four generations of the Gibson family, records over 200 wrecks - the ships, heroic rescues, survivors, burials and salvage scenes - off the treacherous coastline of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

The acquisition of this collection comprising of over 1360 glass and film negatives, complements the Museum’s existing, extensive historic photography collection, and creates an unprecedented opportunity for the Museum to further examine and explore the story of life at sea and the dangers experienced by seafarers through research, education and display projects.

John Gibson (1827 – 1920) founded the family photographic business in the 1860s and took his first photograph of a wreck in 1869. He apprenticed his two sons Alexander (1857 – 1944) and Herbert (1861 – 1937), who perfected the art of photographing wrecks, creating perhaps some of the most remarkable and evocative images of misadventure at sea. Among the items included in the collection is the ledger the Gibson brothers kept when taking the photographs, which contains records of the telegraph messages sent from Scilly and is full of human stories of disaster, courage and survival.

Having secured the archive RMG will initially conserve, research and digitize the collection, leading to a number of exhibitions to tour regional museums and galleries, especially those in the South West of England.

Lord Sterling of Plaistow, Chairman of the Royal Museums Greenwich, said:

“The acquisition of this remarkable archive will enable us to create a series of exhibitions that will travel across the country, starting with the South West. I am very pleased that the National Maritime Museum has been able to secure this wonderful collection for the nation, and I know that the Gibson family are delighted that their family archive will remain and be displayed in this country”.

The newly acquired material was purchased by the Museum for £122,500 (the estimated sale price was £100,000 - £150,000).

The National Media Museum, Bradford, has redefined its mission statement following the events of the summer which saw it being a candidate for closure before being reprieved. The museum's stated mission is to: explore the science, technology and art of the still and moving image and its impact on our lives. 

The statement is simple, clear and easy to understand and encapsulates its objectives removing some of the unnecessary baggage that had been added to its remit in recent years.  

George Eastman House announced today the appointment of Lisa Hostetler, PhD, as Curator-in-Charge of its Department of Photography. She will assume this role prior to year-end. 

Hostetler brings almost 20 years of academic and museum experience to her new position with George Eastman House. She is currently the McEvoy Family Curator for Photography at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.

Hostetler was previously curator of photographs at the Milwaukee Art Museum for seven years. Color Rush: 75 Years of Color Photography in America, her final exhibition and book project in Milwaukee, included 22 photographs from the George Eastman House collection. During her tenure at the museum, she also organized several other exhibitions, including Taryn Simon: Photographs and Texts, which toured internationally; Street Seen: The Psychological Gesture in American Photography, 1940–1959; Unmasked & Anonymous: Shimon & Lindemann Consider Portraiture; Photographs from the End of the Earth; In Living Color: Photographs by Saul Leiter; andThe American West 1871–1874: Photographs from the American Geographical Society Library.

“I met with many talented curators during our search process, but from its inception I considered Dr. Hostetler to be the leading candidate for this important position,” said Bruce Barnes, the Ron and Donna Fielding Director at George Eastman House. “I had spent time with her on several occasions while she was at the Milwaukee Art Museum and was extraordinarily impressed with her knowledge of the history of photography and sharp eye for contemporary art. Her Color Rush exhibition was perhaps the most beautiful photography survey I have seen, and her early career retrospective of the works of Taryn Simon was a stunning revelation.”

“I am honored to take the role of leading George Eastman House’s photography department into the future,” said Hostetler. “The museum’s collections are among the best in the world, and offer tremendous opportunities for scholarship, touring exhibitions, and online access. I am eager to make the most of the historic collection and share the institution’s renewed commitment to building its holdings of works by contemporary artists.”

Hostetler was co-author (with Katherine Bussard) of Color Rush: American Color Photography from Stieglitz to Sherman, author of Street Seen: The Psychological Gesture in American Photography, 1940–1959, and contributor to Animals Are Outside Today; Unmasked & Anonymous: Shimon & Lindemann Consider Portraiture; Louis Faurer, edited by Anne Tucker; and Reflections in a Glass Eye: Works from the International Center of Photography Collection.

From 2001 to 2005, Hostetler was a research associate in the department of photographs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she curated exhibitions on August Sander, Charles Sheeler’s contemporaries, and selections from the Gilman Paper Company Collection. She was registrar at the Howard Greenberg Gallery in New York City from 1999 to 2001.

Hostetler received a bachelor’s degree in art history, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from New York University and earned both a master’s degree and a doctorate in the history of art from Princeton University, where she studied under Professor Peter C. Bunnell and wrote her dissertation on the photographs of Louis Faurer. She has taught at New York University, Princeton University, and the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.

The National Media Museum is seeking a dynamic, creative and results-driven communications specialist to fulfil our (part time) Senior Marketing Executive job share role. As Senior Marketing Executive you will make a significant contribution to the realisation of our ambition of becoming the best Museum Group in the world. You will work with the Communications Manager and the Senior Marketing Executive to develop strategy, which has innovation and visitor insight right at its heart. You’ll lead, devise and deliver multiple integrated communications campaigns that have a strong digital bias, which when combined with traditional activity will exceed targets whilst enhancing the reputation of the Museum.

Working alongside your job share partner you will have shared line management responsibility for the Marketing Executive. We’re looking for a talented, highly motivated communications specialist with a proven track record for delivery, to fulfil the Senior Marketing Executive job share role. You will be required to work 15 hours per week, Wednesday to Friday.

The National Media Museum is part of the Science Museum Group (SMG) which is devoted to the history and contemporary practice of science, medicine, technology, industry and media. Incorporating the Science Museum, the National Railway Museum, the National Media Museum and the Museum of Science and Industry, we are a unique family of museums offering truly unique career opportunities.

Closing Date: 25 November 2013
Interviews: week commencing 9 December 2013.

Details: http://jobs.theguardian.com/job/4739882/senior-marketing-executive-job-share-/?utm_source=jbe&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2013-11-08&ProcessedTrackID=730805&cmp=EMCJOBEML281

Bonhams' auction of Leica and Classic Cameras on 22 November in Hong Kong includes two very rare Leica Luxus models, one of which is accompanied by the even rare Luxus carrying case. 

Following the huge success of the inaugural auction of Leica cameras held by Bonhams Hong Kong in November 2012 where a world record of HK$7,460,000 was achieved for a Leica Luxus I, The Leica and Classic Camera Auction will be held on 22 November at 6 pm at the Island Ballroom of the Island Shangri-La Hotel.

Leading the sale of this highly collectable commodity are again cameras made in very limited numbers. In addition to the legendary Leica Luxus, cameras from other top marques such as Nikon, Canon and Hasselblad will tempt aficionados. Highlights of the 83-lot sale include:

An extraordinarily rare Leica Luxus II, 1932
No. 88840. with 50mm f/3.5 Elmar lens, faux lizard skin body covering and gold plated fittings, and Leica Luxus crocodile camera case with brass fastening clip

HK$6,000,000-9,000,000

According to Leitz factory records, only four Leica Luxus IIs were made with serial numbers: 88840, 94573, 97313 and 98248. The whereabouts of the other three examples is currently unknown. 

Although the crocodile ever-ready case appears in various advertisements for Leica Luxus, this is the first example ever to come to light. The British owner of this camera was a keen amateur photographer who acquired this Leica soon after World War II and used it for many years.

The ledgendry Leica Luxus I, 1930
No. 37260 with 50mm f3.5 Elmar lens, faux lizard skin body covering and gold plated fittings 
HK$5,000,000-7,000,000

The Leica Luxus cameras were produced on special order only in very limited numbers - just 95 of them - between 1929 and 1930 and it is not know for certain how many have survived.

A Leica IIIf Black Swedish army body, 1956
A series of 100 Kaltefest ("winterized") Leica IIIf were produced in 1956 for the Swedish Army for arctic operations. 
HK$400,000-600,000

A Leica MP Hermes Edition, 2003
The "Edition Hermès" is a special edition of 500 silver-chrome LEICA MP cameras covered with exquisite Barenia calfskin supplied by the famed Parisian high-fashion house Hermès.
HK$85,000-125,000

A 'Jesse Owens' Leica R4 presentation camera set, 1986
600 sets were issued in 1986 to commemorate the golden jubilee of Jesse Owens' achievements at the 1936 Olympic Games.
HK$15,000-20,000

For more information please contact
Bonhams 
Mabel Au-Yeung
+852 9038 8939 
mabelay@gmail.com

See: 

Bonhams is to sell a Williamson New Type P.14 hand held aircraft camera, flown over Mount Everest on the 1933 Houston Expedition. The camera is included in a sale of Travel and Exploration on 4 December 2013. It is accompanied by paperwork and provenance and is estimated at £2000-4000.

See: http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/21102/lot/121/

A Research Seminar given by David Campany in the history of photography is taking place on 13 November. Admission is open to everyone.  ‘With photography the essence is done very quickly with a flash of the mind, and with a machine. I think too that photography is editing, editing after the taking. After knowing what to take you have to do the editing’. So said Walker Evans. Arguably the significance of modern photography is as much to do with the editing together of pictures as it is the pictures themselves. And in many ways the rise of the curator in contemporary art was foreshadowed long ago by the rise of the editor of photographs across visual culture, from magazine art directors, to art historians relying on reproductions, to photographers assembling their images into definitive bodies of work. David Campany will explore this question from a number of directions, historical and contemporary.

David Campany writes, curates exhibitions, makes art and teaches at the University of Westminster. His books include Walker Evans: the magazine work (Steidl 2013), Gasoline (MACK, 2013), Jeff Wall: Picture for Women (Afterall, 2010), Photography and Cinema (Reaktion, 2008) and Art and Photography (Phaidon, 2003). This year he has curated Mark Neville: Deeds Not Words at The Photographer's Gallery and a major show of the work of Victor Burgin at Ambika P3, London.

The History of Photography research seminar series aims to be a discursive platform for the discussion and dissemination of current research on photography. From art as photography and early photographic technology to ethnographic photographs and contemporary photography as art, the seminar welcomes contributions from researchers across the board, whether independent or affiliated with museums, galleries, archives, libraries or higher education, and endeavors to provide scholars with a challenging opportunity to present work in progress and test out new ideas.

The seminars usually take place once a term, on Wednesday evenings at 5.30pm in the Research Forum. The papers, and formal discussion, are followed by informal discussion and refreshments.

Organised by Sara Knelman and Prof Julian Stallabrass (The Courtauld Institute of Art)

Open to all, free admission

Wednesday, 13 November 2013, 5.30pm, Research Forum South Room, The Courtauld Institute of Art, Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 0RN

The Verge reports on Richard Balzar's collection of pre-cinema and magic lanterns. It shows a number of animated gifs of zoetrope strips and related items. 

http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/25/5027890/the-psychedelic-and-grotesque-proto-gifs-of-the-19th-century

De Montfort University's Photographic History Research Centre will be holding a conference in 2014 titled Exchanging Photographs: Making Knowledge. A call for papers will be made shortly. 

The 9th Seminar is organised by the Museu del Cinema, The Department of Geography, History & History of Art at the University of Girona (UdG), and the Spanish Ministry Economy and Competitiveness "La construcción del imaginario bélico en las actualidades de la Primera Guerra Mundial".

Girona, Spain - 14 and 15 November 2013. 

Details: http://www.museudelcinema.cat/eng/institut_seminari_2013.php

The Midlands3Cities Doctoral Training Partnership will be awarding 410 PhD studentships over a five year period to excellent research students in the arts and humanities. The DTP, a collaboration between De Montfort University and the universities of Nottingham, Nottingham Trent, Leicester, Birmingham and Birmingham City, provides research candidates with cross-institutional mentoring, expert supervision including cross-institutional supervision where appropriate, subject-specific and generic training, and professional support in preparing for a career.

The Photographic History Research Centre at De Montfort is inviting applications from students whose research interests include:

• Social and Cultural Practices of Photography
• Practising Photography in the Sciences
• History of Photographic Technology
• Historiographical Studies in Photography
• Industrial and Business History of Photography
• Cross-cultural Histories of Photography
• Amateur Photography
• Photography, Nationhood and Identity

The deadline for AHRC funding applications is 9 January 2014, by which time students must have applied for a place to study and have provided two references to a university within the DTP. For full details of eligibility, funding and research supervision areas, please visit www.midlands3cities.ac.uk or contact enquiries@midlands3cities.ac.uk

2013 marks the 125th anniversary of the Wolverhampton Photographic Society. To celebrate the occasion, an exhibition traces the rich and influential history of photography in Wolverhampton from the mid-19th century to the present day.

The exhibition has been generously supported by Heritage Lottery Fund.

On Saturday 16 November 2013 at 10.30am the RPS Historical Group has a special event arranged. Group members Roy Hawthorne and David Kingston will take attendees round the exhibition. Roy and David have also compiled an AV relating to Rejlander’s Two Ways of Life and their research into how he might have constructed it.

Lunch will be available at the nearby Bantock House Museum cafeteria and for those who wish to join us in the afternoon, viewings of photographic archives of Wolverhampton may be arranged by the Curator (depending on numbers).  For others, this is also an ideal opportunity to visit nearby Wightwick Manor (See National Trust website for details).There is no charge for the Gallery visit but booking is essential.  Please contact Geoff Blackwell, not later than 7th November 2013 if you wish to attend. (gblackwell@fastmail.fm or 0114 266 8655)

See: http://www.wolverhamptonart.org.uk/events/wolverhampton-photographic-society-presents-darkroom-digital/

Image:Oscar G. Rejlander - The Two Ways of Life, 1857. The Royal Photographic Society Collection © National Media Museum, Bradford / SSPL 

The Royal Photographic Society is hosting an exclusive 3D presentation and lecture on 1 November in London to celebrate the publication of the London Stereoscopic Company's Diableries: Stereoscopic Adventures in Hell by Dr Brian H May CBE, Denis Pellerin and Paula Fleming.  

The authors - led by Queen guitarist, astronomer and photo-historian Brian May - will present a Gothic Victorian underworld of temptation, seduction, retribution and devilish fun brought alive in colour and 3D. Learn about the origins and hidden meanings of these rare 1860s French photographs which depict an imaginary underworld populated by devils, satyrs and skeletons. 

Put on your 3D glasses and prepare to be surprised! 

The evening will also provide an opportunity to buy copies of the book and to have them signed by the authors.

This will be the first opportunity to hear the fascinating story of the diableries and to purchase the book which is published on Halloween, 31 October. The book is 280 pages with 500 photographs in colour and black and white and comes complete with an OWL stereo viewer designed by Brian May. 

Read more here or buy tickets online from The RPS shop here priced £15. 

The latest issue of The Royal Photographic Society's Imaging Science Journal carries three papers from the 2010 Niépce conference. The majority of the conference papers are published in two special issues of the ISJ (includes those in the issue shown right) and PhotoHistorian and can be purchased as a set from The Society's online shop here: http://www.rps.org/group/Historical/Niepce-conference

The Art Fund's Art Quarterly magazine publishes a great feature by Charles Darwent about the history of photography at the Science Museum ending up it's new London Media Space.

The article is available to download here: http://www.artfund.org/about-us/art-quarterly

On Wednesday, 30 October Tate Britain is hosting a live hang-out with fashion photographer Miles Aldridge, Tate curator of Photography Simon Baker and art critic Miranda Sawyer, as part of the ongoing ‘Meet Tate Britain’ series. British artist Fiona Crisp, HotShoe editor Gregory Barker and renowned instagrammer Michael O’Neal will also be hanging out live to discuss the importance of photography as an artistic discipline.

Viewers can tune in from anywhere in the world to watch the discussion at 20:00 – 20:30. This is the third in a series of hang-outs which explore the relationship between art and wider creative spheres. For more information please visit: http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/special-event/photography-meets-art-hangout-on-air

An accompanying video will also be released during the day featuring Miles Aldridge as he embarks on a brand new project inspired by Tate collection piece The Carousel by Mark Gertler. This exclusive footage will offer viewers an insight into Miles’ photographic practise and the inspiration he gains from the collection at Tate Britain. It will go live on the 30th here 

See more here: http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/special-event/photography-meets-art-hangout-on-air

This is the third in our new series of books exploring key aspects of both contemporary and historic photography. With 480 pages and more than 100 colour illustrations The Photograph and The Album: Histories, Practices, Futures is a perceptive and stimulating guide to understanding that most pervasive photographic format, the photo album. Becoming "increasingly unruly", it has survived for over 150 years, from the first experimental albums of the 1850s to today's interactive, mobile applications. 

Through the placing of single images in sequence, the photo album is the narrative format par excellence. And, as this book demonstrates, its narratives embrace the social, the historical, the sexual and the political. With contributions from twenty respected international authors - academics, curators, photographers, collectors, researchers and writers - The Photograph and The Album examines the topic in both visual and written form, spanning historic practice, present-day creation, and future trends.

More here: http://www.museumsetc.com/products/album

PUBLICATION DETAILS

Title: The Photograph and The Album: Histories, Practices, Futures
Editors: Jonathan Carson, Rosie Miller & Theresa Wilkie
ISBN: 978-1-907697-91-3 [paperback] | 978-1-907697-92-0 [hardback] | 978-1-907697-93-7
Pages: 480
Colour illustrations: 110 
Size: 203 x 127 mm 
Price: £39.95 [eBook] | £49.95 [paperback] | £79.95 [hardback]  
Publisher: MuseumsEtc 

Problem ordering online? Download our Order Form.

Box of Light which runs from 25-27 October at the Library of Birmingham is a celebration of the pre-cinema,magic lantern and early cinema. A series of events, talks workshops and activities taking place throughout the weekend. The event coincides with the Magic Lantern Society's Convention.

Library of Birmingham and The REP 25 – 27 October 2013

To coincide with the Magic Lantern Society’s annual conference in Birmingham, Flatpack Festival presents Box of Light, a  weekend full of events, workshops and activities celebrating early cinema.

Before the days of film, the magic lantern was an important source of entertainment, using glass slides to create moving images and visual tricks. Birmingham played a key role in this pre-cinema world, producing thousands of lanterns for export, leading to the birth of the flipbook, and eventually the cinema. 

Box of Light Variety Show

25 October

7.30 – 9.30pm – £8

Studio Theatre, Library of Birmingham, Centenary Square, Broad Street, Birmingham, B1 2ND  

An evening of edification and entertainment featuring acclaimed performer Professor Heard, who will provide a whistle-stop history of lantern shows and explain how they helped pave the way for cinema. This will be followed by the Physioscope, a Victorian experiment with light and mirrors recreated for the first time in a century by Roderick MacLachlan, and the finale of the show is provided by French artist Julien Maire, whose Open Core performance includes a live dissection of a video projector. 

Birmingham de Lux

Saturday 26 October 11am and 1.30pm, £5

Birmingham de Lux is Ben Waddington’s exploration into the city’s people, locations and moments that led up to the creation of cinema. The story of the transition from theatre to picture house is one of bold experimentation, imaginative use of simple devices, intriguing prototypes and assorted forgotten wonders that prefigure our long-term fascination with the moving image. The tour takes place in and around the city centre and lasts approximately 90 minutes.

Projecteo

26 October

1.30pm – Free (bookable)

Designer Benjamin Redford will be giving a talk about his ingenious miniature slide projector which has proved to be an online sensation and a big hit on Kickstarter. In response to modern technology and the craze for Instagram, Benjamin has created a tiny projector to share Instagram pictures called the ‘Projecteo’. This analogue approach works by creating wheels of slide film to hold up to 9 images, which can be watched and enjoyed as a slideshow

An unparalleled archive of shipwreck images will be presented for sale at Sotheby’s London auction on 12 November 2013. Taken by four generations of the Gibson family of photographers over nearly 130 years, the 1000 negatives record the wrecks of over 200 ships and the fate of their passengers, crew and cargo as they travelled from across the world through the notoriously treacherous seas around Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly between 1869 and 1997. Such is the power and allure of the Gibson’s photographs that these images have captured the imagination of some of the UK’s most celebrated authors.

At the very forefront of early photojournalism, John Gibson and his descendants were determined to be first on the scene when these shipwrecks struck. Each and every wreck had its own story to tell with unfolding drama, heroics, tragedies and triumphs to be photographed and recorded – the news of which the Gibsons would disseminate to the British mainland and beyond. The original handwritten eye-witness accounts as recorded by Alexander and Herbert Gibson in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries will be sold alongside these images. The archive will be sold as a single lot in Sotheby’s Travel, Atlases, Maps and Natural History sale, and is estimated to achieve between £100,000 and £150,000.

The Gibson family passion for photography was passed down through an astonishing four generations from John Gibson, who purchased his first camera 150 years ago.

Born in 1827, and a seaman by trade, it is not known how or where John Gibson acquired his first camera at time when photography was typically reserved for the wealthiest in society, however we do know that by 1860 he had established himself as a professional photographer in a studio in Penzance. Returning to the Scillies in 1865, he apprenticed his two sons Alexander and Herbert in the business, forging a personal and professional unity which would be passed down through all the generations which followed. Inseparable from his brother until the end, it is said that Alexander almost threw himself into Herbert’s grave at his funeral in 1937.

The family’s famous shipwreck photography began in 1869, on the historic occasion of the arrival of the first Telegraph on the Isles of Scilly. At a time when it could take a week for word to reach the mainland from the islands, the Telegraph transformed the pace at which news could travel. At the forefront of early photojournalism, John became the islands’ local news correspondent, and Alexander the telegraphist - and it is little surprise that the shipwrecks were often major news. On the occasion of the wreck of the 3500-ton German steamer, Schiller in 1876 when over 300 people died, the two worked together for days – John preparing newspaper reports, and Alexander transmitting them across the world, until he collapsed with exhaustion. Although they often worked in the harshest conditions, travelling with hand carts to reach the shipwrecks - scrambling over treacherous coastline with a portable dark room, carrying glass plates and heavy equipment – they produced some of the most arresting and emotive photographic works of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

See the lot description at: 

http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/lot.50.html/2013/travel-atlases-maps-natural-history-l13405