The Photographers' Gallery in London re-opens to the public today after a major refurbishment and rebuilding programme. Speaking to BPH at the launch yesterday Brett Rogers, Director, said that the refurbishment has exceeded her expectations.

The building has been extended and the first major exhibition over two floors is Burtynsky's Oil which runs to 1 July. The new space does full justice to the large format colour prints.

An extended print room, bookshop and cafe add to the venue and the latter seems set to to become a great meeting place for photographers. 

See: http://www.photonet.org.uk/

Life Online,at the National Media Museum, Bradford, is designed by NRNDesign  The gallery is designed to explore the social, technological and cultural impact of the Internet. This permanent gallery traces the history of the Internet, looking at how it has changed people's lives and tracking the latest trends online.
 The gallery covers two spaces within the National Media Museum; a permanent exhibition on the ground floor and a changing temporary exhibition space on level 7. 
The permanent exhibition tracks the history of the Internet, from the first experimental messages to the rise of modern social networking. A range of interactives explore the story of the Internet, whilst a timeline of objects showcases the evolution of Internet and computing technology.


Read more:
http://www.dexigner.com/news/25134#ixzz1v9pJB8ek


The Media Space benefit auction held at Christie's last night realised £370,200. After a reception and short speeches from Ian Blatchford, director of the Science Museum and Michael G Wilson OBE the auctioneer, Philippe Garner of Christie's, knocked down sixty lots. The money raised will be used to support the National Media Museum's new space at London's Science Museum which is scheduled to open in March 2013 (see: http://britishphotohistory.ning.com/profiles/blogs/media-space-the-first-view-of-the-space)

The highest price was achieved by Mark Cohen's True Color, 2008 at £60,000, followed by Luc Delahaye's 132nd Ordinary Meeting of the Conference at £24,000 and Irving Penn's portrait of Cecil Beaton at £20,000. A calotype by W H F Talbot realised £15,000.

The full results can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/8xfdajl

Photo: Michael Pritchard

Auction house Christie’s is working with the Science Museum and the National Media Museum, Bradford, to present a benefit sale of Photographs 1840s to the Present which will be sold on the evening of Wednesday 16 May to raise funds for the new MEDIA SPACE that will open at the Science Museum in London in Spring 2013. The group offered comprises 61 remarkable images which span works by the photographic icons of the 19^th and 20^thcentury, through to leading contemporary names. The auction is expected to realise in excess of £300,000. Christie’s Photographs sale will also take place on the 16 May, in the afternoon, please click here for the separate press release.

The auction is by invitation only but bidding will be accepted via the internet and on commission. The e-catalogue is available here: http://tinyurl.com/cczybjh

Philippe Garner, Christie’s International Head of Photographs: “Christies is proud to be entrusted with this important benefit sale to which so many artists, gallerists, dealers and collectors have donated wonderful works. MEDIA SPACE is an inspiring new suite of galleries and performance spaces for independent thinkers, practitioners, pioneers of technology, writers, agenda setters, and young creative professionals on the design spectrum. It is an investment not only in the capital’s rich cultural offerings but also a further safeguard of photographic history – this will be a remarkable venue for exhibitions which draw on national collections, as well as providing a focused centre for the study of creative media.”

Ian Blatchford, the Science Museum Director: MEDIA SPACE will be a landmark over the next decade, combining the world-class collections of the National Media Museum with the exceptional and iconic space of the Science Museum.”

The most valuable individual work of the auction is print 5, from the sold-out edition of 5, of132^nd Ordinary Meeting of the Conference by Luc Delahaye, the recipient of many prestigious awards who has exhibited widely, most recently at Tate Modern in 2011 (estimate: £20,000-30,000, illustrated left). Having worked for many years for the photographic collective Magnum, Delahaye’s large-format photographs explore new ways of representing socio-political events, incidents and situations, specifically from Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine.  

Dating to circa 1846, the earliest work is Bust of Paatroclus by William Henry Fox Talbot the photographic pioneer who invented the calotype negative-positive print process, through which the present work is created (estimate: £10,000-15,000). A further rare 19^thcentury work is General Sir James Simpson, circa 1855, by Roger Fenton (estimate: £1,500-2,000).

Leading the 20^th century works is a celebrated image by Irving Penn of his fellow artistCecil Beaton, which conveys Penn’s respect for the photographer whom he considered ‘an acute reporter of his time and milieu’ (estimate: £15,000-20,000). Another important work, in excellent condition, is Ten Photographs: 1923-1932, a portfolio by Rudolf Koppitz; (estimate: £8,000-12,000).

20^TH CENTURY
Further 20^th century highlights include, from left to right: Portugal, 1976, by Josef Koudelka (estimate: £10,000-15,000); Untitled (Ship it on the Frisco), from ‘Los Alamos’, 1965-1974 and Untitled, from ‘Southern Suite’, 1981, both by William Eggleston (each with an estimate of £8,000-12,000); Le corps robot descending stairs, Monte Carlo, 1995, by Helmut Newton (estimate: £6,000-8,000) and Henri Matisse, Vence, France, 1944, by Henri Cartier-Bresson (estimate: £6,000-8,000).     

CONTEMPORARY
The rich array of contemporary works span, from left to right: Anna, Red Fragment, 2012by Richard Learoyd (estimate: £15,000-20,000); Battersea Power Station, 1997, by Jonathan Anderson and Edwin Low (estimate: £10,000-15,000) and The Wailing Wall, Jerusalem, Mini Israel, Latrun, Israel 2007 by Taryn Simon (estimate: £7,000-9,000) toTeenage boy in Vondelpark, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, May 2, 2006 by Rineke Dijkstra (estimate: £15,000-20,000).

View Old Master painting through a new lens with London's National Gallery's first major exhibition of photography co-curated by Christopher Riopelle, National Gallery Curator for Post-1800 Painting, and Hope Kingsley from the Wilson Centre for Photography. Opening on 31 October 2012 the exhibition explores work by early photographers from the mid-19th century and the most exciting contemporary artists working with photography, alongside historical painting. It takes a provocative look at how photographers use fine art traditions, including Old Master painting, to explore and justify the possibilities of their art.


Work by leading photographers, such as Martin Parr, Craigie Horsfield, Sam Taylor-Wood, Richard Billingham, Julia Margaret Cameron and Gustave Le Gray will be on display beside key works from the National Gallery collection.

Paintings and early and contemporary photographs are presented together according to traditional genres such as portraiture, still life, nudes and landscape, highlighting the universality of the themes and influences across all the works, both past and present.

Drawing attention to one particular and rich strand of photography’s history – that of the influence and inspiration of historical painting – the exhibition features major early works by the greatest British and French photographers alongside work by an international array of contemporary artists. It includes new photography and video specially commissioned for the exhibition and on public display for the first time, plus works rarely seen in the UK.

Exceptionally, three ‘interventions’ of contemporary photographs by Richard Billingham, Craigie Horsfield and Richard Learoyd will be displayed within the Gallery’s collection, juxtaposed with great 19th-century paintings by 
Constable, Degas and 
Ingres .

The show includes almost 90 photographs alongside selected paintings from the National Gallery’s collection. Key photographs will come from the collection of the Wilson Centre for Photography, with loans from Tate, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Media Museum in Bradford, Fundació La Caixa in Spain, and direct from the photographers themselves.

There is an interview view Colin Wiggins here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/may/13/photography-painting-national-gallery-exhibition and more at the National Gallery's website here: http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/seduced-by-art-photography-past-and-present

Image: Thomas Gainsborough’s Mr and Mrs Andrews (c1750), which will be juxtaposed with work by Martin Parr from 1991. Photograph: © National Gallery, London

Photographs are probably the most ubiquitous and far-reaching records of the colonial past. They trace the experiences of a vast range of people touched by European colonial expansion and domination, both colonised and colonisers.How is this record understood in public histories? What is its role in the way contemporary European cultures configure their pasts for the benefit of their futures?

This new website explores the different ways in which photographs of the colonial past have been used by museums, as spaces of public history, to communicate and interpret the colonial past in a postcolonial and multicultural Europe. Intended for curators, heritage managers, teachers an students, this resources has been built in response to the concerns of curators, debates about difficult histories in museums, the role of photographs in the museum space, and especially, key questions about the representation of the colonial past in museums as vectors of public history. The resource offers a unique comparative character that is the result of a collaborative research project, funded by HERA (Humanities in the European Research Area), in the United Kingdom, The Netherlands and Norway, all of which have very different colonial histories and postcolonial engagements.

See: http://photoclec.dmu.ac.uk 

A century-old collection of photographs of India has been discovered in the RCAHMS archive. The rare and fragile glass plate negatives, which date back to around 1912, show life on the subcontinent at the high point of the British Raj.

The 178 negatives were found in a shoebox for a pair of grey, size 9,Peter Lord slip-on shoes, and were stored in their original five-by-eight-inch plate boxes, wrapped in copies of The Statesman newspaper dating from 1914. Founded in 1875, The Statesman is one of India’s largest circulation English language newspapers, and is still published today.

Highlights from the imagery include celebrations for the visit of King George V and Queen Mary to Calcutta in 1912 – the only visit by a British monarch to India as Emperor of the subcontinent – with the city’s buildings lit up at night in tribute; ships arriving at the Chandpal Ghat, the main landing place for visitors to Calcutta along the Hooghly river; pilgrims gathered for a religious festival on the Maidan, the large urban park at the centre of Calcutta; and merchants selling their wares outside the eleventh century Jagganath Hindu temple in Orissa.

RCAHMS architectural historian Clare Sorensen said, "We don't know for sure how the negatives came to be in our collection. We receive archive material from countless different sources, from architectural practices to generous donations from the public, and sometimes take large amounts of material in at once, and often documentation for historical deposits does not exist.

"Over time all this new material will be inspected and catalogued as part of our collection and then made available to the public. It's fantastic that a small shoe-box contained such a treasure-trove of photographic imagery, but in some ways it's not unsual. Our experience as an archive has shown us that some of the most interesting discoveries can be made in the most unlikely of places."

Research by RCAHMS is ongoing into the identity of the photographer and the origins of the collection. Anyone with further information should contact clare.sorensen@rcahms.gov.uk. As the negatives were still wrapped in newspapers from 1914, it is possible that they were transported back to Britain from India at this time, and have remained unopened until now.

All 178 negatives have now been digitised, and a selection of the best images are in an online gallery.

Senior Photography Conservator, International Media Museum, Qatar Museums Authority, Doha, Qatar. The IMM possesses one of the most outstanding and valuable photographic collections in the region and one that ranks with major collections through the world. The photographs are of exceptional quality and span from the 19th century to present. The collection includes photographs from early daguerreotypes through albums and photography - illustrated books to contemporary colour photographs and photographic advertising poster. Also IMM possesses a collection of films and photographic and film technology as well as a significant rare book collection.

The IMM is seeking a suitably qualified and experienced candidate to work full-time in collaboration with the Head Photography Conservator on the long term preservation and restoration planning of the collections.

Job Responsibilities

In conjunction with the head conservator, identifies problems and suggests appropriate approach based on established treatment standards. Proposes and carries out treatments and repairs to photography materials with minimal supervision and in accordance with accepted standards for conservation practice. Designs and makes complex, custom-fit enclosures for fragile materials bearing in mind the unique needs of those formats and their chemical interactions with the materials available for construction. Selects and uses appropriate specialized tools and equipment for the treatment task; this includes but is not limited to matt cutter machine, ultrasonic welder, suction table; may also perform maintenance on this equipment.

Examines materials through a set of visual techniques and as appropriate, using specialized equipment such as stereoscopes and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy. Assists in the preparation of photography materials for exhibition. Assists with disaster recovery operations, following standard recovery procedures.

Required Education and Experience:

Bachelor Degree in Photograph or Paper Conservation from a recognized art conservation training program or equivalent and 5 years of related work experience in the examination and treatment of photographic works.

Required Skills and Abilities

Well developed practical skills are essential and the ability to carry out complex treatments with limited supervision. A broad knowledge of materials and methods used in the photographic technology is essential, as well as communication and organization skills. Computer skills including experience in word processing and databases is essential.

Enquiries related to this positionshould be directed to: Maria Matta, Head Photography Conservator, International Media Museum (IMM), Qatar Museums Authority, Doha, Qatar. Tel: +974 44525881 or email: mmatta@qma.org.qa

Please note that the required languages used in Doha are in English or Arabic.

Bob Lansdale and Louise Freyburger are trying to research this image. They writes...We know the name of Regiment – the 53rd (Shropshire) Regiment of Foot, stationed in London, Ontario, CANADA at the time of the Fenian Raids (1866-1870). The tintype was found in a letter in a staircase when they demolished an old barracks. It made the newspapers when found in 1947. The mystery is why it was never mailed.  The letter was from “No 354 John Banks C Company 53rd Regt” addressed to his "sister" “Mrs [Charles] Rayner/Pantile House/Barling near Rochford/Essex/England,” dated August 24, 1867. 

We wonder if there are duplicates of this image which can offer further information. Can anyone add to our information about the Regiment and the people?  If so, I would be delighted to hear from you regarding my research of this lost tintype that the soldier's sister never got to see.  Its for an article in Photographica Canadiana, the journal of the Photograhic Historical Society of Canada (PHSC).

With just under one month to go before the London Festival of Photography opens the programme is now available. In addition a wonderful range of exhibitions there are two events of particular note. On 21 June John Falconer, Lead Curator at the British Library will be talking on Henry Fox Talbot (see: http://www.lfph.org/diary/henry-fox-talbot-intimate-talk-by-john-falconer) and on 24 June 'Professor' Mervyn Heard will be demonstrating the magic lantern (see: http://www.lfph.org/diary/the-secret-life-of-the-magic-lantern-the-exotic-the-erotic-and-the-bizarre) As both events are likely to be popular BPH readers are advised to book early. 

Full details of the Festival can be found here: http://www.lfph.org 

Middlesex University is seeking a Professor or Reader in the Practice or History and Theory of Photography. Our vision for the future is clear: to be internationally outstanding in teaching, research and knowledge transfer. We are proud of our research achievements and are looking for over 50 Professors and Readers, alongside Senior Lecturers and Lecturers to further strengthen research across the University.

To be appointed, you will need to be an outstanding researcher for your stage of career, ambitious for yourself, enthusiastic about collaboration, keen to ensure that your research makes an impact beyond academia, and committed to helping us achieve our vision. In addition to welcoming applications from outstanding individual researchers, we would also welcome approaches from established research teams.

The advertised post is full time unless otherwise stated.

School of Art and Design 

With roots in the Hornsey College of Art, we have been enriching the creative, cultural and intellectual life of London and beyond for over 130 years. The School has thriving teaching and research and strong industry links in animation, fine art, fashion, graphic design, illustration, interior architecture and photography.

Our vision is to develop world-class research and teaching, underpinned by enviable links with the creative industries. The School is based in our £80m Grove building, providing unmatched facilities for art and design education and research. 

For an informal discussion please contact Dr Maggie Butt, Deputy Dean M.Butt@mdx.ac.uk 

Professor or Reader, in the Practice or History and Theory of Photography - A&D_7

Further information

An application form, job description and directions on how to apply for these posts are available by clicking 'Apply Online' here: http://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/AEJ755/professor-or-reader-in-the-practice-or-history-and-theory-of-photography-aandd_7/.

A major photographic collection assembled by Eric and Louise Franck has been promised as a donation to Tate it was announced yesterday. The outstanding collection of photographs of London include iconic works by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Frank and Irving Penn. A selection from the collection, by photographers for whom London was a foreign city, will be exhibited in Another London opening at Tate Britain on 27 July 2012. 

Created over twenty years, The Eric and Louise Franck London Collection comprises in the region of 1400 photographs by 120 photographers and spans the period from the 1880s to the 2000s. The collection is unified by its subject matter: the photographs document the lives and communities of a single city, London. The estimated value of the gift to Tate is over £1million and comprises more than two thirds of the entire collection – the largest gift of photography ever made to Tate. The remaining work in the collection will be acquired on a purchase basis.

The Eric and Louise Franck London Collection will more than double Tate’s holdings of photography and will form a significant basis on which to build. This donation from Eric and Louise Franck follows recent gifts of a group of photographs by Don McCullin and a major vintage print of London by Henri Cartier-Bresson as well as contemporary film works by Tacita Dean and Jaki Irvine gifted to Tate in 2007. 

Highlights of the collection include Henri Cartier-Bresson’s Waiting in Trafalgar Square for the Coronation Parade of King George VI 1937, Bruce Davidson’s Girl with Kitten 1962, Elliot Erwitt’s Bus Stop, London 1962, Robert Frank’s London (Child Running from Hearse) 1951 and Irving Penn’s Charwomen, London 1950.   The majority of the works in the collection are from the 20th-century and include those by some of the century’s finest photographers such as Ellen Auerbach, Eve Arnold, Ian Berry, Dorothy Bohm, Bill Brandt, Horacio Coppola, Bruce Davidson, Elliott Erwitt, Martine Franck, Robert Frank, Stephen Gill, Karen Knorr, Marketa Luskacova, Roger Mayne,Irving Penn, Chris Steele Perkins, Marc Riboud, George Rodger and Chris Shaw.

The collection also contains work by lesser known but historically significant figures from places as diverse as East and West Europe, the Soviet Union, The United States, Latin America, Africa and the Caribbean.

As well as being a unique document of London and its communities, this collection demonstrates the technical skill, sensitivity and originality of photographers in the face of a subject as overwhelming, diverse and complex as London. It also provides an important survey of photographic processes like cyanotypes, albumen prints, silver gelatin prints and colour prints.

Nicholas Serota, Director, Tate said “In recent years, photography has become central to Tate’s activity in relation to exhibitions and the development of Tate’s Collection. The acquisition of The Eric and Louise Franck London Collection significantly enhances our holdings of photography in important areas both in terms of particular photographers and iconic works. We are incredibly grateful to Eric and Louise Franck who have been extremely generous in promising this gift and others before it.”

Simon Baker, Curator, Photography and International Art said “This collection is completely unique, with both an intense focus on London as a subject and great diversity in the range of backgrounds and approaches of the photographers included. It will fundamentally transform Tate’s holdings of photographs, and make a major contribution to our photography acquisitions strategy, adding at a stroke substantial bodies of work by some of the twentieth century’s most important photographers.“

Eric Franck said “Louise and I have a long association with Tate, and we are delighted to be able to make such a significant impact to Tate’s permanent photography collection with this promised gift. It is thanks to Louise that this collection exists as it was following her initial suggestion that we began to collect works depicting London.”

The Tate appointed its first photography curator, Simon Baker, in 2009, and formed a Photography Acquisitions Committee in 2010.

Eric Franck has been a key figure on the international art scene for many years. Since 1994, he has owned Eric Franck Fine Art, dealing predominantly in 20th-century photography and photographic literature. He owned Galerie Eric Franck, a contemporary art gallery in Geneva from 1982 to 1994 and co-founded Galerie Franck & Schulte in Berlin in 1990. Franck is also an award-winning film and theatre producer. His production credits include Palermo oder Wolfsburg (Dir. Werner Schroeter, 1980) which won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 1980. Franck’s sister, photographer Martine Franck was married to Henri Cartier-Bresson and Eric Franck is an advisor to the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation in Paris. Louise Baring (Franck) is a journalist and has written two photography books: Martine Franck (published in 2007) and Norman Parkinson (published in 2009). Louise Baring is working on a new book to be published in 2013 on the Dutch photographer Emmy Andriesse.

Charlotte Cotton, the former Director of the National Media Museum's Media Space in London who was to have been the keynote speaker at the Association for Photography in Higher Education 2012 conference and AGM has pulled out of the event. The APHE is currently seeking a replacement. 

The APHE event is titled: Photographic Futures: Visual Literacy for the Creative Industries and will be held at the University of Derby from 11-13 July. 

Details: http://www.aphe.ac.uk/

At the Kraszna-Krausz Book Awards last night the publisher Dewi Lewis was honoured for his outstanding contribution to publishing. Gerry Badger (see right)made the presentation to Lewis who paid tribute to his business partner and wife Carole. Elsewhere Carleton Watkins: The Complete Mammoth Photographs, Weston Naef and Christine Hult-Lewis (Getty Publications) won the prize for the best photography book. 

The ceremony was part of the Sony World Photography Awards held at a black tie event in London. During the main Awards photographer William Klein was presented with an outstanding achievement award. 

For more information see: http://www.kraszna-krausz.org.uk/ and http://www.worldphoto.org/

Photoworks is recruiting for a full-time fixed-term role to work closely with the Director and Programme Team to develop and deliver the Brighton Photo Biennial in October 2012. The successful applicant will play an integral role in the development of a programme of activities to encourage participation and engagement. Application deadline: 21 May 2012.

Context: Following a recent successful bid to Arts Council England (ACE), Photoworks has merged with Brighton Photo Biennial, a move which recognises both organisations' proven track records in promoting and celebrating excellence in photography.

The merger of Photoworks and BPB presents a unique opportunity to position the new organisation strategically in a global market with key areas of development identified as unique artistic vision, innovative content, digital strategy, audience development and expansion, commercial growth and diversification of funding streams to reduce future dependency on government funding.

We embrace all kinds of photography. Commissioning is at the heart of the organisation. Collaborating with a broad range of photographers, artists and partners, we produce the Brighton Photo Biennial, commission artists and photographers, publish a biannual magazine and books and have a strong educational and participation agenda. The organisation encourages debate, inspires new thinking about photographic and visual culture and reaches out to the widest possible audience locally, nationally and internationally.

Job Title: Programme & Participation Co-ordinator

Reporting to: Director

Responsible for:  Interns and Volunteers

Purpose of the Post: The Programme & Participation Co-ordinator will work closely with the Director and Programme Team to develop and deliver the Brighton Photo Biennial in October 2012. They will play an integral role in the development of a programme of activities to encourage participation and engagement. 

Main Responsibilities: 

Working with the Director and Programme Team to develop and deliver an integrated participation programme for the Brighton Photo Biennial.

Research and develop fundraising opportunities for all projects.

Manage project budgets, ensuring they come in within the available resources.

Develop working relationships with selected schools, FE and HE institutions in the region.

Develop meaningful and strategic relationships with the wider community, identifying and targeting key groups.

Deliver a programme of talks and conferences throughout the Biennial.

Support the Programme Team in the delivery of the Brighton Photo Biennial exhibitions, events and projects.

Assist the Programme Team in the delivery of our magazine Photoworks.

Ensure the strategy for developing audiences for all participation projects is implemented and monitored.

To be responsible for the monitoring and evaluation of all projects and write the required reports to funders and partners.

Recruit and manage all volunteers for the Biennial.

Represent the organisation at external meetings and events where appropriate.

Assist other staff in the efficient day-to-day running of the organisation.

Person Specification:

Significant experience of directly managing participation and education projects.

Understanding and engagement with current themes, trends and issues in contemporary art and education.

Strong understanding of partnership and multi-agency working.

Demonstrable experience of initiating and managing collaborations with a diverse stable of partners.

Excellent project management and research skills.

Strong knowledge of contemporary visual arts and photography.

Ability to communicate effectively and passionately the vision of the organisation to partners, funders, the visual arts sector and the wider community.

Excellent negotiating skills with the ability to establish partnership opportunities and relationships.

Understanding of finances, especially preparing and keeping within budgets.

A proven commitment to equality of opportunity.

Terms & Conditions:

35 hours a week, fixed-term 7 month contract 

£25,000 pro rata per annum

How to apply: 

Click for more information: http://tinyurl.com/cfegtvh

The deadline for applications is Monday 21 May 2012

Rarely seen documents chronicling the life and reign of Queen Victoria have been made public on a new website marking this year's Diamond Jubilee. The Royal Family released its archive of letters, journals, painting and photographs for the launch.

The website has nine sections tracing the life of Victoria as a princess to her own Jubilee celebrations in 1897. The site also gives details of the young Princess Victoria's studies and timetable of lessons. Many documents have been available to academics but not the public. Britain's longest reigning monarch had nine children with Prince Albert but never recovered from his death in 1861 from typhoid and wore black in mourning for the rest of her life.

Her withdrawal from public life made her unpopular, but during the late 1870s and 1880s she gradually returned to public view.

The website is divided into nine sections: The Young Princess; Becoming Queen; Love and Marriage; Family life; Home and Empire; Victorian Invention and Improvement; Queen Victoria's Household; Diamond Jubilee Day, and Jubilee Celebrations.

Of particular note to BPH readers are the number of original photographs shown and two sections: Photography equipment purchased by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, 1848 and Daguerreotype of Queen Victoria and the Princess Royal, c.1845 which explore Victoria and Albert's involvement in photography.

The website can be found here: http://www.queen-victorias-scrapbook.org/index.html

Professor Elizabeth Edwards, the Director of De Montfort University's Photographic History Research Centre, is giving her Professorial Lecture on Thursday 24 May 2012. The lecture is titled 'Aimless Meandering and Structured Seeing: Photographers, Places and the Feel of History’ and will take place in the Hugh Aston Building, Magazine Square, De Montfort University, Leicester. The lecture will start at 6.00pm and following the lecture, there will be a drinks reception with the opportunity to buy Professor Edwards’ new book The Camera as Historian: Amateur Photographers and Historical Imagination, 1885-1918 which is formally published on 25 May.

In the lecture, Professor Edwards will look at the relationship between popular photographic practices and the historical past in late nineteenth century England. She will show how photography was used to express a series of moral values  around a sense of the past. But this historical environment was expressed not through a disembodied gaze, but through the embodied practices of photography, mediated through  movement, light, space and above all historical imagination on the ground.

The event will also celebrate the first anniversary of the PHRC. See: http://www.dmu.ac.uk/research/research-faculties-and-institutes/art-design-humanities/phrc/photographic-history-research-centre-phrc.aspx
 
Anyone interested in attending should call (0116) 257 7452 or email eventsoffice@dmu.ac.uk, by 22 May 2012 highlighting any access requirements that you might have. More information about university and PHRC events can be found at http://www.dmu.ac.uk/events. 

A profile portrait of the wife of Charles Dickens, Catherine (1815-1879), by John Jabez Edwin Mayall (1810-1901), is to be sold at Bonhams, Knightsbridge, as part of the Photographs Sale on 17th May. The only daguerreotype portrait of Catherine known to exist, it has been estimated at £8,000 – 12,000.

The portrait first came to light in 1996, discovered in an antique camera shop in Canterbury. Initially believed to be an image of Charles Dickens's sister, leading scholars soon identified the sitter as the writer's wife, Catherine (née Hogarth).

The earliest date for the portrait can be given as 1852 from the patent date 'Reg July 20 1852' on the catch of the morocco-bound case. Indeed surviving letters of Charles Dickens reveal that he sat for Mayall in 1852 and a daguerreotype portrait of the novelist, dated 1853-55, was sold at auction in London in 2001. It is possible that the couple visited Mayall's studio together during this period and that the two portraits were intended as a pair.

This daguerreotype was discovered with two ivory passes for the 1870 Italian Opera inside its case, which will be offered here alongside the photograph. One is inscribed 'Miss Dickens', suggesting that the daguerreotype might once have belonged to the couple's eldest daughter Mary, known as Mamie. In 1870 Dickens rented a house in Hyde Park Gardens, in part so that Mamie could experience the delights of the London Season.

The lot can be found here: http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/20154/lot/1/

Coincidentally, in the same auction, is an 1867 portrait by Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879) of Valentine Prinsep, with whom, it is believed, Charles Dickens's youngest daughter, Kate, had a love affair. Both Valentine, who was the son of Cameron's sister, Sarah, and Kate were artists and mixed in the same circles.

The sale also includes portraits by Cameron of Alfred Lord Tennyson (an image known as The Dirty Monk), 1865, signed by Tennyson himself (estimate £6,000 – 8,000) and an intimate portrayal of the photographer's grandson, Archibald Cameron, and her maid Mary Hillier (estimate £6,000 – 8,000).

As reported here (http://tinyurl.com/d3e4mbn) a benefit auction is being held to raise funds for the National Media Museum's Media Space. Just released are details and the first artist's concept drawing of the space located within the Science Museum, London.

In Spring 2013 the Science Museum and the National Media Museum will together open MEDIA SPACE: a bold and exciting new space in London that will present, celebrate and debate the past, present and future of media in its myriad forms.

Consisting of a breathtaking gallery surrounded by cultural spaces for display and participation, MEDIA SPACE will be a unique environment where artists and practitioners, independent thinkers, pioneers, innovators and agenda-setters will mix across the arts, sciences and creative industries.

MEDIA SPACE will be a showcase for the unrivalled National Media Collections in photography, as well as cinematography and broadcast technology, and an arena where audiences will experimentally and critically engage with how new technologies have impacted on today’s creative industries.

A new space for adult audiences at the Science Museum, MEDIA SPACE will contain:

■ A striking 640 m2 gallery space for major photography and media art exhibitions, both drawn from our own collections and international touring shows

■ A versatile studio space that will play host to screenings, conferences, live events and installations

■ A stylish contemporary destination café/bar MEDIA SPACE will:

...add to the current critical mass around photography in the capital, complementing the work of our peer institutions Tate, the V&A and The Photographers’ Gallery.

...make a profound contribution to the cultural landscape of London and the UK through its ambitious programme, creative partnerships and innovative online presence.

...increase access to the world-class National Media Collection, housed at the National Media Museum in Yorkshire.

...position the Science Museum at the forefront of creating and engaging with innovative ideas around science and new technologies in publishing, digital, broadcast, film, and lens-based media and photography.

MEDIA SPACE has already received generous support from Virgin Media, the Dana and Albert R Broccoli Foundation and a number of other donors.

BPH has just heard that Professor John Hannavy has been awarded a Harry Ransom Fellowship to undertake research studying the Thomas Keith and White photographs in the Gernsheim Collection. As part of his work Hannavy will try and determine which of the images in the Collection attributed to Keith are actually by Dr Thomas Keith.

Separately, news comes that Sara Stevenson, formerly of the Scottish National Photography Collection at the Scottish NPG and now in the Special Collections Department at the University of Glasgow, has been awarded a Getty Fellowship to spend time at the collection in Santa Monica to undertake research work.