Information and discussion on all aspects of British photographic history

February 2009 Blog Posts (7)

Bradford's NMeM increases visitor numbers

The National Media Museum in Bradford has shown an increase of 4 per cent in visitors. The Association of Leading Visitor Attractions survey showed 745,857 people visited the museum in 2008 compared with 2007. The museum, which has had free admission since it first opened in 1983, has seen a gradual increase in visitor numbers over recent years as new galleries have been opened and existing ones refurbished, reversing a previous… Continue

Added by Michael Pritchard on February 27, 2009 at 14:00 — 1 Comment

Olive Edis collection of autochromes at auction

A remarkable collection of autochromes, photographs and diascopes by Mary Olive Edis Balsworth (1876-1955), whose self-portrait is shown right, is being offered at auction on 5 March 2009. All of the items have been at Edis's studio and house in Sheringham since her death under the ownership of Cyril Nunn and, until now, rarely seen. The autochomes include a number of rare Canadian scenes.

Nunn died last year and recently Olive's collection of Sheringham and Norfolk… Continue

Added by Michael Pritchard on February 24, 2009 at 21:30 — No Comments

Companion Guide to Photography in the National Galleries of Scotland (revised edition 2009)

Since the practical invention of photography in the 1840s, Scotland has been at the centre of the history and development of the medium. The Scottish National Portrait Gallery – which houses the Scottish National Photography Collection – and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, hold outstanding collections of photographic art spanning three centuries. Included are figures such as D.O. Hill and Robert Adamson, Julia Margaret Cameron, Thomas Annan, Alfred Stieglitz, Robert… Continue

Added by Michael Pritchard on February 23, 2009 at 21:00 — No Comments

Fifty British Calotypes

This is the title of a new publication from the long-established photography dealer and collector Robert Hershkowitz. 2008. The book begins with an introducution to Hershkowitz's relationship with British calotype and salt print photography before illustrating full-page fifty photographs. These range from Roger Fenton, Thomas Sutton, Calvert Jones, Linneaus Tripe, Thomas Keith, Clifford and others. The illustrations do the original prints full justice.

The book, text plus fifty… Continue

Added by Michael Pritchard on February 12, 2009 at 20:30 — No Comments

Request for information on Anna Atkins and her life:

Working with elementary school students in Detroit, Michigan as a volunteer for the past 5 years has been and still is an exciting way for me to share my research on Anna Atkins and her book , Photographs of British Algae; Cyanotype Impressions. My middle school students in Birmingham, Michigan have marveled at the images of their photograms as they appeared and then washed them in the school bathroom. I have been working on a biography about Anna Atkins to share with young adults. Larry… Continue

Added by Antiquarianphotographer on February 7, 2009 at 15:29 — 2 Comments

The Art Fund helps Birmingham Central Library secure 70s photographs

Birmingham Central Library has been awarded £11,750 by The Art Fund, the UK’s leading independent art charity, to purchase prints by two of the leading British documentary photographers of the 1970s, who were inspired by amateur Victorian photographer Sir Benjamin Stone.

The acquisition includes a total of twenty-four photographs by Daniel Meadows and Homer Sykes, who documented the lives, customs and festivals of British people some eighty years after Stone toured the country… Continue

Added by Pete James on February 6, 2009 at 21:22 — 1 Comment

A London Presence?

The location of Bradford for the National Museum of Photgraphy, Film and Television (now the National Media Museum) was always a bit problematic for Britain's London-centric visitors and arts community - notwithstanding the fact that there are almost as many potential visitors within an hour travel time of Bradford as there are to London. Overseas tourists unless they are persistent are reluctant to take a three hour train ride; scholars wishing to access the museum's collections have no… Continue

Added by Michael Pritchard on February 1, 2009 at 8:00 — No Comments