May 2014 Blog Posts (23)

In September 2014, RIBA’s new Architecture Gallery will present the first major retrospective of Edwin Smith (1912 – 1971), one of Britain’s foremost 20th century photographers. Hailed by Sir John Betjeman as a ‘genius at photography’ and by Cecil Beaton as ‘an understanding and loving connoisseur of his subject’, Edwin Smith captured the essence of the places, landscapes…

I am pleased to announce that the Heritage Lottery Fund has awarded the London Borough of Sutton Archives £95,900 towards the digitisation, conservation, cataloguing and research of the David Knights-Whittome glass plate negtaive collection. An additional £10K from Sutton Council means a total of nearly £106,000 for the project.…

Daguerreobase, is a European funded non-profit research project that aims to collect at least 25.000 descriptions of daguerreotype objects in the Daguerreobase database and make a digital representation of them available on the Europeana portal. It has just published Daguerreotypes. Europe's Earliest Photographic Records which is freely available as a download…

The BBC reports that Bradford's National Media Museum (NMeM) saw 480,000 visitors in 2013, in a drop of 13,000 compared to 2012. The NMeM said a fall in cinema goers was responsible for the drop in numbers. The Head of the NMeM, Jo Quinton-Tulloch said the decline in visitors was 'disappointing' but noted that general admissions to the museum's galleries and exhibitions had…

Thomas P. Campbell, Director and CEO of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, has announced that more than 400,000 high-resolution digital images of public domain works in the Museum’s world-renowned collection may be downloaded directly from the Museum’s website for non-commercial use—including in scholarly publications in any media—without permission from the Museum and without…

An illustrated talk about the use of comic cartoon cut-out boards by the beach photographers of Great Yarmouth 1890-1965. Great Yarmouth born photo historian Paul Godfrey has been researching the commercial seaside photographers of the town for several years. His talk will describe the photographic methods used by beach photographers, what life was like for the photographic…

The Vernon Lamb Archive is a collection of new photographs, created between 2013 and 2014 from the original negatives (plates) by Robert White of Hertfordshire. The original collection began about 1910 when Vernon Lamb arrived in Matlock and stopped in 1915 after he joined the Army. However, it is almost certain that all the non army images were taken between…

More than 100 photographs by acclaimed British photographer Bob Carlos Clarke, including iconic images of Keith Richards, Marco Pierre White, Caprice, Mandy Smith and Rachel Weisz, have been acquired by the National Media Museum for the National Photography Collection.

Carlos Clarke (1950-2006), became best known for his sexually provocative and stylised images, as…

A selection of work by the London photographer Bob Collins (1924-2002) goes on display in a new exhibition, showcasing his photography of life in London, from major events to the everyday, and including some of his earlier amateur images.

While Collins’ portfolio was dominated by portraiture, from stars of the screen to eminent artists, this new exhibition at the…

In 2009 the Library of Birmingham acquired a dozen photographs by Daniel Meadows, one of the most influential figures to emerge from the new wave of British independent photography in the 1970s. In May the Library will be presenting a major exhibition of his early work and begin the process of acquiring his entire photography archive.



Curated by Val…

The amateur photography of Rupert Potter, father of the celebrated children’s book author and illustrator, Beatrix Potter, will be explored in a new display opening at the National Portrait Gallery to celebrate the centenary of his death. As well as two new acquisitions showing Beatrix Potter on holiday with her father, The World of Rupert Potter: Photographs of Beatrix,…

Bonhams is to sell on 4 June in New York a collection of 98 photomicrographs of snowflakes by Walter Bentley, 1890s-1920s. 

See: …

Bonhams is to sell in New York on 4 June an extensive collection of material from the archive of John David Zumbrun and Camera Craft, Beijing, [1910-1929], including approximately 2000 gelatin-silver photographs, autochromes, panoramas, lantern and glass slides, postcards, colotypes, and negatives.

See: …

Its been a fantastic week in tracking down more information about the Daily Mirror's First World War photographers, especially George Mewes.

George went to Russia at the beginning of the war and became a Official Photographer with the Russian Imperial Army. As well as making a photographic record of the fortunes of the Russian army he wrote a series of articles which were syndicated around the world.

His description of the fall of Warsaw, the cost to the city and the…

Rob Ball has alerted BPH to a project he has been undertaking since January documenting Dreamland, Margate, with the ferrotype or tintype process. Dreamland was one of the country's oldest amusement parks; at one time, the 16-acre site held a zoo and miniature railway, a cinema, cafes, restaurants, bars, shops and a 2,000-capacity ballroom, not forgetting that in…

A blog posting from The National Archives, Kew, discusses E O Hoppé and his naturalisation papers. It also provides a link to a useful guide to photographs at TNA.  In addition to these TNA holds copyright, limited company and design records amongst many, many, others that all have important references to photography, photographers and photographic companies.

In…

Bloomsbury has announced the development of a field-defining book series on photography and history which will create a platform for new visual historiographies and methodologies.

Photographs have been formative in political movements, commercial and industrial development, colonial and imperial expansion, geo-politics and international relations, legal practice, the…

BPH has learnt that Philip L Condax, former Curator of Technology at George Eastman House, died on Monday, 21 April 2014. Phil Condax was born on 24 May 1934, the son of Louis M Condax (1897-1961) and Constance W. Condax. Louis invented a dye-transfer colour process which was commercialised by Eastman Kodak Co in…

The History and Theory of Photography Research Centre at Birkbeck, London, is holding a series of free events, open to all, at 43 Gordon Sq, London WC1H 0PD. You might need to book to attend some of them, as they contribute to Birkbeck Arts Week 2014.

Tuesday 6 May 2014, 18:00-19:30

Peltz Gallery,…

Does anyone have information about British photographer Vernon Heath (1819–1895), and specifically about the photographs he made of members of the diplomatic mission from Japan who visited London in 1862? I have information (but no confirmation) that the date these photographs were made was June 11, 1862, and that Christie's sold a lot of Heath's Japan photographs in 1998. I do not know where those photographs ended up, or whether Heath made mention of photographing the Japanese in his 1892…