Information and discussion on all aspects of British photographic history

September 2010 Blog Posts (24)

Bourne Supremacy takes on Historic Delhi

No, not your 21st century CIA assassin, aka Jason Bourne, but our very own 19th century Staffordshire 'sharp shooter', Samuel Bourne (… Continue

Added by Michael Wong on September 29, 2010 at 19:33 — No Comments

Niépce - Now or Never!

As part of the 2-day Niépce in England Conference to be held next month in Bradford, participants will

have a very unique and unprecedented opportunity (that may not be repeated in our lifetime) to view all three Niépce plates ‘out… Continue

Added by Michael Wong on September 28, 2010 at 17:30 — No Comments

Francis Galton and The Art of Composite Photography

Like his cousin, Charles Darwin, Francis Galton (1822 - 1911), worked on the study of heredity. He

founded the science of eugenics (the study of improving human races), and in 1865 documented his findings in his best-known work "Hereditary Genius, its Laws and Consequences". In the history of photography, one attributes to Galton the development of… Continue

Added by Michael Wong on September 27, 2010 at 22:32 — No Comments

Exhibition: Memory of Place (1840-1870) featuring Roger Fenton

'Memory of Place' showcases a collection of images from the Musee d'Orsay's archives.…

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Added by Michael Wong on September 27, 2010 at 22:30 — No Comments

A Close-up: GR Lambert

I was fortunate enough to make a quick stop in Singapore last month to view the exhibition 'The Originals of GR Lambert' which is currently on show at the Philatelic Museum - as mentioned in an… Continue

Added by Michael Wong on September 27, 2010 at 21:30 — No Comments

NMeM under threat

The National Media Museum appears on a leaked list of public bodies under review for closure by the government. Incorrectly named as the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television the museum is directly funded by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport as part of the National Museum of Science and Industry. Other bodies which are under review include the National Archives and eighteen other museums and galleries in the UK. The British Library is to be…

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Added by Michael Pritchard on September 24, 2010 at 7:30 — 1 Comment

Paul Nadar: 19th Century Photo Reportage

Paul Nadar (1856-1939) was the son of the celebrated nineteenth-century French photographer Felix

Gaspard Tournachon, aka Nadar. Between the two of them, they achieved a number of 'firsts' in the history of photography including aerial photography, artificial lighting, patented a projection… Continue

Added by Michael Wong on September 23, 2010 at 11:00 — No Comments

What can you get for two 19th Century albums? Answer: Safe water for 15,500 people or 560 goats

As mentioned in an earlier blog here, the other recent prized find by Oxfam volunteers of two extremely rare 19th century photo albums of Argentina taken by French photographer, Esteban Gonnet, managed to fetch £14,000 when it went under the hammer at a sale held… Continue

Added by Michael Wong on September 23, 2010 at 10:00 — No Comments

History of Photography & The House of Bernadotte

To mark the bicentennial of Karl XIV Johan’s selection

as heir to the Swedish throne, Nationalmuseum presents an exhibition of black-and-white portraits of the House of Bernadotte. No other Swedes have been so prolifically portrayed as their royal… Continue

Added by Michael Wong on September 22, 2010 at 10:46 — No Comments

Photography 1889-1903 - journal reprint on DVD

The Optical Magic Lantern Journal and Photographic Enlarger (OMLJ) was a British trade monthly that appeared from 1889 to 1903 and had a remit covering the magic lantern and illumination through to photography and the world of early cinema. The OMLJ featured news and opinions from each of the worlds and through its correspondence and advertising pages provides a unique insight into each of these areas at an important point in their history.

The publication only…

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Added by Michael Pritchard on September 18, 2010 at 10:47 — No Comments

Exhibition: 19th Century Photographs of Bristol and Antiquated Processes

From now until the 27th September at the Bristol Central Library, there is an exhibition of 19…

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Added by Michael Wong on September 17, 2010 at 21:59 — No Comments

Auction: Antique Photographica Sale

No connection with the company whatsoever, but there is an interesting selection of reference books, cartes de visite, ephemera, cameras, magic lanterns, daguerreotypes, optical toys etc including British interests at a forthcoming online sale on 25th Sept. Details can be found here.

Added by Michael Wong on September 17, 2010 at 10:01 — No Comments

New Face: Scottish National Portrait Gallery

This Edinburgh Gallery, which closed its doors to the public last April, is currently undergoing a massive

£18 million transformation to turn it into a 21st-century museum marvel.

On time and in budget, it is expected to reopen in November 2011 with a new gallery that will house 50% more exhibition space. It hopes to boost visitor numbers by 50% to… Continue

Added by Michael Wong on September 15, 2010 at 10:09 — No Comments

Auction: A Historic Photographic Grand Tour - Important Daguerreotypes

Christie's will be auctioning off an exclusive private collection of 74 daguerreotype photographs by Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey in New York next month. Entitled "A Historic Photographic Grand Tour - Important Daguerreotypes by Philibert Girault de Prangey", it is expected to fetch in excess of $2 million, when they are put under the hammer on… Continue

Added by Michael Wong on September 15, 2010 at 4:42 — No Comments

Raymond Moore

The late Raymond Moore (1920-87) created a special kind of landscape photograph. Much admired in his time, Moore's work has been hard to find in exhibitions in recent years. Tate Britain recently opened a display of British landscape photographs. Three Raymond Moores are included, of which two are recent gifts to Tate. The display is located in the last room on the right in the Clore on the ground floor.

Added by Mark Haworth-Booth on September 13, 2010 at 8:12 — 10 Comments

Cheltenham - Past and Present

A new book focussing on early 19th and 20th century images of regency Cheltenham will be launched at Waterstones in the Promenade on 25th September.

Entitled 'Cheltenham - Past and Present', it includes about 90 photographs from this period, with about 60 of them never seen before. The author, David Hanks, completed the book earlier this year for the History Press's national series, Britain in Old Photographs. The 61 year-old author who is also a member of the Cheltenham Local… Continue

Added by Michael Wong on September 12, 2010 at 15:58 — No Comments

Muybridge in Kingston Exhibitions

This autumn sees the launch of two brand new Muybridge in Kingston exhibitions, staged in Eadweard Muybridge’s hometown of Kingston upon Thames, running in parallel with a major Tate Britain retrospective on Muybridge’s pioneering work.

Muybridge Revolutions (18 Sept- 12 Feb 2011) opens almost exactly a century after the first ever Eadweard Muybridge exhibition at Kingston Museum. Supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and other partners, this exhibition focuses on Muybridge’s unique… Continue

Added by Peta louise Cook on September 12, 2010 at 10:00 — No Comments

The Israel Museum awards the first Shpilman International Prize

The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, has selected artist Michal Heiman to receive the first Shpilman International Prize for Excellence in Photography. Created in partnership with the Israel Museum, the new biannual prize…

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Added by Nissan N. Perez on September 12, 2010 at 9:00 — No Comments

Job: NMeM Audience Researcher - Internet Gallery Project

Award winning, visionary and truly unique, the National Media Museum embraces photography, film, television, radio and the web. Part of the NMSI family of museums, we aim to engage, inspire and educate through comprehensive collections, innovative education programmes and a powerful yet sensitive approach to contemporary issues.

Audience Researcher – Internet Gallery Project

Bradford

£17,500 - £18,500

It’s vital to the continued success of the organisation…

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Added by Michael Pritchard on September 11, 2010 at 12:01 — No Comments

NMeM may charge for entry

The Yorkshire Post reports that there is increasing speculation that the the National Media Museum may have to start charging admission. It reports that: The organisation which runs York's National Railway Museum and Bradford's National Media Museum is also "planning for a range of scenarios" and has refused to rule out changes to opening times as it waits to find out how badly the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) budget is cut in the Comprehensive Spending…

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Added by Michael Pritchard on September 11, 2010 at 11:25 — No Comments