Information and discussion on all aspects of British photographic history
In the first third of the twentieth century, two French publications -- VU, and Art et Médecine-- introduced a 'New Vision' in the use of photographs to tell stories... an emphasis on sharply-focused 'documentary' uses of the medium.
VU Magazine
VU magazine, which was launched in Paris in 1928 and continued through 1940, was a new kind of periodical -- the photo-illustrated magazine reporting world affairs. Although the practice of combining photos and text began in the 19th century, in VU photographs became the dominant element, no longer merely illustrative of the text.
Perhaps most importantly, VU recruited and financially 'enabled' some of the most talented young freelance photographers of the era --André Kertesz, Germaine Krull, Man Ray, Brassaï, Alfred Eisenstein, and others -- each of whom was destined to change the face of photography.
Art et Médicine
During roughly the same period -- from 1929 to 1939 -- Dr. François Debat, owner of the Debat Pharmaceutical Company, published Art et Médecine, a high-quality monthly cultural journal available only to French Physicians.
Art et Médicine is most notable for richly illustrating each issue with photos by many of the same young photographers as VU... especially André Kertesz and Germaine Krull. It also contained original articles by some of the most important French writers of the period -- including André Maurois, Jean Cocteau, Francois Mauriac, Jules Romains, Maurice Maeterlinck, and Collette. The quality of the paper and printing of the journal is extremely high.
Those readers who have an interest in Photojournalism can view approximately 500 otherwise 'lost works' by André Kertesz, Germaine Krull, Man Ray, Brassai and others by clicking on the "Early Photojournalism" tab at my website: antiqphotos.com.
Bob Enteen
Image: 462. SERGEI EISENSTEIN, 1929,
15 X 11.5 cm., taille douce photogravure, photo on back
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Victoria and Albert Museum's photography collection
National Science and Media Museum
RPS Journal 1853-2012 online and searchable
Photographic History Research Centre, Leicester
Birkbeck History and Theory of Photography Research Centre
William Henry Fox Talbot Catalogue Raisonné
British Photography. The Hyman Collection
The Press Photo History Project Mapping the photo agencies and photographers of Fleet Street and the UK
The correspondence of William Henry Fox Talbot
Historic England Archive
UAL Photography and Photography and the Archive Research Centre
Royal Photographic Society's Historical Group
www.londonstereo.com London Stereoscopic Company / T. R. Williams
www.earlyphotography.co.uk British camera makers and companies
Fox Talbot Museum, Lacock.
National Portrait Gallery, London
http://www.freewebs.com/jb3d/
Alfred Seaman and the Photographic Convention
Frederick Scott Archer
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