Blogs

Monday 8th November will be a dark and creepy evening at the John Rylands Library, Manchester, as Professor Heard, the world’s finest Phantasmagoria Magic Lantern Projectionist, will be performing a show in the library.

There will be 2 performances, a family friendly show at 4.30 – 5pm, then at 7.30 – 9pm an evening event where things get a bit more sinister and spooky!

ALL WELCOME, the event is free, however booking is essential! call 0161 06 0555 to reserve yourself a free seat or email jrul.events@manchester.ac.uk at the John Rylands Library, 150 Deansgate, Manchester M3 3EH.

Geoffrey Crawley, one of Britain's best photographic editors and scientists, has died aged 83. Crawley was editor of the British Journal of Photography between 1967 and 1987 and worked there until 2000, when he joined Amateur Photographer as photo-science consultant. He wrote for the magazine until recently.

Crawley had a long career in photography and invented the developer Acutol which was sold by Paterson from 1963. He also investigated the Cottingley Fairies hoax and was, for the first time, able to conclusively show how the 1921 fairy photographs had been produced. Crawley was widely consulted within and outside the photographic industry for his expertise in photographic chemistry and science. His active involvement in photography and photographic publishing brought him into contact with many of the leading photographers and photographic personalities from the 1940s onwards.

Fuller obituaries have been published in Amateur Photographer and the British Journal of Photography click the links to read them.

8/11/10 update: there is a rather nice obituary of Geoffrey here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/07/world/europe/07crawley.html?_r=1

which sums up the Cottingley Fairies story ands his role in it rather well.

BBC Radio 4 included a feature on Crawley as part of its Last Word programme: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00vryrj/Last_Word_12_11_2010 the Crawley section begins at 22mins 58 secs and contributors include Colin Harding from the National Media Museum and Chris Dickie, a former editor of the BJP.

Michael Pritchard writes... I first met Crawley in the late 1990s when he decided to sell at Christie's the Cottingley fairy cameras, photographs and related material that he had acquired as part of his research into the story. An appeal was launched and the material was subsequently passed to the then National Museum of Photography, Film and Television in Bradford. I visited him at his house in Westcliffe-on-Sea and spent an enjoyable morning listening to his stories about the BJP in the 1960s and the wider photographic world. I proposed that he be interviewed as part of the British Library's Oral History of British Photography but sadly the suggestion was not taken up  by the project. He was an impressive man with a great recall of people of events that have now passed into British photographic history.

See: Geoffrey Crawley, 'That Astonishing Affair of the Cottingley Fairies' in British Journal of Photography Part One (24 December 1982, pp. 1374-1380); Part Two (31 December 1982, pp. 1406-1414); Part Three (7 January 1983, pp. 9-15); Part Four (21 January 1983, pp. 66-71); Part Five (28 January 1983, pp. 91-96); Part Six (4 February 1983, pp. 117-121; Part Seven (11 February 1983, pp. 142-145, 153, 159); Part Eight (18 February 1983, pp. 170-171); Part Nine (1 April 1983, pp. 332-338); Part Ten (8 April 1982, pp. 362-367)

Geoffrey Crawley, 'Cottingley Revisited' in British Journal of Photography, 24 May 1985, pp. 574-562.

The industrial photographer Maurice Broomfield whose work documented the inner landscape of industrial Britain from the 1950s to the 1970s has died. He succeeded through his striking photographs in revealing both the grit and beauty of the people, factories and processes which manufacture the everyday objects around us. The V&A have recently taken possession of the photographer's archive.

A full obituary can be found here.

Leicester, UK: The De Montfort University Photographic History Research Centre (PHRC) draws together and integrates scholarship across a diverse range of disciplines and research on primary sources from the 19th through the 21st centuries of photographic history. It has strong strategic alliances with institutions such as the British Library, V&A, National Media Museum, Société française de photographie, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, reflecting its standing as an internationally recognised centre of research excellence. Current Centre members include Dr Kelley Wilder, Senior Research Fellow and MA Photographic History and Practice Programme Leader; Roger Taylor, Professor Emeritus of Photographic History and internationally renowned specialist in mid-19th century photography; Professor Stephen Brown, Head of the Department of Imaging and Communication Design and Director of Knowledge Media Design at De Montfort University.

You will have a clear vision of the future of photographic history, that will enhance the profile and status of photographic history and conservation internationally. You will raise the international standing of DMU in the area of photographic history, by attracting research students and producing excellent research scholarship. In addition to being Research Professor, you will become the first Director of the Photographic History Research Centre (PHRC), a rotating position to be held for up to five years. You will encourage the initiatives already begun at PHRC and bring your own vision to the Research Centre.

You should have a PhD (Equivalent qualifications accepted) or equivalent relevant experience in the field, extensive publication experience and have produced scholarship considered by peers to be ground breaking in the field. You should also have a track record of winning grant funding and have supervised students at MA and Phd levels.

Closing Date : 26 November 2010

Interview Date: w/c 3 January 2011

Application forms and further details are available from our website: http://www.dmu.ac.uk/jobs

Alternatively telephone 0116 250 6433 (24 hour answerphone). Or write to:

The Human Resources Team, De Montfort University,

The Gateway, Leicester LE1 9BH.

Salary to be set by the Vice Chancellor in accordance with the Senior Staff Pay and Grading Structure. Please Quote Reference : 6605

Following recent discoveries in the John Rylands Library Special Collections, UNDEREXPOSED is an exhibition in Collaboration withThe Museum of Science and Industry, celebrating the life of one of Manchester’s early photographic pioneers, J.T. Chapman.

Chemist, inventor and photographer, Chapman invented some of the processes that were to become standard in early photography. However, he is widely omitted from history books as he published his formula under the pseudonym ‘Ostendo non Ostento’ (I show, not boast). Working from Deansgate, Manchester, Chapman also invented and sold his own cameras and projectors.

The exhibition also showcases a selection of glass plate negatives, recently discovered and linked to the Langford Brooke family of Mere Hall in Cheshire, which have been cleaned, re-housed and digitised by CHICC.

CHICC is The Centre for Heritage Imaging and Collection Care, a JISC funded project to develop a Centre for Heritage Digitisation, based within the University of Manchester.

The John Rylands Library will be holding a series of events associated with the exhibition, for more information please contact 0161 306 0555 or email jrul.events@manchester.ac.uk

The exhibition is at the John Rylands Library, Crawford Room, from Wednesday 29 September to Sunday 28 November. Admission is free.

There will be a curator tour on Wednesday, 3 November between 1200-1300 and 1400-1500, both of which are free.

Camille Silvy was a pioneer of early photography and one of the greatest French photographers of the nineteenth century. This exhibition includes many remarkable images which have not been exhibited since the 1860s.

Over 100 works, including a large number of carte de visites, focus on a ten-year creative burst from 1857-67 working in Algiers, rural France, Paris and London and illustrate how Silvy pioneered many now familiar branches of the medium including theatre, fashion and street photography.

Working under the patronage of Queen Victoria, Silvy photographed royalty, aristocrats and celebrities. He also portrayed uncelebrated people, the professional classes and country gentry, their wives, children and servants.

The results offer a unique glimpse into nineteenth-century society through the eyes of one of photography's outstanding innovators.

The exhibition has been curated by Mark Haworth-Booth.

There are a series of lectures and events around the exhibitions - details here: http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/exhibitions/camille-silvy-photographer-of-modern-life-1834-1910.php

National Portrait Gallery - 15 July-24 October 2010

Tickets £5/£4.50/£4

To book advance tickets call 020 7907 7079 (transaction fee applies)

Exhibition organised by the Jeu de Paume, Paris, in collaboration with the National Portrait Gallery, London

The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) has issued its 2009/10 Acceptance in Lieu Report. Of interest to BPH is the acceptance of 49 prints from the twentieth century which was settled in August 2009 and are now in the Tate Gallery, London. The collection was used to settle tax worth £227,290. The collection consists of the material described below:

The offer comprised 49 photographs by the following artists: Bernice Abbott (1898-1991), 3 prints; Richard Avenden (1923-2004); Roger Ballen (b.1950); Herbert Bayer (1900-1985); Hou Bo (b.1924); Dorothy Bohm (b.1924); Bill Brandt (1904-1983), 4 prints; Brassaï (1899-1984), 3 prints; Manuel Alvarez Bravo (1902-2002); Henri Cartier Bresson (1908-2004), 2 prints; Calum Colvin (b.1961), 12 prints; Martin J Cullen (b.1967); František Drtikol (1883-1961); Elliot Erwitt (b.1928); Robert Frank (b.1924); Jo Alison Feiler (b.1951); Lee Fridlander (b.1934); Tim Gidal (1909-1996); Lucien Hervé (1910-2007); Paul Joyce (b.1944); Dorothea Lange (1895-1965); Jacques Henri Lartigue (1894-1986), 2 prints; Yau Leung (1941-1997); Man Ray (1890-1976); Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-1989); Dario Mitidieri (b.1959); Irving Penn (1917-2009), 5 prints; Sebastião Salgadio (b.1944); W. Eugene Smith (1918-1978); Peter Suschitzky (b. 1941); Edward Weston (1886-1958), 2 prints and James Van der Zee (1886-1983).

The collection has been assembled over the last 30 years by Barbara Lloyd and the photographers represented include many of the greatest names in photography from the 20th century. Of particular significance are the five images by Irving Penn which include two New York cityscapes of 1947 and 1985; two portraits from New Guinea and Morocco; and a portrait of the French writer Colette of 1960. The Mapplethorpe is a 1976 portrait of the New York singer-songwriter Patti Smith. One of the Edward Weston photographs, taken in 1924, is a dramatic image of the Mexican senator and general, Manuel Hernández Galván, titled Galván Shooting. Galván fought by the side of the revolutionary leader Pancho Villa. When Weston took the photograph, Galván was campaigning for political office, but was assassinated shortly after their meeting.

Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California, 1935 is one of the outstanding images of the 1930s. In 1960, Lange spoke about taking the photograph: “I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet. I do not remember how I explained my presence or my camera to her, but I do remember she asked me no questions. I made five exposures, working closer and closer from the same direction. I did not ask her name or her history. She told me her age, that she was thirty-two. She said that they had been living on frozen vegetables from the surrounding fields, and birds that the children killed. She had just sold the tires from her car to buy food. There she sat in that lean-to tent with her children huddled around her, and seemed to know that my pictures might help her, and so she helped me. There was a sort of equality about it.”

The Panel considered that the collection met the second and third criteria that it was in acceptable condition and fairly valued. The photographs have been permanently allocated to Tate in accordance with the condition of the offeror.

The full AIL Report is here: http://www.mla.gov.uk/news_and_views/press_releases/2010/~/media/Files/pdf/2010/AELU/MLA_acceptance_in_lieu_report_2009_2010

In a blog report earlier this year BPH noted that the National Media Museum was looking to save a rare photograph by pioneering 19th century British photographer, Roger Fenton, entitled 'Pasha and Bayader'. Today it has been confirmed that the photograph has been saved, and it is no longer in danger being moved abroad.

Britain's flagship photography institution will lose 15% in Government grants over the next four years as a result of the Comprehensive Spending Review, Amateur Photographer has revealed.

Last week the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced £81 billion pounds worth of public spending cutbacks.

A spokesman for the National Media Museum (NMM), which is based in Bradford, West Yorkshire told Amateur Photographer today: 'We know that our grant-in-aid will be reduced by around 15% in real terms in stages over the next four years, starting in April.

'We have already been working to prepare for a range of scenarios and to seek efficiencies that can serve to minimise the impact of the cuts. The museum's London presence in not under threat.

'Over the next few weeks we will confirm our plans for accommodating this reduction.'

See the full report here: http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/news/Flagship_photography_museum_faces_15_cuts_news_303151.html

Call for Papers: The Versatile Image 24-26 June 2011, University of Sunderland. The 21st century digital universe is undoubtedly a “hypervisual” environment with photographic images dominating every aspect of our life. The “digital revolution”, as professed with awe and skepticism some twenty years ago, has come to stay, and, together with the developments in mobile-phone technology and the overwhelming possibilities of Web 2.0, has ushered in a rapid transformation of photographic practice across the board.

What are the ontological, conceptual or other commonalities and/or differences with photography as we knew it?

What novel currency does the photographic vernacular acquire against the new contexts of viewing and (re)distribution that social networking media and photo-sharing platforms offer? Where is the line between the private and the public drawn and what is the social currency of such private imagery?

What is the new urgency that the eye-witness record taken by “citizen journalists” has acquired in reporting news events among peers and targeting a wider public?

How are issues of objectivity, subjectivity, authenticity and originality relating to the document being challenged anew?

How can this predominantly non-art imagery be appropriated in material and conceptual terms in contemporary art practices?

Can these amateur practices be conventionalized and/or institutionalized in the mass media and the art scene?

The Photographers’ Gallery is the largest public gallery dedicated to photography. This is a very exciting time for the Gallery. Construction work has recently begun on a major redevelopment project to expand and transform the Gallery’s premises on Ramillies Street, just off Oxford Street. Scheduled to reopen late 2011 it will include three galleries, an education floor, enhanced retail spaces, a ground floor café and full disabled access.

The Development Officer (Admin) will be primarily responsible for administration of the Development Department, including administration of the Patrons’ and Associate Members’ schemes; recording and processing donations, managing the department’s budget, and providing support to the Head of Development and Head of Business Development. This is a period of growth for The Photographers’ Gallery and we seek an enthusiastic individual who will use their initiative to grow in the role and take on more responsibility as needed.

Details of the application process can be found here: http://photonet.new.mindunit.co.uk/index.php?pid=243

Can you demonstrate solid experience and achievements in raising funds from trusts, foundations and public bodies? Would you like to apply this within one of the world’s most prestigious museums? Our ability to meet our funding targets is critical to the delivery of world-class projects, exhibitions and visitor attractions. For this reason, we’re looking for a Senior Development Executive at The National Media Museum. With your experience in raising funds in the cultural sector, we will look to you to develop and manage a portfolio of key prospects and donors.

You will identify and research funding opportunities, then devise and implement cultivation strategies. Engaged and enthused by Museum plans and future projects, you will be able to communicate with clarity and accuracy;, passion and insight, building strong relationships internally and externally and a network of repeat-income sources. Experience in preparing fundraising applications, demonstrating fundraising success and bringing a strategic, professional approach to senior-level relationships is essential.

The Science Museum, The National Railway Museum and The National Media Museum form the unique NMSI family of museums. We aim to be the most admired museum in the world by engaging and inspiring diverse audiences, while at the same time rewarding and developing the people who contribute to our success.

For a full job description please email recruitment@nationalmediamuseum.org.uk or visit http://www.nrm.org.uk/AboutUs/Jobs.aspx

Interested? Please send your CV and covering letter by clicking the Apply button clearly stating which role you wish to apply for.

Closing date: 1st August 2010

We welcome applications from all sections of the community in which we work. We particularly welcome applications from disabled people and we guarantee interviews to suitably qualified disabled applicants.

A fundraising reception was held at the Science Museum on 25 May to introduce a new exhibition space for photography planned there. Mark Haworth-Booth in his blog noted that "My former colleague Charlotte Cotton is its artistic director. Her speech included a choice expletive - 'We just want to fxxxxxg get on with it' - which was very much in character and appropriate."

Amateur Photographer has followed up BPH's blog posting and its report is here: http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/news/Science_Museum_hosts_NMM_photography_fundraiser_news_298855.html

The Department of Culture, Media and Sport has published visitor numbers for the National Media Museum, Bradford for the 2009/10 financial year. These are reported below alongside recent years. Should anyone require earlier years I have them on request.

Writing elsewhere Marcel Safier describes a project which he and Stefan Hughes have joined forces on. The intention is to produce a biography of the neglected but important figure in photograpic history, inventor of the successful collodion photographic process Frederick Scott Archer.

Marcel states: "We became acquainted through our mutual friend, Archer enthusiast and contemporary wet plate practitioner Sean McKenna. Already fresh and interesting material has come to light and it is our intention to chronicle as much of Archer's life as possible and to examine his significance to photography and look in detail at his family and circle of friends."

Stefan has created a website to support the project: http://www.frederickscottarcher.com/

Marcel also appeals for more information: "Some of you may have valuable information you wish to share such as an image, correspondence, a newspaper or journal article or details on one of his friends and collaborators(such as Peter Wickens Fry, Warren De La Rue etc.) I know speaking to one friend on this list that he had actually contemplated writing a book himself on Archer. We certainly want to know if someone else is contemplating that task. There is a forum on our site but we welcome direct email contact. I shall be in touch directly over coming months with those people I know personally on the list that might be able to assist is. Anyone who has suggestions for grant funding or publication of our book is also welcome to make contact."