News reached BPH last night of the passing of Robert Hershkowitz last Friday, aged 81 years. One of the earliest and most successful dealers in photography or his era Hershkowitz was an American living in Sussex. He had been active as a dealer, researcher and writer in photography for more than fifty years, working alongside his partner, Paula, and latterly with daughter, Kate. A stalwart of Photo London since its inception, Hershkowitz's 2024 exhibition The Magic Art of French Calotype. Paper Negative Photography 1846-1860 was a beautifully curated show and a testement to his expertise and connoisseurship. His interests in vintage photography were focused on the early period from Talbot and Fenton to later masters such as P H Emerson who Hershkowitz described as being a key influence on both artists and photographers from Miller to Steiglitz.
Robert Hershkowitz was leading British dealer in fine early European photographs generally buying in Britain and Europe and selling in the United States. He handled the estate of Tony Ray-Jones for a period and he curated The Essential Fenton show at Photo London 2019, had written a number of articles on P.H.Emerson, and was the author of The British Photographer Abroad: The First Thirty Years (1980).
A profile published in 1980 in The Photographic Collector noted that 'he has a very fine personal collection' and he described himself as a 'dealer's dealer'. One of his great loves was Roger Fenton and Hershkowitz a considerable time studying his photography and tracking down rare prints some of which were offered in his selling exhibitions.
His clients included The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC; The National Gallery, London; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; The Getty; the Chicago Art Institute; the Boston Museum of Fine Arts; and the National Gallery of Canada, amongst other major museums. In 1991 he presented Masterworks of Early European Photography at Hamiltons Gallery, London and in 1993 his company co-published Felix Teynard: Calotypes of Eygpt with an essay by Kathleen Howe.
See: The Classic no. 1 (Spring 2019) carried an interview (p36-45) with Robert Hershkowitz. See: https://theclassicphotomag.com/wp-content/uploads/the-classic-01.pdf and https://hershkowitzgallery.com/
More to follow...
Images: (top) The Magic Art of French Calotype at Phoot London 2024; (left) Robert Hershkowitz (standing), Colin Ford and Sue Grayson Ford visiting the exhibition at Photo London. © Michael Pritchard.
