In researching their Madame Yevonde holdings, the National Portrait Gallery is on the hunt for a Vivex System / Taylor-Hobson three colour camera. A ‘One-shot’ camera used for exposing three plates at once. It is the camera Yevonde is shown with in a celebrated self-portrait, and the camera is reproduced here.
Please contact Clare Freestone cfreestone@npg.org.uk with any leads.
Comments
These are very very rare cameras that only occasionally come on sale, maybe the last one I saw was in 2013: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/unusual-vivex-plate-camera-1.... I would put out saved searches with alerts on all relevant auction sites for photographic materials, and then the long waiting game begins.
Do they need it for an exhibition, then maybe it makes sense to track one down via the Trichromie community of color separation enthousiasts, who could know where to source one for a loan!
Good luck for Clare!