Just a reminder that on Tuesday, 25 October 2011, the V&A’s new Photographs Gallery will open to the public. The gallery will have an inaugural display of works by key figures of photographic history including Victorian portraits by Julia Margaret Cameron and significant works by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Man Ray, Afred Stieglitz, Diane Arbus and Irving Penn.
The Photographs Gallery will draw upon the V&A’s internationally renowned collection of photographs, and will chronicle the history of photography from 1839 up to the 1960s. In 1858, the V&A became the first museum to exhibit photographs, and the new Photographs Gallery is able to showcase some of the most technically brilliant and artistically accomplished photographs in its collection. Temporary displays, primarily showcasing contemporary photography, will be shown in the V&A’s existing photographs gallery.
Other highlights include the oldest photograph in the V&A collection, a daguerreotype from 1839 of Parliament Street from Trafalgar Square, a seascape from 1856 by Gustave Le Gray, and a portrait by Robert Howlett of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, taken in 1857. Displays will change every 18 months.
And it's free entry!
Photo: Robert Howlett (1830-58), 'Isambard Kingdom Brunel and the Launching Chains of 'The Great Eastern'', 1857. Museum no. PH.246-1979
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