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From 1879 onwards, the gelatin silver bromide process gradually became the dominant photographic method, and companies dedicated to the manufacture of photographic plates and papers began to emerge in the main countries of Europe and America.

Spain, with no tradition in the manufacture of photographic materials, became an ideal market for the distribution and sale of these foreign brands. However, as the consumption of plates and papers grew, voices began to emerge denouncing the large amount of foreign currency that was leaving the country for this reason, and at the same time, demanding the creation of a domestic photographic industry. This book explains the attempts to establish such an industry, its successes, and its failures.

The book has a well-researched text and is extensively illustrated. It provides a model for long overdue national studies of sensitised materials manufacture.

El Gelatino-Bromuro en España [1879-1939]. La fabricación de placas y papeles fotográficos
Salvador Tió Sauleda
Price 30 € plus shipping costs
Laie Bookstore, Vía Laietana 85, 08010 Barcelona
tel. +34 933 181 739 / orders to: comandes@laie.cat

I was wondering if anyone could shine a light on the history of this image of Fort Attock I accquied recently. A large print it bears a resemblance to photograph collection in the National Army Museum from Sergeant Poe, Somerset Light Infantry, 1880 (c)-1897. The hand writting is similar but slightly different as the Museum seems to have confirmed. The records are slightly sketchy regarding who was stationed here at the time, the only clue is the handwritten note saying "Commanded here 1885-86." 

Historically an interesting time line as a certain Richard Nugent Stoker was stationed as  Garrison Surgeon of Fort Attock Other than that, I have drawn a blank to who the person might be or the photographer might be. Of course, this is now the headquarters of the Pakistan Army (SSG), as a friend found out when he was arrested trying to cross the bridge.

Any information or ideas of where to research next would be most gratefully recieved 

Richard

Dartmouth Museum has recently received a major donation: the entire photographic archive of Vernon MacAndrew (1880–1940), a Dartmouth-connected businessman, yachtsman and philanthropist who pursued photography as a sustained private practice over several decades.The donation has opened a new chapter in the town’s cultural history - and in the life of a man already familiar to many in Dartmouth.

Vernon MacAndrew (1880–1940) is remembered locally as a businessman, yachtsman, and philanthropist, associated with Dartmouth’s maritime and social life in the early decades of the twentieth century. Alongside this public profile, MacAndrew pursued photography as a sustained private practice. He showed work privately to friends, family, and local groups, and he exhibited flower studies at the Royal Photographic Society. In 1936 he was admitted as an Associate of the Royal Photographic Society.

The newly donated material is substantial and coherent. The archive had been in private hands since MacAndrew’s death and has only recently resurfaced at auction. It has not yet been fully catalogued or studied in a museum or academic context. As a result, the figures below are estimates, though they give a clear picture of what has been deposited and the overall character of the collection, which represents the overwhelming majority of his life’s work with his camera.

On current assessment, the archive totals approximately 5,000 glass originals, comprising around 4,500 glass positives and 500 glass negatives. Within this, at least 1,750 items are colour, forming a major component rather than an occasional experiment. On current information, that places it among the largest documented of pre-WW2 colour collections currently in the public domain. The collection spans approximately 1900 to 1939 and includes monochrome work, hand-tinting, and multiple colour processes, with evidence across the archive of Autochrome and other colour systems including Agfa and Finlay (glass and cut film)—a broad technical range within a single private body of work.  There is also evidence of Paget material, but this has not been quantified at this stage.

For photographic historians, this breadth matters because colour appears as a sustained practice rather than a small side-line. A particular highlight is a long sequence (115 slides) of early Autochromes associated with MacAndrew’s time in Valencia (1906–1914), above, left, forming a multi-year run rather than isolated examples. The archive also includes later still life studies, indicating continued technical work with lighting, colour, and composition beyond travel and maritime subjects. In total around 300 Autochrome slides are identified and need to be catalogued.

The archive subjects include Dartmouth and Kingswear—harbour and river scenes, working boats, waterfront life, and yachting—to extensive travel and expedition photography made overseas. The overseas material includes sequences associated with travel in Europe and the Mediterranean as well as work made further afield, including in North Africa and the Red Sea region, Sudan, the West Indies/Caribbean, and the Philippines. This breadth places the archive within wider maritime and travel networks of the period, rather than limiting it to local topography.

A further strand, unusual in its scale within a personal archive, is MacAndrew’s systematic documentation of natural history, including an extensive photographic record of his shell collection alongside studies in botany, insects, and microscopy. After his death, his nationally significant shell collection was donated to the Natural History Museum, and the shell photographs in the archive form a separate visual record of that scientific interest. These sequences suggest a photographic practice used for recording, comparison, and close observation as well as for travel and social documentation.

MacAndrew’s position within yacht racing also provided access that is rarely available to photographers working from outside the sport. As owner and helm of the 12-metre Trivia, he achieved notable success at Cowes Week in 1938, winning 21 prizes including the King’s Cup. This brought him into the international big-boat racing world—yachts, tenders, and the shore-side and social routines around major regattas—and the archive shows that he documented this environment in colour[Image of West Solent One Design racing].

The archive also contains hand-tinted monochrome photographs associated with expedition contexts, showing that colour work here includes both native colour processes and post-production hand colouring. In later maritime work, there is evidence of MacAndrew using Finlay glass plates, and later moving into Finlay cut film, indicating changes in materials and practice within a single working life.

Dartmouth Museum has stressed that this donation marks the beginning of a long-term project rather than a finished story. The immediate priorities are collections-led: stabilisation of fragile glass materials, condition assessment, careful handling protocols, and creation of a structured inventory. Only once these foundations are in place will it be possible to make evidence-based statements about the archive’s wider significance within British photographic history and the history of early colour practice.

“This is an important addition to the town’s historical record,” a museum spokesperson said. “It offers a rich visual account of Dartmouth’s maritime world, but it also raises wider questions about early colour photography and private photographic practice in the first half of the twentieth century.” 

The donation also strengthens an existing local photographic resource. Dartmouth Museum already holds a substantial group of black-and-white glass lantern slides by five local photographers, documenting Dartmouth between 1890 and 1945, totalling approximately 2,400 slides. The addition of the MacAndrew glass material increases the scale and range of Dartmouth’s public photographic holdings and supports future work comparing local documentation across formats, decades, and photographic approaches. A project page on the Museum website will host updates as work progresses.

Taken as a whole, the MacAndrew donation brings into public care a large, technically varied archive made over several decades, and represents his complete oeuvre, so far as we are currently aware. The presence of multiple early colour processes, the sustained Valencia Autochrome sequence, the hand-tinted expedition photographs, the use of Finlay materials in later maritime work, and the extensive scientific documentation of shells and related subjects combine scale with a high level of photographic intent. Once conserved and catalogued, the archive has the potential to stand both as a major visual record of Dartmouth and its maritime life and as a significant body of primary material for the study of early colour practice and private photographic production in Britain in the first half of the twentieth century.

With thanks to Jonathan Turner, Dartmouth Museum.

See: https://www.dartmouthmuseum.org/

Images: (top to bottom): Dartmouth from Bayards Cove; Huercas near Valencia (Autochrome); Flower still life (Autochrome); Harpado propellor being repaired (monochrome); Philippines, view of stilt village; Nine shells; West Solent One Design racing. All courtesy of Dartmouth Museum.

BPH has only just learnt of the passing of Mike Hiley who was particualarly active as a photo-historian, researcher and educator from the 1970s-1990s at a time in the 1970s-early 1980s when there were few others working in the field. He authored a series of books, notable on Frank Meadow Sutcliffe on based on his own researches.   

Michael Hiley was born in Halifax, North Yorkshire in 1945. His family moved to the Midlands in his teens but he always thought of himself as a Yorkshireman. Following his graduation from Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, he and his wife Pauline moved to Leicester, where he took his PGCE at Leicester University. For the practical side of the course he went to what was then known as Leicester Polytechnic which later became De Montfort University. After graduating he was asked to stay on and taught what was known as Liberal Studies in the pre-Diploma department. Mike was free to teach what he most enjoyed - the history and appreciation of film and photography.

Roger Taylor recalls: 'When I was in Leicester every week for my MA in Victorian Studies Mike and I regularly met for supper - a big thank you Pauline. Despite researching different areas we kept an eye out for each other. I was working my way through the photographic journals and would xerox everything and anything of interest to either of us and shared these with Mike. We both felt excited to be exploring new territory, which in many ways we were. There were so few of us in the field that there was a generosity of spirit characterised the field.' 

In 1976 Mike was was given leave of absence by Leicester University with a view to drawing up a degree course in the History of Photography and the Royal Photographic Society agreed that he be ‘given access to the Collection in order to pursue his work in return for which he would be prepared to give assistance in the Collection'. He was temporarily employed by the RPS and volunteered a significant amount of his own time. He returned in 1980 spending six weeks in the Collection from May. His knolwedge of the collection brought him on to the RPS's Collection Advisory Committee for a short period in the mid-1970s, stepping down in 1977. 

At the same time he was writing short articles about the photographer, Frank Meadow Sutcliffe whose work he had come to know on those holidays in Yorkshire, when he would visit the Sutcliffe Gallery, then run by Bill Eglon Shaw. The Gordon Fraser Gallery, at that time more famous for greetings cards, wanted to start a series on the History of photography and asked Mike to write the first of the series on Sutcliffe.  Frank Sutcliffe Photographer of Whitby was published in 1974. This began a relationship with the publisher which resulted in several books on Photography including: Victorian Working Women. Portraits from life (1979) based on the collection in the library of Trinity College Cambridge of the photographs collected by and the diaries written by Arthur Munby; Bill Brandt;Nudes 1945-1980 (1980) for which Mike wrote the introduction to this selection following interviews with the photographer which he felt very privileged to do; and Seeing Through Photographs (1983), based on a selection of the vast collection of copyright photographs then held by the Public Record Office at Chancery Lane and Ashridge, now at the National Archives, Kew in the COPY1 series. All his books were critically acclaimed. Mike's work on Sutcliffe also saw a British Council touring exhibition and publication. 

Mike moved to the faculty of Arts at De Montfort Unversity and became a Senior Lecturer there, teaching the History of Photography and latterly virtual reality in web design as he had studied for an MSC at Lancaster University in web design.Together with Glass Page at De Montfort he project managed an award-winning website called Heritage on the Web and in 1999 presented a paper 'Heritage on the Web: Building a Gateway to European Cultural Heritage' at the Electronic Imaging & the Visual Arts conference in Berlin. Paul Hill work worked with Mike recalls him 'contributing wonderfully to the MA Photography at DMU.'

Mike died in June 2025 having suffered from Alzheimer's for some years but just in the last year before his death, when he was still able to understand and appreciate it, his first book on Frank Sutcliffe was republished by the History Press. As a reviewer noted of Mike's British Council leaflet 'Hiley entirely understands both the man and his work' and his publications are a fitting memorial to his pioneering scholarship.  

He leaves Pauline, and a brother, Dr Nicholas Hiley. 

With thanks to Pauline, Nicholas, Paul Hill and Roger Taylor. Additronal and RPS research Michael Pritchard.

A collection of photographs by Bill Brandt and a group of photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe and others have been transferred to the Tate and Ulster Museum respectively. The transfers have been made under the governement's Cultural Gifts and Acceptance in Lieu schemes. The value of the AIL to the Ulster Museum was £28,409.

The Tate has received a collection of 73 photographs by the photographer Bill Brandt (1904-1983), created from the 1930s to 1979 and donated by John-Paul Kernot. The photographer and photojournalist Bill Brandt was one of many emigrants from Nazi Germany to Britain who made huge contributions to the cultural life of their adopted homeland. Among the most important photographers working in Britain in the 20th century, Brandt is particularly well known for his documentation of societal disparities across Britain, and for his powerful landscape and portrait photographs. In his work, social commentary is tempered by an often dark and poetic beauty. This collection is a careful selection of rare tonal vintage prints (made at or close to the time of the negatives) covering the range of Brandt’s career, but it is especially rich in wartime photographs and landscapes. Significantly, within the collection are some of the actual prints used by Brandt for his publications and these prints carry his annotations. The allocation of the Brandt photographs will transform Tate and the nation’s holdings of this key figure in modern British photography.

The Ulster Museum received five photographs by Herb Ritts, Bruce Weber, Horst P Horst, Boyd Webb and Robert Mapplethorpe. The photographs are characteristic examples of the work of five internationally recognised late 20th-century photographers, all of whom have significantly influenced the history of photography and its relevance to other arts and popular culture. Horst P. Horst, Herb Ritts and Bruce Weber all made their names as fashion photographers, while in his mature work Boyd Webb, who trained as a sculptor, creates and then photographs complex theatrical constructs. Better known for his portraits, Robert Mapplethorpe is represented in the collection by a beautiful still life. 

See: https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/media/24340/download?attachment

Images: Top: Tree in Autumn with crescent moon, 1942 by Bill Brandt. Photo: © Bill Brandt Archive Ltd

Side, the internationally recognised home of humanist documentary photography and film, which has spent nearly fifty years recording and preserving working-class lives, from its gallery in Newcastle, will establish a curatorial office at Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead in February 2026. The move is both a pragmatic response to the pressures facing arts organisations today and a bold step into a new creative direction. It will enable Side to bring its collection to a wider audience, commission and co-create new work, and deepen its commitment to education and community practice across the North East and beyond.

Side was founded in 1977 on Newcastle’s Quayside by the Amber Film & Photography Collective as a space for lens-based documentary rooted in the realities of working people. From shipyard workers to new communities arriving in the region, Side has made the lives of those too often absent from arts spaces visible. Its AmberSide Collection, recognised by UNESCO, is a growing archive of photography and film that continues to respond to the present: migration, precarity, resilience and everyday solidarity.

The decision stems from the realities of today’s cultural landscape. With public funding shrinking and the cost of running independent venues escalating, many arts organisations today are facing closure. Side and Baltic have chosen to cooperate in a mutually beneficial agreement.

As a cultural tenant within Baltic’s building, Side retains its autonomy and individual voice while both parties can collaborate on exhibitions that recognise the importance of photography as an art form and bring continued visibility of working-class culture to a high volume of diverse audiences.

From 2027, Side will work with Baltic in developing presentations across a range of exhibition and programmable spaces within the landmark industrial building, a former flour mill.  Just as importantly, this move frees Side to invest more deeply in what has always set it apart as an arts organisation: education and community work. With new capacity, Side will expand projects with schools, youth groups and neighbourhoods, creating hyper-local displays that place documentary art back into the communities where it is created.

Laura Laffler, Managing Director of Side said:  “Working-class culture is living culture — it doesn’t belong in the past. Our move to Baltic is about making sure the voices and experiences of ordinary people around the globe remain visible, urgent and valued in the present. Rooted in the North East, connected internationally, we will continue to commission, co-create and champion work that speaks to resilience, struggle and collective imagination.”

Sarah Munro, Director of Baltic said: “We’re delighted to welcome Side as a cultural tenant in spring 2026. Photography is crucial to Baltic’s programme. Our audiences have been enthusiastic and visited in high numbers to exhibitions of photography by Chris Killip and Martin Parr to Franki Raffles, Joanne Coates and Phyllis Christopher. We want to represent the communities that live in the locale of the gallery and who visit Baltic frequently. Collaborating on these presentations will be exciting as we approach our twenty-fifth anniversary, and Side look to their 50th year. It is important that Side’s collection, its legacy and their future survive and thrive. In these challenging times it’s vital to find new ways of working together.”  

This new chapter coincides with a moment of reflection and renewal. In 2027, Side will mark 50 years since its establishment, while Baltic will celebrate its 25th year. Together they will create a platform where history and the present meet, where real people’s lives (from the North East and further afield) remain central to our region’s cultural spaces, and where documentary is made, seen and valued.

This announcement comes at the conclusion of the 'Transforming Amber' National Lottery Heritage Fund project, which set out to rethink how Side works and how the AmberSide Collection is shared. Over the past year, this project focused on strengthening the organisational foundations of Side, improving access to the AmberSide Collection (both digital and physical), and finding new ways to make it visible, relevant and active for more people than ever before. This announcement with Baltic marks the first stage of a wider programme shaped through this work from The AmberSide Trust.

Through The AmberSide Trust, the AmberSide Collection is secured and shall remain intact and accessible in the North East of England. Further announcements, including new opportunities for public access to the AmberSide Collection, will be shared across 2026.

 See: https://sidegallery.co.uk/blog/side-at-baltic and https://baltic.art/news-and-media/side-at-baltic/

Image: River Project: Quayside, 1971 © Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen | Courtesy of the AmberSide Collection

The scheme will support a researcher from outside Oxford to come and work on the Carroll collections held in the Bodleian Libraries Special Collections and at Christ Church Library.  The topic of study needs to relate either specifically or more broadly to Lewis Carroll and his interests and might include, for example (but not exclusively), studies in children’s literature, humorous verse and literary illustration, nineteenth-century photography, histories of Oxford, its colleges, University and people, and the cultural impact of mathematics. 

The Lewis Carroll Visiting Fellowship
Opening Date: 13 January 2026
Closing: 13 March 2026 – 17:00
For more information and details of how to apply see: Bodleian Visiting Fellowships in Special Collections | Bodleian Libraries

Pembrokeshire County Council has been awarded a National Archives scoping grant to work on the the Squibbs Photographic Collection. The county's Archives and Local Studies service holds an extensive collection of photographic negatives which captures a broad range of events and activities, including cover images for major news stories from the county. The material’s research potential is severely hampered due to its availability in negative format only. The negatives are at various stages of decay due to vinegar syndrome and this has reached a critical stage in some cases. The scoping grant will lay the foundation for future work to be undertaken.

Claire Orr, Archives Manager, says: “It is incredibly exciting to know that, following the results of this scoping report, we shall be in a position to appreciate the extent of the work needed. We can then target resources more effectively to ensure the preservation, interpretation and accessibility of the collection.”

See: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/archives-revealed/scoping-grant/current-and-past-projects/

Having given up on inaccurate OCR of old, I can spend a disproportionate amount of my day in time consuming (but accurate) manual transcriptions of newspaper reports and adverts.

As an AI newbie I had never tried this before, so I thought that I would see what AI made of the following advertisement from the Lancaster Gazette (which is in the public domain).

Using a simple “Convert image to text” request produced:

Here is a clear, complete transcription of the image:

1. B. B. CULLINGWORTH,
   ARCHITECTURAL, MECHANICAL, LANDSCAPE,
   AND PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER.

In returning thanks for the liberal patronage he has received since he came to Lancaster, begs to inform his friends and the public generally, that his new Portrait Rooms are now complete, with a fresh arrangement of light, made from a drawing of one of the first photographic houses in London, and he is now able to produce Portraits of every description, superior to any ever offered to the public in Lancaster, at the under-mentioned prices:—

                               1 doz.   ½ doz.

Carte de Visite Portraits in two different positions, with either plain or fancy background ............... 12s. 6s.
Carte de Visite, in one position .................................................. 10s. 5s.
Views of Monuments or Tombstones, with inscription legible, suitable for Albums .... 15s. 10s.

Whole Plate Portraits, either in sitting or standing position, coloured in oil by one of the first photographic colourists ...................................................... Each

• Whole Plate, coloured ........................................ £1 15s. 0d.
• Half Plate, do. ................................................ £1 10s. 0d.
• Whole Plate, uncoloured ...................................... £0 17s. 6d.
• Half Plate, do. ................................................ £0 10s. 0d.

Copies to be had at a great reduction.

View of any building, 10s., or half-dozen ......................................... £2 0s. 0d.
Extra copies ........................................................................ 3s. 6d.

Any kind of Machinery, Carriages, Horses, Dogs, &c., taken on reasonable terms.

For Views taken at a distance exceeding two miles from Lancaster, not less than half a dozen printed.

PORTRAIT ROOMS.
OPPOSITE ST. JOHN’S CHURCH, LANCASTER.

1. B. C. having several orders on hand, would be glad if parties wishful for views would give timely notice.

The transcription was impressive, even if the random emboldening was puzzling!

Refining the request to “Convert image to text formatted for printing” produced:

Here is the advert cleanly typeset for printing (A4 portrait, single column, tidy spacing while preserving the original wording and prices):

1. B. B. CULLINGWORTH

ARCHITECTURAL, MECHANICAL, LANDSCAPE,
AND PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER

In returning thanks for the liberal patronage he has received since he came to Lancaster, begs to inform his friends and the public generally, that his new Portrait Rooms are now complete, with a fresh arrangement of light, made from a drawing of one of the first photographic houses in London, and he is now able to produce Portraits of every description, superior to any ever offered to the public in Lancaster, at the under-mentioned prices:

PRICE LIST

Carte de Visite Portraits

Views

Large Portraits

Copies to be had at a great reduction.

Building Views

Any kind of Machinery, Carriages, Horses, Dogs, &c., taken on reasonable terms.

For views taken at a distance exceeding two miles from Lancaster, not less than half a dozen printed.

PORTRAIT ROOMS

OPPOSITE ST. JOHN’S CHURCH, LANCASTER

1. B. C. having several orders on hand, would be glad if parties wishful for views would give timely notice.

It looked much better onscreen than when copied and pasted into a Word document, or as shown above in this blog, the price list was in two columns.

The rewording of repeated requests produced responses of differing degrees of success or failure. Asking it to retain capitals and or columns produced results inferior to those shown above.  

I also found that asking it to produce a pdf or Word document produced inferior results, more akin to OCR of old, whilst the transcription was accurate, it condensed it into one paragraph or it was curtailed.

Searching BPH for “ChatGPT” only brought up a couple of hits, one was from the Hong Kong History Research Centre https://britishphotohistory.ning.com/profiles/blogs/survey-historical-photographs-of-hong-kong

which contained 'Chinese' text, so I asked ChatGPT to translate it into English, it produced what seems like a plausible translation to me given the content of their blog.

As an AI novice I would be interested in hearing from other members of their experiences and perhaps promote the sharing of successful scripts and tips.

I would be particularly interested in hearing from anyone who has experience in machine transcribing and / or translating handwritten script as I can think of a number of items in my collection where that would be of benefit.

Thank you.

IOTA II and the Centre for Design History at the University of Brighton are hosting a talk on the the story of popular photography as displayed at the former Kodak Museum, Harrow, and National Museum of Photography, Film and Television in Bradford. The Kodak Museum collection represents over a century of film-based photographic technology and apparatus and for the last thirty-six years, the collection has been utilised to tell the story of popular photography at what is now known as the National Science and Media Museum’s Kodak Gallery. The predominantly pre-digital gallery presents a number of practical and thematic challenges for both museum and its twenty-first century visitors, despite a small number of permanent displays being implemented to address changing digital-based practices. This talk will examine what the changed and unchanged displays mean for visitors today who are increasingly unfamiliar with the type of photography represented.

The talk is based on Jayne Knight's PhD thesis (2024) From company museum to national collection, 1927-2023: telling the story of popular photography through the Kodak Museum Collection which can be downloaded here. 

Jayne Knight is 2025-26 Assistant National Curator of Photography at the National Trust and was a Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for Design History in 2025. She completed her PhD in 2024 on the history of popular photography in the Kodak Museum as an AHRC-funded collaborative project between University of Brighton and National Science and Media Museum.

IOTA II – IOTA stands for Image, Object, Text, Analysis, and was the title of a seminar series established by dear former colleagues Louise Purbrick and Jill Seddon. IOTA II aims to resurrect the inclusive nature of the original IOTA, bringing together students, colleagues and all interested parties from beyond the university to consider the visual and material world from a wide range of perspectives. It is a space for work-in-progress to be shared and nurtured, and for our research to be celebrated.

The changing story of popular photography in the National Science and Media Museum’s Kodak Gallery
Jayne Knight
23 January 2026, 1pm-2.30pm
University of Brighton, Advanced Engineering Building, Moulsecoomb Campus, G1.
See: https://www.brighton.ac.uk/accommodation-and-locations/campuses/moulsecoomb/index.aspx

In connection with the Photographers' Gallery's current exhibtion on the history of the photobooth which commemorates the centenary of the modern photobooth are two talks. On 23 January Rafael Hortala Vallvé and Corinne Quin, co-directors of AUTOFOTO are talking about the history and possibilities of the photobooth .On 13 February writer and cultural historian Nakki Goranin, author of American Photobooth, and writer and filmmaker Raynal Pellicer, author of Photobooth: The Art of the Automatic Portrait, for an in-depth discussion. 

The History and Possibilities of the Photobooth
Friday, 23 January 2026 at 1830

A century of the Photobooth
Friday, 13 February 2026 at 1830

This issue of PhotoResearcher centers the role of the Lumière brothers’ Autochrome in global colonial and political contexts. The impetus behind creating “The Autochrome in Imperial History” is the Tassilo Adam Collection, housed at Weltmuseum Wien in Vienna. Adam, a plantation manager and photographer in the Dutch East Indies, gifted the photography collection, including his Autochromes, to the Weltmuseum Wien in 1940. A handful of these Autochromes depict the lavish estate of Karl Bosscha in Java, Indonesia. Their representation marks a shift in the conventional colonial gaze, turning inwards, by meticulously showcasing the European settler’s domestic sphere. This volume distinguishes itself from prior scholarship on the Autochrome by prioritizing the medium’s political deployment over poetic or aesthetic interpretations. The global perspectives presented through various case studies span cases across Iceland, Great Britain, the Russian Empire, colonial Indonesia, the United States of America, the French Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. They demonstrate the Autochrome’s function as an instrument of imperial modernity, facilitating both the creation and dissemination of colonial viewpoints and the documentation of the empire’s aftermath. 

Read the editorial for free here. 

Table of Content

• Editorial, by Hanin Hannouch
• Housing Privileges: Tassilo Adam’s Autochromes of the Bosscha Estate in Java, by Hanin Hannouch
• Autochromes for Empire: J. C. Warburg at the 1908 Franco-British Exhibition, by Janine Freeston
• Extracting the View: Fred Payne Clatworthy’s Autochromes of the American West, by Rachel Lee Hutcheson
• The Autochrome in Iceland: Colour Photography on the Far Periphery of Europe, by Inga Lára Baldvinsdóttir
• The Reception of the Autochrome in the Russian Empire around 1900, by Nadezhda Stanulevich
• Between Center and Periphery: Autochrome Photography Through the History of Present-Day Slovakia, by Kitti Baráthová, Katarína Beňová & Janka Blaško Križanová
• Pepper’s Ghost. A Living Autochrome, by Bronwyn Lace & Anna Seiderer

The Autochrome in Imperial History: Color Photography’s Global Entanglements. Edited by: Dr. Hanin Hannouch / PhotoResearcher No. 44, 2025
Orders (physical journal or Pdf) to be sent to: office@eshph.org

A former gallery known for exhibitions documenting working class life has been turned into a Pilates and wellness studio. The Side Gallery was opened in Newcastle by the Amber film and photography collective, which aimed to capture and celebrate life in north-east England, in 1977. The gallery shut in April 2023 due to 'critical funding cuts and the cost of living crisis'.

See: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4grdj00pyxo

Read more about Side Gallery's new direction here: https://britishphotohistory.ning.com/profiles/blogs/backlash-as-side-gallery-announces-it-will-not-re-open-newcastle-

Monsieur Joseph J. Ponder, from Paris, appears to have been the first itinerant daguerreotypist to visit several towns in North West England – Carlisle, Kendal, Lancaster and Whitehaven.

On 5 August 1848 Monsieur J. J. Ponder, from Paris, advertised in the Aberdeen Herald that he was taking coloured photographic portraits at the Mechanics’ Institution, Aberdeen, and at the Gallery, Greenside Street, Edinburgh. Coloured likenesses were available in “various styles suitable either for the POCKET, suspended as a PICTURE, or adapted for BROOCHES, LOCKETS, BRACELETS, RINGS, &c.” He said that adverse weather merely lengthened the sitting, and portraits, miniatures and landscapes could be correctly copied. He considered his charges to be moderate and offered to teach Gentlemen “the Art in all its branches” for £5. Joseph stayed for at least three weeks.

The Mechanics’ Institute, Market Street, had first hosted daguerreotypist Mr. Blackwood, from Paisley, in September and October 1846. These portrait rooms were re-opened by Mr. Blackwood in June 1847, closing on 14 August.

A week before Ponder’s advertisement in Aberdeen an advertisement in The Scotsman had announced that new photographic rooms had opened on Greenside Street, Edinburgh, opposite the Black Bull Hotel. “Likenesses taken by the daguerreotype on the new and improved style, with or without being coloured, equal to the finest miniature, at 3s. 6d, 5s. 6d., and 10s. each. The state of the weather of no consequence.”  No photographer was named, whilst the adverts were in different styles, presumably they had both been placed by Ponder. At that time there was a large wooden pavilion on Greenside Street opposite the Black Bull.

In December 1848 Ponder advertised that his photographic portrait rooms had been set up at 40 Prudhoe Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, for a limited period only. His advertisement mirrored the one in Aberdeen. Coloured likenesses were again available in “various styles suitable either for the POCKET, suspended as a PICTURE, or adapted for BROOCHES, LOCKETS, BRACELETS, RINGS, &c.” Adverse weather was not a problem. Lessons were still being offered for £5. Business must have been good as he stayed until late May 1849.

A son, Joseph Ferdinand,  was born on 7 July 1849, at Crown Street, Carlisle to Joseph Ponder, artist, and his wife “Josiphine” [sic] (nee Lomont). His photographic portrait rooms were at 3 Cecil Street, Warwick Road, Carlisle. Unexpectedly the wet weather had prevented him from executing “his numerous orders” and so on 10 August he announced he would remain open for another week. Josiphine Ponder registered Ferdinand’s birth on 16^th August 1849.

On 4 September 1849 Ponder advertised in the Cumberland Pacquet that his portrait rooms had opened at 47 New Lowther Street, Whitehaven, for a fortnight only. The same variety of styles was on offer, and again portraits, miniatures and landscapes could be correctly copied. His portraits could be “Fitted up from 7s. 6d. upwards. Full length’s taken at 7s. 6d. N.B. - the Art taught in all its Branches for £5.” Due to the extensive patronage received he extended his stay until October. The premises, four doors from Strand Street, were also used by other visiting professionals.

Sadly a family notice in the Whitehaven Herald announced that Ferdinand had died in Cockermouth on 2 April 1850, aged 9 months. The British Newspaper Archive does not have any Cockermouth papers of the period, so it is not known if Joseph was living or working there at the time.

On 4 May 1850 Joseph announced that his portrait rooms were now open at Mrs. Halstead’s, Market Place, Kendal, “for a short period only”. He was offering the same variety of styles still fitted up from 7s. 6d. upwards. Specimens could be seen at Mr. Atkinson’s, Bookseller, and at Mrs. Halstead’s. In addition Madame Ponder after having “Superintended the Finest Houses in London and Edinburgh, will still continue to give Lessons in Millinery.” Her terms for 6 lessons for caps or bonnets were each 10s. 6d. and she guaranteed that that would make her pupils sufficiently proficient to take any situation in those branches. On 25^th May Ponder advertised that this would positively be his last week in Kendal.

On 22 June Monsieur J. J. Ponder advertised that his photographic portrait rooms were now open at Mrs. Woodhouse’s, 87 Market Street, Lancaster. He was taking coloured photographic portraits in the same variety of styles as previously, again “fitted up from 7s. 6d upwards”. Specimens could be seen at the Lancaster Gazette office and at Mrs. Woodhouse’s.

In another column the Gazette drew attention to his advert adding “People may abuse human portrait painters, either because they flatter or because they don’t: but Solum quis dicere falsum audeat!” The intended reference to Vigil’s The Georgics may have been lost on the townsfolk, not only because “Solem” had been misspelt, the reporter had meant to add ‘but who would dare to call the sun a liar?’

Mrs Woodhouse let private apartments at 87 Market Street which were also used by other visiting professionals e.g. a dentist, Mr Mosely, and an optician, Mr Moore. These apartments were later taken over by a Mrs Cass. This is the same address used by photographers Partington & Pateson in 1854, and Pateson in 1855 and 1856 when visiting Lancaster.

An example of one of Ponder’s daguerreotypes, and a snippet of an accompanying advertising handbill, were included by Bernard Howarth-Loomes in his book Victorian Photography: a Collectors Guide, Ward Lock, London (1974), p.33.

Both the competently composed and executed daguerreotype and the paper scrap have survived and are now in the Howarth-Loomes collection at National Museums Scotland:

https://www.nms.ac.uk/search-our-collections/collection-search-results?entry=20022542

https://www.nms.ac.uk/search-our-collections/collection-search-results?entry=20038935

In June 1850 whilst Joseph was opening his portrait rooms in Lancaster, his wife was advertising her millinery lessons in Carlisle. “Professor Madame Ponder” advertised that she would be giving lessons in millinery and dressmaking, with paper patterns and Parisian models, at her private instruction rooms, 47 English Street, Carlisle, from 24^th June. Six lessons cost one guinea for each branch. Early application was advised as her time in Carlisle was limited. She also offered private lessons to ladies at their own residences, three times a week.

In September 1850 Ponder paid a return visit to Whitehaven, again opening his photographic portrait rooms at 47 New Lowther Street, offering his usual variety of styles at the same prices. Although his stay was originally billed as being for a fortnight he stayed for 3 weeks.

That was the last advert found, to date, of his itinerant travels. As Heathcote said, in Joseph’s brief entry in A Faithful Likeness (p.104), “details of the next few years of his career are still to be ascertained, although it is known that in 1855 he was the proprietor of a studio in London.” He was listed in Watkin’s Directory of London 1855.

Neither Joseph or Josephine have yet been found in the 1851 Census and he is not listed in Kelly’s Post Office London Directory (small edition) 1852, or Watkin’s London Directory 1852  (dated April 6 1852). However, PhotoLondon listed his studio as being at 9 Southwark Square, Bridge Street, Southwark from 1853 – 1854. He does not feature in any Kelly’s Post Office London directories for the rest of the decade. Similarly searches of the British Newspaper Archive found no results for that address or Joseph (or J.) Ponder for the period 1850 – 1860.

The reason is that the Ponders had emigrated to Australia by December 1856. J.J. Ponder, from Paris, was now advertising that he was a hat manufacturer and importer, with a French & English Hat Warehouse, at 29 King Street West, between York and Clarence Streets, Sydney.

Sadly in March 1857 a family notice in the Sydney Empire announced that Monsieur J. J. Ponder had died on Thursday night, 12 March, after a short illness, aged 39, at his residence 268 George-street. A notice, in French, then appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald advising that  Joseph’s funeral would be held on Sunday morning, 15 March. News of his death was conveyed to England and a family notice appeared in the Australian and New Zealand Gazette in July.

Josephine continued as a milliner until, at least, 1862. She then remarried, and Madame Josephine Durant, nee Ponder, died on 14^th September 1872, aged 50, at Noumea the capital of the French territory of New Caledonia. As she had been “many years a resident of Sydney” a family notice was inserted in the Sydney press in October.

Whilst some early photographers, like Holt and Eastham on their arrival in Preston in 1845, ostensibly purported to be “from Paris” in their advertisements, to give themselves credence, in the Ponder’s case it might have been the truth.

John Garlington has done some sterling work over the years researching his biography of Robert Pateson, https://prestonhistory.com/preston-history-library/john-garlington-robert-pateson-biography/ However, I regret that there has been a misattribution as regards Pateson’s partner Partington.

In their well-illustrated book to accompany the 2004 exhibition at the Harris, Robert Pateson a scientific philosopher,  Emma Heslewood and John Garlington wrongly assumed that the artist Joseph Partington, who was recorded visiting Preston photographer John Holderness in the 1861 Census, was Pateson’s partner.  Robert Pateson’s partner was actually John Milner Partington (1831 – 1865).

John Milner Partington was baptised on 7 November 1831 at the Parish Church of St. Laurence, Chorley. His parents were William and Sarah Partington, his father was a hairdresser. By June 1841 they were living on Lune Street, Preston; William, still a hairdresser, was 35, Sarah was 40, they had three children Sarah aged 11, John 9 and Jane 6.

William had died by 1851, his widow Sarah, aged 50, was the head of the household, her three children were still residing with her at 1 Tuson Street, Preston; John, aged 19, was now a Chemist and Druggist.

J. M. Partington and Robert Pateson (1827 – 1910) separately commenced taking photographic portraits from their respective residences, 12 Maudland Bank and 51 Bow Lane, Preston at the beginning of October 1853. On 21 October 1853 they announced that they had entered into partnership and were now taking portraits from 10 to 4 daily, by the collodion process, at Pateson’s parental home, 51 Bow Lane.

On 19^th November they announced that they had opened “their new, commodious and well lighted” Raphael Photographic Gallery at 10 Chapel Street, Preston. Portraits were taken “by the Daguerreotype, Calotype or Xylographic process, from 3s. 6d. upwards; coloured, if desired.” They offered stereoscopic views, prepared photographic papers, photographic chemicals and personal instruction in photography. “Portraits taken upon glass for 3s. 6d. upwards. Daguerreotypes from 2s.6d. Portraits upon paper…. Portraits taken for lockets, rings, &c. Families and private parties waited upon when required.” This address was later used by Alfred Beattie from 1869.

Their new venture coincided with a seven month lock out of millworkers by Preston mill owners unwilling to restore previous pay cuts; the commercial and professional classes would have consequently also had a corresponding diminution of disposable income.

So on 24 March 1854 Messrs. Partington and Pateson arrived for a two week visit to Lancaster, their base was Mrs. Cass’s, she let apartments at 87 Market Street. These were the same premises used by J. J. Ponder in July 1850, then run by Mrs. Woodhouse. Their prices were the same as they charged in Preston. A review in the Lancaster Gazette considered them first rate “and for accuracy of likeness and beauty of style these productions cannot be surpassed.” The Lancaster Guardian also pronounced them to be “of first-rate order and remarkable cheap.”

Owing to their apparent “immense success” they were induced to prolong their visit twice, first by another week and then for a few days more after 21^st April. By May they were in Ulverston, residing at Mrs. Isabella Hunter’s, Upper Brook Street. In July they announced their intention to visit Dalton for a week.

They arrived for a second professional visit to Lancaster in early October 1854, again residing at Mrs. Cass’s, Market Street. Prices and products were as before, they attended daily from 9.a.m. till dusk. Again they were well patronised and extended their stay into mid-November.

Notice was given in the London Gazette that the partnership between John Milner Partington and Robert Pateson as photographers at Preston, Ulverston, Lancaster and Blackburn was dissolved by mutual consent on 14 February 1855. All debts due or owing to the said partnership in Preston would be paid and received by John Partington, and elsewhere by Robert Pateson.

Consequently in March 1855 Pateson returned alone to Lancaster, again taking apartments at Mrs. Cass’s “two doors above the Kings Arms”. This time he was here for a much longer stay. He rebranded himself as a “photographer and operative chemist” in December 1855. By July 1856 he had a photographic establishment on King Street, in front of the Assembly Rooms, and had engaged a "first rate artist" to colour his photographs. Later he also had a wooden studio with a glass roof at Morecambe.

This visit ended with his ill-fated attempted suicide on 30 June 1858 as he was in financial difficulties. He was caught in the act by his cousin and rushed by cab to the dispensary where his stomach was pumped out. He was brought before the town’s magistrates, most of whom he had probably photographed, and incarcerated over the weekend in the Castle hospital. Having apparently fully recovered, he was fortunate to be released into the care of his father, and returned to Preston. Robert resumed his career as a “photographer and operative chemist” from the parental home, 51 Bow Lane, in October 1858. The rest, as they say, is well documented history, he went on to achieve a lot over the next five decades.

Meanwhile, by the end of April 1855 Partington had moved to Bolton where he set up as a “chemist and practical photographer” at 77 Newport Street. By the end of the year he advertised that a priced catalogue of photographic apparatus and materials could be had gratis on application by enclosing a stamp.

John married Caroline Brooks on 8 October 1857 at the Parish Church of St. Mary, Bury. She was the second daughter of the late James Lowe of Bolton.

In 1861 Census John, a Chemist and Druggist, was living with Caroline and their two children, Walter Milner aged 2 and Adelaide Eugene, 3 months, at 46 Newport Street, Bolton.

John was still at the same address in June 1863  when he  offered for sale a superior photographic apparatus suitable for professional or amateur use, one suspects that this might have been his own camera equipment.

A fourth child, John Lowe, was baptised at St Chrysostom church, Everton on 28 January 1865, sadly he died in infancy. John was now a licensed vitualler living on Reservoir Street. John died at Everton on 3 April 1865, and was buried in St Michael’s churchyard, Great Lever on 8 April. Probate was belatedly granted to his son Walter Milner Partington on 1 September 1880.

Individuals working in two British photography collections have been recognised in the 2026 New Year Honours.

Jo Quinton-Tulloch, Director of the National Science and Media Museum has been awarded an OBE for services to the Arts. Jo has been Head and then Director of the museum since 2012 and has overseen its transformation and recent re-opening. 

Dr Alessandro Nasini, Senior Curator of Photographs at the Royal Collection Trust has been recognised with honorary membership of the Royal Victorian Order. The award recognises distinguished personal service to the monarch and members of the royal family.  Alessandro has been at the Royal Collection Trust for eighteen years and was appointed senior curator in 2022.

Separately Tristram Hunt, Director of the V&A Museum, has been knighted. 

BPH has learnt with much sadness of the peaceful death on sunday evening of the museum director, historian and broadcaster Colin Ford, aged 91 years. Colin was the founding Head of the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television, Bradford, in 1983 and led the museum for its first decade. He was actively involved in photography from 1972 until his death.  

Colin's career started in the world of theatre, following a MA at University College, Oxford. He joined Kidderminster Playhouse as manager/producer bringing 150 productions to the public before he moved on to the Western Theatre Ballet. Two years later he was visiting lecturer in English and drama at California State University. He emerged into the world of visual imagery at the British Film Institute joining in 1965 as Deputy Curator.

Then, as the National Portrait Gallery's first Keeper of Film and Photography from 1972, he was tasked with building up its collection of photography and initating a collection of film. Although the Gallery had photography in its collections Colin's appointment was a deliberate move to actively collect photographs in their own right - the first by any national institution. Within a few months of joining the NPG Colin was caught up in the Royal Academy's ill-thought out decision to sell at auction three volumes containing 250 calotypes by Hill and Adamson presented to a former RA president. The intervention of Roy Strong and Colin along with a groundswell of public opinion led to the sale being abandoned and the albums were eventually secured for the NPG by an anonymous donor for £32,000. The auction did much to raise awareness of the importance of photography and the need to tighten up the export of historical photographs. Colin was still involved with the export of historic photography into the 1990s as the government advisor on the subject. The albums formed (with Roy Strong) one of his many books An Early Victorian Album: The Hill Adamson Collection (1975).

Colin's scholarship on Julia Margaret Cameron began in the mid-1970s and occupied much of his career and he was due to be guest of honour at a symposium being held at Dimbola in June 2026. He secured Cameron's 'Herschel Album' for £52,000 for the NPG and it followed him to the NMPFT, now the National Science and Media Museum, where it is still housed. With Julian Cox he authored a catalogue raisoneé of Cameron's photographs in 2003.  

During the 1970s Colin was involved, often chairing, networks of photography collections and was part of a group advocating for a national museum of photography. When the Science Museum sought to deliver such a museum Colin was appointed in February 1982 as Keeper, later Head, of the nascent National Museum of Photography, Film and Television in Bradford. The story of the NMPFT has been widely told, not least by Colin, and there is more to say about its gestation and history on another occasion.

Colin brought with him a passion and enthusiasm for the project, along with a similarly-minded group of colleagues able to deliver on his vision, all the more necessary in the face of concerted opposition to locating a national museum in Bradford. It opened to the public in June 1983.  Under Colin's tenure as Head the museum acquired the Kodak Museum collection in 1985 which it used as the basis for a major new gallery telling the story of popular photography which opened in 1989. The project was led by one of his significant curatorial appointments, Roger Taylor. The museum made a number of important acquisitions including Graham Smith and Chris Killip's Another Country, the Andor Kraszna-Krausz/Focal Press archive, the Zoltan Glass archive, the purchase and gift of photographs by Lewis Carroll, and saw collaborations with many photographers including David Hockney. 

The NMPFT received the Museum of the Year Award in 1988 and had been visited by 3½ million visitors by its fifth birthday. In 1989 the museum's contribution to photography's 150th anniversay was the Makers of Photographic History conference which brought together many of the great names of twentieth century photography. That year Colin noted we 'have turned a very entertaining showplace into a centre for research and understanding.' The museum became the most popular outside of London with 750,000 annual visitors at its peak. Colin noted that his one regret of his time in Bradford was that he had not been able to set up a chair in the history of photography at the University of Bradford. 

In 1993 Colin left the NMPFT to become director of the National Museum of Wales in October. At the time he stated that after ten years it was time to let a second generation of leadership take over. The background for his move is perhaps also best left for another occasion, but Colin continued to remain actively committed to photography. The British Journal of Photography which had regularly challenged the setting up of a museum in Bradford noted that he had 'left behind a formidible legacy' and wished him well. Left unsaid was a frustration, that remained with Colin until his death, that the museum was always subserviant to, and reliant on, the Science Museum, and he had never realised his early ambitions for a national museum of photography.  

Although there is much more to say about his life, his many publications and exhibitions, it is worth highlighting his long-standing interest in, and advocacy for, Hungarian photography. He wrote the catalogue that accompanied the first exhibition in Britain of André Kertész which opened at the Serpentine Gallery in 1979, followed by The Hungarian Connection at the NMPFT in 1987. In 2011 the exhibition Eyewitness: Hungarian Photography in the 20th century at the Royal Academy drew together many of the key Hungarian photographers from the twentieth century several of whom Colin knew personally. He always cited André Kertész as one of the greatest photographers in the world. 

Outside of the museum world in the 1980s and 1990s Colin was a host and broadcaster on the BBC arts programme Kaleidoscope and regularly appeared on BBC Radios 3 and 4 discusing the wider arts and as an interviewer. He was an opera and music lover and as his brother, Martyn, notes 'his knowledge of music was more than that of any non-professional musician I have ever known. Colin was passionate about grand opera (a passion we did not share!), light opera, musical theatre and symphonic music.' He was a member of the Garrick Club where he curated exhibitions of photography. 

Colin was involved with the formation of the European Society for the History of Photography from its inception in 1977 and the NMPFT hosted the Society's 1985 symposia. He was involved as a trustee of the Kraszna-Krausz Foundation and in 2005 undertook a review of the Foundation's activities and aims; he was a vice chair of the Julia Maragaret Cameron Trust for twenty-five years, and was chair of the Committee of National Photographic Collections from its outset in 1988. He served on the Advisory Board of History of Photography journal from 1989 to 2009. Away from photography he chaired the Peel Entertainment Group, a global entertainment specialist and talent agency based in Skipton, for sixteen years. 

Colin was awarded a CBE in 1993. He received the Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society in 1999 and for a number of years from 2003 he supported the Colin Ford Award for curatorship given by the RPS. The Society's Historical group continues to host a Colin Ford lecture, the next of which is scheduled for 2026. He received the Hungarian Order of merit for his contributions to photography in 2013. 

Colin leaves his wife, Sue Grayson Ford, a son, Tom, and grandchildren, Esmé and Inigo, plus brother Martyn. His archive is to be desposited with the Bodleian Library and his collection of photography books given to the National Museum Cardiff.  

© Michael Pritchard

See: An interview with Colin Ford https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDIU437VzV8 Colin was also interviewed as part of the British Library's Oral History of British Photography and other interviews with him exist. 

Images: (top): Colin Ford with his collodion portrait in the style of Cameron at his 90th birthday event at the Weston Library, Oxford, May 2024 / © Michael Pritchard; Colin Ford with the Herschel album, 7 January 1975, unknown photographer, NPG x135971; the National Museum of Photography, as it was originally known before 'Film and Television' were added to the exterior signage, NMPFT;  (l-r) Colin Ford, Graham Smith, Chris Killip and Gustav Ahrens, MD of Agfa Gevaert at the presentation of Another Country, unknown photographer; 

By/For: Photography & Democracy is a collaborative partnership between three photographic historians, Dr. Tom Allbeson, Dr. Colleen O’Reilly, and Helen Trompeteler. We are delighted to announce that our second season of programs will begin in February 2026. Please join leading thinkers Anne Cross & Matthew Fox-Amato, Vindhya Buthpitiya, Leigh Raiford, Jeehey Kim, Zahid R. Chaudhary, and Tiffany Fairey for a year of thought-provoking conversations on photography and democracy. Explore season two and register for all events.

We’d also like to announce that at the end of our inaugural 2024/2025 season, we convened a reflective roundtable conversation with Shawn Michelle Smith, Brenna Wynn Greer, Thy Phu, Darren Newbury, Ileana L. Selejan, and Patricia Hayes. Together, they examined the stakes of photography in our contemporary moment and explored its complex entanglements with power structures and systemic injustice. Read the transcript of the conversation.

See: https://www.byforcollective.com/

This is the first book dedicated to Cornelia Bentley Sage Quinton (1876-1936). The text retraces the visionary career of the first woman director of a major art museum in the United States. From her appointment as director of the Albright Art Gallery in Buffalo in 1910, Cornelia Sage left her mark on American institutional history, as well as on the history of photography, notably by organizing the International Exhibition of Pictorialist Photography with Alfred Stieglitz and the Photo-Secession group. A pioneer, through her original approach and bold choices, she paved the way for women aspiring to key positions in American museums.

The author, Camille Mona Paysant, is an art historian specializing in photography. Her doctoral thesis, defended in 2018, focused on the international relations and diverse practices of artists associated with the Photo-Secession movement. In 2016, she published The Travel Photographs of Baron Adolph de Meyer: The Eye at Rest: A Break with the Tradition of Studio Photography (Éditions Hermann), followed in 2019 by Japan: Adolphe de Meyer (Éditions Louis Vuitton). She also contributes as a specialist to exhibition catalogues, including Picasso: Masterpieces! (Musée national Picasso – Paris, Gallimard, 2018), André Ostier: Portraits of Artists (Musée Matisse, Nice, 2019), and Whistler: The Butterfly Effect (Silvana, 2024).

Cornelia B. Sage Quinton – Une pionnière de l’art américain
Camille Mona Paysant
Editions Naima, 2025
238 pages, PDF, EPUB 
€24 (printed edition) or €4,99 (subscription download)
See: https://www.naimaeditions.com/biblio/cornelia-b-sage-quinton-une-pionniere-de-lart-americain-numerique/?referer=l58du4

The Lycée Champollion, in collaboration with Grenoble Alpes University and the Maison de l’Image in Grenoble, continues its series of international study days on various themes and techniques related to the photography of Michael Kenna (1953-...), a British photographer whose work has been exhibited around the world.

This second study day aims to highlight another major source of inspiration for his work: the representation of trees. Since the late 1970s, Kenna has been photographing trees assiduously: a first exhibition in 2011, organised by the KONG gallery that presents his work in Seoul, showed a selection of his photographs of trees, accompanied by the publication of a catalogue entitled Philosopher's Tree. The choice of the title to present his photographic practice on trees is characteristic of Kenna's approach. This name becomes the symbol of an entire body of work: trees allow the photographer to encounter nature in a way that is physical, sensitive, intellectual, aesthetic, but also metaphysical. 

Kenna explores the structuring power of trees in the landscape. The frequent wintry nature of his settings reveals the exceptional beauty of his subjects, the balance of their forms, and the harmonious, geometric development of their branches and trunks. Thanks to very long exposure times, which can last up to ten hours, his images reveal elements that the human eye usually ignores or cannot perceive. To quote Chantal Colleu-Dumond, who wrote the preface to Arbres in 2022, “as if through a synaesthetic effect, his images of trees are filled with a particular mystery and absolute silence that give them a sense of obviousness and universality” (2022, 4). Chantal Colleu-Dumond goes even further, making our experience with Kenna's tree photography a revelation of our relationship with time: “The time of trees is not that of humans; Michael Kenna emphasises their permanence as much as our finitude” (2022, 4). But Kenna's practice also brings us back to the notion of temporality, duration, and series. Kenna loves to photograph oak trees: he fell in love with a large oak tree in the town of Beaverton, near Portland, Oregon. In June 2021, Kenna began a series of portraits of the Beaverton oak. A year later, he had already assembled a selection of 83 photographs, taking advantage of the lockdown, which allowed him to stage this tree in a space emptied of its inhabitants. Kenna's photographs of this oak tree take us back to the early days of photography, with William Henry Fox Talbot's mid-19th century shots of oak trees, which made trees the ideal subjects at a time when photography required long exposure times that caused blurring for any non-static elements. 

We invite you to see these majestic beings in a new light, to listen to the lessons of these non-humans at a time marked by a necessary return to The Land, the title of Bill Brandt's exhibition that revealed Michael Kenna's vocation as a landscape photographer in 1976. 

The main themes covered:

1) Trees in the work of Michael Kenna

2) Trees in art history: possible links with 18th-century painters and 19th-century photographers

3) Trees on screen

4) Trees in literary creation

5) Trees as subjects of law, agency, or discourse

6) Trees as abstraction and natural minimalist architecture

7) Trees as political and ecological symbols

8) Trees as vertical axes/spiritual bridges between the visible and the invisible

9) Trees and their relationship to time: the concept of long exposure, series, and repetition

10) Trees and memory: local or universal symbols?

Papers may be published.

Call for papers: TREES IN THE ARTS AND LITERATURE. AROUND MICHAEL KENNA’S PHOTOGRAPHY

Date and venue: Friday, November 27 2026 at Lycée Champollion, Grenoble (France)
Deadline for submissions: May 1, 2026

https://www.lycee-champollion.fr/

Proposals should consist of a single file headed by the name of the lecturer; they should include a short biography (maximum one page) and the paper proposal (maximum 3,000 characters including spaces). They may be written in French or English.

Deadline for submission to jearbrekenna@gmail.com : May, 1st 2026.

The project is supported by Grenoble-Alpes University, axe transversal Création culturelle et territoire(s), ILCEA4 scientific laboratory EA 7356. 

 1Institut des langues et cultures d'Europe, Amérique, Afrique, Asie et Australie