Blogs

The seemingly magical process of capturing an image on a light-sensitive surface entranced the Victorian age. This new science and artform, which became known as photography, was created by pioneers from the 1830s onwards. By the late 1850s numerous photographic studios had been established in the county.

This symposium is the first time that a public day event has been devoted to exploring photography in Devon. Its crossover between Science and Art exactly fits the aims of the Devonshire Association, and the programme will reflect this. The morning will include exciting new work on pioneers of photography in Devon, and on the remarkable topographical work in the county of one of the finest national photographers of the mid-19th century, and of his contemporaries. There will also be a challenge to identify Devon scenes photographed in the 1860s as studies for nationally renowned artists. James Davies will give a presentation on the official recording of buildings within the county.

The afternoon will start with a look at the revelatory landscape and social record of Chris Chapman and the late James Ravilious from the 1970s onwards. The day will come full circle with presentations from three contemporary internationally respected artistphotographers inspired by Devon – Garry Fabian Miller, Susan Derges and Jem Southam – whose camera-less techniques or equipment echo that of the very earliest practitioners. Much of the rich visual material and information will be presented for the first time, and the important role of photography in Devon will be more than amply demonstrated.

SCIENCE MEETS ART ASPECTS OF 175 YEARS OF PHOTOGRAPHY IN DEVON
Saturday 9 April 2016. 9.30am (Registration) – 4.30pm Petroc College, Mid Devon Campus, Bolham Road, Tiverton EX16 6SH

The programme and a booking form is available here: http://www.devonassoc.org.uk/whats-on/20160409-Science-meets-art.pdf 

The recent Cameron conference held at the Bodleian Library held on 20 January is the subject of an informative blog posting here which neatly and concisely summarises the papers presented: https://madeleineemeraldthiele.wordpress.com/2016/02/11/julia-margaret-cameron-symposium/ 

Hello,I am looking for information on this albumen photo. I assume it is British, and also assume that these are 1850-1860 era uniforms.

A most curious photo: The gentleman seated on the cobblestones is wearing a fur hat, a paisley robe, and holding a dog! This group looks like it is about to hatch a crime spree. There is also the number 5 in the window???

Was wondering if anyone here could identify the uniforms, or any other thoughts about the image. (please let your imagination go wild)

Sorry, but I can not make out the names until I receive the item.

Many thanks in advance!

David

Could you work confidently with historical artefacts, catalogues and collections in a museum or gallery setting? We are looking for a motivated individual who has relevant experience to join our Corporate & Collections Information team as a Collections Information Officer. 

The National Media Museum cares for more than 3.5 million significant items, including the collections of National Photography, National Cinematography, National Television and National New Media.

You will be responsible for collections registration tasks to ensure that statutory responsibilities are maintained and delivered, regarding loan or disposal of objects held in the reserve collections. You’ll be based at the National Media Museum and will be working on collection loans out renewals, historic loans and object loans in renewals, as well as object acquisitions and disposals, GIS applications, collections rationalisation, and data cleaning for collections documentation.
Under direction, you will be able to take responsibility for delivering collections registration and collections documentation work, creating records to a good standard in the object database (MIMSY XG). You will work as part of the team to ensure that objects are fully documented and the Museum Group policies are adhered to. You will assist with drafting loan agreements and transfer of title paperwork, and managing the transportation of objects between the museum and borrowers, lenders or new owners. In addition, you will work with other departments within the museum, including those in the Curatorial, Corporate & Collections Information and Conservation & Collections Care teams.

We are looking for somebody who can effectively communicate and negotiate with current lenders and borrowers, balancing tact and diplomacy whilst adhering to our processes. Your attention to detail and ability to juggle a complex workload under time pressure will be second to none. Experience of working with the collections database Mimsy XG will be a distinct advantage. IT fluency is essential. 

You will be self-motivated and able to work effectively within a team, and you will be comfortable communicating with a range of people including colleagues at all levels and external stakeholders. You will be willing and able to take on a wide variety of tasks. Previous experience of collections registration or collections documentation, a working knowledge of the Government Indemnity Scheme and experience in the transportation of objects is essential. 

Salary: £16,500 - £17,500.00

Deadline: 14 February 2016

See more and apply here: https://vacancies.nmsi.ac.uk/VacancyDetails.aspx?FromSearch=True&MenuID=6Dqy3cKIDOg=&VacancyID=1245

Dominic Winter Auctioneers now invites further entries for their spring Photography auction. We are still seeking good individual vintage photographs, both old and modern, and good Victorian and later albums, raw footage documentary films, vintage cameras, cased images, lantern slides, photographically illustrated books, archives, etc.

Shown here is: Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879). Queen Esther fainting before King Ahasuerus, 1865, albumen print, titled in ink by Cameron to original mount, image 13 x 11 inches. Pre-sale estimate £3,000-5,000.

Note the striations still visible in the upper area of this print. These marks are the result of using a damaged negative, as was part of Cameron's working practice. Some versions of this print, including the two miniature ones that have appeared at auction, have had this area of the photograph touched up and the marks removed. See Cox and Ford, 167.

For information and selling advice please contact Chris Albury chris@dominicwinter.co.uk www.dominicwinter.co.uk

The ICON Photographic Materials Group are pleased to announce that they will be providing funding for one student to attend the ICON Conference 2016 “Turn and Face the Change”. The bursary will cover the conference fee of £225 plus subsistence and travel expenses up to the value of £150.

To apply for funding please submit a 200 word essay explaining what your interest is in photographic materials conservation and how you would benefit from attending the conference. You should be currently enrolled on a conservation or related higher education course – please provide the details of your course and place of study, including your expected graduation date on your essay submission.

The successful student will be expected to write a short article for Icon News and/or the PhMG blog about the conference, focussing on the Book & Paper and PhMG session.

Further details about Icon 16 “Turn & Face the Change: Conservation in the 21st Century” can be found on the Icon website: http://icon.org.uk/about-us/icon-conference-2016

Please e-mail your essay to Rosalind Bos at rosalindbos@yahoo.fr by the 31 March. The successful candidate will be notified by the 11 of April.

Following the announcement that part of the National Photography Collection is to be transferred to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, Impressions Gallery confirms that the Impressions Gallery Archive will be staying in Bradford. 

The archive, of over 3,000 artworks and objects, is a significant repository that demonstrates the cultural impact of photography and the vital role that Impressions Gallery has played in raising the profile of the medium in the UK. The Impressions Gallery Archive will continue to be conserved in Bradford alongside other prestigious collections of international significance including the Kodak Collection and the Daily Herald Archive.

Whilst Impressions Gallery is disappointed that the National Photography Collection will be divided between Bradford and London, the Gallery recognises that in the current funding climate, difficult decisions have had to be made to ensure the National Media Museum’s future.

Impressions Gallery Director Anne McNeill said: ‘It has always been important to us that our archive remains as a key resource for photography research in the North of England. The decision to move part of the National Photography Collection to the V&A is just another example of national resources being taken from the regions and going to the capital. We will be sad to lose our valued colleagues and friends in any restructure, and will continue to support the Museum in Bradford’.

Roger Watson, curator of the Fox Talbot Museum, is lecturing in the United States and can be seen in a livestream of his lecture on 4 February 2016 at 12.00AM GMT.

AAHD alumnus Roger Watson, BFA 1982, is a curator at Lacock Abbey, Fox Talbot Museum, in Lacock, England, Britain's birthplace of photography. Watson's recent book is Capturing the Light: The Birth of Photography, a True Story of Genius and Rivalry, co-authored by Helen Rappaport. The Fox Talbot Museum celebrates the life and work of William Henry Fox Talbot (1800-77). Fox Talbot created the first photographic negative in 1835, taken of a small window at his home, Lacock Abbey.

See here for more information: http://livestream.com/msualumni/RogerWatson

An historic agreement between the Science Museum Group (SMG) and the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) is set to create the world’s foremost collection on the art of photography according to a press release published by the V&A Museum.

• World’s leading collection on the art of photography to be created at the V&A
• RPS Collection to move to V&A London
• National Media Museum to focus on STEM subjects
• No future national museum of photography

The museums have announced that more than 400,000 objects from SMG’s three-million-strong photography collection, held at the National Media Museum, will be transferred to the V&A. These photographs, cameras, books and manuscript material will join the V&A’s existing collection of 500,000 photographs to create an International Photography Resource Centre. The new Centre will provide the public with a world-class facility to access this consolidated collection, which will become the single largest collection on the art of photography in the world.

V&A Director, Martin Roth, said: “The V&A and Science Museum Group have shared origins and uniting our complementary collections will create a peerless historical and artistic photography resource. Our ambitious plans for enhancing digital access, collaborative research, touring exhibitions and creating an International Photography Resource Centre will mean that future generations of visitors and researchers will benefit from these examples of the most important artistic developments in artistic photographic history.”

Dr Michael Pritchard, Director-General of the RPS, said: “The RPS has worked closely with the National Media Museum since 2003 to ensure that the world-class RPS Collection of photographs, technology, books and documents from 1827 to 2016 has grown and developed. I am pleased that we can further enhance the RPS Collection’s stature alongside the V&A’s own art photography collection and make it more widely available to the public and scholars and ensuring it remains a prime resource for future generations.  The RPS is extremely fortunate to benefit from the support and expertise of one of the world’s most revered cultural institutions.”

A commitment has been given that the RPS Collection will be retained as a distinct entity and there will be negotiations over the coming weeks to ensure that the the current partnership agreement with the National Media Museum is carried over to the V&A. While the move will prove beneficial in opening up access to the RPS Collection the Society is concerned that the absence of a single institution with the curatorial expertise to collect and interpret all aspects of photography beyond its art will lead to a selective and narrow appreciation of photography that existed before the formation of the National Media Museum in 1983 when the V&A and Science Museum worked independently.

There will be challenges for the V&A which houses the national collection of art photography to deal with photographic technology and science that forms a key part of the RPS Collection. The Society will be keen to see the V&A expand its remit to take responsibility for the National Photography Collection. There will be further announcements over the coming weeks regarding the transfer, timings and impact on the other collections held at the National Media Museum and senior curatorial staff have entered a period of consultation regarding their jobs. 

Once transferred, the collection will be stored, digitised and made accessible for study. In the short term, the permanent gallery space dedicated to photographs at the V&A will be doubled. A second phase will see the opening of an International Photography Resource Centre to provide unprecedented opportunities for access, collaborative research and education with this unrivalled collection. As part of the agreement, the V&A will work closely with SMG to give access to the transferred collections for future scholarship and exhibitions.

The National Media Museum in Bradford – one of the four museums that make up SMG – is refocusing its photography collections to align with its own strategic emphasis on the science, technology and culture of light and sound. The National Media Museum will retain the collections which support an understanding of the development of photographic processes (such as the Kodak Museum collection), the ongoing cultural impact of photography (such as the Daily Herald archive) as well as photographic archives that have specific relevance to Bradford (such as the Impressions Gallery archive). A new £1.5 million interactive light and sound gallery is due to open in March 2017.

See more here: http://www.rps.org/news/2016/january/rps-collection-to-move-to-vanda-london

There is more background relevant to Bradford here: http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/business/14244537.National_Media_Museum_to_lose_part_of_its_art_of_photography_collection/

Sir Kenneth Corfield, the designer of the Corfield Periflex series and, later, the WA77 and Architect cameras, died on 11 January, aged 91 years. With Brian Gould he ensured that the Gandolfi company survived. He enjoyed a successful career in business as chairman and chief executive of STC. He was a life member of the Royal Photographic Society. Amateur Photographer carries a short report here: http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/latest/photo-news/sir-kenneth-corfield-founder-of-last-successful-british-camera-range-dies-aged-91-68993:

Michael Pritchard writes...I first met Sir Ken in the 1980s when would attend the camera auctions at Christie's. Despite his role as a leader of industry he was always an engineer at heart as epitomised by his Corfield camera - the last commercially successful British camera range. Sir Ken was always friendly and helpful and willing to answer questions on his cameras. He remained fascinated by camera technology long after the final Corfield camera was sold and combined his technical background with that of an historian to great effect. For many of us his great legacy will be the Periflex camera.

Please comment with your own memories of Sir Ken. 

Image, top right: © reserved; collection National Portrait Gallery, London.

Another exhibition to mark the bicentenary of the birth of Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879) from the same source (the Victoria and Albert Museum) as the exhibition I travelled up to Sydney to review last year.

I am always ecstatic when I see her work, no more so than when I view images that I have not seen before, such as that dark, brooding slightly out of focus portrait of William Michael Rossetti (1865) or the profusion of delicate countenances and gazes that is May Day (1866).

The piercing gaze of Julia Jackson (1867, below) always astounds, as though she is speaking to you, directly, from life. The r/evolutionary English naturalist and geologist Charles Darwin (1868, below) is pictured - no, that's the wrong word - is materialised before our eyes at the age of 59 (looking much older), through low depth of field, delicate tonality and the defining of an incredible profile that imbues his portrait with the implicit intelligence of the man. I would have loved to have known what he was thinking.

See the full posting at http://wp.me/pn2J2-7Dw

Dr Marcus Bunyan

Many thankx to the Victoria and Albert Museum for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.

Julia Margaret Cameron
Julia Jackson
1867
Albumen print
© Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Julia Margaret Cameron
Charles Darwin
1868, printed 1875>
Albumen print
© Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Whilst researching for my proposed book on "Cuthbert Bede" I just happened to try John Moyer Heathcote on the 'net (although I have already a substantial amount of information on him; he was a friend of "Bede" whilst the latter was curate of the combined parishes of Holme-with-Glatton 1850-54) - and up popped, under the British Photographic History site, a quite indistinct photograph by JMH taken c.1852, which the blogger (or anybody else) had no knowledge of its locality - thinking it might be a fen parish. It immediately roused my interest - as it looked very familiar to me instantly. I'm 99.9% certain that it is the parish church of All Saints' Elton, Cambridgeshire (formerly Huntingdonshire). I quickly compared it with a postcard photo I have (1912) taken from virtually the same angle, which confirmed my belief. I will shortly post this 1912 photo. I have in my collection, since the 1970s, a print of another photograph which JMH must have taken during the same visit (Conington is a good twelve miles from Elton), this is of Elton watermill. It shows attached to the end of the mill, the miller's thatched cottage, which was taken down in the 1880s; I will also post this too. Hope this proves noteworthy.  

The year 2015 marked the bicentenary of the birth of Calcutta-born photographer Julia Margaret Cameron.  In eight short statements, researchers and curators will reflect on the status of the Victorian photographer in the history of photography at large while also using her work as a springboard to think about the present and the future of an increasingly globally conceived historical field. Besides historiographical contributions, some speakers will contemplate on their previous research on Julia Margaret Cameron and how they see it today, while others will present new insights, for example on Cameron’s colonial work made in Ceylon or her intellectual connections with networks of scientists, artists and collectors.
 
Chaired by Geraldine Johnson and Richard Ovenden, with contributions by Mirjam Brusius, Elizabeth Edwards, Nichole Fazio-Veigel, Colin Ford, Pamela Roberts, Larry J. Schaaf, Emilia Terracciano and Marta Weiss.

Venue and Time: Weston Library, Broad Street, Oxford 20 January 2016, 2-5 pm
 
Tickets are free, but space is limited, so please register to attend: http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/whats-on/upcoming-events/2016/jan/photography
 
This symposium will feature a small display: Julia Margaret Cameron: The Henry Taylor Album
 
The photographs of Victoria photographic pioneer Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879) can be found in a number of albums held at the Bodleian Library, amongst it an album, which she had compiled for Sir Henry Taylor. But beyond her friendship with the dramatist the Calcutta-born photographer was connected to a wide range of 19th-century artists and savants. Some of these friends received albums as gifts specifically compiled for them while others collected her photographs for pleasure or as a means of support of the contested photographer. This small display showcases works by Cameron, supplementing the Taylor Album by letters and further photographic items. Tracing the individual histories of these objects reveals much about the movement of photographs over decades and about the intellectual ownership networks in which they circulated.
 

The science Museum has announced the latest in its series of Research Seminars. They are open to students, museum professionals and academics with an interest in the history of science, technology, engineering, medicine and maths; museums, their audiences and collections. Of particular note, on 15 March, Ella Ravilious will discuss Photography at the South Kensington Museum/V&A. 

The South Kensington Museum (later renamed the Victoria and Albert Museum) made, used and collected photographs from its earliest beginnings in the 1850s through to the present. This activity had many purposes and the photographic prints were viewed and used in myriad ways. The photographs of art objects and artefacts made by the Photographic Studio and the photographs collected by the National Art Library, the Circulation Department and the Photographs Collection together constitute a formidable resource. The shared photographic history between the Science Museum and the V&A is rich and include connections which are still coming to light today.

All seminars take place between 1-2pm in the Dana Study, Dana Research Centre and Library, 165 Queen’s Gate. Bring a packed lunch. 

The opportunity to digitize a collection such as ours is an amazing thing. It allows for material of local and national interest to be preserved for posterity and to be shared on the internet with a whole world of people who would otherwise have no access to such a unique collection. For us, as researchers of the sitters and places depicted, it enables the access and identification of sources in faraway places that could potentially uncover information otherwise out of our grasp. In our case, these fragile glass plates could so easily have been lost, but even after their rescue and relocation to the Sutton Archives in 1978 they remained stored away, uncatalogued and largely unknown for close to 40 years. The nature of this collection and its fragile state means it is unlikely that they would ever have been ‘available’ to the public without the opportunity that digitisation offers. Digitisation will not only preserve them for posterity, it will bring them back to life. But of course, as with many opportunities of this sort, you only get one chance to get things right. The kind of investment that is required for a project of this type, both financial, and of time and commitment means that there are a number of things of which we must remain aware and must be careful to avoid or take into account.

Read the rest at https://pastonglass.wordpress.com/

The Hidden Lane Gallery, Glasgow is showing this work by the Scottish-Canadian photographer Margaret Watkins until the 21st February 2016. The gallery is open Tue-Sat 1100-1700. The work has not been seen before.

07760 669011

1081 Argyle St,

Finneston,
Glasgow.
G3 8LZ

I can recommend the Hidden Lane Tearoom to visitors desiring refreshment - ask for directions from the gallery as it is indeed well hidden!

Photo%20Seminar%20poster-HT%202016.pdf

Hilary Term 2016

Tuesdays (Weeks 1, 3, 5 and 7) – 12:30pm - 2pm*

Co-organizers: Mirjam Brusius & Geraldine Johnson

January 19th (Tuesday, Week 1) – 12:30pm -- 2pm:

Portraiture and Time: The Photographs of Edward S. Curtis

Shamoon Zamir, NYU Abu Dhabi

Location: Dept. of History of Art, Littlegate House, St Ebbes

February 2nd (Tuesday, Week 3) – 12:30pm – 2pm:

The Engraved Photograph, the Victorian Periodical and the Nature of Photographic Trust

Geoff Belknap, University of Leicester

Location: Dept. of History of Art, Littlegate House, St Ebbes

February 16th (Tuesday, Week 5) – 12:30pm – 2pm:

From Documentary to Abstract Photography: Aaron Siskin’s Aesthetic Transformation

Richard Howells, King’s College London

Location: Dept. of History of Art, Littlegate House, St Ebbes

March 1st (Tuesday, Week 7) – 12:30pm – 2pm:

Site Visit—Photography at the Sackler Library:

Eadweard Muybridge’s ‘Animal Locomotion’

Martin Kemp and Kelley Wilder in conversation

Location: Sackler Library, St John Street

Register to book a place** (limited places—only 8 can attend)

*Please bring your own lunch for informal conversation from 12:30pm to 1pm.

Formal presentations will begin at 1pm and finish by 2pm.

 **To register for the Sackler Library site visit, please go to: www.hoa.ox.ac.uk/events

Co-sponsored by Dept. of History of Art (Centre for Visual Studies) and Bodleian Libraries

I'm looking for some help to learn more about the two photographs pictured here. One is inscribed: "Photography by Bernard Alfieri / Fantastic Figures by S.M. Sulton" or possibly "Sutton."  Bernard Alfieri was a British photographer (1860-1839), mostly a Pictorialist, but these could also quite possibly be by his son, also named Bernard Alfieri, also a photographer.

This one-day conference at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, will present new research on the pioneering photographer Julia Margaret Cameron's social, religious, colonial and artistic contexts.

International speakers will explore themes such as Cameron’s experimental techniques and exchanges with other artists and her lasting impact and relevance for contemporary practitioners.

http://www.vam.ac.uk/whatson/event/5919/julia-margaret-cameron-at-200-275264027/

Friday 15 January 2016, 10am-5:15pm, Victoria and Albert Museum, London

This conference is organised in conjunction with the V&A exhibition 'Julia Margaret Cameron', on view until 21 February, 2016 (http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/julia-margaret-cameron/).