To commemorate the International Archives Day, the Municipal Archive of Girona (AMGi) and the Centre for Image Research and Diffusion (CRDI) of Girona’s City Council (Catalonia) have made available a resource for the preservation of their personal archives. This resource includes basic recommendations emerged from the experience of the archive's technicians.
This resource is available in English on http://www.girona.cat/sgdap/docs/dia2013_def-eng.pdf
BPH has just learnt that Roger Mayne died of a heart attached on Saturday, 7 June. A fuller obituary will be published later today. BPH sends its condolences to his wife Ann Jellicoe, their daughter Katkin and son Tom.
UPDATED:
Tom Gitterman of his New York Gallery wrote in an email:
Roger’s seminal body of work on the working class neighborhoods of London in the 1950s and early 1960s made him one of the most important post-war British photographers.
Photography was a way for Mayne to connect with people and explore the world around him. Mayne’s honest and empathetic approach to photography is evident in the candid response from his subjects and has influenced generations of photographers.
Though his talent as a photographer was recognized early in his career, it was his solo exhibition at The Victoria and Albert Museum in 1986 and the subsequent use of his images on album covers and concert backdrops for the musician Morrissey in the 1990s that renewed interest in his work. Thanks to the early support from his first dealer, Zelda Cheatle and Mark Haworth-Booth, former curator of photography at The Victoria and Albert Museum, and the continual support of my colleague Lindsey Stewart at Quaritch, his dealer in London, Mayne’s photographs are revered and included in numerous private and institutional collections worldwide. Most recently, Mayne’s work was featured in Art of the ‘60s at the Tate Britain in 2004, Making History at the Tate Liverpool in 2006, How We Are: Photographing Britain at the Tate Britain in 2007 and Roger Mayne: Aspects of A Great Photographer at the Victoria Gallery, Bath in 2013.
Mayne first became interested in photography while studying chemistry at Balliol College, Oxford University from 1947-1951. In 1953 he developed an interest in the St. Ives School, which embraced the abstract avant-garde movement, and became friendly with the painters Terry Frost, Patrick Heron and Roger Hilton. Mayne consciously printed with high contrast to emphasize the formal qualities in his work and increased the scale of his prints to have a further dialogue with the painting of the time.
In 1954 Mayne moved to London to become a photographer, and in 1956 he discovered Southam Street. It was a street in a working class neighborhood of West London that would be demolished to make room for high-rise apartments. During the five years Mayne photographed there, it was full of energy: teddy boys, jiving girls, and kids playing in the street. Mayne also photographed other streets of West London and similar working class neighborhoods in Britain. For Mayne even the empty streets and dilapidated buildings had “a kind of decaying splendor.” Though modernization ended community life in the streets, Mayne’s work preserves the spirit of that time. By 1959 Mayne’s images were so indicative of this period that Vogue used them to illustrate teenage styles. Colin MacInnes used one of his images on the cover of Absolute Beginners, a novel told in the first person by a teenage freelance photographer living in West London that commented on the youth culture of the time.
Throughout this period Mayne worked as a freelance photographer and his photographs were reproduced regularly in magazines and newspapers. His work was included in group exhibitions at the Combined Societies, a progressive group of local photographic societies in Britain that broke away from the Royal Photographic Society. His work was also included in Otto Steinert’s Subjektive Fotografie in Germany, a series of group exhibitions and books of international photography that emphasized personal expression and the aesthetic potential of the medium. Mayne had solo exhibitions in 1956 at the George Eastman House in Rochester, N.Y. and at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London. As early as 1956-57 the Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Art Institute of Chicago acquired his work.
It has been an honor and a pleasure to represent Roger. My relationship with him has affected me greatly, always reminding me to be as true to others as I am to myself. I will miss him.
Tom Gitterman
Gitterman Gallery
41 East 57th Street, Suite 1103
New York, NY 10022
212 734 0868
info@gittermangallery.com
www.gittermangallery.com
An obituary was published in The Guardian newspaper: http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/jun/13/roger-mayne
Image top: © Roger Mayne, Self-Portrait, 1956; Above: Edinburgh; Courtesy: Quaritch.
Does anyone know the true photographer of this image? I've seen it variously attributed to Thomson and A. Fong. Published in "A New History of Photography" Edited by Michel Frizot (Page 149) as "attributed to Fong".
My copy has a letterpress description below… and is listed as No. 321, so obviously part of a series, book, or album, but I can find no information about this.
Thanks in advance for any help!
David
Doha News reports that plans for the proposed Qatar-based International Media Museum in Doha have been scrapped amidst staff and budget reductions. Several senior staff working on the Media collections have recently left. The newspaper reports that: 'QMA employees have also alleged that teams working on plans for three proposed museums – the Pearl, Media and Children’s museums – have been significantly reduced, and plans for individual museums scrapped.
'However, a QMA spokesperson told Doha News today that while the organization had considered establishing permanent homes for the Pearl and Media collections, these plans were never formalized. The collections remain, however, and their respective teams are still working on them, she said, adding that there had been “no change” to plans for the Children’s Museum.' Reference to the photography and related collections have been removed from the QMA, now Qatar Museums, website which has recently been updated.
The Qatar state has acquired significant holdings of photography, originally through the collecting of Sheikh Saud Al-Thani, and subsequently taken over by the state. Al Thani collected photography, cameras and printed materials - from the late 1990s. The QMA collections include significant holdings of daguerreotypes and the S F Spira Collection amongst many others. According to the QMA: 'The IMM possesses one of the most outstanding and valuable photographic collections in the region and one that ranks with major collections through the world. The photographs are of exceptional quality and span from the 19th century to present. The collection includes photographs from early daguerreotypes through albums and photography - illustrated books to contemporary colour photographs and photographic advertising poster. Also IMM possesses a collection of films and photographic and film technology as well as a significant rare book collection.' Recently buying of photography by the QMA had largely stopped.
Details of the QMA Photography collections can be found here: http://www.qma.org.qa/online/index.php/en/collections/photography
Plans for a photography museum, later re-named International Media Museum, were first drawn up by 2002 and were well advanced with designs (shown above, left) prepared by the renowned architect Santiago Calatrava. Construction never started.
In February 2013 World Architecture News revealed plans (image below, right) from Fernando Romero Enterprise’s (FR-EE) latest building concept: PH Museum in the Middle East. The location of the building was widely believed to be Doha. WAN noted: 'The main bulk of the 3,800sq m museum takes the form of a large canopy, shading visitors from harsh sunlight beneath a circular overhang. Romero has taken his cue from ‘the mechanics of a camera’, falling in line with the functionality of the space as a museum of photography and photographic equipment.
FR-EE explains: “Inspired by the mechanics of a camera, the organization of the museum reflects the complexity of a camera lens. The interior is organized radially from the center of the building and a spiraling ramp connects these spaces to emphasize spatial continuity.'
The proposed opening had been postponed several times since, most recently with a date of 2017 being suggested. This now appears to be unlikely as QM reviews its cultural strategy, assesses its budgets, appoints a new CEO after the departure of Edward Dolman, and adopts a policy of Qatarisation for employees. Sadly, the photography museum appears to have become a casualty of those changes.
See: http://dohanews.co/qatar-museums-authority-announces-re-branding-amid-job-loss-uncertainty/ and
http://britishphotohistory.ning.com/main/search/search?q=Qatar
The RIBA announces an international symposium on architectural photography in conjunction with the first major retrospective of the British architectural photographer Edwin Smith (1912-1971), whose prolific work helped redefine the notion of post-WWII Britishness. The symposium will take place on 13-14 November at RIBA in London.
The symposium will honour the legacy of Robert Elwall (1953-2012), an acclaimed British historian of architectural photography and curator, since 1976, of the RIBA's Photographs Collection that now bears his name. With some million and a half architectural images, the Robert Elwall Photographs Collection is one of the most extensive resources for the study of the influence of photography on architecture and the creative process.
The RIBA invites papers from photographers, researchers, academics, curators and students in conjunction with the first major retrospective of the work of the British architectural photographer Edwin Smith (1912-1971) – Ordinary Beauty: The Photography of Edwin Smith . Interested participants are invited to submit a 300-word abstract, brief biography and a presentation title by no later than 31 July 2014. The call for papers is available here.
See website for further details details http://www.architecture.com/WhatsOn/November2014/BuildingWithLightTheLegacyOfRobertElwall.aspx
In September 2014, RIBA’s new Architecture Gallery will present the first major retrospective of Edwin Smith (1912 – 1971), one of Britain’s foremost 20th century photographers. Hailed by Sir John Betjeman as a ‘genius at photography’ and by Cecil Beaton as ‘an understanding and loving connoisseur of his subject’, Edwin Smith captured the essence of the places, landscapes and buildings he photographed.
Ordinary Beauty: The Photography of Edwin Smith will display 100 extraordinary black and white photographs from a collection of over 60,000 negatives given by Olive Cook, Smith’s widow and collaborator, to the RIBA Library. From urban scenes documenting British social history to evocative landscape images and atmospheric interiors, the images displayed reveal the genius and breadth of his work. Alongside his images of Britain the exhibition will show photographs taken on his travels to Europe as well as his published books and photographic equipment. Specially filmed contributions ranging from Alan Bennett to broadcaster Gillian Darley offer personal perspectives of Smith’s work.
Edwin Smith was highly sought-after by publishers and in the 1950s he was commissioned by Thames & Hudson for a series of books, among them English Parish Churches (1952), English Cottages & Farmhouses (1954), Scotland (1955), England (1957), and The Living City: A New View of the City of London (1957). He was also commissioned by Vogue, Shell Guides and numerous other magazines and writers to illustrate features and books on subjects varying from Great Houses of Europe to The Wonders of Italy.
The late Robert Elwall, author of Evocations of Place: The Photography of Edwin Smith and previous curator of the RIBA Photographs Collection:
“The recurring themes of Edwin Smith’s work – a concern for the fragility of the environment, both natural and man-made; an acute appreciation of the need to combat cultural homogenization by safeguarding regional diversity; and, above all, a conviction that architecture should be rooted in time and place – are as pressing today as when Smith first framed them in his elegantly precise compositions.”
Valeria Carullo, RIBA, co-curator of the exhibition: “Edwin Smith’s images provoke an immediate emotional response and at the same time offer the opportunity for observation and reflection. This exhibition offers a timely reappraisal of his exceptional work and emphasises the prominent place he deserves in the history of British photography”
As post-war social and urban change began to alter the look and character of British towns and cities a movement to save Britain’s heritage gained momentum. The 1950s saw the birth of the Victorian Society and in 1951 the first volume of Pevsner’s Buildings of England was published. Smith shared similar sensibilities and his work contributed to the appreciation of traditional British architecture, local craftsmanship and regional building materials.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a series of talks, films and events.
Ordinary Beauty: The Photography of Edwin Smith
Exhibition: 10 September 2014 – 6 December 2014
Architecture Gallery, RIBA, 66 Portland Place, London, W1
FREE ENTRANCE
Image: St Lawrence, Didmarton, Gloucestershire (1961) © Edwin Smith / RIBA Library Photographs Collection
I am pleased to announce that the Heritage Lottery Fund has awarded the London Borough of Sutton Archives £95,900 towards the digitisation, conservation, cataloguing and research of the David Knights-Whittome glass plate negtaive collection. An additional £10K from Sutton Council means a total of nearly £106,000 for the project.
The project will see 11,000 Edwardian images cleaned, digitised, researched, catalogued and made available to the public. The glass plate negatives were taken between 1904 and 1917 by photographer David Knights-Whittome.
The majority of the pictures depict local people, while the rest are an eclectic mix of images of the interior and exterior of stately homes throughout the UK and Europe. There are also images of three generations of the Royal family; local and regional schools, colleges and theatre groups; and weddings.
Sutton Archives is recruiting a team of volunteers who will be trained to handle, clean and digitise the glass plates, and to catalogue and research the images. Volunteers will also contribute to a blog which will record the project.
As part of this two year project there will be sessions for the public and local historians to research their own World War 1 ancestryand learn how to care for their own photo collections. Sutton Mencap will be involved in a project which will involve people with learning disabilities using the images as an inspiration for their own artwork.
Further details from Kath Shawcross, Borough Archivist & Local Studies Manager
Daguerreobase, is a European funded non-profit research project that aims to collect at least 25.000 descriptions of daguerreotype objects in the Daguerreobase database and make a digital representation of them available on the Europeana portal. It has just published Daguerreotypes. Europe's Earliest Photographic Records which is freely available as a download here: http://www.daguerreobase.org/en/journal/50-booklet-daguerreobase
In addition in June 2014 the first issue of The Daguerreotype Journal - Sharing the International Cultural and Visual Heritage of Daguerreotypes will be published. This European Daguerreotype Association Quarterly will be published in the context of the Daguerreobase Project and it will be available onwww.daguerreobase.org
The BBC reports that Bradford's National Media Museum (NMeM) saw 480,000 visitors in 2013, in a drop of 13,000 compared to 2012. The NMeM said a fall in cinema goers was responsible for the drop in numbers. The Head of the NMeM, Jo Quinton-Tulloch said the decline in visitors was 'disappointing' but noted that general admissions to the museum's galleries and exhibitions had gone up by 8% compared with 2012.
Thomas P. Campbell, Director and CEO of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, has announced that more than 400,000 high-resolution digital images of public domain works in the Museum’s world-renowned collection may be downloaded directly from the Museum’s website for non-commercial use—including in scholarly publications in any media—without permission from the Museum and without a fee. The number of available images will increase as new digital files are added on a regular basis.
The Museum's photography collection comprises some 34,886 items, including works by William Henry Fox Talbot Alfred Steiglitz and many of the greats of photography, which will now be downloadable under the initiative.
In making the announcement, Mr. Campbell said: “Through this new, open-access policy, we join a growing number of museums that provide free access to images of art in the public domain. I am delighted that digital technology can open the doors to this trove of images from our encyclopedic collection.”
The Metropolitan Museum’s initiative—called Open Access for Scholarly Content (OASC)—provides access to images of art in its collection that the Museum believes to be in the public domain and free of other known restrictions; these images are now available for scholarly use in any media. Works that are covered by the new policy are identified on the Museum’s website (http://www.metmuseum.org/collections) with the acronym OASC. (Certain works are not available through the initiative for one or more of the following reasons: the work is still under copyright, or the copyright status is unclear; privacy or publicity issues; the work is owned by a person or an institution other than the Metropolitan Museum; restrictions by the artist, donor, or lender; or lack of a digital image of suitable quality.)
OASC was developed as a resource for students, educators, researchers, curators, academic publishers, non-commercial documentary filmmakers, and others involved in scholarly or cultural work. Prior to the establishment of OASC, the Metropolitan Museum provided images upon request, for a fee, and authorization was subject to terms and conditions.
Additional information and instructions on OASC can be found on the Museum’s website at http://www.metmuseum.org/research/image-resources/frequently-asked-questions.
Image: Alfred Stieglitz, The Steerage, 1907.
An illustrated talk about the use of comic cartoon cut-out boards by the beach photographers of Great Yarmouth 1890-1965. Great Yarmouth born photo historian Paul Godfrey has been researching the commercial seaside photographers of the town for several years. His talk will describe the photographic methods used by beach photographers, what life was like for the photographic artist on Great Yarmouth Sands in the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century plus the origin and the evolution of some of the designs of the painted boards and much more. This talk is a part of the Great Yarmouth Arts Festival 2014 http://www.greatyarmouthartsfestival.co.uk and is inspired by the Festival’s Trail of Jack Cardiff Boards. Wednesday 11th June 2014 at 5.30 pm. Admission Free. St. George’s Theatre, King Street, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, NR30 2PG.
The Vernon Lamb Archive is a collection of new photographs, created between 2013 and 2014 from the original negatives (plates) by Robert White of Hertfordshire. The original collection began about 1910 when Vernon Lamb arrived in Matlock and stopped in 1915 after he joined the Army. However, it is almost certain that all the non army images were taken between 1910 and 1914, whereas the pictures of soldiers were taken between 1914 and 1915.
Read more about the history of the archive, how it was digitised and see the images that have been copied, together with historical research notes here: here: http://www.andrewsgen.com/matlock/pix/vl_archive/index.htm
The archives consists of around 1000 half-plate negatives of which only a selection of the more interesting ones have been copied.
Image: Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire Regiment) Army Training Camp, © The Vernon Lamb Archive and Robert White
More than 100 photographs by acclaimed British photographer Bob Carlos Clarke, including iconic images of Keith Richards, Marco Pierre White, Caprice, Mandy Smith and Rachel Weisz, have been acquired by the National Media Museum for the National Photography Collection.
Carlos Clarke (1950-2006), became best known for his sexually provocative and stylised images, as well as a perfectionism and experimental approach in printing. For 30 years he photographed models, actors, musicians, commercial adverts and several still life pieces.
His career started after he left the Royal College of Art in 1975, but his rise to fame came in the 1980s, and for the next two decades his work was synonymous with glamour, eroticism, fashion and fame.
Greg Hobson, Curator of photographs at the National Media Museum, said: “Bob Carlos Clarke is undoubtedly a significant figure in British photography, representing many of the things that were both most interesting, but also most challenging in the rapidly evolving photographic landscape of the 1980s and 90s. He was a versatile and imaginative photographer, and there is a consistent level of quality in all his work, in particular in the photographs that he meticulously printed himself.”
Lindsey Carlos Clarke, Bob’s wife, said: “I am delighted that these important images are now part of the National Photography Collection, so that the nation has access to them now and in the future.”
Michael Terwey, Head of Exhibitions and Collections at the National Media Museum added: “Carlos Clarke’s exemplary craft in photography makes this a compelling and relevant contemporary acquisition for the National Photography Collection. We are very grateful for the help and support of Lindsey Carlos Clarke, Ghislain Pascal and Philippe Garner over the last year in making a selection of more than 100 prints that are representative of the career of a unique talent.”
The acquisition for the National Photography Collection includes several of Carlos Clarke’s most recognised and acclaimed photographs, but it also features lesser known examples including a shot of Mick Jagger performing at the Roundhouse in 1971, several images from ‘The Agony and the Ecstasy’ series (1994), as well as advertising shots for Wallis and Smirnoff and prints of his intriguing still life work.
A significant selection of the photographer’s work is currently displayed in the exhibition BOB CARLOS CLARKE: LIVING DOLLS at the Little Black Gallery in London. www.thelittleblackgallery.com
Image: Masked Blonde, 1996 © The Estate of Bob Carlos Clarke
A selection of work by the London photographer Bob Collins (1924-2002) goes on display in a new exhibition, showcasing his photography of life in London, from major events to the everyday, and including some of his earlier amateur images.
While Collins’ portfolio was dominated by portraiture, from stars of the screen to eminent artists, this new exhibition at the Museum of London shines a light on his documentary work, captured as he traversed the streets of London from the late 1940s to the 1960s, and as recently as 1990. The 50 images on display have been selected to show Collins’ acute observational skills when photographing within crowded places, a common theme found amongst the two thousand plus Bob Collins’ images, which the museum holds in its Photography Collection.
The photographs cover a range of subjects - from the London nightlife of the buzzing West End, to the porters of Billingsgate Fish Market during the 1950s. He recorded memorable scenes during the 1960s such as at Wimbledon All England Lawn Tennis Championships, central London in the grip of rush hour and anti-Vietnam protest marches. Collectively, the spontaneity and eye for detail seen in his photographs exemplify the technical and aesthetic talents of Collins’ photojournalism
Observing the Crowd: Photographs by Bob Collins can be seen at the Museum of London, 16 May to 13 July 2014. See: http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/london-wall/whats-on/exhibitions-displays/observing-the-crowd-photographs-by-bob-collins/
In 2009 the Library of Birmingham acquired a dozen photographs by Daniel Meadows, one of the most influential figures to emerge from the new wave of British independent photography in the 1970s. In May the Library will be presenting a major exhibition of his early work and begin the process of acquiring his entire photography archive.
Curated by Val Williams, Daniel Meadows: Early Photographic Works will include renowned bodies of work such as June Street, Butlins at Filey and the landmark Free Photographic Omnibus project which saw Meadows undertake a journey across England in a double decker bus he had converted into a darkroom and living space. During his 10,000 mile odyssey Meadows photographed almost one thousand people from 22 towns across Britain. He subsequently revisited and re-photographed many of these same people almost 30 years later. Together Meadows’ numerous projects provide an extraordinary window that enables us to look back and see a unique record of England, at work and in its leisure hours, during a critical period in British photographic and social history.
The exhibition will include new items such as a number plate from Meadows’ Photographic Omnibus and a selection of works drawn from the photography collection at the Library of Birmingham featuring works by Sir Benjamin Stone, Tony Ray-Jones, Meadows, Homer Sykes, Anna Fox and Faye Claridge that reveals the way in which two generations of photographers have been inspired and influenced by the noted Birmingham-born Victorian Record Photographer Sir Benjamin Stone.
Around this exhibition which opens at the Library of Birmingham on 16 May are a series of talks including:
Pete James Talk: Daniel Meadows: Archives and Influences
22nd May 2014 6pm – 7pm;
Meeting Room Suite, level 1
Pete James, Curator of Photography Collections will discuss the influence three individuals: Sir Benjamin Stone, Tony Ray Jones and Charles Parker, whose work is held in the Library of Birmingham archives, had on Daniel Meadows's Photographic Omnibus Project.
To book your tickets now click hereMeet Daniel Meadows
7th June : 2pm - 3pm;
Meeting Room Suite, level 1
Daniel Meadows will discuss the Gallery exhibition ‘Daniel Meadows Early Photographic Works’. He will screen multimedia pieces and show work from his archive of forty years which, this year, is to be acquired by the Library of Birmingham.
To book your tickets now click here.
10th June 2014 : 6pm – 7pm;
Meeting Room Suite, level 1
Ian Grosvenor (University of Birmingham) will discuss Daniel Meadows’ work in the context of the emergence of community photography in post war Britain and the radical political activism in 1970s and 1980s which together had a huge impact on documentary photography in Britain.
To book your tickets now click here.The amateur photography of Rupert Potter, father of the celebrated children’s book author and illustrator, Beatrix Potter, will be explored in a new display opening at the National Portrait Gallery to celebrate the centenary of his death. As well as two new acquisitions showing Beatrix Potter on holiday with her father, The World of Rupert Potter: Photographs of Beatrix, Millais and Friends will display portraits taken by Rupert Potter of close family friends, showing the circles within which he socialised and the influence this had on his daughter’s life and work.
A professional lawyer and a keen photographer in his personal time, Rupert Potter (1832–1914) took many carefully posed portraits, particularly during the Potters’ lengthy summer holidays in the Lake District and Scotland, which show his impressive technical skill and aesthetic ability. He was a member of the Photographic Society, later the Royal Photographic Society from 1867 until 1912. As a result of his particular interest in portrait photography and, through his friendship with the painter Sir John Everett Millais, Potter began taking photographs of Millais’ sitters and paintings. Millais rated Potter's photographs so highly that he often used them to assist his working process, such as for his ‘Rosebery’ portrait of William E Gladstone, the second of his four paintings of the Prime Minister.
Beatrix Potter’s journals from the 1880s and 1890s vividly reveal the influence of her exposure to the art world and the life of a working artist before becoming one herself. She later used photography to aid her work, learning with one of her father’s old cameras. With their mutual interests in art and photography, father and daughter enjoyed a close relationship and despite their closeness being tested in later years,
Rupert was a significant influence in Beatrix's development as an artist and writer. Large numbers of Potter’s photographs survive in several collections, with the earliest dating to the 1860s. The World of Rupert Potter: Photographs of Beatrix, Millais and Friends will feature a carefully selected range of Potter’s photographs from the National Portrait Gallery’s extensive collection of his works, some of which were directly donated to the Gallery by Potter during his lifetime. A larger set of 186 photographs relating to his work for Millais was given to the Gallery by Jack Edward Ladeveze, currently Trustee of the Enid Linder Foundation, in 1993.
Two new acquisitions will be on display for the first time, which show Beatrix Potter on family holidays at two different points in her life. The first of these was taken in 1894, with her father and brother, before she became a published author. The Potter family enjoyed frequent holidays in Scotland and the Lake District, which provided the siblings with the opportunity to explore the surrounding countryside and indulge their interest in animals and natural history, and inspired the illustrated children's books for which Beatrix became famous. The second new acquisition was taken in the Lake District in 1906, by which point Beatrix had published eight books, and shows her with the Potters’ family friend, Hardwicke Rawnsley. Rawnsley encouraged Beatrix in her literary ambitions, and as co-founder of the National Trust, his conservationist views deeply influenced Beatrix, which led to her future contributions to the Trust.
Other portraits on display will include photographs of the painter Sir John Everett Millais in his studio with unfinished paintings as well as portraits of sitters used by Millais for his paintings, including his daughter Effie and statesman John Bright. Constantia Nicolaides, Photographs Cataloguer, National Portrait Gallery, says: ‘Rupert Potter was taking photographs at a time when the medium was still very technically demanding, so that the proliferation of his images to be found in various collections today is astounding. Meanwhile, his subjects are of great historical interest, and we are thrilled to add these two self-portraits, also showing his talented daughter Beatrix, to our existing collection of his photographs of distinguished Victorian figures at leisure, and his work for Millais. This display will provide an opportunity to see fine examples of these.'
Images:
Top: Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Bt in his studio at 2 Palace Gate, Kensington by Rupert Potter, July 1886 © National Portrait Gallery, London
Above: Rupert Potter, Beatrix Potter and Bertram Potter in Lennel, Coldstream by Rupert Potter, 1894 © National Portrait Gallery, London
For further information, please visit www.npg.org.uk and http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/display/2014/the-world-of-rupert-potter-photographs-of-beatrix-millais-and-friends.php
The World of Rupert Potter: Photographs of Beatrix, Millais and Friends, Room 28, 13 May-16 November 2014, at the National Portrait Gallery, London. Admission Free
Bonhams is to sell on 4 June in New York a collection of 98 photomicrographs of snowflakes by Walter Bentley, 1890s-1920s.
Bonhams is to sell in New York on 4 June an extensive collection of material from the archive of John David Zumbrun and Camera Craft, Beijing, [1910-1929], including approximately 2000 gelatin-silver photographs, autochromes, panoramas, lantern and glass slides, postcards, colotypes, and negatives.
Its been a fantastic week in tracking down more information about the Daily Mirror's First World War photographers, especially George Mewes.
George went to Russia at the beginning of the war and became a Official Photographer with the Russian Imperial Army. As well as making a photographic record of the fortunes of the Russian army he wrote a series of articles which were syndicated around the world.
His description of the fall of Warsaw, the cost to the city and the soldiers that defended it is incredible. Keeping in mind that all the images and articles he wrote and took had to be sent overland back to Petrograd. Then a search for a traveller going back to the UK had to be found to personally hand articles and glass plate negatives in to the Daily Mirror offices in London.
After the war George return to Russia to make what can only be described as the first charity appeal film for Save the Children highlighting the Russian famine of 1921. The sole remain copy of this film is held by the Bfi.
In 1926 George created the worlds first stock photography agency the Photographic Advertising Limited.
If any members have further information about George and his adventures in Russia and want to share them with me, please drop me an email at johnm@mirrorpix.com.
Image below is of George Mewes relaxing in the offices of the Daily Mirror 1914
Rob Ball has alerted BPH to a project he has been undertaking since January documenting Dreamland, Margate, with the ferrotype or tintype process. Dreamland was one of the country's oldest amusement parks; at one time, the 16-acre site held a zoo and miniature railway, a cinema, cafes, restaurants, bars, shops and a 2,000-capacity ballroom, not forgetting that in later years it was home to Europe's largest big wheel.
You can follow progress of Rob Ball's work on the Dreamland site. For those interested, the South East Archive of Seaside Photography is well worth a look. Rob Ball is the deputy director.
The project was featured on the BBC website here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-27210062
