I regret to inform you that my friend and member of this website José Luís Madeira died on April, 10th. He developed an important work in Portuguese photographic history, at several levels, and left unfinished books and exhibition projects, in particular those concerning Lisbon and Portuguese India photographic history. His death was a severe blow to the knowledge of these subjects in Portugal. I here pay my tribute to the friend and to his work.
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As reported here (http://tinyurl.com/d3e4mbn) a benefit auction is being held to raise funds for the National Media Museum's Media Space. Just released are details and the first artist's concept drawing of the space located within the Science Museum, London.
In Spring 2013 the Science Museum and the National Media Museum will together open MEDIA SPACE: a bold and exciting new space in London that will present, celebrate and debate the past, present and future of media in its myriad forms.
Consisting of a breathtaking gallery surrounded by cultural spaces for display and participation, MEDIA SPACE will be a unique environment where artists and practitioners, independent thinkers, pioneers, innovators and agenda-setters will mix across the arts, sciences and creative industries.
MEDIA SPACE will be a showcase for the unrivalled National Media Collections in photography, as well as cinematography and broadcast technology, and an arena where audiences will experimentally and critically engage with how new technologies have impacted on today’s creative industries.
A new space for adult audiences at the Science Museum, MEDIA SPACE will contain:
■ A striking 640 m2 gallery space for major photography and media art exhibitions, both drawn from our own collections and international touring shows
■ A versatile studio space that will play host to screenings, conferences, live events and installations
■ A stylish contemporary destination café/bar MEDIA SPACE will:
...add to the current critical mass around photography in the capital, complementing the work of our peer institutions Tate, the V&A and The Photographers’ Gallery.
...make a profound contribution to the cultural landscape of London and the UK through its ambitious programme, creative partnerships and innovative online presence.
...increase access to the world-class National Media Collection, housed at the National Media Museum in Yorkshire.
...position the Science Museum at the forefront of creating and engaging with innovative ideas around science and new technologies in publishing, digital, broadcast, film, and lens-based media and photography.
MEDIA SPACE has already received generous support from Virgin Media, the Dana and Albert R Broccoli Foundation and a number of other donors.
BPH has just heard that Professor John Hannavy has been awarded a Harry Ransom Fellowship to undertake research studying the Thomas Keith and White photographs in the Gernsheim Collection. As part of his work Hannavy will try and determine which of the images in the Collection attributed to Keith are actually by Dr Thomas Keith.
Separately, news comes that Sara Stevenson, formerly of the Scottish National Photography Collection at the Scottish NPG and now in the Special Collections Department at the University of Glasgow, has been awarded a Getty Fellowship to spend time at the collection in Santa Monica to undertake research work.
Google celebrates Eadweard Muybridge's 182nd birthday with an animated Google doodle which also links through to further information on this photographer:
See: www.google.co.uk and http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/apr/09/google-doodle-eadweard-muybridge?newsfeed=true
Sixty years of Irish history including 2.6 million negatives and key events in Ireland such as the arrival of the Beatles, Princess Grace, Muhammad Ali and John F Kennedy has been preserved by a Dublin photo agency.
Lensmen Press and Public Relations Photographic Agency was set up in Dublin in 1952 by Andy Farren and Padraig MacBrien. In 1995, Susan Kennedy took over the business and the archive.
The sixty years of Irish history captured there includes many fascinating images of key events: The Beatles, Princess Grace, Muhammad Ali and John F. Kennedy all visited, many Presidents were inaugurated and many Football and Hurling finals were won and lost.
The full news report can be found here, and the archive website here.
Early Photography of Japan is a virtual collection of more than 40 souvenir photograph albums and illustrated publications with over 2,000 images from Widener Library, the Fine Arts Library, and Harvard-Yenching Library. These images primarily document the early history of commercial photography in Japan and are representative of what is often called Japanese tourist photography or Yokohama shashin. They reflect the Western image of traditional Japanese culture before the dramatic transformation brought about by modernization during the Meiji period (1868-1912).
Selected mostly from the E. G. Stillman Japanese Collection, Early Photography of Japan features many hand-colored albumen prints and collotypes by pioneering and influential photographers such as Felice Beato, Baron Raimund von Stillfried, Tamamura Kozaburo, Kusakabe Kimbei, and Ogawa Kazumasa. It also includes amateur black-and-white snapshots, probably taken by E. G. Stillman during a trip to Japan in 1905; hand-colored lantern slides produced in the late Meiji era by T. Enami and Takagi Teijiro, from the Etz-Trudell Collection of Hand-Colored Lantern Slides; and the 10-volume Imperial edition of Japan: Described and Illustrated by the Japanese, edited by Captain Francis Brinkley and published by J. B. Millet Company of Boston between 1897 and 1898.
A collaboration between the Harvard College Library’s Collections Digitization Program and the Weissman Preservation Center, Early Photography of Japanwas developed and produced to support and stimulate scholarly research and educational interest in the early history of photography in Japan. It represents a model system for enhancing access and preservation of historical photograph collections that integrates conservation, cataloging, and digital imaging.
The site was created by Robert Burton, Cataloger for Photographs, Weissman Preservation Center, with the assistance of Maggie Hale, Librarian for Collections Digitization; Enrique Diaz, Web Designer, and Laura Totten, Web Coordinator, HCL Communications. Digitization was done by Jenne Willis, Imaging Technician, Imaging Services. Funding for the project was provided by the Harvard College Library Collections Digitization Program.
BBC antiques programme Put Your Money where Your Mouth Is discovered a Richard Ellis photograph from c1887 and, for the first time, travelled outside the UK to Malta to reunite the print with the original negative held in the Ellis archive in Valetta, Malta. The Richard Ellis archive contains over 40,000 glass plate negatives each meticulously recorded in the company day books and housed in wooden box cases.
As Katherine Higgins - who made the discovery and a former Christie's colleague of mine notes:
on the programme you will see the discovery of the Ellis photograph and the astonishing reunification of the image with the original photographic plate from the Richard Ellis archive. What was remarkable was that of all the 40,000 plates that record an astonishing array of photographic subjects from Edward VII (as Prince of Wales with his dogs and an un-named companion to military groups etc) only a few plates have suffered with age. One of those is the glass plate of the photograph I found – so bringing the image back to the archive meant they now have a clear copy of what the plate would have looked like. There’s a moment where I appear astonished as the lovely Ian Ellis, great grandson of Richard asked me to turn around and at that point he shows me the wooden cased camera that was used to take the photograph I have brought to Malta. The programme has never been abroad before and this turned out to be an astonishing adventure in the cause of recognising a great photographer.
The programme airs on BBC2 at 5.15pm on 12 April 2012. There will be more on the BBC website closer to transmission: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01g9hls
Images: Katherine with Ian Ellis – custodian of the Richard Ellis archive and great grandson of the Victorian photographer. Below: Richard’s camera, which he used to take all his portrait photographs
Much has been written between the pages of BPH of the National Media Museum's new Media Space within London's Science Museum.
But brewing in the background in the West Midlands is a building that will transform the skyline of Birmingham. It is the revamped Library of Birmingham scheduled to reopen its doors to the public on Tuesday 3rd September 2013. It will showcase the institution's archives, rare books and photographs and will include a gallery space and a BFI Mediatheque, providing free access to the National Film Archive. The Library has been designed by Francine Houben.
Central Library houses the city’s internationally important 6,000 or more archive collections, two million photographic stills, more than 150,000 items of music, and rare books. Over 8,000 of the Library’s rare books were printed before 1700 and include a Shakespeare First Folio, Audubon’s ‘Birds of America’, one of the world’s largest books, and three perfect copies of Cordiale or the Four Last Thinges printed in 1479 by William Caxton.
Today the Library of Birmingham publicly launched Reference Works: a major photography commission in which four leading photographers will make visual responses to the current Central Library building and to the build, transition and relocation to the new Library of Birmingham. You can read the article in their blog here.
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The technological upheaval in photography has not only called into question the definition of photography, but also fundamentally altered the profession of photographer and the use of the medium.
The complete digitalization of the medium, its production and distribution of images, has shaken - at least in the perception of the broad public - a fundamental understanding of photography as authentic. It has clearly transformed traditional documentary and photojournalism working methods and forced their “migration” into an artistic context.
On the other hand, new actors are entering into play; activists and “citizens’ journalists”, who comment on events with their digital photos and videos on their blogs.
The Museum Folkwang and the Wüstenrot Stiftung are together organizing a symposium in order to discuss, for the first time, the future prospects of photography in a transnational perspective. The questions about the future of photography, which will be produced almost exclusively digitally, is therefore also directed at the curators of existing collections which value not only artistically motivated photographs. Which photos from the area of applied photography are left from the digital production process? What does it mean to collect photographic originals – the original file, the total of its publication, a large framed print? Is our cultural infrastructure prepared for this change, or will applied photographic practice – which, looking back to the 20th century, has always inspired artistic production – no longer help to define the collective pictorial memory?
For more information and to register see: http://www.museum-folkwang.de/en/exhibitions/future-exhibitions/der-mensch-und-seine-objekte/symposium.html
Speakers
- Rahaab Allana, Alkazi Collection, New Delhi
- Charlotte Cotton, National Media Museum, Bradford
- Heba Farid, Kairo/Cairo
- Katharina Garbers-von Boehm, CMS Hasche Sigle, Berlin
- Maryam Jafri, New York/Copenhagen
- Aglaia Konrad, Brüssel
- Adrian Sauer, Leipzig
- Clare Strand, London
- Guy Tillim, Johannesburg
- Artur Walther, The Walther Collection, Neu-Ulm/New York
Terms
April 27, 2012, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m
April 28, 2012, 10 a.m. – 3.30 p.m.
Please find detailled information on the programme here.
Admission free.
Registration required before April 20th, 2012.
Please contact: photography@museum-folkwang.essen.de.
The conference languages will be English and German.
Kindly supported by Wüstenrot Stiftung.
Christie's is offering in an auction of Travel, Science and Natural History on 25 April 2012 a camera obscura 'associated with' Nevil Story-Maskelyne, an early photographer who was close to Henry Fox Talbot and his circle. The catalogue text reads:
A CAMERA OBSCURA ASSOCIATED WITH NEVIL STORY-MASKELYNE,
Jones, mid 19th century
reflex model, the mahogany body of dovetail construction, with hinged lid, lens in wooden mount and 'push-pull' focusing front section, signed JONES Artist LONDON ; BY HIS MAJESTY'S SPECIAL APPOINTMENT No. 4, Wells Street Oxford Street. 12½in. (32cm.) long
Nevil Story Maskelyne (1823-1911).
Thence by descent.
Notes:
Nevil Story-Maskelyne (1823-1911) left law for the Natural Sciences in 1847, and was soon lecturing on mineralogy, a field he would come to lead. His research ran from the petrology of Stonehenge to developing the collection of minerals and meteorites at the British Museum into the 'largest and best arranged series ... in existence' (ODNB online). He and his wife Thereza May Llewelyn were both involved in the pioneering of photography. He was close friends of William Henry Fox Talbot (1800-77) -- whose own camera obscura is held at the Science Museum London.
There is more on Story-Maskelyne here: Lassam, Robert E, 1980, ‘Nevil Story-Maskelyne, 1823-1911‘, History of Photography, vol.4, no.2, pp.85-93. As Luminous-Lint notes: He was a part of the social circle surrounding Henry Fox Talbot who gave him permission to learn the calotype process and he was taught by Talbot's operator Nicolaas Henneman.
Click here for more information: http://tinyurl.com/cszlhxq
Recently I watched Silver Footprint a film about legendary black & white printer Robin Bell. The film provides a great opportunity to see this master craftsman demonstrate his skill and vision in the darkroom. Bell has printed for many well-know photographers and so many iconic images have had his expert eye and technical proficiency added to them.
It is available at £19.50 (including postage) bought via the RPS website (https://www.rps.org/store/index.php?view=product&path=41&product_id=138). For those of you who have been in a darkroom or appreciated the additional level of creativity that a skillful printer can bring then this is for you. If you are a lover of lens based media and appreciate fine photography then this is money well spent.
Amateur Photographer magazine reports that more than half of the £4 million needed for the Media Space gallery at London's Science Museum will have to come from private sources. More importantly the project has been underwritten to full cost of £4 million by the National Museum of Science and Industry (NMSI) suggesting that if private funding is not forthcoming NMSI will pay for it anyway.
Responding to a freedom of information request, the National Museum of Science and Industry (NMSI) told AP: 'It is anticipated that over 50% of the project cost will come from private sources, such as corporate sponsorship and donations from individuals. However, fundraising will continue through the life of the project and beyond to cover the associated costs.'
'The project team are working with the full £4m budget,' stated the NMSI, adding that it has so far spent '£620,000' on the development.
Media Space is due to open in Spring 2013.
For the full report see: http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/news/Most_of_Science_Museum_gallery_requires_private_funding_news_312057.html
Life Online is the world's first gallery dedicated to exploring the social, technological and cultural impact of the internet. This permanent gallery will trace the history of the internet, uncover how it has changed people's lives and track the latest trends.
The gallery covers two spaces within the Museum. The first is a permanent exhibition in the foyer with the second being a changing temporary exhibition on Level 7. The first exhibition to feature is [open source]: Is the internet you know under threat? - an exploration of the open source nature of the internet and the current threats to net neutrality which could signify the end of this culture.
Further details can be found here.
The Guardian newspaper reports... When Aaron Guy peered into a forgotten box in an ancient Newcastlebuilding, he could not have guessed the treasures contained inside. The curious photo archivist had stumbled upon a remarkable set of original early glass negatives, detailing everyday street scenes of 19th-century Newcastle.
Meat markets, fairs, rag sellers, small corner shops and larger than life street characters are among the subjects which feature in the high-quality, 300-image collection.
Guy, who works at the city's Mining Institute, was helping to shift old furniture for the Society of Antiquaries when his attention was diverted to the box.
"The society were moving to a smaller building and were passing some of their belongings to other organisations," he said. "I was just being nosy really, peering into boxes, when I happened to spot that one contained some really old glass negatives. I thought they seemed interesting so we asked for permission to bring the plate boxes back to our office to have a proper look."
The work seems to date back at least to 1880 and the cohesion of the images suggests at least a third of them may have been created by a single photographer. His deliberate documentation of working-class life was unusual for the period, perhaps more in tune with the celebrated street photographers who followed in his footsteps almost a century later, in the 1960s and 70s.
The most arresting images are from the Newcastle streets, but the collection also contains work from other parts of the north-east, most recognisably Tynemouth and Lindisfarne.
For more see: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/mar/29/19th-century-newcastle-photographic-plates
A PhD research studentship covering stipend and tuition fee costs is offered within the Photographic History Research Centre (PHRC) in the Faculty of Art, Design and Humanities. Under the interdisciplinary research strand “Practising Photography in the Sciences”, PhD proposals are sought that explore the reciprocal relationship between photography, science, and the arts and humanities.
PHRC undertakes innovative research on photography and its practices from the early nineteenth century to the present day, and over a wide range of social and cultural manifestations. Applications that explore aspects of the interconnected sets of social and cultural processes, networks of photographic knowledge, science and technology, aesthetic, evidential and informational values and institutional practices are particularly welcome. Proposals might consider, for instance, the role of photographers in science, the development of specialized photographic methods, or photographic materials for particular scientific activity. They might consider the emerging methodological research questions in this area, they might address the epistemologies surrounding photography in sciences and in the humanities, or they might consider photography in popular science. “Practising Photography in the Sciences” is a key research cluster in PHRC and the studentship reflects its international reputation in this field.
Supervision will be available from Professor Elizabeth Edwards and Dr Kelley Wilder who have active research interests in the history of visualization in both the physical and biological sciences. PHRC is a dynamic and growing research community. The successful candidate will be expected to contribute to the development of this community.
Candidates might come from a range of possible disciplines: history of science, science, art history, science and technology studies, visual anthropology, and visual culture studies.
For a more detailed description of the PHRC please visit our web site or contact Professor Edwards (eedwards@dmu.ac.uk) or Dr Wilder (kwilder@dmu.ac.uk) who will be happy to discuss the studentship further.
This research opportunity builds on our excellent past achievements and looking forward to REF2014 and beyond. It will develop the university’s research capacity into new and evolving areas of study, enhancing DMU’s national and international research partnerships.
Applications are invited from UK or EU students with a good first degree (First, 2:1 or equivalent) in a relevant subject. Doctoral scholarships are available for up to three years full-time study starting October 2012 and provide a bursary of £13,770pa in addition to university tuition fees.
To receive an application pack, please contact the Graduate School Office via email at researchstudents@dmu.ac.uk. Completed applications should be returned together with a full CV and two supporting references.
Please quote ref: DMU Research Scholarships 2012
STARTING OCTOBER 2012
CLOSING DATE: April 27th 2012
The Swindon Museum and Art Gallery is exhibiting a collection of Albert Beaney photographs, and is inviting local residents born during the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s to see if they recognise themselves or neighbours.
His collection, consisting of more than 40,000 negatives and photographs dating from 1945 until 1970, was acquired by the museum in 1998 with help from The Swindon Society and has been a hidden treasure just waiting to be unveiled. With support from the Swindon Society the collection is now in the process of being digitalised. But you can see some of them in this exhibition here, and you can read an earlier BPH posting about the project here.
Photo: Albert Beaney Collection, Swindon Museum and Art Gallery
Drawn from the extensive private collection of the architectural photographer Steven Evans, Seeking Solace: Francis Bedford’s Framing of Victorian Ideals celebrates the work of English photographer Francis Bedford (1816–1894).
A master draughtsman and lithographer in the 1840s and 1850s, Bedford took up photography and positioned himself as one of the premier landscape and architectural photographers of his time. He successfully marketed his photographs in the form of albums, stereo cards, cartes de visite, and prints and was included in all but two exhibitions held at the Photographic Society of London during the 1860s. His work comprised picturesque landscapes and ecclesiastical ruins found in the British countryside, as well as impressive cathedral architecture. These subjects suited the tastes of Victorian society, which sought solace within the countryside, away from over-crowded and unhealthy urban centres. Seeking Solace presents this theme in the first solo exhibition of Bedford’s work since the 1860s, introducing this photographer to a North American audience.
The exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated publication. Both the exhibition and the publication were researched and produced by second-year, graduate students in the Photographic Preservation and Collections Management, Master of Arts programme, Ryerson University, under the direction of Professor David Harris. Over the course of a twelve-week term, the students learn about the researching and curating exhibitions and producing an accompanying publication, from inception to realization. The Howard and Carole Tanenbaum Family Charitable Foundation and the Ryerson Image Centre have generously supported the project. The exhibition will be on view at the I.M.A Gallery, located at 80 Spadina Avenue, from April 4th–28th. An opening reception will be held on April 5th from 6–9 pm.
I.M.A Gallery, 80 Spadina Avenue Suite 305, Toronto ON, Canada
April 4th-28th, 2012, W-S: 12-5 pm.
Opening Reception: April 5th, 6-9 pm.
Image: Francis Bedford
Miner’s Bridge at Betws-y-Coed, North Wales
1859 (negative exposed)
Mounted albumen silver print
Image: Francis Bedford
Swallow Falls at Betws-y-Coed, North Wales
1859–1864 (negative exposed)
Unmounted albumen silver print
Image: Francis Bedford
Choir Arcade at Tintern Abbey, South Wales
1858 (negative exposed)
Mounted albumen silver print
Image: Francis Bedford
The Sphinx and The Great Pyramid, Gizeh [now Giza]
March 4-5, 1862 (negative exposed)
Mounted albumen silver print
I'm involved in launching a series of books which will include some key texts on aspects of the history of photography. Aimed at an international audience (museums, academics and those interested in the history of photography) I'd very much welcome feedback and suggestions from Group members.
For example, are there important historic texts you'd like to see made more widely available and accessible? What kind of topics would make a particularly valuable contribution to the study of photography? Or perhaps you'd like to be involved in providing an introductory context for certain historic texts?
I'd be very happy to provide more information on an individual basis to anyone interested, prior to the public launch of the series.
Graeme Farnell
Redeye is proud to present its fourth National Photography Symposium on 27 to 29 April 2012. It takes place in London as part of what promises to be a highly stimulating hotbed of photographic events at World Photo London.
The National Photography Symposium explores the most critical and talked-about subjects for photography and photographers. It's strongly recommended for anyone interested in the development of photography in the UK, who might want to understand or influence how the big decisions get made. It takes place in and around Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 1LA. Speakers this year include Simon Norfolk, Jem Southam, Anne McNeill, Peter Kennard and many more.
For more information and the full programme see: http://www.redeye.org.uk/programme/national-photography-symposium-2012
For all you Captain Scott fans out there, Bonhams in London wil be holding a special Polar Sale next Friday (30/3) to mark the centenary of his tragic death. It will include a farewell letter found on Scott's body in November 1912, written on March 16 by the man himself, and expected to sell for £150,000 at auction.
If your pocket is not deep enough, then this lot might be a bit more tempting - an album of 60 photographs by Scott of the Antarctic’s trail-blazing Preston-educated cameraman Herbert Ponting, estimated to sell for between £30,000 and £40,000. Also in the auction will be Ponting’s January 1911 photograph of Scott’s ship, the Terra Nova at the Ice Foot, Cape Evans, for £4,000 and £6,000, while Ponting’s signed image of the crew of the Terra Nova could fetch between £6,000 and £8,000.
You can view the auction catalogue here, and some images here. For me, I think I'll just stick with the catalogue for now ....
