Blogs

The Bill Douglas Cinema Museum at the University of Exeter has announced that it has received a £104,456 grant each year for the next five years from Research England’s Higher Education Museum and Galleries Collection Fund.  The awards recognises and supports the unique and significant contribution that the museum makes to the wider research community and enables this to grow.

The funding will be used for more staff to allow more cataloguing of the museum’s ever-growing collection. It will also enable greater digitisation of the collection so people can enjoy it remotely and give the opportunity to expand the museum’s successful stipend scheme for researchers.

The Bill Douglas Cinema Museum is the leading moving image museum in the UK and is home to one of the most significant such collections in the world. It was formed from the collection of the renowned director Bill Douglas and his friend Peter Jewell and many donations have been added since. Experts from around the world come to examine the 90,000-strong collection at the University of Exeter’s Streatham campus. It is also a public museum, free and open to all.

Museum Curator Dr Phil Wickham said: “Our mission is to follow in Bill Douglas’s footsteps and preserve these wonderful objects for the future and give the public and those researching the history of moving image access to them. Our collection – and interest from experts – has grown significantly in the past decade. People entrust their own collections to us because they know we will take very good care of them, and because they will be available for others to study and see.

“We are thrilled to have been given this funding from Research England. It will allow us to continue building this unique resource and further extend our reach to scholars, students and the public. It will allow us to take on further staff and support to enable further digitisation and cataloguing to open up the collections further, and initiatives to support visits from external researchers.”

More than 1,000 items are on display in the museum galleries. The collection is accessible to all and covers three centuries of moving image history, including over 23,000 film books; 1,500 stereoscope cards; 650 magic lantern slides and 23 magic lanterns. There are more than thousands of items relating to stars such as Charlie Chaplin and Marilyn Monroe, shadow puppets from around the world, an original 1896 Lumière Cinématographe, books signed by Thomas Edison and annotated by his inventor W.K.L Dickson, as well as many items used by ordinary film fans that makes the museum a people’s history of the moving image. In addition to objects the collection includes a significant library and archive. 

 See: https://www.bdcmuseum.org.uk/

Photographs: © Michael Pritchard, October 2022

Call closing shortly... The National Stereoscopic Association is pleased to announce its fifth annual 'Sessions on the History of Stereoscopic Photography' at the 50th annual 3D-Con held at the Drury Plaza Broadview Hotel, Wichita, Kansas, on July 26, 2024. Presentations of 15 minutes are welcome on any aspect of stereo-media from the inception of stereoscopic photography to immersive stereo media. We project stereoscopically on the 3D-Con's big screen, and our growing community of international scholars represent diverse research from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century. All stereoscopic photography subjects from the historical to the contemporary are invited.

Please fill out the contact information form on the web page below. Then upload on a separate file your abstract of 600 words maximum, followed by a biography of no more than 300 words, and five images (optional). Deadline: May 14, 2024

Notification of acceptance by May 24, 2024. Digital images will be expected by June 25, 2024.

Call for Papers
Sessions on the History of Stereoscopic Photography V
July 26, 2024
at the National Stereoscopic Association’s
50th Annual 3D-Con

https://3d-con.com/history.php

BPH reported on the transfer of Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert's archive to St Andrews University in 2022 and a smaller gift to the School of Scottish Studies Architecture in 2021 (links below). Jeremy has added some further information about his archive on his website. 

It notes: As a proud Scot, and with a knowledge of the important contribution of Scots photographers to the world of photography, it was Jeremy’s wish that his collection of work, spanning the 30-years of his career to date, be held by a Scottish institution ensuring its accessibility to researchers, historians and the wider public.

Jeremy’s photographic collection consists of approximately 20TB of digital photography, comprising the RAW files of almost 1-million images all with captions, dates and keywords embedded. The edit of this work consists of approximately 20,000 images, including digitised versions of the most important stories from the work shot on film.

The collection also holds approximately 7,000+ pages of negatives newly housed and organised into archival boxes. Accompanying this are boxes of contact sheets, boxes of work prints and finished prints.

Boxes of tear sheets from his editorial career, with examples of his images as used in newspapers and magazines exist, as does the miscellanea of his 30-year career as a working photographer in Scotland and Asia.

Read more here: https://www.jeremysuttonhibbert.com/sutton-hibbert-archive-st-andrews

See: https://britishphotohistory.ning.com/profiles/blogs/jeremy-sutton-hibbert-gifts-1-million-photographs-to-st-andrews and https://britishphotohistory.ning.com/profiles/blogs/school-of-scottish-studies-archive-acquires-sutton-hibbert-photog

To commemorate the centenary of Dorothy Bohm’s birth, Beam Editions has published a new book that takes a fresh look at the work of one of the most prolific and admired female photographers of the second half of the 20th Century. This is a rare opportunity to acquire an original print of an image that will feature in the volume – all sales will contribute to the production of the book. A special edition copy of the book forms part of this offer which is only available until 10 April.

The launch of the book will coincide with the upcoming exhibition of her work at the Photographers Gallery, London in Spring/Summer 2024. It features an introduction from Martin Barnes, Senior Curator of Photographs, Victoria & Albert Museum, a biographical essay by art historian Monica Bohm-Duchen and short texts by a wide range of notable contributors, each focussing on a single photograph.

Dorothy Bohm at 100. A life in photography
Hardcovers, approx 200 pages
Original print from the volume available until 10 April
Details: https://www.beameditions.uk/dorothy-bohm

The European Society for the History of Photography has published PhotoResearcher with papers from last year's conference on the darkroom. The issue is introduced by Sara Dominici, the conference convenor and includes nine papers presented during the two-day conference. The issue can be purchased in print on as a download

PhotoResaercher, no. 41 2024
The Darkroom. Chemical, Cultural, Industrial
Guest edited by Sara Dominci
European Society for the History of Photography
€21
Details: http://www.eshph.org/journal/photoresearcher-no-41-2024/

The latest issue of The Classic preview the AIPAD photography show in April and Robert Hershkowitz's exhibition of French Calotypes at Photo London in May. Alongside these are interviews with Timothy Prus of the Archive of Modern Conflict, Matt Butson of the Getty Archive who discusses Stefan Lorant, and Antoine Romand, the Paris-based photography expert. Two features look at the Etherton Gallery in Tuscon and a discussion of the framing of photographs in the nineteenth century. 

As usual The Classic can be downloaded for free or copies are available at selected fairs and venues.

See: https://theclassicphotomag.com/the-classic-11/

Cartomania was a photographic phenomenon that seized the public imagination at the beginning of the 1860s. Small portraits, dubbed cartes de visite, were avidly exchanged with friends and family, quickly earning a reputation as ‘the paper currency of social intercourse’. Compiled into albums and prominently displayed in the home to peruse, assess and discuss, this first explosion of commercial portraiture proved a wildly popular craze, particularly once celebrities embraced the new format.

Paul Frecker’s lavishly illustrated account brings fresh insight into the careers of the enterprising men and women who established studios and into the lives of those who passed before their cameras. With unparalleled depth of research and evocative prose, he vividly brings to life the photographers and many of their subjects. From reigning queens and visiting sultans to grieving mothers and nefarious criminals, all life lies within. Whether dressed in their best or in fancy dress, Cartomania’s devotees and their often extraordinary stories are laid bare in this fascinating view of mid-Victorian society.

Cartomania: Photography and celebrity in the nineteenth century
Paul Frecker
September Publishing
£40, hardcovers
ISBN: 978191461362
Preorder: https://septemberpublishing.org/product/cartomania-hb/

This talk will reflect upon Dr Amy King's doctoral research undertaken at the Sainsbury Research Unit, University of East Anglia, exploring the photographic archive of Upoto, a Baptist Missionary Society station established in what was the northern Congo Free State in 1890.

Her thesis was titled: Visual Testaments: Re-collecting the Photographic Archive of the Upoto Mission 1890 - 1915. This research project drew upon the unusually rich photographic sources connected with the missionaries who were stationed there in order to interrogate the historical evidence they contain. Methodologically she was interested in how this visual evidence worked with and against different kinds of textual and material sources which have survived from Upoto outside of Africa. Her research was concerned with the kinds of unique historical evidence that photographs contain, and what visual sources can contribute to our understanding of the past.

Her doctoral thesis interrogated the visual strategies through which mission work at Upoto was represented for audiences in Britain in the late nineteenth century and the tensions between the public narratives of evangelical work and more privately documented experiences. It also examined the diverse, complex and evolving relationships between British missionaries and local Bapoto and Bangombe people at Upoto as the Christian community was established.

Her original study of the missionary archive from Upoto has generated new insights into the presence, actions and experiences of Congolese people who lived at Upoto during a period of immense social and cultural upheaval brought by colonialism".

You are warmly invited to the first of our Spring series of 'Opening the Angus' online seminars, when Dr Amy King will be speaking about her work using the marvellous photographic archive of the Baptist Missionary Society, which is held in the Angus Library.

The Photographic Archive of the Upoto Mission, Congo Free State: Some Reflections on Using Visual Sources to Expand Mission Histories
Dr Amy King
Hosted by Centre for Baptist Studies and The Angus Library. The Centre works in partnership with the Angus Library and Archive at Regent’s Park College, Oxford, and with the Baptist Historical Society
Online, 11 April 2024 at 1930 (BST)
Free, register here: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/booking/select/RdiEJKhzXNnT

ImageL Portrait of Harry and Jessie White and their child, illustration in Harry White, Missionary to the Congo (Roberts 1901, opposite page 1).

The first part of the Directory of Travelling Photographers. Part I: 1841-1881 is now available online via the Romany and Traveller Family History Society website. The intention is to produce a second part for 1882-1901 later this year, and to add further details as they emerge. The primary aims of the publication are to create greater awareness of the role of travelling photographers within the wider community, and to assist with correlation of photographs to photographers.

The idea of creating a Directory of Travelling Photographers was inspired by RTFHS member Chy Hersey’s searches for ‘van dwellers’ in the British Newspaper Archive, connected to an interest in the family history and social history of Romanies and Travellers in the British Isles. As Chy began to gather references, many were of ‘travelling photographers’ – and it soon became evident that relatively little had been researched and documented about this occupation or the lives of the individuals who followed it, even though there were considerable numbers of them even within 20 years of the invention of photography.

There was obviously pioneering work to be done and Chy took up the challenge. The Directory is the result – and now Chy has allowed the RTFHS to make it available online to benefit those who have Romany or Traveller ancestors who give their occupation as ‘photographer’ in historic documents as well as people with a broader interest in the history of photography.

The Directory has a short introduction with notes on search methods and related resources, followed by listings in chronological order. Brief details are given, usually of first reference, together with source of information.  Entries can also be searched for surnames, locations, etc. The lists include some related details which place the lives of travelling photographers in context, such as their family links, area and methods of travel, perils and misfortunes.

Directory of Travelling Photographers. Part I: 1841-1881
Resarched and compiled by Chy Hersey
Published by Romany & Traveller Family History Society (R&TFHS)
Free to download on: https://rtfhs.org.uk/directory-of-travelling-photographers-1841-1881/

The National Science and Media Museum in Bradford has announed that it will re-openin two phases in 2025 following 'unforeseen delays' during its £6m Sound and Vision capital redevelopment.The museum will now reopen to visitors at the start of Bradford’s City of Culture year, with the new Sound and Vision galleries launching later in 2025.

The museum closed in June 2023 to undergo a £6 million transformation bringing in two new permanent galleries, a new passenger lift and an improved entrance. During the lift's excavation contractors discovered an unexpected make-up of ground that has led to delays.

Commenting on the change Jo Quinton-Tulloch, the director of the National Science and Media Museum, said “While the impact of this delay in the short term is frustrating, our Sound and Vision project will future proof the museum for decades to come,” said . “Our new Sound and Vision galleries will completely transform the museum’s visitor offer by showcasing our incredible collections and ensuring visitors can find stories that resonate with them". She added: the additional passenger lift is “a crucial part of our transformation that will enable us to welcome many more visitors in 2025 and beyond. “Despite extensive survey work before the excavation commenced, our contractors encountered an unexpected make-up of ground at the base of the lift, which took much longer to excavate than anticipated. Whilst the impact of this delay in the short term is frustrating, our Sound and Vision project will future proof the museum for decades to come.”

Designed by gallery architects, AOC (Agents of Change), the new galleries will showcase the museum’s core collections through the four key themes of Innovation, Identities, Storytelling and Everywhere, to lead visitors on a journey through the explosion of sound and image technologies, and the impact on our lives. The latest design renders illustrate some of these themes and the key moments and stories that visitors will be able to explore throughout the galleries.  

In the section on Identities, visitors will be able to immerse themselves in an interactive space with ‘sound showers’, a mixing desk and dance floor to evoke the shared experience and thrill of live performances and gigs. A key moment in Storytelling will take visitors through the long history of creating animation from flipbooks and stop motion to digital illustrations through the stories of beloved fictional characters such as the March Hare from Alice in Wonderland. Local radio station, Bradford Community Broadcasting (BCB) will also feature in the new galleries in Everywhere, where an interactive studio space will tell the story of how sound and image technologies have enabled local community representation in broadcasting and give visitors the chance to be a radio DJ.   

In a newly reconfigured part of the galleries which has opened up a double height space, artist Nayan Kulkarni has been commissioned to create an interactive installation called ‘Circus.’ Visitors will be invited to enter a room that comes to life using a captured live feed of themselves, like a chamber of mirrors, encouraging visitors to engage with broadcast technologies and see how image manipulation has changed over time.  

The museum has shared some of the designs that can be expected when it reopens next year, including an interactive space with ‘sound showers’, a mixing desk and dance floor to evoke the shared experience and thrill of live performances and gigs. Elsewhere, the artist Nayan Kulkarni has been commissioned to create an interactive installation called Circus, where visitors will enter a 'chamber of mirrors' room filled with a captured live feed of themselves.

“Our new gallery designs reveal how the spaces will be dynamic, interactive and inspiring, underlining how all areas of our collection from photography to videogaming are embedded in every aspect of our lives,” said Quinton-Tulloch. “Visitors will be able to see the first ever photographic image, have a go at being a sound engineer, step inside the studio of a local radio station and enter a live art installation. We’ve also worked closely with local communities to ensure we’re telling stories that are relevant to Bradford, showcasing the creativity and diversity of our home city. We look forward to welcoming visitors back into the museum and into our new Sound and Vision galleries in 2025.”

See: https://www.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/about-us/sound-and-vision-project
and FAQs: https://www.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/closure-FAQ

Topfoto, the remarkable historical picture agency and archive founded in 1927, has revealed a reimagined brand identity to welcome the next chapter of this nearly 100-year young firm.  

Defined by a vast legacy and pioneering attitude, the Topfoto brand embraces both our impressive heritage and trailblazing spirit. The profound challenge of generative AI means this is the exact moment to show why and how we are amongst the best independent photographic archives in the world, passionately committed to authenticity, exclusive collections and commercial thinking on our clients’ behalf. 

The new home page includes a short video clip of the Topfoto Archive based in Kent, UK - topfoto.co.uk

Titled Photography and Cinema, from A to Z, the lecture will take the form of twenty-six short reflections on still and moving images. It will consider the relations between Photography and Cinema:stillness and movement, cinema’s changing attitude to the depiction of photographers on screen, the freeze frame and the art of the film publicity still.

The lecture series, newly established by the Kraszna-Krausz Foundation, will provide a platform for perspectives on photogra­phy, the moving image and the relationship between the two. Presented in partnership with the History and Theory of Photography Research Centre, Birkbeck.

David Campany is an internationally renowned writer and curator. His books include On Photographs (2022), So Present, So Invisible – conversations on photography (2018), Walker Evans: the magazine work (2014), Gasoline (2013), Jeff Wall: Picture for Wom­en (2010), Art and Photography (2003) and Photography and Cinema, which received the 2009 Kraszna-Krausz Award. He has written over two hundred essays for, among others, Tate, MoMA New York, Cen­tre Pompidou, The Photographers’ Gallery London, and the Stedelijk Museum. Many of his touring exhibitions have combined still and moving images, including William Klein -YES: Photographs, Paint­ings, Films 1948-2013 (2022), A Trillion Sunsets: a Century of Image Overload (2021), A Handful of Dust (2015-2020), The Open Road: pho­tography and the American road trip (2016- 2019); The Still Point of the Turning World: Between Film and Photography (2017); Victor Burgin: A Sense of Place (2013); Anonymes: Unnamed America in Photogra­phy and Film (2010); and Hannah Collins: Current History (2010). He was the curator of the six-museum Biennale für aktuelle Fotografie, (Mannheim/Ludwigshafen/Heidelberg, Germany) which opened in February 2020.

The KRASZNA-KRAUSZ LECTURE 2024
Photography and Cinema, from A to Z, by David Campany
6.30pm, Tuesday 16 April 2024
Clore Lecture Theatre (CLO B01), Birkbeck, University of London, Clore Management Centre, Torrington Square, WC1E 7JL
Free, booking essential - Book your ticket here
Doors open 6pm. The lecture will be followed by a drinks reception

Image: © Chris Marker, frame from La Jetée, 1962 courtesy Argos Films

In conjunction with its Bert Hardy exhibition this one-day conference invites participants to rethink existing narratives concerning post-war photography and its legacies.  Known for his work on the seminal British publication Picture Post, Bert Hardy is a pivotal figure in British photography. We will examine the formal qualities of Hardy’s photographs and the material conditions in which they were produced, reflecting, too, on discussions surrounding photojournalism to expand contemporary debates related to image-making today.

Key themes include ethics of social documentary practices; image circulation and the printed image; and broader questions on representation and methodologies in photojournalism.

Photographing Britain
Friday, 10 May 2024, 1200-1730
The Photographers' Gallery, London 
£15, £10 (members and concessions)
Book here: https://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/whats-on/conference-photographing-britain?mc_cid=df96de44d4&mc_eid=355dc0ec8f

With support from the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art. 

See details of the Bert Hardy exhibition here: https://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/whats-on/bert-hardy-photojournalism-war-and-peace

The Dutch National Archives has announced that the Archive's photogeraphy collections including the Spaarnestad Photo Foundation will close to users effective from April 1, 2024. The Spaarnestad collection, which consists of approximately 15 million photos, will be preserved as a collection in its entirety. 

The National Archives has been working with the foundation since 2010 and has the collection in its possession. Until now, the services surrounding the collection were provided by Spaarnestad Photo, which is no longer sustainable. More than 1 million photos are accessible via the National Archives' image bank. About 400,000 photos are digitally available and downloadable to everyone. This remains the case.

The Dutch Archives states that the closure was necessary for the bulk of the collection - some 800,000 photographs - because copyright and/or image rights apply to them. The National Archives is currently in discussions with an external party to provide the services previously provided by the Spaarnestad Photo Foundation in the short term. 

Spaarnestad Photo provided services for the Spaarnestad collection, so that (copy)rights holders received payment for image use. A solution to the issue of copyright payments is currently being worked on. Part of the payments for images went to Spaarnestad to cover costs.  Even though the foundation will cease to exist on 1 April 2024, the collection will be preserved in its entirety.  The NA is currently considering next steps for specific services to museums, media, publishers and other external users.

The Dutch national Archives  manages 15 million photos, with more than one million online. The photo collection provides an overview of events from the period between 1865 and 1990. Of these  more than 400,000 high-resolution photographs are available for use for free. The National Archives has relinquished its copyright for most of these photographs and they can be used freely, including in commercial publications.

The closure has prompted an outcry from historians and users and claims that the Archive's photography collections have a low priorities with a lack of trained staff to support them.  

Spaarnestad Photo Foundation runs one of the world’s largest photographic archives, managing a collection of over 13,000,000 images, specializing in Dutch life dated from 1867 through until the digital era. It is undoubtedly the richest visual resource documenting how Dutch people lived and breathed in the mid to late 19th and entire 20th centuries. In the collection you can find art, culture, festivals, inventions, fashion, food, housing, traffic, healthcare, business and finance imagery and much, much more.

Working hand in hand with the Nationaal Archief of the Netherlands, the complete physical collection is recognized as a national heritage. Since 2011 the photo collection has been rehoused and is conserved at their depot in The Hague, while Spaarnestad Photo handles the professional usage.

See: https://www.nationaalarchief.nl/onderzoeken/nieuws/de-spaarnestad-collectie

https://spaarnestadphoto.nl/spaarnestad-photo

Image: Fotocollectie Spaarnestad Onderwerpen / 477067_006

The publication of Through Shaded Glass – women and photography in Aotearoa New Zealand 1860-1960 (Te Papa Press, 2023) represents a significant milestone in foregrounding the involvement and photographic work of over 190 women makers of photography in Aotearoa prior to 1960.

The book draws on years of primary research locating names, photographs and researching the lives of women photographers. The book explores photographic practise where women have made strong contributions and which have been sidelined or overlooked in this country’s photographic histories to date such as collaborative working practises, photographers and the Second World War, non-binary practises, and the involvement of Māori women in making early photography here.

This illustrated talk will focus on the hidden legacies of women photographers. Of particular focus will be the tension between the lives and work of a selection of photographers working during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Lissa Mitchell is a photographic historian and curator of photography at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. They are the author of Through Shaded Glass - women and photography in Aotearoa New Zealand 1860 to 1960 (Te Papa Press, 2023) and have contributed to numerous publications including An Alternative History of Photography (Prestel, 2022) and Brian Brake – Lens on the World (Te Papa Press, 2010).

Through Shaded Glass - women and photography in Aotearoa New Zealand 1860 to 1960
Lissa Mitchell, hosted by National Library of New Zealand
Online:  Wednesday 3 April 2024, 12:10 p.m. to 1 p.m; (12am UK)
Register: https://dia-nz.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_GHdzwYtAQka18PAYF1ZXyw#/registration

The nature, form, and impact of the book changed dramatically with the introduction of photography, altering the way books would be made, would appear, and would help transform the communication of ideas in visual form.

In parallel to this phenomenon, the ability of the photograph to reach its widest audience would entail an essential partnership with the form of the book. The nomenclature of photography remains tied to the book: we think of the photographic “print” and of “printing” a photograph, even in an era where digital imagery dominates. 

Alongside these intertwined histories is the current phenomenon of the “photobook,” with a great resurgence and flowering of studies on photobooks, and of contemporary photography’s increased creative engagement with the format of the book through dealers, fairs, specialized auction sales, and publications, and through a wealth of practice. 

This course is designed to explore the history of the photographic book since Anna Atkins’s Photographs of British Algae was first privately circulated in 1843. It will be comprised of six two-hour sessions delivered online, based on the collections of Oxford’s Bodleian Library.

The six sessions will emphasize the physical form of the photographic book, an element neglected by most of the recent studies of the genre. It aims, therefore, to bring together the twin disciplines of the history of the book and the history of photography. Classes will be structured around the examination of exemplar cases—and will examine these case studies through paying close attention to the materiality of the books: paper, printing techniques, and design, as well as distribution, sales, and prices. Many of the examples will be illuminated through supporting archival evidence.

Topics

Introduction and Overview to the Course / The Earliest Photobooks

• Bibliography and historiography of the photographic book, from Johann Heinrich Schulze to Martin Parr and Gerry Badger
• Outline of history of technology of reproducing photographic images
• Early experiments in the photographic book: Anna Atkins, William Henry Fox Talbot, Hill & Adamson 

The Nineteenth Century, Photography in Silver and the Pasted-in Print

• From paper to glass negatives; salted paper prints to albumen
• The Blanquard-Evrard era: August Salzmann, Maxime Du Camp
• The Albumen era: Francis Frith, Julia Margaret Cameron, Alexander Gardner, George Washington Wilson 

Not Fade Away: The Rise of the Photomechanical Processes

•  Photogravure, carbon prints, woodburytype, collotype
• Nasmyth and Carpenter, The Moon; Men of Mark; John Thomson; P. H. Emerson; Gertrude Kasebier, Camera Work

Fit to Print: Photography in Ink and the Mass Image

•  The half-tone and rotogravure
• Germaine Krull, the rise of the picture magazines, Walker Evans, Margaret Bourke-White, Gordon Parks, Brassai, August Sander, Bill Brandt, Henri Cartier-Bresson 

The Ubiquitous Image: Photolithography 

• The continued evolution of photolithography
• Ed Ruscha, Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander, Martin Parr, Diane Arbus, Josef Koudelka, Daido Moriama, Eikoh Hosoe, Killed by Roses; Richard Benson and the mastery of photolithography, The Work of Atget; Madonna’s Sex
• Innovation in the photobook: the integration with digital Susan Meiselas Nicaragua
•  Making a photobook: Martin Parr, Oxford (2018), and a glimpse inside the Steidl printing shop

The Photographic Book since 1843
Delivered by Richard Ovenden, for Rare Book School
Course Length: 12 hours
Schedule: 1–5 July 2024
Format: Online
Fee: $800

Details: https://rarebookschool.org/courses/illustration/i45v/

The Bodleian Library's first curator of photography, Phillip Roberts, has left his post to spend more more time with his family, Writing last week on X, formerly Twitter, Roberts said "I decided to stop being the Bodliean’s [sic] photography curator The library has been wonderful, but the loves of my little life are 300 miles away and I want to be part of a family I’m tired of trains and sleeping on my own. My life is more than my work and my work doesn’t give me the things that I really want. I’d rather be in love".

He added that "I’m sad because I have built something really special in Oxford The Bodliean [sic] is going to be one of the country’s most important photographic collections. It’s one of the very few places able to collect complete photographers archives (and one of the few collecting at all). British photography desperately needs somewhere committed to preserving its history. Oxford has the resources to guarantee the survival of vulnerable archives and to give weight to an underresourced photo heritage sector". 

Phillip Roberts joined the Bodleian in March 2022 as as Bern and Ronny Schwartz Curator of Photography. He was previously at the National Science and Media Museum, Bradford. 

See: https://britishphotohistory.ning.com/profiles/blogs/bodleian-curator-of-photography-announced

UPDATE: Phillip's former role is now bring advertised: https://britishphotohistory.ning.com/profiles/blogs/vacancy-the-bern-and-ronny-schwartz-curator-of-photography-bodlei

At the Rijksmuseum, we conduct cutting-edge research into our collection every day. For example, delving into the stories behind the photos or the purposes for which they were created. As a curator of photography, you connect history and art, making important themes from past and present visible. It's a challenging position where you bridge art, history, society, and the public.

You'll be responsible for the collection of photography from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries and closely involved in all aspects of scientific research, publication, and interpretation of works in this field. You'll also propose new acquisitions and play a significant role in exhibitions and presentations.

Your main tasks are:

• Carefully managing the assigned collections and ensuring their registration and accessibility;
• Conducting scientific research and publishing on photography;
• Organizing and contributing to exhibitions and smaller presentations;
• Sharing expertise with both specialists and a wider audience through publications, lectures, and tours;
• Monitoring the art market and proposing acquisitions of photography for the museum;
• Maintaining contacts with collectors;
• Representing the Rijksprentenkabinet in the field.

Curator of Photohgraphy
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Closes, 29 March 2024
See: https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/careers/vacancies/curator-of-photography--1058431

Photo Oxford has appointed Katy Barron as its new director. She has been involved in Photo Oxford since 2021 and played a key role in the delivery of the last highly successful festival. Katy is a photography curator, Chair of the Board of Trustees of Photofusion and has worked with museums, galleries, festivals, collectors and artists. She studied at the Courtauld Institute and Magdalen College Oxford. 

Paul Bullivant, chair of Photo Oxford said: "We are delighted to be working with Katy and look forward to sharing her passion, energy and ideas with you. I also want to take this opportunity to confirm that the next Photo Oxford Festival will take place in October and November 2025. Meanwhile we are running a series of exciting events with a range of partners during 2024 and in the run-up to the festival next year".

Katy can be reached at: e: katy@photooxford.org