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Brian May & Elena Vidal are just two of a range of artists who have been delighted to create works especially to fit within the limited confines of the gallery. The gallery’s many exhibitions cover a variety of themes, ranging from children’s art, to interior
studies of writer’s rooms, winter landscapes by textile artists, poetry by Word Birds, and magical images of moths from Ottawa. Currently on show are a series of photographs taken of village crafts in Vietnam by local photographer Tessa Bunney, who joins Eamonn McCabe, and Jim des Rivieres to give the programme a truly international flavour.
The Gallery on the Green is especially delighted to host “A Village Lost and Found” as their
first 3D exhibition. It is an exhibition that will allow visitors to travel back in time to the 1850s through the optical magic of the specially-designed stereoscopic viewer that will be the main feature of the display.
Photo historian & author, David Mattison, from the B.C. Archives has identified 15 early British photographers who spent enough time in British Columbia to make important contributions to their historic record. This include Edward Dossetter who once worked as a photographer at the South Kensington Museum, where royal engineers who came to B.C. as part of the 1858 North American Boundary Commission were also trained in photography. His glass negatives ended up at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
Other Victorian photographers covered include Charles Macmunn and Richard Maynard who both photographed the Canadian Pacific Railway contruction in early 1880s; George Robinson Fardon, one of the first commercial photographers; Frederick Dally, one of the finest 19th century photographers in B.C., and Francis George Claudet.
In total, Mattison will show around 40 photographs of early B.C. taken by the 15 British photographers, including some of the first photographs taken in Victoria. Since his retirement, Mattison manages www.MemoryBC.ca, a database of archival materials from repositories throughout B.C. He also writes for Searcher, a magazine for database professionals.
Details of the talk is here, but as you would probably appreciate, is held in B.C. (!), but hopefully it will provide you with links for further research into this area.
The National Museum of Science and Industry - the parent body of the National Media Museum - is to be retained by government 'on grounds of performing a technical function which should remain independent from Government'. Its role was being reconsidered as part of the government review of all quangos. The level of the funding cuts is due to be announced next week.
The Cabinet Office notice is here.
The collection includes exhibition prints and smaller reference prints, spanning Blakemore’s career from his first photographs made in Libya in 1956 through to large colour works exhibited in 2002. It represents not only the final photographs exhibited or published, but also allows for a comparative study of the artist’s development, especially through the inclusion of some pairs of prints made from the same negative at a distance of several years, and the rich selection of hand-made books beginning with his first, made in 1984, and including others made within recent years.
Pete James, Head of Photographs, Birmingham Library and Archive Services, said: “The John Blakemore Archive, a comprehensive collection of the artist’s best-known work, allows for the in-depth study of the development of the work of one of the leading figures in recent British photographic history. John's profound, yet accessible work, will engage, enthrall and help develop new audiences from all walks of life. This is an important addition to the Birmingham Photographic Collection as we develop the Library of Birmingham. When it opens in 2013, we will be able to showcase our collections for the first time, with state-of-the-art exhibition gallery space and new online facilities.”
“The Library has received a number of grants from the Art Fund enabling it to strengthen and diversify its collections, enhance its reputation as an international centre of excellence, and provide free public access to important material reflecting the history of photography in the UK and in the Midlands region.”
John Blakemore said: “I like the idea of my archive, having become used to the idea that I have such a thing, being housed close to my birthplace, and to the areas where the bulk of the work has been made.”
Stephen Deuchar, Director of the Art Fund, said: “With its arresting observations of nature, captivating portrait shots and beautiful still lives spanning several decades, this archive also includes negatives and hand-made books that have never before been on public display. We are delighted to fulfil John Blakemore’s wish in making this extraordinary archive available for future generations to experience, in the area where he is from.”
Professor Huw Davies, Dean Faculty of Arts, Design & Technology, University of Derby, said: “John Blakemore is a passionate educator who has inspired many generations of students and still continues to do so to this day. We are delighted to collaborate in the creation of this archive of his work, which provides a fitting and lasting legacy of his contribution to the photographic arts”.
Birmingham Central Library holds one of the UK’s national collections of photography. The collection was awarded Designated Status in 2006 in recognition of its national and international significance.
John Blakemore was born in Coventry in 1936. He discovered photography during National Service with the Royal Air Force in Tripoli in the 1950s and is self-taught. Wartime childhood experiences and Edward Steichen’s The Family of Man exhibition inspired him initially on his return home to photograph the people of Coventry and its post-war reconstruction. He initially worked as a freelance photographer for the Black Star agency and then in a variety of studios. He has worked in diverse areas of photography from documentary, through portraiture to still life, and is recognised as one of England's leading landscape photographers. He is currently Emeritus Professor of Photography at the University of Derby, where he taught from 1970 to 2001. Holding an MA in film studies, he is also an external assessor for the Royal College of Art.
From 1850 he worked in Spain, and was court photographer to Queen Isabella II of Borbon. Some of his images of Queen Isabella, as well as Queen Victorian, can be found in the National Portrait Gallery. With his wife, Jane, he would useall the photographic processes available to him in his short lifetime. (He died in Madrid on New Year's Day in 1863 at the age of just 41.) For a few years he employed the daguerreotype and calotype processes in particular, and from 1857 he made albumen prints from wet-collodion glass-plate negatives.
Back in September and October of 1862, Clifford accompanied Queen Isabella II on a trip to Andalucia. Only three of his photo albums which Clifford gave to the Queen are know to exist; one held by the Hispanic Society of America (used in this exhibition); and the remaining two at the Royal Palace in Madrid and National Library respectively. Curated by Ana Gavin, an exhibition of around 40 of these images are now currently on show. The other 20 are of Cartagena and Murcia.
Details of the exhibition can be found here.
A collection of images which include the War of Independence, the Civil War, Home Rule meetings, British soldiers parading in Sarsfield Barracks, and meetings of the Irish Volunteers in the early 20th century will be on display for the very first time.
Taken by Franz Sebastian Haselbeck (1885-1973), a photographer of German descent whose ancestors moved to Limerick in the 19th Century, it also includes pictures of the building of the Shannon Scheme where Mr Haselbeck not only recorded the construction of the country's first hydroelectric power station, but also worked as an interpreter for Siemens, who built the station. The collection has been restored by the ESB Archives and Patricia Haselbeck, the photographer's granddaughter.
The full report, plus a short video clip, can be found here, and details of the exhibition here.
Taken by one of Victorian pioneers of photography, Henry Peach Robinson of Tunbridge Wells, the image is made from two separate negatives illustrating a scene from a poem by Tennyson.
The Lady of Shallot is set to go on an international exhibition which explores the relationship between the mid-Victorian pre-Raphaelite painters and contemporary photographic artists. It starts in Washington at the end of this month, before moving to Paris.
It is one of Tunbridge Wells Museum and Art Gallery's most important works. Robinson worked at a studio in the Great Hall in Tunbrudge Wells for more than thirty years from the 1860s, and often combined several negatives to form one image. So much for Photoshop ...
Brothers Alexander and James Johnston, Alex's son and Alex's grandson captured an era when Wick was the “herring capital of Europe.” “The silver darlings,” as the herring were nicknamed, attracted over a thousand boats which crowded into the harbour in August and September each year for the season and thousands of migrant workers swelled the town’s population. They were photographed preparing their boats, setting the tan sails for sea, landing catches, and onshore were recorded in scenes of intense activity which show the teams of workers who gutted, cured, packed and carted the salted herring barrels for export all over the world. The Johnston plates also show the boat builders, the coopers, rope makers, basket weavers, plumbers, shopkeepers and others in supporting industries to give a wonderful glimpse of social history.
The collection is now available online, and details can be found here.
The image was considered to be one of the finest examples, if not the most famous, in the history of
Fast forward to 2006. To safeguard the image, Van Skalk, the manager of the Cincinnati Public Library, transported the photo to the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York to begin stabilization and conservation work using the most advanced methods of photographic preservation.
Using state-of-the-art digital microscopy, it exposed previously undetected damage to the image - information critical for the preservation specialists. But more importantly, due to the impressive quality of the 19th century daguerreotype, the digital microscope was able to provide an undistorted 30x magnification of the photo - an enlargement revealing unprecedented historic detail of Cincinnati's past.
After the restoration, the historians made a guess on the time and date the photos were taken by using old steamboat records, analysing the angle of shadow etc. They figured the shots must have been taken just before 2pm.
Guess what. There was a clock tower in one of the photos. And using the high-tech microscope scanner, the clock tower showed a time of .......
Read the full report here to find out the answer!
The industrial photographer Maurice Broomfield whose work documented the inner landscape of industrial Britain from the 1950s to the 1970s has died. He succeeded through his striking photographs in revealing both the grit and beauty of the people, factories and processes which manufacture the everyday objects around us. The V&A have recently taken possession of the photographer's archive.
A full obituary can be found here.
An album of rare photographs of Tibet taken by well-known British amateur photographer, John White (1853-1918), was sold for £38,000 at Bonham's India and Beyond sale yesterday. White, who served in the Indian Public Works Department from 1876, accompanied the Younghusband Mission to Tibet in 1903–4. During the campaign he made a series of mostly landscape photographs, including a number of impressive panoramas.
Head of Bonhams Book department, David Park said: "The India and Beyond sale has a reputation for unearthing the rare and unusual. These were all high quality works eagerly sought after by collectors and the prices reflect the strong level of interest both in the early history of photography and the lost worlds captured in these images."
He is known to be incredibly knowledgeable, with a gift of spotting 'undiscovered' material. One being a photo album of images by a Royal Academician, Sir Frank Brangwyn, which he paid £1,500 in a Christie's auction, and sold 4 months later for a killing at a Sotheby's sale. Is is now on offer by an American dealer for about $375,000 to $400,000.
An exhibition of Sexton's collection will be on display at the Gallery of Photography, Dublin from 14th - 21st October. Details will be posted in the 'Events' section later in the week.
Over one hundred 19th centuryphotos of Hong Kong will be airlifted from France to be displayed in a 19th century building (Central Police Station Compound). This is a once-in-a-life-time opportunity to offer the public a glimpse of Hong Kong in its olden days. This exhibition shall echo with the collective memory of the public, and show tourists worldwide Hong Kong’s developments over the past century.
With thesupport of the Development Bureau, the exhibition shall take place from 27th Nov to 27th Dec at the Central Police Station Compound, and details will be posted in the 'Events' section shortly.
Photo: Hong Kong 1858, P. Rossier
Following recent discoveries in the John Rylands Library Special Collections, UNDEREXPOSED is an exhibition in Collaboration withThe Museum of Science and Industry, celebrating the life of one of Manchester’s early photographic pioneers, J.T. Chapman.
Chemist, inventor and photographer, Chapman invented some of the processes that were to become standard in early photography. However, he is widely omitted from history books as he published his formula under the pseudonym ‘Ostendo non Ostento’ (I show, not boast). Working from Deansgate, Manchester, Chapman also invented and sold his own cameras and projectors.
The exhibition also showcases a selection of glass plate negatives, recently discovered and linked to the Langford Brooke family of Mere Hall in Cheshire, which have been cleaned, re-housed and digitised by CHICC.
CHICC is The Centre for Heritage Imaging and Collection Care, a JISC funded project to develop a Centre for Heritage Digitisation, based within the University of Manchester.
The John Rylands Library will be holding a series of events associated with the exhibition, for more information please contact 0161 306 0555 or email jrul.events@manchester.ac.uk
The exhibition is at the John Rylands Library, Crawford Room, from Wednesday 29 September to Sunday 28 November. Admission is free.
There will be a curator tour on Wednesday, 3 November between 1200-1300 and 1400-1500, both of which are free.
