2 October 2009 – 11 April 2010, The Queen's Gallery, Edinburgh
This exhibition of remarkable Antarctic photography by Herbert George Ponting and Frank Hurley marks the 100th anniversary of Captain Scott’s ill-fated journey to the South Pole. Ponting’s extraordinary images record Scott’s Terra Nova expedition of 1910-13, which led to the tragic death of five of the team on their return from the South Pole. Hurley’s dramatic icescapes were taken during Ernest Shackleton’s Polar expedition on Endurance in 1914-16, which ended with the heroic sea journey from Elephant Island to South Georgia. Presented to King George V and today part of the Royal Photograph Collection, these sets of photographs are among the finest examples of the artists’ works in existence.
Captain Robert Falcon Scott (1868-1912) set sail for Antarctica on Terra Nova in 1910, determined to be the first to reach the South Pole. His team included Herbert Ponting (1870-1935), the first official photographer to participate in a polar expedition. Ponting was already a well-known and successful travel photographer when he was introduced to Scott in 1909. As the ship sailed south from New Zealand, Ponting began work immediately, recording the first icebergs encountered in December 1910 and scenes on board. He photographed as much as possible during his time in Antarctica, producing around 2,000 glass plate negatives between December 1910 and March 1912. A selection of his pictures of the expedition crew, wildlife and spectacular landscape is included in the exhibition.
Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922) had travelled with Captain Scott on an earlier voyage to Antarctica, before leading his own unsuccessful attempt to reach the South Pole in 1907-9. In 1914, galvanised by the achievement of the Pole and Scott’s death, he made a bid to cross the southern continent on foot. Among his team was the Australian photographer Frank Hurley (1885-1962), who joined Shackleton’s ship Endurance in Buenos Aires.
Hurley photographed activity on board, even climbing the rigging to obtain the best viewpoints. When the ship, crushed between ice floes, began to disintegrate in October 1915, the photographer spent almost three days on the ice, determined not to miss the final moments of the vessel. His images of Endurance listing into the frozen depths are included in the exhibition, along with photographs of Shackleton’s rescue party as it set sail from Elephant Island.
Also included in the exhibition are the Union flag presented by King George V to Shackleton, which the explorer carried with him throughout his epic journey; Polar medals; and books from the Royal Library, including a unique example of Aurora Australis, the first book to be printed in the Antarctic.
There is a lecture series accompanying the exhibition. Details here: http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/default.asp?action=article&ID=74
The exhibition microsite is here: http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/microsites/HOTGA/Read more…
The And/or Book Awards, the UK’s leading prizes for books published in the fields of photography and the moving image (including film, television and new media), are inviting publishers to submit titles for the 2010 awards. With prize money of £10,000 divided between the Best Photography Book Award and the Best Moving Image Book published in 2009, the And/or Book Awards celebrate excellence in photography and moving image publishing.
Established in 1985 by Andor Kraszna-Krausz, the Hungarian founder of the influential publishing house Focal Press, 2010 will mark the 25th anniversary of the awards. It is also the 25th anniversary of the Kraszna-Krausz Foundation, the charitable organisation set up to support them. All titles that meet the award guidelines and have been published or distributed in the UK between 1 January and 31 December 2009, are eligible for submission to the 2010 And/or Book Awards. The initial deadline for entries is Monday 2 November 2009, but any book published by 31 December is eligible and can be submitted up to this date.
Initial deadline for entries: Monday 2 November 2009.
Details: http://www.andorbookawards.org/Read more…
R. Derek Wood published a series of important and carefully researched papers between 1970 and 2008 on early photographic history. His interests lay mainly in the early pioneers of photography, with a focus on dioramas and early experiments between 1830 and 1850 including William Henry Fox Talbot and Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre and topics such as patents. His website http://www.midley.co.uk/ collated these papers and made them available, alongside unpublished correspondence and a few items that never reached printed publication.
Sadly, his website is due to close early in 2010 and Wood is encouraging researchers to made a note of where the original papers were published. Much of the material is available as PDFs and purely for research purposes it may be worth taking a look at the site and making a copies of relevant material before it disappears. As Wood notes "Midley History of early Photography will be preserved online to some extent as it has been automatically archived at the 'Wayback Machine' at http://web.archive.org/web/*/www.midley.co.uk and (for individual files that might be missing from the chronological presentation of the whole site) at web.archive.org/*/www.midley.co.uk/* ). The earlier site (originally at www,midleykent.fsnet.co.uk from July 2001-Jan 2007) is also archived online at web.archive.org The author has also archived onto CD the full site as at 1 March 2009"
The site is highly recommended. Visit while it remains.
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I am keen to hear from anyone who has encountered the South Australian photographer Captain Sweet, or any of his UK work. He is the subject of my PhD research and little is known about his early days in England, or what happened to the photographs and albums of views that were sent back to England from Australia (to World Fairs or to freinds and families of migrants).Cheers,Karencaptainsweet.com.au
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The Royal Society is holding two lectures that will be of interest to blog readers:
'Photographing ancient Mesopotamia: Talbot, Fenton and the British Museum'
Friday 23 October, 1-2pm
Mirjam Brusius
Around 1850 A.H. Layard excavated several ancient Mesopotamian sites, the artefacts of which were brought to the British Museum. Here the trustees discussed the use of photography in the field and in the museum. W. H. Fox Talbot, inventor of the Calotype photographic process and a fellow of the Royal Society, became a strong supporter of the application of photography in archaeology. However, the trustees were not immediately convinced. This talk will explore early debates about the use of photography for research purposes.
Mirjam Brusius is writing her doctoral thesis on William Henry Fox Talbot at the University of Cambridge. She is a researcher on the British Library project 'Science and the Antique in the Work of William Henry Fox Talbot', and is currently a visiting fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin.
The lecture is free, but space is limited, to reserve a space, use the Society's online booking form or telephone +44 (0)20 7451 2606.
The Nine Lives of William Crookes
Wednesday 18 November, 6.30pm
Chemist, photographer, editor, public health campaigner, business man, electrician, gold miner, glassworker and occultist: how did Sir William Crookes combine these, and other, "lives" to forge a scientific identity and become President of the Royal Society in 1913?
William Brock is Emeritus Professor of the History of Science, having taught history of science and also directed the interdisciplinary Victorian Studies Centre at the University of Leicester. His most recent book is William Crookes (1832-1919) and the Commercialization of Science (2009).
To book a space for this event please email library@royalsociety.org or telephone 020 7451 2606.
The Society's current photography exhibition, From Fossils to Photography, continues. The exhibition is open during Library working hours (10am - 5pm, Monday to Friday) until November 2009. Entry is free but by appointment only - if you would like to visit please email: library@royalsociety.org or telephoning 020 7451 2606.
For more information visit: http://royalsociety.org/page.asp?id=7242Read more…
A landmark exhibition of photography from 1840 to the present day from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh is an unprecedented survey of South Asian photographers and their presentation of culture and modernity. Historic early photographs from the important Drik Collection in Bangladesh and the Alkazi Collection in Delhi are given a rare platform on the world stage, while images from private, familial records will be seen for the very first time. The exhibition includes over 300 works by more than 50 artists.
Whitechapel Gallery, London
Jan 21 - Apr 11, 2010
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The British Library has announced a series of events around its major autumn exhibition Points of View which takes place from 30 October 2009 to 7 March 2010. These include a whole day of lectures and workshops on 7 November as well as one-off events including Brian May talking about the photographer T. R. Williams and Larry Schaaf on William Henry Fox Talbot. Below is a exclusive, handy print-out and keep guide to these. Most of the events are free but have limited availability so booking is recommended. Visit http://www.bl.uk/whatson/events/date/sept09/index.html to do this. Further events for January to March will be announced in due course.
Events and lecturesImagining the impossible: The truth about spirit photography
Sat 31 Oct 2009, 14.30 - 16.00
Price: £6 / £4 concessions
Images of departed spirits, ghosts and ectoplasm captured on photographs became a huge sensation between the 1860s and 1930s. As spiritualist mediums and their many clients, and even establishment figures such as Arthur Conan Doyle, enthused about these apparently miraculous messages, others sought to uncover widespread fraud and trickery. An entertaining illustrated talk, especially for Halloween, by Gordon Rutter, Head of the Charles Fort Institute and scholar of strange experiences and anomalous phenomena.
A Village Lost And Found: Into an extraordinary stereoscopic world
Wed 11 Nov 2009, 18.30 – 20.00
Price: £7.50 / £5 concessions
Discover Brian May and Elena Vidal’s painstaking excavation of exquisite stereo photographs from the dawn of photography, as they transport us back in time to the lost world of an Oxfordshire village of the 1850s. Pioneering stereographer T.R. Williams created these powerfully atmospheric views of rural society in 1856, which burst into glorious 3D life when seen through viewers supplied to each audience member. Their intriguing story is presented by lifelong stereograph enthusiast and world-renowned musician Brian May and photographic historian and conservator Elena Vidal,
Professor Heard’s peerless Victorian magic lantern show
Sun 29 Nov 2009, 14.30 – 16.00
Price: £7.50 / £5 concessions
Professor Heard introduces the weird and wonderful magic lantern entertainments once presented in public halls and private drawing rooms throughout the 19th century. An intriguing and amusing show that draws on a unique collection of original mechanical moving pictures, sights, frights, moral warnings, adventures and pictorial curiosities.
‘I have captured a shadow’: Fox Talbot and the dawn of photography
Mon 7 Dec 2009, 18.30 -20.00
Price: £6 / £4 concessions
Frustrated with his inability to draw while in Italy, William Henry Fox Talbot conceived of the art of photography in 1833. He achieved his first successes at his Wiltshire home of Lacock Abbey by the following spring but delayed announcing his achievement to the public until 1839. Photography was thus born into an era propelled by rapid industrialisation and buffeted by great social upheavals. It both preserved the past and predicted the future.
In 2006, the descendants of William Henry Fox Talbot made an extraordinary donation to the British Library. The inventor of photography had started his own archive at the age of eight. Included in this donation were hundreds of notebooks, thousands of letters and many crucial examples of his early photographs. This collection provides an unusually rich and comprehensive resource for studying both the invention of photography and its context in the Victorian era.
Drawing on these resources, this illustrated talk by Larry J. Schaaf will explore the invention and early progress of the art of photography through the eyes of Talbot himself. The art and the artist advanced together.
World expert on early photography Larry J. Schaaf is the author of many book, including The Photographic Art of William Henry Fox Talbot
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Photography DayThe wonderful world of early photography: A discovery day
Sat 7 Nov 2009, 11.00 - 16.30
Price: Free, limited availability, booking recommended
Enjoy, explore and learn about the remarkable early years of photography at a packed day of free talks, displays, workshops and activities.
All day eventsWillett and Patterson's amazing camera obscura
Time: 11.00 – 16.30
Location: British Library, Piazza
Price: Free, drop in
A chance to experience the projected images that amazed earlier generations: artists, scientists and holiday-makers. Complete with its authentic booth and operators, this is one of the finest touring camera obscuras in the world.
Madam La Luz's photographic parlour
Time: 11.00 – 16.00
Location: British Library, Entrance Hall
Price: Free, drop in (subject to demand)
Dress up in 19th-century costume and have your picture taken by professional photographers in our lavish Victorian photo studio.
Early photography advice sessions
An introduction to looking after photographs
Time: 11.30- 12.30
Location: British Library, Centre for Conservation
Price: Free, drop in (limited capacity)
Many families have photographic collections ranging from those taken over 100 years ago to the present day. In this presentation you will learn about the different types of photographs and how to avoid storage problems in photographic collections.
Images of the past
Time: 13.30 – 16.30
Location: British Library, Entrance Hall
Price: Free, drop in (time slots may be in operation subject to demand)
Bring in your own early photographs and meet our team of conservators. Discuss their themes, dates, techniques and learn how best to care for them and protect your own collection for future generations.
Talks and EventsPhotographic History without Photographs
Time: 11.00 – 12.00
Location: All talks will take place in the Conference Centre Auditorium
Book now: Free, advance booking available
In a heavily illustrated lecture, Michael Pritchard explores a little-known but intriguing world of photographic history sources: trade catalogues, patents, company documents, auction catalogues, handbills and printed ephemera. Presented in conjunction with the 2009 Let's Talk About Photography lectures promoted by the Photographic Materials Conservation Group of the Institute of Conservation
Magic Lantern Show
Time: 12.30 – 13.00
Book now: Free, advance booking available'New light through an old hole'
Time: 13.30 – 14.30
Book now: Free, advance booking available
The History, Science and Art of The Pinhole Camera. Justin Quinnell, who uses pinhole photography will be launching his book Build Your Own Paper Camera . The lecture will take the audience on an entertaining visual journey through the science, art and 500 million year history of the pinhole camera.
Magic Lantern Show
Time: 15.00 – 15.30
Book now: Free, advance booking availableCurator Talk, Points Of View: Capturing the 19th Century in Photographs
Time: 16.00 – 17.00
Book now: Free, advance booking available
John Falconer, discusses the highlights of the exhibition and the British Library photographic collection.
WorkshopsPinhole Camera workshop
Time: 11.00 - 12.45
Suitable for families with children aged 7 – 16
Book now: Free, advance booking recommended (limited places)
Pinhole Camera workshop
Time: 15.00 - 16.45
Suitable for ages 16 and over
Book now: Free, advance booking recommended (limited places)
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Scully & Osterman will offer an Ambrotype Class in London at Minnie Weisz Studio under the Victorian Arches, King's Cross, 123 Pancras Rd London NW1 1UN between 7-8 October 2009.
The class will provide an introduction to the wet-plate collodion process and participants will make ambrotype portraits and still-lifes. The class size is limited to six students with two instructors: Mark Osterman and France Scully Osterman
For more information visit: http://www.collodion.org/workshop.html. For details please email sculloster@gmail.com or call: Minnie at +44 (0)7974 311907 to register.
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The Royal Collection has put it's first photograph exhibition online. The 1987 exhibition, Crown and Camera, curated by Roger Taylor and Frances Dimond, and shown at the Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, is now available online on the Royal Collection’s website. The exhibition presents a survey of the 19th century photographic material in the Royal Collection, from 1842 to 1910. It includes the earliest photograph in the collection – a daguerreotype of Prince Albert taken in Brighton in March 1842, two outdoor daguerreotypes of the 1848 Chartist meeting in Kennington and work by Fenton, Reijlander and others.
The site can be found here: http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/microsites/crownandcamera/Read more…
The Art Newspaper reports that British photographer Martin Parr is in talks with Nicholas Serota of the Tate Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum to leave his collection of historic and contemporary British photographs to the nation. Neither institution would confirm the story. Parr claims he is not looking to make a profit on any deal.
Over the over the last twenty years Parr has assembled an important survey of 700 British documentary photos and book dummies. This includes the work of around 18 practitioners, many of them collected in depth, which spans the last five decades.
For the full story click here.
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In conjunction with the National Media Museum, the University of Bolton wishes to offer a postgraduate research studentship for a suitable candidate to undertake research on relevant collections within the National Media Museum in the following areas:
Interpretations of China by nineteenth century European - chiefly British - photographers
Images of China prior to the Cultural Revolution
A comparative study of images of China from European and Chinese perspectives
Applicants should:
Hold a Masters level qualification in photography
Be fluent in spoken and written English and Mandarin
Be aware of European and Chinese cultural contexts
Have experience of research
Have experience of working as a photographer
Be able to work independently
Have a strong visual sense
Understand the history of photography
Be motivated and enthusiastic
The Yang Memorial Scholarship is for three years, subject to a satisfactory performance review at the end of twelve months.
The closing date for applications is Wednesday 30th September 2009 at 12pm.
Interviews are expected to take place at the beginning of October.
Application forms and further details are available on request by emailing Susan Farrell: sf1@bolton.ac.uk. Alternatively, please telephone her on +44 (0)1204 903611 (no C.V.s accepted).
Yang Memorial Scholarship
Professor Yang Xiaoguang was Dean of the Dalian College of Image Art and a key influence in setting up the MA Photography at the University of Bolton that runs both in Dalian and Bolton. Tragically he was killed in a traffic accident in Nepal while teaching a photography workshop in 2008. Amongst many other interests Professor Yang had a keen interest in the study of Chinese photographic archives held outside of the country, many of which provide a unique visual insight into everyday life in China in periods when few Chinese photographers shared the same passion to document.
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Peter James, Head of Photography at Birmingham Central Library has been given the 2009 Colin Ford Award by the Royal Photographic Society.
The award, instituted in 2003, bears the name of Colin Ford CBE, the first Director of the National Museum of Photography Film and Television in Bradford (now the National Media Museum). It is normally given each year to honour an individual who has contributed in a major way to curatorship. It has previously been awarded to staff members at the NMeM.
Peter has an outstanding record of exhibitions and work in photographic history and in commission contemporary photographers based around the library's collections. He is currently working on plans for the photography collections as part of the library's move to a new building.
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“Pamela’s Circle c. 1740”Ambrotype by Judith Harrison Kalter{see photograph in "Photos" on above tabs}“Pamela’s Circle c. 1740” is a quarter plate ambrotype on black glass. It measures3 ¼ x 4 ¼ inches and is still without a proper case. This is now my favorite photograph because it was made in the 21st Century, using a process devised in the 19th Century with equipment from the early-mid 20th Century to photograph a book written in the 18th Century. One of the first English novels, Pamela or Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson was first published in 1740 and is the story of a young woman, in servitude to the master of the house, who is also her tormentor. She prizes her chastity, learns how to protect it and is rewarded by marrying the lord of the manor and in the final chapters learns her new role in society. Virtue rewarded. The props in the photograph were carefully chosen to reflect the manners of Pamela’s social circle.The picture accompanying my ambrotype is the set up I used in making the photograph and made with a digital camera. I like how the juxtaposition of the two photographs shows how the ambrotype image is flipped; truly a negative image of the subject. Both photograph were taken out of doors in natural light, filtered by tree leaves, late one afternoon. My camera is a Kodak 5x7 wooden view camera. The wetplate collodion process is familiar to most people as that used for tintypes. In fact it is difficult to tell the difference between a tintype and an ambrotype when they are in cases and under glass. I use a magnet to identify a tintype as it will attract a magnet and the glass of the ambrotype will not. Ambrotypes are most often made on clear glass with a dark paper or black velvet placed behind and glass over the plate to protect it. I will be writing about how to make an ambrotype in an upcoming edition of The Photogram.“Pamela’s Circle c. 1740” also embodies for me the changing role of women from the rigid feminine roles of the 18th Century to the freedoms enjoyed and the roles played by women in society today.Judith Harrison Kalter 2009
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The NMeM blog reports that a PhD student has discovered a new Demachy print in the museum's collections. Student, Julien Faure-Conorton from Paris, found the print Ploërmel, Brittany hidden beneath another print in the collection, La Cueillette, which is part of the Royal Photographic Society material now housed in Bradford.
In the words of the blog posting:
The full story is this: Julien has been jetting over from France since February to have a ferret around our collection of photographs by Demachy. Demacy was a Frenchman whose early pictorial photography made him one of the world's most famous photographers by the early 20th century. He had a record five exhibitions dedicated to him at The Photographic Society in London -- but mysteriously hung up his camera for good in 1914, never to so much as photograph his grandchildren again. He was also one of the very first people in France to have a car.
We have all the prints that Demachy originally donated to the Royal Photographic Society, but it was one in particular -- RPS3647, La Cueillette ("Gathering") -- that led to Julien's big moment. Looking at the picture, Julien noticed that the corner of the print was peeling at the corner, detatching slightly from its cardboard backing. And there was something underneath.
That something turned out to be an entirely different Demachy print -- entitled Ploërmel, Brittany. It seems that Demachy was either unhappy with this hidden print, or was just short on backing boards and had to reuse it for La Cueillette.
So Julien's eagle eye uncovered an important early photograph we (and the Royal Photographic Society) didn't even know we had.
Check out the full posting and more pictures at the National Media Museum blog.
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British bookseller Bernard Quaritch Ltd has published the first comprehensive history of the earliest years of photography in China. It combines previously unpublished research with over 150 photographs, many of which are attributed and published here for the first time. Terry Bennett describes the way in which the discovery of photography in China was framed against the tumultuous backdrop of the Opium Wars, the Taiping Rebellion and the opening of numerous treaty ports to foreign trade. From 1842, when the use of a camera was first recorded in China, foreign and Chinese photographers captured the people, places and events of this unsettled period. They were professional portraitists, soldiers and pioneering amateurs, among them: Jules Itier; Pierre Rossier; Lo Yuanyou (the earliest-recorded Chinese commercial photographer); Felix Beato; and Milton Miller. The author, an acclaimed international authority on historical photographs from China, Japan and Korea, sheds new light on the unique historical value of these photographs.
The images are drawn from institutional and private collections from all over the world. The text includes extensive documentary notes, valuable listings of early stereoviews of China and biographies of more than forty photographers working in China up to 1860. It also introduces important new detail on the life of Felix Beato.
230 x 238 mm, 242 pages, over 150 illustrations
cloth-bound with pictorial dust-jacket
ISBN 978-0-9563012-0-8 £50
It can be ordered from Elisabeth Grass at Quaritch, 8 Lower John Street, Golden Square, London, or via email: e.grass@quaritch.com, website: www.quaritch.comRead more…
Donald Stewart is looking for information on early uses of, and references to, infra red photography. In particular, and in his own words: "I'm trying to get information on early British infra red photography, experiments or practice but other than its use in astronomical studies"...Please comment here so that he can pick up any feedback.
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The latest issue of this journal (Volume 7, Issue 2 July 2009), carries a paper by Julia F. Munro, titled 'The optical stranger': Photographic anxieties in British periodical literature of the 1840s and early 1850s, pages 167-183.
The abstract reads: An examination of periodical literature from the period of the invention of photography in 1839 and onwards reveals that the reception of the medium on the part of the Victorians was characterized by an ambivalent response of enthusiasm as well as anxiety, an ambivalence that grew increasingly insistent despite familiarity with the medium as it became popular in the early 1850s. This article examines in depth the representations of photography in a selection of fictional and periodical texts from the 1840s and early 1850s, in order to trace the development of the anxieties about photography and to elucidate how such anxieties evolved in light of the medium's growing ubiquity. In serving as a space in which Victorians expressed their ambivalence, the texts provide valuable insight into the Victorians' negotiation of photography and the visual culture within which the medium operated. The various photographic anxieties the author considers include the troubling association of photography with the magical, the unease felt towards the photograph as memorial, and the concerns regarding the medium's agency and the perfect photographic copy it produces. The latter two qualities of the medium prove to be central concerns that underlie the other expressions of anxiety voiced in regard to photography.
More on the journal can be found here: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t713735038~link=coverRead more…
Points of View: Capturing the 19th Century in Photographs
30 October 2009 - 7 March 2010 . Admission free.
• New exhibition unlocks treasure trove of images from the dawn of photography
• Over 250 rarely-seen images trace development from gentleman's pursuit to mass pastime
• Social document, art form – and a window onto the spirit world…
170 years since its invention, photography remains the main technology through which we understand and record the world. Camera phones are now ubiquitous, but in its infancy, photography was an expensive, elaborate and experimental pursuit. Points of View - the British Library's first ever major photographic exhibition - will examine the development and influence of photography, from its invention in 1839 up to the growth of a popular amateur market in the early 20th century.
Rarely displayed items from the British Library's photography collection will show how photography has played a critical role as the primary means of visual expression in the modern age. See www.bl.uk/pointsofview.
Among the 250 exhibits are:
An oak tree in winter by William Henry Fox Talbot c.1842-43
Talbot's calotype process, which he announced in 1840 and patented the following year, produced a paper negative from which unlimited prints could be made. This example illustrates the expressive artistic possibilities of the process in one of his most accomplished studies. (Calotype negative and salted paper print)
The hippopotamus at the Zoological Gardens in Regent's Park, London by Don Juan Carlos, Duke of Montizon, 1852
The arrival in 1850 of the hippopotamus Obaysch from Egypt - the first to be seen in England - caused immense excitement and doubled the number of visitors to the zoo in that year. Obaysch was joined by a mate in 1854 and survived until 1878. This is one of many natural history studies by the Count of Montizon exhibited at the Society of Arts Photographic Exhibition in 1852. (Salted paper print from a collodion negative)
Dictyola dichotoma by Anna Atkins, 1843-53
Between 1843 and 1853, Anna Atkins produced nearly 450 ‘photograms' of specimens of algae, issued in a small edition as British algae. Cyanotype impressions. This is one of only 12 copies that still survives today. The vivid blue of the cyanotype process contributes to the abstract beauty of cameraless images. ( Cyanotype)
X-ray photograph of frogs by Josef Maria Eder and Eduard Valenta, c.1896
Wilhelm Röntgen's discovery of x-rays in 1895 brought a new dimension of hitherto invisible structures into photographic visibility. While a risky craze in amateur x-ray photography soon subsided, what was to become a tool of immense practical utility also revealed a world of startling beauty. (Photogravure)
Portrait of Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, by Lady Alice Mary Kerr, c.1870
Alice Kerr's photographs are largely unknown apart from the rare examples in the British Library collections, but her intense and compelling portraits - particularly this study of the poet Wilfrid Scawen Blunt - merit comparison with the work of Julia Margaret Cameron. (Albumen print)
Printing Kodak negatives by daylight, Harrow, by an unknown photographer, 1891
This scene of the factory production of prints at Kodak's Harrow factory illustrates the growth of amateur photography in the last decade of the 19th century. The company's motto of ‘You press the button, we do the rest,' ushered in a new age of popular photography in the 20th century. (Gelatin silver print)
The exhibition explores the dramatic transformations in world order during the 19th century that shaped much of the world we live in today. It will draw on the British Library's rich photographic collection of over 300,000 images – including the daguerreotype and calotype, negatives, X-ray photographs and spirit photography.
Describing the exhibition the British Library's Head of Visual Materials, John Falconer commented: “Points of View explores the development of photography in the 19th century and how it quickly became a common part of daily life and a major commercial industry. Today we can't imagine life without photos but its invention in the 19 th century opened up a new world of visual communication and personal expression. Drawing on the unique collections held in the British Library, this exhibition examines the growth of the medium from the viewpoint of how and why it was used in the 19 th century, in fields as diverse as travel, portraiture, war, science and industry.”
The accompanying events programme will offer a rich mix of performances, talks, family events and more. Highlights so far announced include:
Imagining The Impossible (Saturday 31 October) - a Halloween special on the weird world of spirit photography.
The Wonderful World of Early Photography: A Discovery Day (Saturday 7 November) - an event for all the family packed full of workshops, talks, demonstrations of the Camera Obscura, Magic Lantern and Pinhole cameras and advice clinics on your own photography collections.
A Village Lost and Found (Wednesday 11 November) - photography collector and world renowned musician Brian May and photo historian Elena Vidal introduce the stunning 3D world of 19th century stereograms.
Late at The Library: Victorian Values (Friday 20 November) - a photography themed, and burlesque flavoured night of performances, sideshows, music and slightly twisted Victoriana.
Professor Heard's Peerless Victorian Magic Lantern Show (Sunday 29 November) - a brilliant introduction to an entertainment massively popular before the advent of recorded sound and moving image.
Capture Kings Cross (27 February 2010). A mass participation event, creatively photographing the area around the British Library and the Kings Cross development.
The British Library will be offering a range of learning activities to accompany the exhibition, including workshops for secondary and further education students, and guided tours for those in higher education and adult groups.
An accompanying book, Points of View: Capturing the 19th Century in Photographs, will be published by the British Library in November 2009. It will feature over 150 colour illustrations including photographs from many of the most celebrated names in 19th century photography such as Francis Frith, Felix Teynard, Samuel Bourne and Peter Henry Emerson, as well as numerous lesser known names who made significant contributions to the medium.
The book will be published by the British Library in November 2009, available in hardback at £29.95 (ISBN 978 0 7123 5081 5) and paperback at £15.95 (ISBN 978 0 7123 5082 2 ) with 176 pages, 270 x 220 mm, over 150 colour illustrations. Available from the British Library Shop (tel: +44 (0)20 7412 7735 / email: bl-bookshop@bl.uk) and online at www.bl.uk/shop as well as other bookshops throughout the UK.
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We are on the hunt for all modern calotypists and paper negative makers, whatever process involved.The Fox Talbot Museum is trying to track down the few lonely calotypists out there to create a network for exchanging information and ideas. So far we've had image makers from Spain, France, Britain and the US sign up.If you know anyone out there who has made paper negative, whether Talbot's or Le Gray's process or one of their own, drop us a line at foxtalbotmuseum@nationaltrust.org.uk.
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The publisher, Routledge, is delighted to announce that Volume 10, Issue 1 of Visual Culture in Britain is now available. This is the journal's first issue published by Routledge and to celebrate it is offering free online access to all articles in this issue for the remainder of 2009.
Of particualr interest to readers of BPH is a paper by Venda Louise Pollock titled Dislocated Narratives and Sites of Memory: Amateur Photographic Surveys in Britain 1889–1897. The abstract reads:
Prior to the formation of Sir Benjamin Stone's National Photographic Record Association (NPRA), a number of amateur photographic societies throughout Britain embarked on photographic surveys. The catalyst for these endeavours was 'Illustrated Boston', a set of slides visually describing the New England town sent from the Boston Photographic Society and premiered by the Liverpool Amateur Photographic Association in 1889. These slides were then shown in photographic societies throughout the United Kingdom. Although William Jerome Harrison had published erudite advice on how to carry out such a task, these formative surveys reveal a dislocation between ideal methodology and the realities of amateur surveying. This disjuncture has significant import for the representation of place and, drawing on the theories of Timothy Mitchell and Pierre Nora, this article examines the surveys as reflecting, and contributing to, particular social, aesthetic, political and institutional contexts integral to which was an oculo-centric culture of display founded on the primacy of visual knowledge and therein experience. It argues that the failure to capture the genius loci of place that Elizabeth Edwards has determined in the NPRA emerges from these early processes and their contexts and concludes by considering the impact of digitization on these surveys as images and material artefacts.
Read all the articles for free from this issue here: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~db=all~content=g911231917Read more…
