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Sue Davies who has died, after a short illness, aged 87 years, was the founder director of London’s The Photographers’ Gallery, the first public space dedicated solely to photography and photographers in the United Kingdom. During her twenty years as gallery director she established it as the go-to place for photography, particularly in its early years when photography was largely ignored by the UK’s arts establishment and there were no other galleries of photography. The Photographers’ Gallery exhibitions were diverse, ranging from historical photography, the work of contemporary photographers, and themed shows, often with an international perspective.  They were supported by an eclectic talks programme and a bookshop that was the best for photography anywhere in the country.

Susan Elizabeth Davies (née Adey) was born in 1933 and had a childhood that ranged from London, Iran and New York. She attended secondary school in London. She married John R T Davies (1927-2004) the jazz musician, recording artist, producer  and sound restorer in 1954 and they had three children, Joanna, Stephanie  and Jessica. Davies worked at various magazines including the Municipal Journal  and then had a part-time job at the Artists Placement Group in London before taking a job at the ICA.

Davies joined the ICA in 1968 as exhibitions secretary. It was at the ICA where she met Bill Jay who was using it as a venue for his Photo Study Centre which held regular photography talks. The Spectrum exhibition which ran at the ICA from 3 April-11 May 1969 was a landmark event for photography in Britain examining the role of photography, 500 women photographers and showcasing individual photographers including Tony Ray-Jones, Enzo Ragazzini, Dorothy Bohm and Don McCullin.

This activity awakened her passion for photography, and a determination that the absence of a proper place for photography in Britain needed addressing. By 1970 she was planning a gallery dedicated to photography. With the agreement of her family she re-mortgaged her home and gained the backing  of people such as Tom Hopkinson and Magnum agency photographers such as David Hurn. Jay’s Do Not Bend Gallery opened in 1970 and Davies was generous to acknowledge his influence and gallery as a first, although its brief extended beyond photography to the wider arts.

The Photographers’ Gallery opened on 14 January 1971. It aimed to provide a central London showcase for exhibitions of the best photography, to create a centre for the sale of photographic prints, and to offer a selection of photographic books, catalogues and magazines. It was also to act as an exchange house for exhibitions touring the continent and to initiate touring collections. The first exhibition was The Concerned Photographer curated by Cornell Capa. Following this was a show of Edward Weston’s photography, and thematic shows around industry, fashion and landscape, as well as young photographers.  As Martin Parr HonFRPS has recently commented: ‘to find a place that loved photography, it was absolutely exhilarating to go in there’.

The Gallery was set up as a charity, relaying on grant-aid and private benefactors. Hopkinson was the first chair of trustees and it was supported by an impressive roster of individuals, photographers, companies, and volunteers who made it all happen.  The premises at 8 Great Newport Street provided 3500sq.ft. of space to exhibit photography and for photographers and the public to meet and to listen to speakers. In 1980 the gallery expanded into No. 5 Great Newport Street and the freehold was purchased.

In 1972 the New York Times writing about London’s photography scene said: ‘In London's Photographer's Gallery, however, almost everything photographic is welcomed, including the kind of reportage whose only claim to attention is the interest of its subject matter...The Photographers' Gallery remains the only place in London that shows new photography regularly, and consequently, it has become a kind of catch‐all. ..And where else was it to go?

Davies’ work for photography was recognised with the Royal Photographic Society’s Progress Medal and Honorary Fellowship in 1982 and she was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s birthday honours in 1988.

Davies was encouraged to step down as director in 1991. The British Journal of Photography suggested that the decision was, in part, based on the continual need to find funding to keep the gallery afloat. Even in 1972 Davies had said ‘we suffer from a chronic lack of money’ and this was always a challenge.  Her replacement’s first job was to deal with a dire financial situation, due, in part, to changes in how London boroughs funded the Gallery.  The BJP’s assessment of her time at the Gallery was fulsome: ‘Davies deserves the highest praise for what she has achieved in raising the profile of photography in Britain, not just via the walls of Great Newport Street, but by 20 years of example set to the many similarly successful funded galleries around the country’.  Its programming may have been mixed but at its best, as the BJP noted, ‘it was brilliant’.  

After leaving the Gallery Davies continued to be involved in photography as a visiting lecturer and curator.

The roll call of those who worked at the Gallery or took part in its activities is a long one and there are just a few personal recollections below. There are many others with their own memories of Davies and the Gallery.

Zelda Cheatle, who worked at the Gallery’s Print Room in the 1980s said : ‘it’s hard to remember that there was no photography anywhere before Sue....  she really defined British photography; but her Eastern European exhibitions by Kertesz and Brassai, etc, and Giacomelli and Fontana, and O Winston Link and so many more were brought to a British audience’.

Chris Steele-Perkins, the Magnum photographer commented: ‘Sue was responsible for encouraging young photographers as well as bringing the work of greats, like Winston Link, André Kertész, and William Klein to a British audience. For my generation TPG was like a clubhouse and I owe lasting friendships and important contacts to Sue and the atmosphere she created around the gallery. Without TPG's notice board I would never have worked on Survival Programmes.’

The curator India Dhargalkar who started her career at the Photographers Gallery under Davies said: ‘she was one of the most influential people in the early days of the photography art scene in the UK.  Under her direction it was a time of exciting and innovative exhibitions, opening the door to new photographers who have since become well established thanks to her support’.

Brett Rogers OBE, the current director of The Photographers Gallery, said: ‘Sue’s vision for the Gallery was rooted in a spirit of collaboration. From the outset, she gathered a group of like-minded people to work with her to ensure that TPG was first and foremost a place for photographers to exhibit, share, meet and sell their work. Equally she wanted to offer an environment to inspire, educate and inform audiences about the pivotal - and unique - role photography plays in our lives and communities.’

It can be hard, with a 2020 perspective, when photography exhibitions attract record crowds, receive massive media coverage and photography permeates our real and virtual worlds, to imagine how poorly it was seen in the late 1960s. That Davies was able to achieve so much for the public benefit, and for British photography, supported by others, is a testimony to her vision and perseverance.

It is poignant and sad that next year’s celebrations of The Photographers’ Gallery’s half century will now be held without her presence.  Her legacy is the Photographers’ Gallery and, even more importantly, the vibrant gallery scene and respect for photography that she helped to establish and define.

© Michael Pritchard

With thanks to Roxanne Maguire,  Zelda Cheatle, Chris Steele-Perkins, and India Dhargalkar.

Images: Chris Steele-Perkins HonFRPS, Sue Davies, 1982 (centre), Mayotte Magnus-Lewinska FRPS (top left); montage courtesy of The Photographers’ Gallery.

UPDATE - 2

Read more here: 

The Guardian obituary: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/apr/30/sue-davies-obituary

Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sue_Davies

BBC Radio 4's Last Word: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p08c0h6g 

I have recently been comparing collections holding Roger Fenton’s Crimean war images and have discovered that the titles of some portraits in the Library of Congress (LOC) in Washington are different to the same images in the Royal Collection Trust (RCT). The portrait entitled Colonel Goodlake at the LOC is entitled Lieutenant Colonel Chapman C.B., Royal Engineers at the RCT. Also, the LOC’s Lieutenant Colonel Chapman, C.B., Royal Engineers is entitled Major Chapman at the RCT. In addition, the LOC’s Major Chapman, 20^th Regiment is entitled Major Goodlake, Coldstream Guards at the RCT. I believe that the RCT titles are correct and would like to suggest that the LOC investigate the matter and clarify the situation.

Incorrectly labelled photographs cause mistakes to be made by authors using contemporary pictures in publications on the Crimean War. An example is the book entitled Images of War, The Crimean War, which is published by Pen and Sword. The authors have used the LOC titles in the captions of two of the portraits mentioned above.

I have usually notified collections when I have found conflicting or incorrect titles to Crimean War pictures in the past. Some thank me for my efforts, but others do not reply. I have not followed up whether the changes I suggested to most of the collections were made or not. Today, I quickly went through Fenton’s images in the John Paul Getty Museum in the USA and found all but one were correctly named. However, the title of Cavalry Camp looking towards Kadikoi (84.XM.1028.26) was incorrect as it shows a picture that is correctly entitled as View of the Lines of Balaklava from Guard’s Hill, Canrobert’s Hill in the distance at the LOC and RCT. There were also some typing errors, such as ‘Captain Porial’ instead of ‘Captain Portal’.

I also recently found that two of Fenton’s Crimean portraits in the RCT showing the same army officer with the same horse at the same location at roughly the same time had two different names in the images' titles. The first (RCIN 2500272) was entitled Major Hussey Fane Keane, who was described as being in the Royal Engineers (see above right). This information is correct. However, the second (RCIN 2500348) showing the same man was entitled Major Giles Keane, who was described as being in 86^th Foot (see below left). This information is incorrect. There was a Major Giles Keane in the 86^th Foot at the time, but the regiment never fought in the Crimea being stationed in India. I haven’t the slightest idea how the RCT came by this name for the portrait. Again, more care needs to be taken by collections in making sure their accessions have the correct names and descriptions.

Ideally, institutes holding historical photographs should interact with each other to ensure that titles of images conform between collections, but I suppose a lack of funds, time and perhaps motivation prevents this from happening. I should also mention here that, as a specialist in Crimean photography with a first-hand knowledge of the topography of Sevastopol and its environs, I approached the head of a well-known collection and offered to improve the descriptions of its Crimean War photographs. This offer was declined even though I was willing to do the job for the sake of posterity at no cost to the collection. I am now in coronavirus lockdown and busy writing articles for publication in the RPS’s The PhotoHistorian and the CWRS’s The War Correspondent so that the information I have on what is seen in Crimean War images does not disappear when I do.

The Wiener Holocaust Library has made available an online version of its 2019 exhibition of Gerty Simon's life and work Gerty (Gertrud) Simon (1887-1970) was a German-Jewish photographer renowned in the 1920s and 1930s for her portraits of important political and artistic figures in Weimar Berlin and interwar London. In the 1930s, as a refugee from Nazism in Britain, Simon rapidly re-established her studio. She was soon photographing notable personalities from British public and cultural life to great acclaim. 

In 1934, Gerty Simon was described as the 'most brilliant and original of Berlin photographers'. But since Simon stopped taking professional photographs in the late 1930s, her career has been forgotten.

In 2016, The Wiener Holocaust Library received a large number of Gerty Simon's original prints of portraits taken in Berlin and London from the estate of her son Bernard (Bernd), along with documents relating to her life and work. In 2019, The Wiener Holocaust Library staged an exhibition on Gerty Simon's life and work featuring many of her works, including 18 original prints.

In 2021, a version of the exhibition will be shown at Villa Liebermann, where, for the first time in 80 years, the work of this pioneering photographer will be brought to public attention in Berlin.

Image: Gerty Simon, self-portrait montage, Berlin, c. 1925-1932.

Source magazine has provided free access to the digital edition of Issue 96 - Privacy: Picturing Our Inner Selves until the end of April. It features portfolios from Rachel Glass, Maurice Hobson and Gillian Wearing, fashion and marketplace columns, reviews, and interviews. 

Accessible here: https://bit.ly/2X9kZ8S.

Produced to coincide with our Oscar Marzaroli retrospective this short AV work features poignant narration by Marie-Clare Marzaroli sharing recollections of her father and reflecting on the huge legacy he left behind.

Glasgow's Street Level Photoworks has made available a Facebook live stream artist talk with Frank McElhinney on his project 'Only for Freedom', followed by a Q+A with Street Level director Malcolm Dickson.

Might anyone have any details of a process introduced 1861 by Squire & Co for colouring a paper photograph to resemble a painting on ivory. It is was announced in Photographic News, vol . 5, no . 171, 13 December 1861, i

It was marketed as  the elephantinon process  and was evidently for making paper photographs look like paintings on ivory but with libraries shut I cant find the PN to consult.

The term is the ancient Greek name for a black dye made from burnt ivory  but may refer  in photography to a soft ivory-glow look rather than actual black?

An example would be great to find..

Gael

I am looking for any information about the Photographer of this recently acquired albumen photo: Sir Henry Fletcher being served by mess waiter Robert. Seller says it's from an 1853 Album from the Musketry School at Hythe.

Curiously, The Grenadier Guards website is selling copies of this image, but listing the waiter or location as Windsor.

Leicester's De Montfort University's Photographic History Research Centre annual conference for 2020 titled Camera Education: Photographic Histories of Visual Literacy, Schooling, and the Imagination will take place on 15-16 June 2020. Due to COVID-19 it will be run online and can be booked through the link here at a cost of £20. 

Read more about the programme and speakers here: https://photographichistory.wordpress.com/annual-conference-2020/

Chiswick Auction's Fine Photographica sale will go ahead online on 29 April. The auctions includes a number of British photographers from Robert Howlett's portrait of I K Brunel (lot 105) to work from George Rodger, Richard Sadler, Fay Godwin, John Swannell, T R Williams (lot 111), Francis Bedford and others. Of particular note is a group of ten stereo-daguerreotypes by Schneider & Sohn (lot 114). 

The photographic equipment section includes a small selection of Leica and other cameras. 

The catalogue is available to review and download here: https://www.chiswickauctions.co.uk/auction/details/29%20April%202020%20A-Fine-Photographica?au=518 

The only known wartime film footage of a secret site connected to Bletchley Park has been discovered. The 11-minute silent film, believed to be a compilation of footage recorded between 1939-1945, shows members of MI6 Section VIII at Whaddon Hall, Buckinghamshire. During World War Two, this was a most secret site where Ultra intelligence produced by the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park would be sent, and then passed on to Allied commanders in the field.

Dr David Kenyon, Research Historian at Bletchley Park highlights the rarity of this find: “No other film footage of a site intimately connected with Bletchley Park exists. We don’t know who filmed it and the footage doesn’t gives away any state secrets or any clues about the work the people in it are doing. If it fell into the wrong hands, it would have given little away, but for us today, it is an astonishing discovery and important record of one of the most secret and valuable aspects of Bletchley Park’s work.”.

The reel of wartime footage, preserved in its original canister, has been donated to Bletchley Park by a donor who wishes to remain anonymous.

The film, shot mostly in black and white with some colour footage, shows men and women off duty at Whaddon Hall and at Whaddon Chase, where some staff were billeted. There is also footage of the Whaddon hunt, a football game, and a cricket match in beautiful summer sunshine. Identified figures in the film include Brigadier Richard Gambier-Parry, Head of SIS Section VIII, based at Whaddon Hall 1939-1945, as well as Bob Hornby, first Engineer, in charge of workshops and Ewart Holden, Stores officer. Several figures in the film have not been identified and Bletchley Park Trust is appealing for anyone who recognises someone in the film to get in touch via enquiries@bletchleypark.org.uk

Peronel Craddock, Head of Collections and Exhibitions at Bletchley Park said: “The Whaddon Hall film is a really significant addition to our collection. Not only does it show us the place and the people in wartime but it’s the first piece of film footage we’re aware of that shows any of the activity associated with Bletchley Park at all. We’re delighted it has been donated to Bletchley Park Trust where it can be cared for and help tell the story of the huge team effort that underpinned Bletchley Park’s successes during World War Two.”

COVID-19 has meant that the new print issue of The Classic will not be made available at its usual distribution points in selected galleries and institutions as they are currently all closed. The publisher, Michael Diemar, has decided to make  the latest issue available as a pdf from its website.

Issue 3 includes:  

• Frozen Films - The Andrée Polar Expedition 1897
• Samuel Bourdin on Guy Bourdin
• Jim Ganz at the J. Paul Getty Museum
• Photographs in the Royal Collection Trust
• Hugh Rayner on Samuel Bourne
• The McKinley Collection

Download The Classic here: https://theclassicphotomag.com/

Matthew Broadhead, a descendent of the Victorian Leicester photographer F. W. Broadhead (1846-1925)  has made over 250 photographs from his third great grandfather's studio available online for the first time.

The photographs can be seen here: www.flickr.com/photos/fwbroadhead

Matthew can be reached at his website: www.matthewbroadhead.com or by email: info@matthewbroadhead.com

The James Hyman Gallery has launched a special fundraising sale in support of the NHS. James and Claire Hyman' collection of British photography is one of the UK's most important private collections and Claire works as surgeon within the National Health Service. 

The Gallery has put together a selection of works by some of the major photographers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, at reduced prices, and will donate all profits to the National Health Service.

Browse the sale here.

Image: 

Bill Brandt
Oakworth Moor, Yorkshire
Vintage Gelatin Silver Print, 1944

James Hyman notes: 

St Andrews University Special Collections has spent some time recently working on replacing its ageing photographic collections site. The new and improved site is now available and aims to improve the discoverability, usability and shareability of its internationally important collection of photographs in all formats and of all ages. There are now over 300,000 high resolution images available online.

A blog post discussion the new content and functionality is here: https://standrewsrarebooks.wordpress.com/author/standrewsrarebooks/

The collection can be seen here: https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/library/special-collections/photographs/.

Hans P Kraus Jr, the New York based dealer and galler,  had been looking forward to welcoming Paris Photo to New York, in partnership with AIPAD, for the first time.  In light of the postponed event it is presenting it first E-list, a selection of images by British artists to entice, to inspire or merely to distract. They vary in subject matter and introduce the viewer to some of the photographic processes, invented nearly two centuries ago: salt print, cyanotype, albumen, carbon, and photogravure. The magic of the negative is represented in their paper, mica and glass forms. There is a fine stereoscopic diapositive on glass of the moon⁠—someplace we might all rather be just now. 

Ten per cent of the revenue from these sales will be donated to NYC Health + Hospitals in support of our healthcare workers as they battle the COVID-19 pandemic. 

See the list here.

Image: 

Anna ATKINS (English, 1799-1871)
"Pteris Sagittaria", circa 1851-1854
Cyanotype photogram
25.9 x 20.2 cm
Handwritten title within the plate. Watermark "J Whatman Turkey Mill 1851"

Applications are invited for an AHRC-funded PhD at Cardiff University. Titled: Diversifying and decolonising conflict photography: an exploration of how accompanying textual information can influence the reading and understanding of photographs it is offered under the AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership programme. The partner institutions are Cardiff University and IWM.

The studentship will be supervised by Dr Tom Allbeson (School of Journalism, Media and Culture, Cardiff University) and Helen Mavin (IWM) and co-supervised by Professor Claire Gorrara (School of Modern Languages, Cardiff University). The studentship begins on 1 October 2020 and is funded at standard AHRC rates for 45 months full time (or part-time equivalent) with the potential to be extended for a further 3 months for professional development opportunities.

Closing date for applications: 15 May 2020

Anticipated start date: 1 October 2020

Full details: https://www.iwm.org.uk/sites/default/files/files/2020-04/IWM%20Cardiff%20CDP%20Advert%20final.pdf

The Studentship

The IWM Photograph Archive is an internationally significant collection that supports understanding of the causes, course, and consequences of modern conflict from multi-national perspectives. It includes material illustrating the experiences of both civilians and military participants. Using material from across the IWM collection, this project will critically examine the language used to describe and contextualise collections. It will focus on the portrayal of diverse experiences within the context of war and conflict during the 20^th century and how original captions and museum-ascribed descriptions have consciously or unconsciously supported colonial narratives and influenced audience understandings. The studentship offers flexibility, allowing the student to define the scope of the research within the broad aims of the project. Further details regarding these aims are outlined here:

https://www.iwm.org.uk/sites/default/files/files/2020-04/IWM%20Cardiff%20CDP%20Advert%20final.pdf

Funding

Subject to AHRC eligibility criteria, the scholarship covers tuition fees and a grant towards living expenses for 45 months full time or part-time equivalent, and may be extended for a further 3 months

The award pays tuition fees up to the value of the full-time home/EU UKRI rate for PhD degrees. The award pays full maintenance for UK citizens and residents only. For more information visit: https://www.ukri.org/skills/funding-for-research-training/.

How To Apply  

Applicants will need to satisfy AHRC eligibility requirements. For more information visit: https://ahrc.ukri.org/funding/research/researchfundingguide/

Applicants should submit the following via email:

• Covering letter outlining their suitability for the studentship (max. one page)
• Curriculum vitae (max. two pages)
• Sample of writing from either academic assignment/publication OR museum interpretation/publication (1,500 to 8,000 words)
• Proposal outlining how they would approach the research project (max. 1000 words)
• Transcripts of undergraduate and masters qualifications (or evidence of equivalent)
• Details of two academic referees

Complete applications should be submitted by email to the School of Journalism, Media and Culture, Cardiff University (JOMECStudentsupport@cardiff.ac.uk) by 5pm on Friday 15 May 2020. All documents should be submitted in either a MS Word or PDF format.

Interviews are scheduled to be held on Friday 29 May 2020. Owing to current public health measures to tackle coronavirus, interviews will be held online.

Further Enquiries

For further enquiries, feel free to contact Dr Tom Allbeson (allbesont@cardiff.ac.uk) or Helen Mavin (hmavin@iwm.org.uk).

A new video about the Family Photo Talks workshop, organized by CRDI and driven by Susanna Muriel within the framework of the European Kaleidoscope project is now available. Family Photo Talks is a participatory workshop about collective memory, to share and disseminate the story of family photography. The workshop was organised by the Center for Image Research and Diffusion (CRDI) in Girona, in October 2019. It was part of the European Kaleidoscope project, which was focused on European photography of the 50s.

The activity was driven by Susanna Muriel, a specialist in this subject. The workshop received a very good feedback from participants. They worked on the description and conservation of photography, and mainly on the narratives, that were created from an oral history exercise. For this specific workshop we created an audiovisual in order to explain the methodology used for this activity. The audiovisual aims to provide content that anyone could consider when organizing a memories workshop using photography as a resource. It is an audiovisual that can inspire and help other institutions when organizing a workshop. For the audiovisual, we use the images recorded during the event in Girona and we mainly use the images recorded in a private house from one of the participants.

Click the link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjeaBISGTJI or below

The Guardian newspaper has reported that the Getty Archive is using remote working to preserve its archival photographs. The Getty Images archive in Canning Town, east London, holds 80 million photographs and negatives, some of which are more than 100 years old and need careful preservation and protection to stop them quickly degrading.

Matthew Butson, the archive’s vice-president, said a mix of a small on-site team and the use of remote temperature and humidity controls were being used to protect the rare negatives and prints. “We’re not just a commercial archive, we’re looking after our cultural heritage,” he said. “We have remote controls to make sure the building has the correct temperature and humidity. Too much humidity is obviously bad for imagery; a lot of our negatives are glass and go back to the 19th century.”

Read the full piece here: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/apr/02/getty-uses-remote-working-effort-preserve-photo-archive

Photograph: Rob Western

This new book uses archival material donated to the British Trust for Ornithology in 2011 and seeks to document and contextualise the life and work of Emma Louisa Turner (1867-1940). ELT, as she was known, was inspired to move on from pictorial photography to taking up serious bird photography by a chance meeting with Richard Kearton.in 1900. She became of the leading natural history writers of her day, illustrating her prose with her photographs, which like that of the Kearton brothers was rooted in her field craft and an intimate knowledge of her subjects. Much of her work was undertaken in Norfolk. She quickly became an accomplished photographer, too, joining the Royal Photographic Society in 1901. She regularly exhibited, and received recognition for her bird photography, in its annual exhibition. 

Parry and Greenwood's biography describes ELT's family background but rightly focuses on her writings, photography and the influence that she had on the public through her books and lectures and her activity for specialist audiences and ornithology more widely. In particular, she was involved in the setting up of the British Trust for Ornithology. After hger death, the BTO and Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) were recipients of her photographic plates and slides, although these are now missing and being looked for. 

Well researched and written this book draws long overdue attention to this important figure of natural history photography. Highly recommended.  

Emma Turner. A life looking at birds
James Parry and Jeremy Greenwood. Foreword by Patrick Barkham
Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society. 2020
ISBN 938-1-9162537-1-1
88 pages, illustrated, softcovers
Available from: the Norfolk & Norwich Naturalists’ Society website at http://norfolknaturalists.org.uk/wp/shop/ at £8 plus postage.