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A forgotten treasure trove of Victorian photographs showing the construction of parts of one of Scotland’s most important pieces of infrastructure has been unearthed. The Katrine Aqueduct, which takes water to treatment works that supply 1.3 million people in Glasgow and west central Scotland, was built in the Victorian era to help transform the health of citizens and continues in full use to this day.

As modern day engineers are starting a multi-million pound refurbishment project on part of the aqueduct, the recently-discovered photos provide a fascinating insight into the mega-structure which was officially opened by Queen Victoria almost 160 years ago in October 1859.

The glass lantern slides, which have not been seen before by Scottish Water experts with decades of experience of working on the local water network, were recovered from a skip along with some books and drawings when the utility was closing one of its offices.

They include remarkable images of pioneers boring through rocky mountainsides with drills during the construction of the 23.5 mile-long second aqueduct which began in 1885 and was completed in 1901 to increase capacity and meet demand as the population of Glasgow burgeoned to more than one million.

The aqueduct scheme, comprising the two aqueducts, takes water by gravity from Loch Katrine to the Milngavie and Balmore water treatment works before it is distributed to customers across a large swathe of Glasgow and west central Scotland. The first aqueduct includes tunnels through mountainous terrain in the shadow of Ben Lomond and bridges over the valleys. The second aqueduct was constructed to accommodate the rapid expansion of Glasgow in the late 19th century. The two are as much as six miles apart on some stretches.

The remarkable images, which are inspiring Scottish Water workers on the modern-day £12.5 million project to refurbish part of the overall aqueduct scheme, include:

• Endrick Valley picture showing a close-up of the three trunk mains of the old aqueduct and the supports for the new aqueduct near Balfron.
• Craigmaddie trench showing workers excavating a trench for the new aqueduct near Craigmaddie reservoir.
• Katrine tunnelling 1892 showing workers tunnelling through rock with machinery to prop up the ceiling of the excavation. The two last pictures would give modern-day health and safety officials sleepless nights   
• Steam engine showing a steam engine and horse used by workers to transport and move materials
• Steam engine workers Mugdock showing workers using a large steam-driven trencher for digging trenches

And, from later in the aqueduct project, Loch Arklet pulley system showing a pulley system used by workers to take materials from the Inversnaid area of Loch Lomond to Loch Arklet where a dam was built as part of the Katrine Aqueduct project and siteline worker showing one of many observatories which were constructed along the route of the aqueduct which were up to about 60ft high and were used by workers operating theodolite-like devices to measure and check the route of the aqueduct. ie siteline worker viewing showing a worker doing so from a smaller observation post.

Steven Walker, a leakage field technician with Scottish Water who discovered the photographs with a colleague, said: “I found these fragile glass slides from the construction of mainly the second aqueduct in a skip when we were moving to new offices. They were in two boxes or cases among all sorts of items that were to be thrown out. I suspected they were of interest but their true historical value was only confirmed when a colleague who works for us in the Loch Katrine area analysed them. The pictures give a fascinating insight into the construction of the second aqueduct and some of the methods used which might appear archaic, and even dangerous, to us now but were the ‘new technology’ of the day at that time.

I like to think that the heart of Glasgow is not George Square or somewhere else in the city centre but 8.5 miles to the north in Milngavie where the two aqueducts end. The boom in shipbuilding that helped Glasgow ‘flourish’ was able to happen only because of the two amazing aqueducts that bring water from Loch Katrine to the two reservoirs at Milngavie and the water treatment works there.

It’s remarkable to think that the first aqueduct was so successful, and Glasgow grew so quickly, that within 30 years they had to repeat the process and build a second aqueduct to double the output. These pictures are an important part of that story and I’m delighted we were able to save them.”

In the construction of the second aqueduct, the engineers were able to take a more direct line because they had available improved boring and blasting equipment. When the second aqueduct was constructed, the pneumatic drill and gelignite were available and progress was much more rapid than during the first aqueduct, increasing from 35 to 44 yards per month.

The possession of more efficient plant enabled the engineers, by tunnelling, to take a straighter line through the hills in the construction of the second aqueduct. This meant only eight bridges were required on the second aqueduct compared with 22 on the first.

The entire Katrine Aqueduct scheme cost £3.2m to build which would be about £320m in today’s prices.

The current refurbishment project on the Katrine Aqueduct is expected to be completed in 2020 and is being carried out for Scottish Water by contractors George Leslie. It includes structural repairs of three stretches of tunnel and a bridge, improvements to the lining of tunnels and repairs and refurbishments of control valves.

When, in 1982, Fred Gandolfi decided to close the family camera-making business, photographer Ken Griffiths thought the Peckham workshop, and the Gandolf’s unique way of of life should be recorded for posterity. Joined by his brother David as cinematographer and supported by a passionate team of film-makers and photographers, they crafted a nostalgic feature film of startling beauty, recording the passing of the old Victorian industry.

At last, after a new 2K high resolution scan & sound-track enhancement, the film will be available on DVD for general distribution. Produced in the DigiPak format, the DVD package is an elegantly designed collectible production, including a 36 page booklet featuring many of Ken’s pictures, the making of the film, and Fred Gandolfi’s own description of their camera making techniques.

DVD Price: £ 15.95 Inc VAT + P&P £ 2.50 Inc VAT for UK Highlands & Islands. 

See more and order here.

The London Stereoscopic Society is presenting two 3D talks on different aspects of stereoscopy. 

Derby, Saturday 13 April 2019 at 6.00 pm

This event takes place at QUAD as part of FORMAT19

https://www.derbyquad.co.uk/whats-on/art-events/stereoscope-magic-carpet-time-machine

The stereoscope: a magic carpet and a time machine rolled into one.

At a time when there was no television, cinema, phone or internet, there was … the Stereoscope ! Invented before photography but really introduced to the public during the Great Exhibition of 1851 the stereoscope had a slow start before becoming the object of a real craze from 1855 onwards. This magical instrument opened a window onto a world few Victorians could afford to see for real. It enabled the middle class to visit virtually, in 3-D,  all the famous sights they had read about or seen as woodcuts in illustrated magazines, without any of the risks attached to travelling and without leaving the comfort of their homes. To the present viewer the stereoscope doubles as a wonderful time machine which takes them not only there but also back then. Come and see Dickens, Napoleon III, Brunel, Queen Victoria and many other famous and anonymous Victorians as they really were and as you have never seen them before.

Oxford, Saturday 27 April 2019, 2.00 to 2.50 pm  and 3.00 to 3.50 pm

Join photo historians for an activity day exploring Victorian Oxford and the wonders of 3D vision. Find out what historical photos can reveal, make your own lift-the-flap model of the brain, and dress up for a Victorian selfie.

Lecture Theatre, Blackwell Hall, Weston Library 

 https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/whatson/whats-on/upcoming-events/2019/april/victorian-oxford-through-the-stereoscope

Victorian Oxford through the Stereoscope

Between 1857 and 1860 the firm Spiers and Son, from 102 & 103 High Street, Oxford, commissioned some of the most famous stereo photographers of the period to document Oxford for the Stereoscope. Using original negatives from the Weston Library archives and positive prints from Dr Brian May’s collection, photo historian Denis Pellerin will take you on a journey back in time through the streets of Oxford. Denis will explain how the images were taken and will show you how you can easily emulate Oxford photographers of a bygone era with a simple smartphone app. Step into the 3-D images, visit Oxford ‘in depth’ as it was then, meet one of the very first photo bombers, and discover the city of ‘Spiers’ as you’ve never seen it before.

The V&A is the world's leading museum of art and design. We enrich people's lives by promoting the practice of design and increasing knowledge, understanding and enjoyment of the designed world.

The Conservation Department fulfills a major role in helping the Museum deliver its wider objectives. It has a worldwide reputation for the excellence of its practical work, for innovative ideas and for pioneering the scientific and ethical approach to conservation, also for sharing this expertise.

You should have a recognised qualification in Photographs and/or Paper Conservation and suitable working experience to demonstrate the ability to work largely independently.

You will be expected to bring a portfolio with 2 – 3 examples of your work to the interview.

Closing date for applications - Sunday, 31 March 2019, by midnight

Interviews to be held Wednesday, 10^th April 2019

See more here:

A collection of Victorian stereoviews of Clifton Suspension Bridge and other significant bridges from across the globe are being conserved and digitised thanks to support from The Murless Fund (SANHS) and the Aurelius Charitable Trust. 

In 2018 the archives of Adrian Andrews - an expert in the history of engineering and of the Clifton Suspension Bridge - were donated to the Clifton Suspension Bridge Trust. Within the archives was a collection of over two hundred stereoscopic photographic cards, one hundred of which feature the Clifton Suspension Bridge and the Avon Gorge area. Stereoscopic views were immensely popular from the late 1850s onwards. The technique uses two photographs taken from slightly different angles to replicate human vision; when seen through a viewer the illusion of a 3-D image is created. Within the Collection are images showing the Clifton Suspension Bridge’s abandoned towers and its completion from 1862 to 1864. These offer a rare visual record of its construction. The photographs show workmen atop the towers hauling up 24ft-long wrought iron links, and jib cranes, scaffolding, and other equipment taking materials up and across the Avon Gorge.

Once conserved, the images will be made available via our website in April. If you would like to see the collection and hear more about the project, then pop into the Visitor Centre at 2pm on Wednesday 10th April to meet the archivist and see the collection in person.  For more information about the project please contact Hannah Little, Archivist, email: archives@cliftonbridge.org.uk. 

Find out more about the project here: https://www.cliftonbridge.org.uk/stereoscopic-photographs

Dramatic photos taken at the height of the Handsworth Riots are to appear on billboards across the city this month in a project by two of the city's most influential black artists.

Poems by Benjamin Zephaniah will accompany the images taken by Pogus Caesar for Handsworth 1985 Revisited.

The two men - both 'sons of Handsworth' - hope the work will be a stark reminder that anger caused by neglect, poverty and racism can sometimes erupt into violence. 

As Caesar describes it: "A tiny spark can become a gigantic flame". “The conditions I see when I walk around Handsworth and Lozells are very much the same as they were back in 1985.

"Those riots were the result of frustration built up over years of people suffering from poor job prospects, poor housing, poverty, harassment, racism, and a ‘them-and-us’ situation."

The artist was living in Handsworth when the riots erupted in September 1985.

The stunning images he captured at the time on his 35mm Canon camera will feature alongside reflective poems by writer and Handsworth ‘elder statesman’ Zephaniah.

They will be appearing in up to 20 locations around the city centre and on roadsides later this month.

The project, which has been three years in the making, is designed to “stimulate conversation” about the underlying issues of disengagement, deprivation and racism that still stalk the inner city.

 “We hope they will afford a provocative walk through the events of 1985 and a sobering, timely reminder of how easily ignorance, inequality and justice begets social unrest,” Caesar said.

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/handsworth-riots-being-revisited-giant-15928028

Because of the facial expressions of some soldiers photographed by Roger Fenton in 1855 during the Crimean War, it was suggested by Richard Pare in the 2004 book All the Mighty World that they may have been suffering from what we now call shell-shock. Pare drew particular attention to Fenton’s portrait of Captain Lord Balgonie (see below). In the picture, Balgonie is said to look older than his 23 years and has what have been called haunted eyes with a distant stare (see right).

In 2015, a review of an exhibition of salt prints in the Tate Gallery in Culture Whisper contained the sentence ‘Photography ….. enabled Roger Fenton to capture the shattered and shell-shocked look of soldiers in the Crimean War’. The Balgonie portrait has been described by Taylor Downing in his 2016 book entitled Breakdown: The Crisis of Shell Shock on the Somme as the ‘face of shell shock’. In addition, Sophie Gordon in 2017 in Shadows of War regarded the portrait as a ‘tragic depiction’ of Balgonie, who she described as looking dishevelled, unfocused and appearing to suffer from shell shock.

People photographed by Fenton usually had sombre expressions and often looked into the distance away from the camera. Captain Henry Verschoyle, who was a Grenadier Guards hero, was also captured by Fenton with a similar look in his eyes. To me, Balgonie looks tired. He could also have been suffering from an ailment caught during the harsh Crimean winter of 1854-55. He appears no more ‘dishevelled’ than many others photographed at the time by Fenton. Hair was worn long by many in those days and Balgonie had probably just got off his house after riding to Fenton’s make-shift studio in Balaklava.

In a letter home in April 1855, Fenton reported that ‘My hut seems to be the rendezvous of all the Colonels and Captains in the army, everybody drops in every day and I can scarcely get time to work for questions nor eat for work’. It seems to me that Balgonie may have dropped in on Fenton like many of his contemporaries. Shell shock is a term used for those who break down under the stress of war and I doubt if a broken man would go to Fenton’s hut out of curiosity to see what went on there and to have his portrait taken?

Balgonie was born in 1831 and served in the Grenadier Guards in Crimea. He was present at the major battles of the Alma, Balaklava and Inkerman in 1854. His obituary in the Dundee, Perth and Cupar Advertiser on 4 September 1857 reads:

He might have returned home with perfect honour long before the close of the Crimean campaign - many a stronger but less chivalrous and less sensitively honourable man did so – but he resolutely remained at his post till the downfall of Sebastopol although there is little doubt that his doing so, amid all the hardships and exposure of camp life must have implanted or at least fostered in his constitution, naturally delicate, the seeds of that disease which has prematurely ended a career so hopefully and auspiciously begun. Lord Balgonie, in the autumn 1855, returned to Melville House, the family residence in this county, laden with honours. He had gained all the Crimean medals except Kinburn besides that of the French Legion of Honour. He took ill in a few days after reaching home, and his life has been little more than an alteration of partial recoveries and relapses ever since, all borne with a serenity and patience truly wonderful. Last winter his Lordship went to Egypt in the hope of gaining that improvement in health denied to him in his own country, but the season proved unpropitious there, and in May last he returned to England weaker and more prostrated than he had left it. From that period he gradually sunk until Saturday last, when his solemn change came. In the full flush of autumn beauty, gently and happily he died………

The above mentions that Balgonie was awarded medals for his service in the Crimea and stayed on until after Sevastopol had fallen. It is also known that he undertook the mentally demanding role of an aide-de–camp to General Bentinck, which would have been impossible for him to carry out if he was a broken man. The obituary notes that Balgonie had a weak constitution and implies that he died young because he was worn out by the hardships and privations of the Crimean War. His visit to the dry warm climate of Egypt in winter when ill after the war indicates that he may have had respiratory problems, which he could easily have picked up in the Crimea.

In conclusion, I believe that the hypothesis that Balgonie was or may have been shell-shocked when photographed by Fenton in 1855 is just pure unfounded speculation without any basis in fact. Unfortunately, this shell shock interpretation is now in danger of becoming the accepted truth.

I have recently published an open access journal article in Image & Text 32 (2018) on Minna Keene FRPS, drawing from my research into her Life and Career in South Africa between 1903 and 1913. The article can be downloaded here.

Born in Germany in 1861, Minna Keene lived in Cape Town during a prolific phase of her photographic career. Whilst at the Cape (1903-1913) she achieved international acclaim as a pictorialist photographer. Her photographs of South African subject matter were shown at exhibitions across the world. She was quick to recognise opportunities to translate her photographic success into financial profit and was one of very few women to operate a photographic studio in early–twentieth century South Africa. Keene actively circulated reproductions of her photographs as self–published postcards and in popular publications. Through these interventions she made a substantial contribution to popular visual culture at the Cape and was celebrated by local and international audiences. Despite her pioneering status, she has been overlooked in the existing literature on South African photography, and, although she has received limited attention in Euro–American histories of photography, much remains unknown about her life and work, especially in relation to her time in Cape Town. Drawing on multi–sited research, I present a biographical account of Keene which analyses the ambivalent gender politics in her photographs as well as her uncritical adoption of colonial categories of race.

Best wishes,

Malcolm Corrigall

Stephen Bulger Gallery is presenting Two Generations of Photography, its first exhibition of work by Minna Keene FRPS (b.Arolsen, Germany, 1861; d.Oakville, Canada, 1943) and Violet Keene Perinchief (b.Bath, UK, 1893; d.Oakville, Canada, 1987)

This exhibition brings together two generations of work by famed photographers from the early 20th Century. A mother and daughter who each operated commercial photography studios and excelled in the art of photography while exhibiting their award-winning photographic prints in international salon exhibitions.

This exhibition highlights examples of the different methods of their photographic practice which spans from the 1890s through the 1940s. Minna Keene, née Bergman, lived in Britain, South Africa, and Canada. She emigrated to the United Kingdom between 1870-1880 and married Caleb Keene, a noted painter and decorator. Minna was a member of the London Salon of Photography and in 1908 was the first woman to be admitted as a Fellow to the Royal Photographic Society. She was also asked to join the Linked Ring in the final year of that illustrious circle.

Minna’s first photographic work was of plant life, for which she made exposures during different stages of growth. Later, she made a successful series of ornithological photographs that illustrated English textbooks which remained in use over several decades. In 1903 Minna emigrated to Cape Town, South Africa, and made studies of Boer life while operating an active photography studio and raising two children. She exhibited her photographs of Boer life at the Lyceum Club, London, in April 1907. In 1910 she exhibited in the Fifty-fifth Annual Exhibition of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, and again each year until 1929. In 1911 Minna’s photograph of her daughter Violet entitled Pomegranates, was awarded Picture of the Year at the London Photographic Salon.    

In late 1913 the Keene family moved to Canada, first settling in Montréal, and then in Toronto. Minna was practising as a professional photographic portraitist and was commissioned by the Canadian Pacific Railwayto photograph the Rockies in 1914 and 1915. In 1920 she opened a studio in Toronto and then relocated to Oakville in 1922.

In 1926, Minna was featured in a Maclean’s magazine article that mentions the highlights of her career and enthuses about her being a “Home lover!”. In the 1930s Minna continued to exhibit internationally and was assisted in the studio by her daughter Violet who eventually succeeded her, and also became a photographer in demand at the Eaton’s photography studio in Toronto on College Street. While serving as the manager of the Eaton’s photography studio, Violet operated her own portrait studio in Oakville and throughout her career photographed major figures of her time including Aldous Huxley, George Bernard Shaw, Amelia Earhart, W.B Yeats, and The Right Honourable The Earl of Bessborough, 14th Governor General of Canada.

See more here: https://www.bulgergallery.com/exhibitions/33/overview/

With thanks to Dr Malcolm Corrigall for bringing the exhibition to BPH's attention. 

Image: 

38 photographs taken by renowned Liverpool photographer, Edward Chambré Hardman in and around his Rodney Street home and studio are to go on display  for the first time, four years after they were discovered by chance in the photographer’s darkroom.

The photos were developed from 23 rolls of film, found in the darkroom of the former studio is now named Hardman House – and managed by the National Trust. During an inventory, the box containing the film rolls was discovered in the Hardman’s cluttered darkroom. Five of the rolls featured pictures that had never been developed or seen by anyone since Hardman pressed the shutter, and, despite having been left in a cardboard box for all that time, they will now for part of an exhibition at the property. They provide a previously unseen glimpse of Hardman’s view of his Georgian Quarter home, neighbours and street scenes.

Thanks to a generous donation from the Southport and Formby National Trust Association, in 2019 these photos will be on display at the Hardmans' House,  giving visitors an insight into the processes used by Hardman, his photography techniques and how much of Hardman’s artistry we have at our fingertips today.

See more here: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/hardmans-house/features/developing-history-

E Chambre Hardman house : https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/hardmans-house

I am researching the life and work of my great great grandfather George Willis who was a photographer and early experimenter in photographic processes in Scarborough, Yorkshire. His sons carried on the business after his death in 1890 and unfortunately went bankrupt in 1900. Consequently, nothing from his career was passed down through the family.

I started collecting his photographs in 2007 and now have a good collection of CDVs, Stereoviews , cabinet cards and larger format photographs. I have been collecting research with a view to publishing. He had extensive correspondence with the Photographic News and sent photographs to them and to the Liverpool Amateur Photographic Association. I have been searching for these and would appreciate any help from anyone who could help me to find where they are archived.

George Willis was also engaged by Negretti and Zambra to go to Italy, France and Switzerland on a photographic expedition in 1862 or 1863 (It was reported in some Yorkshire papers in June 1863 but I don't know when he actually went). I would also appreciate any help finding the archive of these photographs as he is reported to have photographed Garibaldi and Layard amongst other 'illustrious personages.'

A blog posting by Weitian Liu, an Enlight Foundation scholar, pursuing an MPhil in History of Photography, describes the acquisition of some 900 negatives by James Pugh, AIBP. ARPS. between 1967 and 1972  which have been added to the St Andrews University Special Collection.

The negatives were bought at a car boot sale by the donor and mostly show older buildings and ruins in Scotland: castles, bridges, churches and monuments.

Little is known about the life of the photographer who was a member of the Royal Society of Arts, the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, the Royal Photographic Society and Institute of British Photographers. They have been added recently to the university's catalogue for photographic collections.

Read the full blog here.

Are you passionate about connecting museum collections and audiences? Across Science Museum Group, our curatorial team are committed to inspiring futures by sustaining and growing our world-class collection and delivering a creative and bold programme of outputs including exhibitions, galleries, events and online narratives.

To support this vision, we are looking for an Associate Curator of Photography and Photographic Technology to join us at the National Science and Media Museum, in Bradford, on a permanent contract.

In this role, you will work with a dynamic curatorial team to manage, develop, research, interpret and present the photography and photographic technology collections of the National Science and Media Museum.

Joining us, you will bring excellent knowledge of the history of photography; museum collections management experience, strong communications skills, and an ability to tell stories; allowing you to carry out research and work with specialists to communicate authentic stories and reveal wonder.

You will be offered excellent benefits including 25 days annual leave in addition to bank holidays, BUPA medical and dental healthcare, the ability to join our excellent pension scheme, an interest free loan offer and numerous staff discounts whilst developing your career in a world class museum group.

See more here

Click here to view the Vacancy Information Pack which provides details of the role and supporting statement questions.

Chiswick Auctions is delighted to have been appointed to sell an important private collection of photographic works by one of the most important photographers in the development of photography, Francis Bruguière (1879-1945).  Works include unseen and unpublished photographic prints and negatives spanning the ground-breaking photographer’s career. They will be offered in a single-owner sale of Photographica on 19 March, 2019.

UPDATED: the catalogue can now be viewed here.

Austin Farahar, Head of Chiswick Auctions Photographica department, said: “This sale poses an incredibly rare opportunity to acquire some of the most exciting, experimental and thoroughly progressive photographic works by any visual artist in the early part of the 20th century. Seeing a broad selection of work from across such an important photographer’s career gives a fascinating insight into a man that was one of the most fearless and dedicated practitioners to ever pick up a camera.”

Having studied painting, American-born Francis Bruguière met and was inspired by Alfred Stieglitz, the photographer and art promoter in 1905, who accepted him as a Fellow of the Photo-Secession - an early 20th century movement that promoted photography as a fine art.

Following this he set up a studio in San Francisco, encapsulating images of the city post-earthquake and fire in   ‘pictorial’ style that Stieglitz favoured, with soft-focus images imitating painting. In 1910 he participated in the International Photo-Secession Exhibition, organized by Stieglitz at the Albright Art Gallery in Buffalo. It featured four of Bruguière’s photographs taken on a trip to Europe and clearly showed him experimenting with ‘straight’ photography, featuring sharp focus. He began experimenting with multiple-exposure photographs, which would later lead to abstractions.

On moving to New York and opening a studio in 1918, he photographed for Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and Vanity Fair and also became the official photographer for the Theatre Guild until 1927, photographing well-known actors on Broadway. In this role he photographed the British stage actress Rosalinde Fuller OBE (1892-1982), who he went on to marry. The sale contains numerous images of the actress.

His interest in theatrical photography stayed with him and he later planned to make a film titled ‘The Way’ representing the various stages of a man’s life. The film was to feature the actor Sebastian Droste (1892-1927), alongside his wife Rosalinde. To raise funds for the film Bruguière took photographs of the projected scenes, however Droste tragically died before production and the film didn’t go ahead. We have a selection of these still photographs in the sale.

During all of this time Bruguière had been experimenting with abstracts, multiple exposure, photograms, original processes and solarization, (way ahead of photographers such as Man Ray). Following a move to London he worked on a series of new light experiments. In 1930, he and Oswell Blakeston (1907–1985), a British writer working in the film industry created England's first abstract film called Light Rhythms, which was an abstract film based on a series of Bruguière's light abstractions. It showed light and shape in a new way and included moving light sources and an arrangement of superimpositions.

The sale of this fascinating private collection is in three parts; the first section features Bruguière’s early works that capture the Broadway stage and his Surrealist experiments for a film that he planned to make called ‘The Way’. These images are now heralded as the first surrealist works by an American photographer and exhibit very early use of multiple exposure. 

Examples include; Experiment from The Way, which dates from c.1923-1925 and depicts the actor and dancer, Sebastian Droste. The work is a multiple exposure, vintage silver gelatin print complete with the original large format negative image, gelatin on nitrocellulose sheet film. It is estimated to fetch £5,000-£8,000.

A theatrical portrait of Rosalinde Fuller from 1920 depicts Bruguière’s life partner. A vintage silver gelatin print, it is signed and dated recto by the photographer in pencil, and with an inscription by Rosalinde Fuller in pencil to the verso.  It is estimated at £1,000-£1,500.

The second section of the sale includes a range of previously unseen negatives of Bruguière’s time in London. They feature key London landmarks and offer a slice of social history from the 1920s and 30s as you’ve never seen it.

A work titled Multiple Exposure, London (above) depicts a typical London scene of children and prams with a highly individualistic approach taken in 1929. An uncropped negative image in gelatin on nitrocellulose sheet film, it is estimated to fetch £500-£800.  A London landmark is captured in a unique way in Trafalgar Square, London, Night Study. Dating from circa 1930. The long exposure, negative images is expected to fetch between £400-£600.

London, Zeppelin explores shape, form and light, juxtaposing a crane and construction works, with a zeppelin in the sky. The work is an unmarked negative image in gelatin on nitrocellulose sheet film and dates from circa 1930. It is estimated at £200-£300.

The third section is a rich selection of Bruguière’s personal experimental work, where he again pushed the boundaries of photography, developing his photographic practice further with solarisation, still life and multiple exposure and photo montage. Rosalinde Fuller and Other Models (solarization), which dates from between 1936-1940 demonstrates Bruguière’s exploration of the solarization technique, a method of manual image manipulation far ahead of the simple photoshop method used today. Through exposure to sunlight during the negative development process, images are completely or partially reversed in tone and dark areas appear light and light areas appear dark. The piece is an Eastman Nitrate Kodak negative image, gelatin on nitrocellulose sheet film. It is estimated to fetch £600-£800.

Hands with Rose (solarization) is another arresting still life image where certain forms appear as dark and light shadows, using the solarization technique. It is estimated to fetch £400-£600.

See the auction house website here: https://chiswickauctions.co.uk/auction/

The next London Photograph Fair Collectors Fair takes place in in new location on Sunday 17th March 2019 at the Hellenic Centre in Marylebone. Exhibitors include: Allsworth Rare Books, Roland Belgrave, Pablo Butcher, Linus Carr, Classic Photographics/Paul Cordes, Daniella Dangoor, Arnaud Delas, James Hong, Diana Howlett, Malcolm, Dr Jens Mattow, Richard Meara, Pump Park Photographs, Hugh Ashley Rayner, Ian Sumner, Lisa Tao, Bruno Tartarin, The Front, Christine Wilhelm and Jason Wright. 

This will be followed by the London Photograph Fair : Special Edition now a Photo London Satellite Event, which takes place Saturday the 18th and Sunday the 19th May 2019 at Kings College, Strand, next door to Photo London at Somerset House.

See more here: http://www.photofair.co.uk/

The scope of John Thomson’s photographic portraits in China is astonishing, especially considering the challenges which faced an itinerant photographer in the mid-nineteenth century.

Angela Cheung, a doctoral student in the History of Art and Archaeology at SOAS, London, explores in greater detail how and why Thomson took certain photographs, and who the audience was for his portraiture, as well as how his photography was disseminated and consumed following his return.

Russell-Cotes Museum and Art Gallery
Sunday 28th April, 2pm
Entry to the talk is £4, or free for Friends of the Russell-Cotes.
Please book in advance to ensure your place.  Ask at the Welcome Desk, ring 01202 451820, or book online here.

The museum is showing the exhibition: China, through the lens of John Thomson 1868-72

See more: http://russellcotes.com/whats-on/

A touring exhibition highlighting the work of Norfolk photographer Olive Edis will head to Great Yarmouth’s library next month. It is the final stop for the touring display, The Road to Ypres: The War Photography of Olive Edis, which will be at the library from March 1-31. The new venue coincides with the centenary of when the photographs were taken by Edis.

The display was curated by Norfolk Museums Service staff at Cromer Museum and has been touring for two years, including stopping off at venues in Sheringham, King’s Lynn and Norwich’s Millennium Library.

Edis was approached in 1918 by the Imperial War Museum’s Women’s Work Sub-Committee and commissioned to photograph the work of the British Women’s Services in Europe. The trip was delayed due to a precarious military situation in 1918 and some opposition to sending a women to photograph an active war zone. However, in 1919 Edis travelled to France armed with her large plate camera, becoming the first British woman to be commissioned as an official war photographer. She was one of only five photographers commissioned to cover the First World War.

Throughout the journey she kept a fascinating diary of her adventures where she recorded the stories behind the photographs and her reactions to the destruction that she saw all around her. The touring exhibition features reproductions from the Cromer Museum collection as well as rarely-seen images from The Imperial War Museum and National Portrait Gallery. Images are accompanied by extracts from Edis’ war diary allowing the story to be told in her own words.

Councillor Margaret Dewsbury, Chairman of Norfolk County Council’s Communities Committee, said: “It’s fantastic that so many people have been able to see Olive Edis’ work as the exhibition has toured around Norfolk. The display at Great Yarmouth library is extra special as it coincides with the centenary of when the images were taken. It’s the last chance for people to go along and have a look at this thought-provoking display in Norfolk.” 

As 8 March is also International Women's Day, Great Yarmouth Library is also hosting a celebration event, in conjunction with Great Yarmouth Soroptimists and GROS. The event will showcase the work and achievements of women across the borough and beyond. There will be speakers, stories, music, poetry and lunch. The event runs from 10am to 2pm and is free but ticketed. 

An exhibition at Norwich Castle and the permanent Fishermen and Kings: The Photography of Olive Edis gallery at Cromer Museum have allowed thousands of people to explore her work. The Cromer gallery can be accessed from April when the museum re-opens for 2019. Find out more about the permanent display via the Norfolk Museums website.

There is also currently a display featuring more than 60 photographs called Olive Edis: Photographer at Ancient House Museum of Thetford Life. This includes items borrowed from Cromer Museum and the National Portrait Gallery.

Oliver Bone, Curator said: “Olive Edis was a remarkable woman. She was well-educated, forward thinking, a visionary, an astute business entrepreneur and most importantly a talented photographer with a natural affinity for her subjects – however grand or humble each was afforded respect and dignity."

The Thetford exhibition runs until Saturday 14 September.

The Association for Art History’s Summer Symposium is a two-day annual conference that highlights current doctoral and early career research. This year the Summer Symposium celebrates its twentieth anniversary. The 2019 event will focus on research on photography and other forms of printed matter.

Held at the School of Art History at the University of St Andrews, the conference aims to explore the links between process and product, as well as drawing attention to the variety of different practices and techniques often categorised under the rubric of ‘prints’.

The place of photography at St Andrews is well established. Early practitioners of the medium such as John and Robert Adamson made this small Scottish seaside town the subject of their first experimentations, and the legacy of their work continues to inspire those living and working in St Andrews today. Every year the St Andrews Photography Festival attracts a wide range of contemporary photographers and visitors, while the School of Art History offers a unique MLitt in the History of Photography that focuses specifically on the evolution of the medium, highlighting the University’s extensive collections.

Inspired by these institutional connections, the Summer Symposium asks instead how the influence of photography and print making technologies may connect the local, the national and the international, as well as the historical and the contemporary. For instance, writing on cameraless photography, Jonathan Griffin states that ‘photograms have more in common with print-making, or even with the world’s oldest known paintings: outlines of hands silhouetted by pigment blown on to cave walls in Indonesia and northern Spain, dating from around 40,000 BCE’. Acknowledging this extended genealogy allows us to re-assess the dominant role that prints and photographic images have played across the arts.

Since the invention of the printing press, the potential for the widespread circulation of words and images has increased exponentially. The second main theme of this conference, then, invites reflection on the way we mediate, contextualise and interpret images through printed matter. From captions to contextualisations, illuminated manuscripts to light-sensitive papers, printed matter encompasses a variety of different artefacts including artist’s books, illustrations, engravings, and even art historical texts themselves. Indeed, the photographing or engraving of artworks has enjoyed a crucial role in the reception and the pedagogy of art history regardless of the time period or the geographical location under study.

Considering these strong links between prints and practice, how might the development of new technologies help us think differently about past practices and mechanisms? How might the pervasiveness of photographs and prints, and their potential for replication, lead us to ignore their effects and sociological impact? What, for example, might we learn from the way these technologies are used to create norms or influence how we interpret artworks? Alternatively, to what extent might photography still be considered as ‘other’ in relation to the fine arts, or be involved in processes of ‘othering’ itself? This conference aims to prompt discussion regarding the transhistorical and transnational use of photographs and prints in art history, and the various purposes, projects and contexts in which they are deployed.

HOW TO PROPOSE A PAPER

Topics can include but are not limited to:

• The significance and legacy of St Andrews in the history of photography
• The impact of the replication and reproducibility of images in art history
• The importance of process on final product e.g. the collaborative nature of printmaking, the role of technology in the creation of art, the different types of printmaking mechanisms (lithography, screenprints, or printing in wax through the medium of sealing)
• Histories of collecting and curating ephemeral objects, including the role of photography in the museum as a means of conservation or display
• Practice-led or practice-based approaches to photography and print-making
• Printed matter in the widest possible remit, including the use of images, captions and illustrations in manuscripts, books, and comics
• The various purposes and contexts in which photography and prints are deployed e.g. medical, anthropology, scientific, microscopic
• The role of print making technologies in reception and art history e.g. the photographing of artworks
• Cameraless photography and the intersection of photography and printmaking

Writing the histories and theories of photography. We welcome proposals for 20-minute papers which explore these themes or which address any other aspect of legacies of photography and printed matter across history.

As this is the 20th year of the Summer Symposium, there will be a special opportunity to visit the University of St Andrews Photographic Collections.

Please send a Word document with your contact information, paper title, an abstract of no more than 300 words, and a short biographical note. The submission of abstracts is open to current doctoral researchers and early career researchers within 5 years of receiving their doctorate.

Download the call here. Please email paper proposals by 29 March 2019 to: DECR@forarthistory.org.uk

Tickets are now on sale for the symposium: The Camera, Colonialism and Social Networks, from the Nineteenth Century to the Present Day. Join us to hear talks on themes inspired by the photographic collection of E A Hornel, delivered by nine academics, curators, collections managers and researchers from around the UK.

During this symposium, we’ll hear how networks used for sharing photographs have developed and changed, from photography’s earliest history to today’s social media platforms. Many of Hornel’s photographs came from Japan, Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) and Myanmar (then Burma). They ask sometimes uncomfortable questions about how ‘foreign’ people and places were viewed and photographed by western visitors. During the symposium we’ll explore examples of this from around the world, from Hornel’s time to today.

Taking place in Hornel’s ornate gallery in Broughton House, this symposium is a fantastic opportunity for anyone with an interest in Hornel, the imagery of colonialism or the continually evolving medium of photography and the networks that sustain it, to meet and hear from similarly interested academics, researchers and enthusiasts.

See the programme and book here: https://www.nts.org.uk/visit/events/symposium-the-camera-colonialism-and-social-networks