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It's also the 175th anniversary of the Latticed Window negative. We'll be celebrating that later in the year.
The official press release is as follows:
Wiltshire’s Fox Talbot Museum in the village of Lacock is to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the photographic negative with a series of special events throughout the summer. The discovery of the process of reproducing images through negatives was made by former Lacock Abbey owner William Henry Fox Talbot in 1835, when he reproduced a grainy image of a window in Lacock Abbey.
This pioneering discovery has changed the world forever, enabling future generations to capture the lives and world around them, something which had only previously been possible through talented painters. The creation of the photographic negative is well documented in Fox Talbot Museum & Village which was created in honour of Henry.
The museum is open year round and from 1st to 3rd May, 2010 is organising a special photography festival to celebrate the anniversary. Other special anniversary events will continue to occur throughout the year.
Bryn Jones of VisitWiltshire’s Tourism Partnerhship says, “It’s quite fitting that we will be celebrating the birth of photography in Lacock, Wiltshire this year, as the village has become famous as the location of many a feature film and TV drama. Capturing these using modern day camera equipment would have been unthinkable without the pioneering efforts of early photography by William Henry Fox Talbot 175 years ago.”
A landmark exhibition about an incredible real life tale of survival, the epic story of Sir Ernest Shackleton's 1914 Endurance expedition.
The exhibition features about 150 compelling photographs of the expedition's ordeal taken by ship photographer Frank Hurley, who dove into frigid waters to retrieve his glass plate negatives from the sinking Endurance. The photographs, printed from the original negatives and Hurley's album of prints, are accompanied by gripping memoirs from the voyage.
Photo: Hauling the James Caird. Copyright: Royal Geographical Society
Last year BPH reported that Derek Wood's excellent website dealing with his publications and research was to close early in 2010 (click here to see the original posting). Derek Wood has emailed to say that the 'Midley History of early Photography' will now continue to be permanently available. The British Library has archived it at the UK Webarchive and it can be found here: http://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20100311230213/http://www.midley.co.uk/:
The archiving has been done well without any missing pages, images or links. It will continue to be live at the original address until July.
The Midley site also had a subdomain, 'Midley Search39 on History of Photography' ( http://search39.midley.co.uk/ ) intended to provide a way of making a single search over approximately thirty-nine websites judged by Wood to be of high value for the history of photography. Sadly, that will go off line in July. The UK WebArchive have rightly decided, that as 'Search39' depended on an external service, that it was not appropriate to archive it along with the main www.midley.co.uk site. However, all is not lost, for the Midley Search39 facility will remain available at least for several, or many, years at a Google Custom Search engine (CSE) page at
http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=015777431052609043336%3Apoauettouhg
This is excellent news. As anyone who has read Derek Wood's published papers and research notes knows they remain key texts for their respective subjects. Their continued availability outside of their original publications is to be warmly welcomed.
On loan are objects from the 12th-century Wiltshire home, including Talbot’s evanescent 1839 Roofline of Lacock Abbey. It's $400,000 for the image, which measures about 4 inches by 5 inches. Another photo of St. Mary’s Church is tagged at $350,000, telling of its scarcity. A glass-top case displays the print from which the tree in the window was copied; a color chart made by Fox Talbot; and a book of pressed botanical specimens that his mother collected, identified and dated - memorabilia borrowed from Lacock Abbey.
CHINA: Through the Lens of John Thomson 1868-1872 is anhistoric photographic exhibition including 150 images taken in China between 1868 and 1872. The exhibition includes a wide variety ofimages, themes and locations in China from Beijing to Fujian toGuangdong including landscapes, people, architecture, domestic andstreet scenes.
This is the first exhibition in England of photographs of 19th century China taken by the legendary Scottish photographer and travel writer John Thomson (1837-1921). Thomson's collection of 650 glass plate negatives is now housed in the Wellcome Collection Library, London. This exhibition of almost 150 prints from the collection was shown in venues across China in 2009 before coming to Liverpool. Following the Merseyside Maritime Museum it will tour to Hartlepool in late 2010 and The Burrell Collection in early 2011.
John Thomson (1837–1921) was born in Edinburgh two years before the invention of the daguerreotype was announced to the world in 1839. This discovery was the beginning of photography. That same year Fox Talbot introduced the calotype process, and with this new medium David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, two remarkable Scottish photographers living in Edinburgh, produced nearly 3,000 images, including city views, landscapes and scenes of everyday life. Their work undoubtedly had a profound influence on Thomson. In the years leading up to Thomsonbecoming a professional photographer, the technology of photographyalso developed at an incredible speed. The invention of thewet-collodian process in 1850 is regarded as the watershed: it reducedthe exposure time and the cost of making photographs; it also producedsharper images. The wet-collodian process quickly replaceddaguerreotype and calotype. As Thomson remarked: ‘the detail inwet-collodian negatives was of microscopic minuteness whilst presentingthe finest gradation and printing quality which had never indeed beensurpassed by any known method’. But this in itself added to hisdifficulties: it was necessary to make the negatives on glass platesthat had to be coated with wet-collodian emulsion before the exposurewas made, thus there was a large amount of cumbersome equipment thathad to be carried from place to place.
Yet Thomson persevered. To endure hardship was part of his Victorian education. He showed enormous energy and stamina. Like many of his Victorian contemporaries, he was excited by the opening up of Africa and Asia to the West, and he shared in the enthusiasm for exploring exotic places. He believed that by using photography, ‘the explorer may add not only to the interest, but to the permanent value of his work’. And ‘the camera should be a power in this age of instruction to instruct the age’.
In 1862, Thomson set out for Singapore, where he opened a studio and established himself as a professional portrait photographer. Meanwhile, he also became increasingly interested in the local culture and people. From Singapore he travelled into Malaya and Sumatra and took a number of photographs of local landscapes and people. In 1866, after moving to Bangkok, he made his first photographic expedition into Cambodia and Indo-China (Vietnam). His photographs of Cambodia and Siam (Thailand) established him as a serious travel photographer, and gained himmembership of both the Ethnographic Society of London and the RoyalGeographic Society.
During his second trip to Asia, Thomson based himself at the thriving British Crown Colony of Hong Kong in 1868. There he studied Chinese and Chinese culture while making a few short trips into Guangdong. Thomson’s major China expedition began in 1870. For two years he travelled extensively from Guangdong to Fujian, and then to eastern and northern China, including the imperial capital Beijing, before heading down to the River Yangtse, altogether covering nearly 5000 miles. In China, Thomson excelled as a photographer in quality,depth and breadth, and also in artistic sensibility. The experience hegained, and the techniques he developed, on the streets of Beijing laidthe foundation for his Street Life in London, compiled five yearslater. This established him as the pioneer of photojournalism and oneof the most influential photographers of his generation.
After returning to Britain, Thomson took up an active role informing the public about China. Besides giving illustrated presentations, he continuously published photographic and written works on China. He sensed that a profound transformation was taking place in the world, and ‘through the agency of steam and telegraphy, [China] is being brought day by day into closer relationship with ourselves … China cannot much longer lie undisturbed in statii quo.’ Undoubtedly his photographs contributed greatly to 19th-century Europe’s view of Asiaand filled the visual gap between East and West. He became known as‘China’ Thomson.
Yet what marked Thomson’s work out was not simply the massive amount of visual information he offered. His uniqueness was his zeal to present a faithful and precise, though not always agreeable, account of China and Chinese people. He wanted his audiences to witness China’s floods, famines, pestilences and civil wars; but even more so, he wanted share them the human aspect of life in China. He wanted his work to transcend that of the casual illustration of idiosyncratic types, to portray human beings as individuals full of peculiarities.
In 1920, Thomson decided to sell his 650 glass negatives, including those of China, to the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum, but died before the transaction could be completed. Eventually Henry Solomon Wellcome (1853–1936), the American-born pharmacist and philanthropist, bought the negatives from Thomson’s heirs.
Although Wellcome’s museum had a medical and historical theme, Wellcome was a cosmopolitan, and, in some aspects, compulsive collector. He also had an anthropological approach to history, and his ultimate aim was to create a Museum of Man, although this dream was never realised. After his death much of his collection, including Thomson’s negatives in three wooden crates, ended up in the Wellcome Library in London, where they remain today.
The 150 images included in this exhibition are all from the Wellcome Library’s collection. While a few images were reproduced in Thomson’s published works and shown in exhibitions, the great majority of his photographs have never been exhibited. Take, for example, the stereoscopes. Each of these negatives comprises two photographs taken from slightly different angles. Previously, due to the cost of photo-publishing, only one of the exposures was printed.
The images included for this exhibition have been chosen mainly for their locations, namely those of Beijing, Guangdong and Fujian. The photographs Thomson took in Fujian and Guangdong are his strongest series of landscapes. But they also show his sensitivity. The human aspect of his work was even more evident in his photos of the poor. In Guangdong and Fujian, he became increasingly concerned with the lives and conditions of ordinary Chinese. As he travelled further, this concern developed. In the imperial capital of Beijing, Thomson not onlydisplayed his talent as professional portrait photographer, his streetscenes of Beijing showed that he was ahead of his time. These deeplymoving images are sometimes compared to street photographs by the great20th-century masters like Andre Kertesz, Henri Cartier-Bresson orRobert Doisneau. But more importantly, they will remain as incrediblyvaluable historical material for anyone wishing to understand19th-century China and its people in their struggle to become modern.
Further information on John Thomson can be found here : http://www.nls.uk/thomson/china.html
Richard Morris a descendent through his wife's family of John Dillwyn Llewellyn provides details of a series of events to celebrate the bicentenary of his birth in 1810.
12 January 2010 - Bicentenary of the birth of John Dillwyn Llewelyn (b. 12 Jan 1810)
5 February - Launch of the Lewis Llewelyn Dillwyn Diaries online, a new resource of the Swansea University Library Historical Collections. Details to be announced.
20 February - Penllergare – A Space Odyssey. Llewelyn Hall, Penllergaer. A family event organised by the Friends of Penllergare in association with Astro Cymru. (Free admission) 10.30am - Exhibition, Workshop and Activities. 2.30pm - Talk. From JDL to the Universe, Paul Haley (Director of Astro Cymru & the Share Initiative 3.30pm - 200th Anniversary Tea
3 March (provisional date) - Swansea Museum exhibition on Fellows of the Royal Society from Swansea
17 March - Residents of the Penllergare Orchideous House – A Botanist’s Perspective, Dr Kevin L Davies (research botanist & orchid specialist). 7.30pm. Llewelyn Hall, Penllergaer, organised by the Friends of Penllergare. (Free admission)
18 March - The Scientific Heritage of Wales: The Way Forward, a one-day conference at Cardiff Museum, 9am-4pm. Speakers include Professor John V. Tucker (Swansea University) whose paper, ‘A National History of Science’, includes work on the Dillwyns. A full programme is here. For booking and more information contact the organisers:Events Office, National Museum Cardiff, Cathays Park, CARDIFF, CF10 3NP; T: 029 2057 3148/3325 F: 029 2057 3321; post@museumwales.ac.uk
22 April - South Wales: 250 years of Landscape Change, Richard Keen (TV presenter & Chairman of the Historic Buildings Advisory Council). Organised by Friends of Penllergare. 7.30pm. Swansea Museum, Education Room.
15 May - Penllergare - A Paradise almost lost. Joint study day between West Glamorgan Branch of Welsh Historic Gardens Trust and Penllergare Trust. 10.00am - 5pm approx. at the Civic Centre, Swansea. Tickets available from WHGT Branch Secretary, 2 Cwmbach Road, Llanelli SA15 4EF. £30 including lunch etc. £25 for members of the WHGT and Friends of Penllergare. r.m.lees@coedmor.demon.co.uk, or send an SAE to Rita Lees, West Glamorgan WHGT Branch Secretary, Coedmor, 2 Cwmbach Road, Llanelli SA15 4EF
19th May - ‘The Dillwyns’, Richard Morris.2 pm, at “The Wednesday Club”, Rhossili Village Hall, Middleton. £1.50 admission.. Contact Dudley Thomas, 01792 390242. 29 May - Shooting Stars Astronomy Workshop/ In celebration of the bicentenary of John Dillwyn Llewelyn’s birth, learn about how Victorians viewed the stars in Wales and make your own stellar collage. Waterfront Museum, 11.30am, 1pm & 3.30pm Families 5 - 11. Space Today UK. Families (age 5 – 11) / Free/Delivered by Space Today UK/ pre booking recommended Tel 01792 638950
30 May - Funky Photograms! How did early photographers make their earliest images - without a camera? Find out and make your own using just shadows and light! National Waterfront Museum 11.30am, 1pm & 3.30pm. Families (age 5 – 11) / Free/book at reception on the day
30 May - Sunday Talk and Demonstration: Early Photographic Techniques with Richard Morris FRPS. Leading John Dillwyn Llewelyn expert Richard Morris will discuss Llewelyn’s pioneering work in the field of photography and bring alive his techniques in a practical demonstration. National Waterfront Museum, 2.30 pm Adults/Free/seating first come first served
25 June - Dillwyn Symposium: Science, Culture and Society. A one-day symposium organised by Swansea University. 9.00 am – 5.30 pm at Swansea Museum, followed by a reception (6pm) and evening lecture. A full programme to follow. Contact Kirsti Bohata at k.bohata@swansea.ac.uk
3 July - John Dillwyn Llewelyn’s Penllergare. A walk round the Penllergare estate. 2.15pm. Meet in the Penllergaer Council Office Car Park, (off the A48). Organised by Friends of Penllergare.
18th September - John Dillwyn Llewelyn’s Photographic Legacy. Leading John Dillwyn Llewelyn expert Richard Morris will give a talk and demonstration of the calotype photographic process of 1841 as used by JDL. [Time to be confirmed], at the Woodland Centre, Penllergare. Bookings only as space limited from Friends of Penllergare, Coed Glantawe, Esgairdawe, Llandeilo SA19 7RT or 01558 650416
20 September - John Dillwyn Llewelyn and Photography, Richard Morris FRPS, MPhil. Swansea Camera Club 7.15pm. Web address for location and details: www.swanseacameraclub.co.uk
13 November - ‘Images of Glamorgan’ Glamorgan History Society Day School. A one-day event at The Orangery, Margam including a talk on John Dillwyn Llewelyn by Richard Morris, a talk on Early Photography in Glamorgan by Carolyn Bloore. Contact paulreynolds44@googlemail.com
