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In celebration of International Women’s Day, 8 March, 2025, we invite scholars, practitioners, and enthusiasts to submit abstracts for participation in a free, online, global, 24-hour symposium dedicated to celebrating the contributions of women to the medium of photography from photography's announcement in 1839 to contemporary artists in 2024. This unique event aims to highlight the diverse and impactful work of women photographers, and those working with photography, across all cultures and time zones.

We seek 15-minute papers that explore a broad range of topics related to women’s contributions to photography. These may include but are not limited to:

• Historical and contemporary profiles of influential and underappreciated women photographers.
• The impact of gender on photographic practice and representation.
• The role of women in shaping the photographic medium or its exhibition.
• Cross-cultural perspectives on women’s contributions to photography.
• Challenges and achievements of women photographers in various global contexts.

Our goal is to foster a rich, international dialogue that underscores the significant yet often overlooked achievements of women in the field. Presentations will be scheduled to accommodate various time zones, ensuring a truly global exchange of ideas.

To participate:
Please submit a 300-word abstract outlining your proposed paper by 1 October 2024. Abstracts should be submitted to celebratingwomeninphotography@gmail.com. Please also include your name, affiliation, time zone of anticipated residence on International Women’s Day, and a brief (100-word) biography. Selected papers will be notified by 1 November 2024, and detailed guidelines for presentations will be provided.

We encourage contributions from diverse perspectives and regions to create a comprehensive and inclusive representation of women in photography.

Join us in celebrating the vibrant and transformative work of women photographers worldwide!

Women of Photography: A 24-Hour Conference-a-thon Celebrating International Women’s Day 2025
Convenors: Kris Belden-Adams, PhD, Associate Professor of Art History, University of Mississippi and Dr Rose Teanby, Independent Scholar, UK
Call for papers - close 1 October 2024
Notification of acceptance - 1 November 2024
Conference-a-thon - 8 March 2025
Website coming shortly

Just received the sad news that my old friend and teaching colleague, the legendary John Blakemore died last night after a short illness. He had been taken into hospital in Derby over Christmas.

Born in Coventry in 1936, he was probably best known for his landscape work, but he had worked in many areas of the medium and was an inspirational teacher, mostly at Derby University. His work has been exhibited all over the world and he has had several acclaimed books published. He has been the recipient of Arts Council awards, a British Council Travelling Exhibition and in 1992 won the Fox Talbot Award for Photography. He was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society in 1998.

There is so so much more I could say about JB, but that will come later. For now, our thoughts are with Rosalind, his stalwart partner, and his extended family and close friends.

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 

If you are looking for a camera obscura you could do no better than buy The Observatory in Bristol which overlooks Brunel's Clifton suspension bridge and Avon gorge. Back on the market at a reduced price the eighteenth century building houses one of the few remaining public camera obscuras. A special covenant relating to the purchase ensures that the camera obscura must remain open to the public. The building, associated caves and grounds are yours for £1,695,000 (freehold) or offers in the region thereof. It was originally on the market for £2 million in 2013 and failed to find a buyer. 

The Observatory occupies a site of great historical interest, originally an Iron Age lookout post and a fortified Roman camp. The existing building was originally built as a windmill for corn in 1766 and later converted to the grinding of snuff. This was damaged by a fire in October 1777 when the sails were left turning during a gale and caused the equipment to catch alight. It remained derelict for some 52 years until artist William West rented the old mill as a studio in 1828. It was Mr West who installed telescopes and a Camera Obscura, used by artists of the Bristol school to draw the Avon Gorge and Leigh Woods well before the construction of Brunel’s Clifton Suspension Bridge.

The Camera Obscura is situated on the top floor and is still in full working order giving an impressive bird’s eye view of Avon Gorge, projected onto a 5 ft concave metal surface. Leading to the Camera Obscura, there are two circular rooms which would eminently suit visiting art exhibitions, especially with the historical connection to the artists who used this bird’s eye vantage point to capture on canvas, the dramatic Avon Gorge. 

Mr West also built a tunnel from The Observatory to St Vincent’s Cave, which opens onto a limestone cave on the cliff face of the Avon Gorge. The cave was first mentioned as being a chapel in the year AD305 and excavations, in which Romano-British pottery has been found, have revealed that it has been both a holy place and a place of refuge at various times in its history.

The building that now stands on the site has only been sold on two occasions since it was constructed in 1766 and is now designated as Grade II*. 

The Royal Photographic Society is close by in Bath and the Fox Talbot Museum in Lacock.

Read the full specification here. 

The news of the death of Peter James from organ failure which has just been announced has shocked and saddened the world of photographic history. Photography has lost one of its most active and accomplished historians and a wider champion for photography. In a community which is not a large one Pete was a giant and the words of one long time collaborator and friend sum up the sense of loss: "British photo history will not be the same .... Pete was an unsung hero. He achieved more, and to greater effect, than most in the field. He was truly astonishing." Another historian commented: "a great loss to the field as Pete was universally loved and his work widely admired...I will miss his wonderfully laconic emails and dry wit."

One of the more unlikely sites for a photographic history museum might be

Tashkent, Uzbekistan. In 1890 Paul Nadar, son of Felix Nadar, traveled to

Tashkent, documenting the “ Silk Road.” He used the new favorite of travel

Photographers, the Kodak Camera. In 2010 an exhibition of Nadar’s photographs

was held at the House of Photography in Tashkent. The exhibition was featured

on the British Photographic History site. In the description of the exhibition, the

statement was made that in 1893 Nadar became George Eastman’s agent in

France. This is incorrect. Nadar had been Eastman’s agent since 1886.

 Around 1893 he won a lawsuit against Eastman for contract problems.

 The relationship between them was terminated some time before that. Where

did this error come from?

            Perhaps from the Getty Museum. Google Paul Nadar and the first entry is

the  biography from  the Getty website. The same statement is made there, that

Nadar became Eastman’s agent in 1893. So, Getty to British Photographic History

blog to Tashkent ? The details of the true story are easily found in Elizabeth

Brayer’s Biography of Eastman.

George Layne - Philadelphia

The curator, academic and writer David Mellor (he added 'Alan' to avoid confusion with the politician of the same name) has died aged 75 years at his home in  Machynlleth, Wales. He was awarded the Royal Photographic Society's J Dudley Johnston (2005) and Education (2015) awards.

Mellor studied art at Sussex University from 1967 under Quentin Bell. During this time Asa Briggs, then Vice-Chancellor of the University, received the archive of Mass-Observation from Tom Harrisson. Mellor published and curated exhibitions about the substantial collection of pre-war photographs of working-class life contained in the archive. He stayed at Sussex until his retirement in 2018. In the words of Maurice Howard he was one of the country’s leading scholars in the fields of twentieth century painting, film and photography.' Mellor had an extensive list of publications to his name and curated significant exhibitions on Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud, and on Robin Denny, Cecil Beaton and Bill Brandt. He curated major exhibitions at the Barbican and Tate, most memorably Paradise Lost: The New Romantic Imagination in Britain (1987) and The Sixties (1993), at Brighton Museum and Art Gallery. 

Mellor was also a director of Brighton's Photoworks and the Brighton Photo Biennial, and Edinburgh's cooperative Photography Workshop from 1996 to 2011. 

As Howard notes 'As a teacher, generations of students testify to his unique insights into British culture. David was teaching the inter-relations of media long before the subject became an academic discipline at the University and was sensitive to art and the environment from the beginning of his career'.

With thanks to Paul Hill (seen on the right, in the picture left) who notes: 'So sad to get the news of the the death of photo historian and teacher. David Mellor (left). We worked together quite a few times - up here in Derbyshire at The Photographers Place workshop in the 70s, Salford ‘80, and latterly talking about The Real Britain project at the 2014 Brighton Biennial. Great scholar and lovely guy….'

See:

• https://staff.sussex.ac.uk/news/article/62223-obituary-professor-david-alan-mellor
• https://www.theguardian.com/education/2005/mar/01/academicexperts.highereducationprofile
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Alan_Mellor

Fotografiska London, the Museum of Photography, which was originally due to open in 2018 has been cancelled as the investment group behind it, Fotografiska London Ltd / AB, has ended its efforts to open at the Whitechapel High Street location. Originally scheduled to open in 2018, and then postponed, uncertainty around Brexit, coupled with current COVID-19 concerns, have now made it untenable for the London-based licensee to successfully establish a franchise.  The earlier delays suggest that issues around the financing predate COVID-19.

Fotografiska International sees London as a leading cultural city, and will evaluate other opportunities in London directly in conjunction with real estate partners.

Footgrafiska's other locations in Stockholm, Tallinn, and most recently in New York, continue as before. Fotografiska in Stockholm, which was founded in 2010, stages between 20 and 25 large-scale exhibitions per year and attracts some 500,000 visitors per year. Part of its mission is “inspiring a more conscious world” through its photography exhibitions and programming.

See: https://www.fotografiska.com/london/

Carte-de-visite :The transformation
Pictures from the 1870s used by Barnardo's homes to attract funds,
ostensibly showing children "before" and "after" being rescued from the
streets. Barnardo was later accused of setting up the pictures in a
court case in 1877.

Lydia Heeley has been appointed the Bern and Ronny Schwartz Curator of Photography at the Bodleian Libraries, Oxford, and will start in post on 2 October 2024. She replaces the inaugural curator Phillip Roberts who was appointed in 2022 and left earlier this year. The post was advertised in May. 

Lydia brings curatorial experience from her most recent post as Assistant Curator, Photography, at the museums of St Andrews University a role she has held since December 2022. Prior to this she was Digitisation Officer responsible for 3D and 2D digitisation at the museum, and has been at the university in various part-time and voluntary roles, including work on the James Valentine collection and on the St Andrews Photography Festival.

Her MPhil thesis which was undertaken at St Andrews, supervised by Luke Gartlan was titled Scottish documentary photography and the archive: George M. Cowie, Franki Raffles and Document Scotland in the University of St Andrews Photographic Collection. The first major retrospective of Raffles' work was shown at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art and remains on view until 16 March 2025. Lydia blogged about her work on the exhibition. 

The curatorial post at the Bodleian was first announced in 2021 with the objective of caring for, and developing, the libraries' growing photography collections. It was realised through a 'transformational' gift of £2 million from The Bern Schwartz Family Foundation. The endowment accompanies the Foundation's donation of the archive of renowned American portrait photographer and businessman, Bern Schwartz, and the Bodleian will be delivering an exhibition of Schwart's photography.

The Bodleian houses a significant and growing collection of photography. It has major holdings of significant photographers such as William Henry Fox Talbot, Julia Margaret Cameron, Helen Muspratt, Bern Schwartz, Daniel Meadows, and Paddy Summerfield; photobooks from the Sir Charles Chadwyck-Healey Collection; prints gifted by James and Claire Hyman; albums from the Michael and Jane Wilson Collection of Nineteenth Century Photographs; as well as huge volumes of photography present in the Libraries' wider archive and print collections, for example the extensive photographic component within the archive of Oxfam GB. The study of and research into photography is increasing in prominence at the University of Oxford, and the post will be key to bringing together different strands of the University for research collaborations with various faculties, museums within the University, other organisations in the city, and with the History of Art department under the leadership of Professor Geoffrey Batchen, whose work focuses on the history of photography.

See Lydia's Linkedin profile here
The Baltic's Franki Raffles exhibition details are here

Portrait image: Lydia Heeley / Linkedin. 

In this lecture Deborah Ireland explores how the Royal Geographic Society's first instructor in photography, John Thompson, applied images to the science of geography, to guide and influence a new generation of travellers. Thomson had a career as a photographer in China and elsewhere in Asia and took the photographs for Street Life in London.

Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), 1 Kensington Gore, London, SW7 2AR15 October 2018
at 6.30pm. Ondaatje Theatre doors open at 5.30pm

See more here.

The V&A has announced today further details on the second and final phase of the V&A’s Photography Centre, which opens in spring 2023. The Photography Centre will become the largest space in the UK for a permanent photography collection, and the seven galleries – four of which will be new additions – will showcase the museum’s world-leading holdings and enable visitors to experience photography and its diverse histories in new ways.

The V&A has collected and exhibited photography since the founding of the museum in the 1850s, and today its collection is one of the largest and most varied in the world. Phase One of the museum’s Photography Centre opened in 2018, with three galleries designed by David Kohn. 2023 sees the completion of the second and final phase of the Photography Centre with an additional four galleries, with base-build designed by Purcell, and fit-out designed by Gibson Thornley Architects.

Two of the new rooms will showcase global contemporary photography and cutting-edge commissions in rotating displays. The other new spaces - a room dedicated to photography and the book, and an interactive gallery about the history and use of the camera – will shine a light on the processes involved in photography, as well as the study and presentation of the medium. These new rooms join the three existing galleries, with two galleries for changing displays from the collection and a space dedicated to digital media, which will also present new content.

Marta Weiss, V&A Senior Curator of Photography and Lead Curator of Phase Two of the Photography Centre, said: “Photography lies at the heart of the V&A. The museum has collected photography since 1852 and continues to acquire the best of contemporary practice. As photography plays an ever-increasing role in all our lives, the expanded Photography Centre will be more relevant than ever. We look forward to welcoming visitors to explore the medium’s diverse histories and enjoy our world-leading collection.”

Highlights of the opening displays will include recent acquisitions exhibited at the museum for the first time, including works by Liz Johnson Artur, Sammy Baloji, Vera Lutter, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Tarrah Krajnak and Vasantha Yogananthan, as well as a monumental photographic sculpture by Noémie Goudal. Two major new commissions supported by the Manitou Fund will also be unveiled, with a photographic series by leading Indian artist Gauri Gill, and a digital commission by British media artist Jake Elwes. The Manitou Fund has committed to funding six commissions for the Photography Centre, which will see a new print and digital commission in 2023, 2025 and 2027. On completion, the Photography Centre will also feature new, themed displays, presenting works from the 1840s to the present day, beginning with Energy: Sparks from the Collection, exploring how all photographs need some form of energy to exist, and a smaller display, How Not to Photograph a Bulldog, featuring dog photography manuals from the Royal Photographic Society Library.

About the Photography Centre:

Phase 2 - Room 95 - Inside the Camera
Room 95 will be an interactive gallery exploring how cameras work and how they are used, from the Victorian view camera to the first iPhone. The highlight will be a walk-in camera obscura, demonstrating the optical phenomenon that is the basis of how all cameras work. A timeline of cameras will show their evolution, with accompanying animations explaining the inner workings of these iconic devices.

Phase 2 - Room 96, Room 97, The Parasol Foundation Gallery Photography Now
Two new galleries will be dedicated to showcasing recent acquisitions of global contemporary photography, including special commissions. Highlights in the inaugural display will include works by Liz Johnson Artur, Sammy Baloji, Vera Lutter, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, and Vasantha Yogananthan, all acquired with the support of the V&A Photographs Acquisition Group. A series of self-portraits by Tarrah Krajnak, acquired with the support of the Parasol Foundation Trust, will also feature. A spectacular anamorphic sculpture by Noémie Goudal will bring photography off the wall to explore both geological time and the nature of perception.

A new commission, supported by the Manitou Fund, from leading Indian photographer Gauri Gill will also be unveiled. This new body of work depicts temporary architecture on the outskirts of Delhi, ingenuously constructed by farmers from repurposed materials. The makeshift dwellings housed farmers bringing their concerns from the village to the capital, in response to new laws that threatened their economic security.

Room 98, The Kusuma Gallery - Photography and the Book
A flexible space dedicated to Photography and the Book will reflect how books have been a fundamental way of presenting photography since the 1840s. The Kusuma Gallery, which has been funded by The Kusuma Trust, will visibly house the extensive Royal Photographic Society (RPS) Library, following the transfer of the RPS Collection to the V&A in 2017. The RPS Library contains journals, books, pamphlets and manuals from all over the world, spanning topics from aerial photography to X-rays. More than 20,000 books, published over nearly 200 years, will be available to visitors by request, with a selection of browsing books on open shelves.

The Kusuma Gallery will also feature changing displays of photographic books, periodicals and archival material. The first display will be How Not to Photograph a Bulldog, a light-hearted foray into one of the many topics covered by the photographic manuals in the RPS Library.

Films about the RPS Library and photographic processes will be shown on digital terminals for visitors to enjoy. This flexible space will also be used for teaching and other programming.

Phase 1 - Room 99, The Modern Media Gallery Digital Gallery

The Modern Media Gallery continues to be dedicated to digital media, challenging definitions of what photography is and generating questions around the use of photography today. The gallery will showcase a new digital commission by Jake Elwes, supported by the Manitou Fund.

Phase 1 - Room 100, The Bern and Ronny Schwartz Gallery Room 101, The Sir Elton John and David Furnish Gallery - Photography 1840s-Now

Developed during Phase One of the Photography Centre, these galleries will be entirely rehung for the 2023 opening. A new display, Energy: Sparks from the Collection, will shine a light on the diverse kinds of energy in photography – both the hidden processes intrinsic to creating a picture, and the subjects in front of a camera. Featuring works from the 1840s through to the present day, it will explore how, from the advent of photography, power in all its diverse forms has sparked the imaginations of photographers.

Situated in the V&A’s Northeast Quarter, the Photography Centre reclaims the beauty of seven original 19th-century picture galleries, restoring them to their original glory and purpose. Planned in two phases, the Centre is part of the V&A’s FuturePlan development programme to revitalise the museum’s public spaces through contemporary design and the restoration of original features.

Beyond the physical gallery spaces, a key focus for photography at the V&A is research and the development of new sector-leading initiatives. A major strand is The Parasol Foundation Women in Photography Project, established in 2021 to support women in photography. Led by the inaugural Parasol Foundation Curator of Women in Photography, Fiona Rogers, and funded by Ms. Ruth Monicka Parasol and The Parasol Foundation Trust, the Project encompasses a curatorial post alongside acquisitions, research, education and public displays. The Project’s first acquisition by Tarrah Krajnak will be included in the opening display, and an exhibition presenting the work of Laia Abril will open at the Copeland Gallery in Peckham, 10-27 November 2022, in collaboration with the V&A and Photoworks.

The V&A is also delighted to announce additional support from The Bern Schwartz Family Foundation. Alongside significant funding of Phase Two of the Photography Centre, the Foundation has generously extended their commitment to a series of two-year Fellowships in photography for early-career curators until 2028. The V&A is pleased to announce the appointment of Mary Phan as the second Curatorial Fellow in Photography, supported by The Bern Schwartz Family Foundation, who will be in post until 2024.

The Photography Centre is being made possible by Sir Elton John and David Furnish, The Kusuma Trust, The Bern Schwartz Family Foundation, The Parasol Foundation Trust, Modern Media, Shao Zhong Art Foundation and many other generous supporters.

The V&A will be releasing visuals of the new spaces closer to the opening.  

Bloomsbury has announced the development of a field-defining book series on photography and history which will create a platform for new visual historiographies and methodologies.

Photographs have been formative in political movements, commercial and industrial development, colonial and imperial expansion, geo-politics and international relations, legal practice, the formation of modern national and personal identities and in public narratives of the past. Volumes in this radical and original series will bring photographic practices into the centre of historical analysis and explore their integral role in global histories from the mid-19th century to the current day.

Call for book proposals:

The editors are currently seeking proposals for single-authored volumes of 80,000–90,000 words based on innovative case studies. Titles might cover a wide range of subject matters and photographic practices, but the emphasis must be on the integration and demonstration of empirical, theoretical, methodological and historiographical significance so that the volumes have the widest impact in history more generally.

Studies must demonstrate the ways in which photographs both shape and reflect historical experience and might focus on a range of processes – production, dissemination, remediation, collecting -  of the photographic within history. Exceptional PhD theses will be considered but the proposal must clearly demonstrate how the author intends to develop the work into a book.

The series will be interdisciplinary and welcomes scholars from all disciplines and backgrounds, whether historical, art historical, anthropological, sociological, history of science, archival or curatorial studies.

Series editors:

Professor Elizabeth Edwards, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK; Professor Patricia  Hayes, University of Western Cape, South Africa; Professor Jennifer Tucker, Wesleyan University, USA

Contact:

Please email new proposals to Davida Forbes, Photography Editor, davida.forbes@bloomsbury.com. For more information about Bloomsbury Publishing see www.bloomsbury.com. 

BBC Radio 3's The Essay is running a series of five programmes each evening between 16-20 February 2015 at 2245, under the banner of 'The Five Photographs that (you didn't know) changed Everything'. The photographs being discussed are not generally found in the history books; they are not generally art; and the photographers who made them are not generally known beyond a small coterie of photographic historians.

The five photographs discussed in this series of essays changed the way we see ourselves and our place in the world. They had an enormous impact in the fields of medicine, architecture, astronomy, law and cultural history. The series has been supported and developed in association with De Montfort University's Photographic History Research Centre and The Royal Photographic Society. 

The programmes, with their provisional transmission dates are:

Monday 16^th February.

1. A woman’s left hand.  Kelley Wilder on the x-ray that changed medicine.

The photograph of Anna Bertha Ludwig Rontgens left hand taken in 1896 astounded the scientific world and alarmed the public. For the scientists it signalled the beginning of medical radiography. For the public it gave rise to fears about intrusion and privacy in much the same way as  the introduction of the TSA  body scanner did in 2007. From medical imaging to airport security, Kelley Wilder shows how  x-ray photography changed the world.

Kelley Wilder is Reader in Photographic History,  De Montfort University, Leicester

Tuesday 17^th February.

2.  . Draper’s Nebula. Omar Nassim on  how a photo of space changed our view of the universe and our place within it.

Today high-resolution  photographs of nebulae or galaxies saturate our culture to such an extent that they are almost kitsch. But  when Henry Draper took the very first pictures  of a nebula in 1880 it was one of the greatest achievements of photography.  Omar Nasim tells the story of how this photograph defied the imagination and raised questions not just about the size of the universe but about the very origins of humanity.

Omar Nasim is lecturer in the School of History at the University of Kent.

Wednesday 18^th February.

3. . The Dogon.  Jeanne Haffner on how aerial photography changed the spaces we live in. The  birds-eye photograph of the Dogon tribe working their fields in Mali was taken by the French Africanist Marcel Griaule.   He’d trained in aerial photography during the first world war and he argued that the Dogon landscape, seen from the air, revealed the patterns and  secrets of the lives of its inhabitants, patterns which could teach Western city planners and architects how to build  a happier society. 

Jeanne Haffner is lecturer in the Department of History and Science at Harvard University.

Thursday 19^th February.

4. The Broom cottages. Elizabeth Edwards on the photo that changed the way we see ourselves.

The man who took the photo, W. Jerome Harrison, launched a scheme for recording the country’s past in which amateur photographers up and down the land took pictures of the buildings which were important  them. Wiki-buildings and English Heritage do this now on a much grander scale. But Elizabeth Edwards argues that the mass participation of people  in defining what matters  about the past began  with Harrison, and changed the way in which a nation viewed  itself. 

Elizabeth Edwards is Research Professor of Photographic History and Director of the Photographic History Research Centre at De Montfort University, Leicester

Friday 20^th February.

5. The Tichbourne Claimant. Jennifer Tucker on the photo that changed the law.

In 1863 a butcher sat for his photograph in the remote town of Wagga Wagga, Australia. Three years later this likeness had Britain transfixed.   Jennifer tucker tells the story of  how it was central to the longest legal battle in 19th century England,  and  sparked  a debate about evidence, the law, ethics and facial recognition that has continued ever since. 

Jennifer Tucker is Associate Professor of History and Science in Society at Wesleyan University, USA

The programmes will be available on the BBC iPlayer after transmission.

A treasure trove of more than 3,000 World War I glass plate negatives of  British, Indian, French, Australians, and Americans, and even some of the Chinese Labour Corps and other allied troops have been found, sitting almost undisturbed for nearly a century, in three large chests in a dusty attic of a dilapidated farmhouse in Vignacourt in the Somme valley, some two hours north of Paris. Named after the photographers, local farmer Louis Thuillier and his wife Antoinette, "The Thuillier Collection" was almost lost to history because the farmhouse where they were stored is likely to be sold in coming months and their descendants had no idea of the historical significance of the plates.

Throughout much of the war they photographed the fighting men who came to their humble outdoor studio in the courtyard of their house. Thousands of their photographs must have found their way to homes around the world, including Australia. Remarkably the Thuilliers’ glass plate negatives still exist, sitting almost undisturbed for nearly a century.  They have recently been located by investigators from Australia’s Channel 7.  The TV program has secured almost 500 of the plates from a Thuillier family relative, Henriette Crognier. When she heard of the great interest in the plates, she insisted on donating them to Australia.

Research at the Australian War Memorial indicates that the Australian photographs were mostly taken in November 1916 and during November-December 1918.  Among the latter are scenes of celebration on the day the war ended, 11 November 1918.  As Australian War Memorial head of military history, Ashley Ekins, said the ‘Thuillier Collection’ is an extremely valuable collection of images of Australian and other allied soldiers just behind the frontlines, one of the “most important discoveries from the First World War”.

You can catch a preview of the programme "The Lost Diggers" and a gallery of the photos here, as well as an article from the Australian War Memorial here.

Photo:  On leave ... a message to the folks at home (Copyright: The Thuillier Collection)

Photography, like other modern media, was readily utilised in the promulgation of political and ideological concepts in Germany between the two world wars. This is especially true for the visualisation of racial and eugenic ideas developed in the nineteenth century and ideas of a ‘Germanic’ nation, subsequently incorporated in National Socialist thinking and propaganda. This exhibition (with illustrated catalogue) shown at the GHIL examines the work of the German photographer Erich Retzlaff (1899-1993) from the turbulent years between the nadir of the Weimar Republic and the downfall of the Third Reich as part of a visual discourse that emerged from an intellectual milieu deeply affected by the parascience of physiognomy and National Socialist race science.

Today almost forgotten in the history of photography, in the early twentieth century, ERICH RETZLAFF (1899-1993) was a prolific and celebrated photographer with several major volumes of his photographs published between the two world wars. In addition to his black and white studies of German workers, landscapes and peasants, Retzlaff was one of the first photographers to use the revolutionary 'Agfacolor Neu' colour film introduced in Germany in October 1936. Erich Retzlaff was considered by the National Socialists something of a pioneer in his idealised depictions of the German proletariat, disseminating notions centred on the people’s community (Volksgemeinschaft), which was at the heart of the National Socialist vision of society. Although his work was not produced under the direct auspices of the Reich Ministry for Propaganda and thus appeared to have a greater degree of creative freedom, Retzlaff was clearly a photographer siding with the regime. Ideological as his work was, Retzlaff's photographs are significant as cultural and historical artifacts of this period of German History.

The accompanying catalogue contains an essay by Christopher Webster van Tonder, an introductory text by Rolf Sachsse, and an article by Wolfgang Brückle. 

The exhibition can be seen at the German Historical Institute London from 22 January 2014 to 21 March 2014

See: http://www.ghil.ac.uk/

Opening Times:

Mo, Tue, Wed, Fri: 10 am – 5 pm
Thursday: 10 am – 8 pm

Closed Weekends and Bank Holidays
Free Admission

The French Ministry of Culture has announced plans to celebrate the bicentenary of photography over 2026-2027. Mrs Rachida Dati, Minister of Culture, called for a great, popular and festive celebration of the bicentenary of photography throughout France, to honour the invention and photographic heritage for more than a year. A press conference in the spring will unveil the highlights and projects that will make the bicentenary of photography a unique event for everyone.

Frenchman Nicéphore Niépce took the first extant permanent photograph which is dated 1826-1827 and which marks his invention. The bicentenary is an unprecedented opportunity to celebrate photography. France has major photographic collections, major festivals and dedicated fairs and a large network of specialised venues and publishers that make it one of the most dynamic countries for photography on the international scene. The bicentenary will promote these collections and offer access to them, and photography more widely. 

To support the celebration, the Minister announced the creation of a scientific committee which will support the Ministry of Culture in defining the major scientific and artistic activities for the bicentenary. It will be led by Dominique de Font-Reaulx, an art historian specializing in the nineteenth century and photography, and a general curator at the Louvre Museum. The scientific committee is composed of recognised experts in photography and images: Eléonore Challine, Alexia Fabre Michel Poivert, Pierre Singaravelou, and Antonio Somaini. 

The committee will appraoch all those involved in photography, from the institutions supported by the Ministry of Culture, to professional networks and artistic venues, in order to bring this festival as close as possible to the public, and geographically across France. They will participate in the development and implementation of a very diverse programme: exhibitions, screenings, publications, meetings, etc. Exhibitions will contribute to enriching the way we look at the medium, in its heritage senses to the most experimental.

Among the highlights of the bicentenary:

• a major exhibition-manifesto will mark the opening of the bicentenary in the autumn of 2026 at the Grand Palais, in partnership with the Centre Pompidou and the GrandPalaisRMN in order to promote the national photographic collections
• a historical exhibition around the figure of Nicéphore Niépce will be shown at the Nicéphore Niépce museum in Chalon-sur-Saône, in collaboration with the Bibliothèque nationale de France
• events will be offered throughout France with the support of Diagonal, a photographic production and distribution network
• A call has been launched for a major national commission, Reinventing photography, led by the National Centre for Visual Arts. Fifteen photographers will be selected to carry out their projects, which will question the medium in all its dimensions, from its primitive times to the most contemporary experiments
• further calls will be launched to professionals and the general public, in particular a national call for projects that will label events selected for their interest and their artistic, scientific or cultural contribution to the history and evolution of photography

Mrs. Rachida Dati, Minister of Culture, commented: 'Born in France two hundred years ago, photography is now part of our daily lives, especially that of young people. I call on all those involved in photography to imagine together a great popular and festive event, with all audiences, everywhere in France. From daguerreotypes to selfies, the bicentenary of photography is an invitation to celebrate the history of this major art in France through our unique collections, but also to show the diversity of the most contemporary creation'.

The scientific committee of the bicentenary of photography noted: "The celebration of the first photograph is a wonderful opportunity to retrace the major stages in the evolution of this art – from Niépce's heliography to digital images – to honour its creators, from 1826 to today, but also to bring us together around common and singular images. Photography has gradually become one of the most democratic artistic expressions. For two hundred years, it has been writing our common history.'

BPH will continue to follow developments as they are announced.

Image: enhanced image of Point de vue du Gras by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce. Harry Ransom Center, Gernsheim collection. Original plate c.1826/1827

The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) announces a new Curatorial Fellowship in Photography. Generously supported by The Bern Schwartz Family Foundation, the fellowship will run for the next four years. The Curatorial Fellowship follows the Foundation’s ongoing support of the V&A and its significant donation towards the museum’s recently-opened Photography Centre, for which gallery 100 was renamed ‘The Bern and Ronny Schwartz Gallery’ after the businessman and portrait photographer and his wife.

The first fellowship of its kind in photography at the V&A, the scheme will see two fellows join the museum over consecutive two-year periods. The initiative arises from The Bern Schwartz Family Foundation’s desire to give early scholars of photography the opportunity to acquire invaluable museum experience and specialist knowledge working alongside the Photography Section’s accomplished curatorial team. Fellows will gain expertise in the history of photography and contribute substantially to the museum’s knowledge of its world-renowned collection that includes over 800,000 photographs.

A focus for each fellow will be an independent research project based on the Royal Photographic Society (RPS) collection, which was transferred to the V&A in 2017. Exploring areas of strength such as portraiture, colour photography and photographic process, all themes of interest to Bern Schwartz and the Foundation, each fellow will spend three months in the V&A Research Institute (VARI). Using an accompanying travel fund also provided by The Bern Schwartz Family Foundation, the fellows will also travel nationally and internationally to share their expertise and further their study of the photographic medium.

Applications will open via the V&A website on 25 April and close on 27 May with the first fellow commencing in autumn 2019. Details can be found here. 

Tristram Hunt, Director of the V&A, said: “We are enormously grateful to The Bern Schwartz Family Foundation for their generosity in supporting our Photography Centre and mission to make photography available to the widest possible audience. The V&A is dedicated to inspiring the next generation of creative thinkers. This Curatorial Fellowship in Photography will give emerging curators the chance to deepen their own knowledge and expertise while furthering scholarship around the museum’s world-class photography collections.”

Michael Schwartz, Chairman of The Bern Schwartz Family Foundation, and Anne Varick Lauder, Senior Advisor, said: “We are delighted to continue supporting the V&A’s Photography Section and its talented team of curators. By directly working with them and the objects in their care, the fellows will gain invaluable on-hands experience essential for furthering their careers in photography. Bern Schwartz was passionate about education and the mentoring experience. His career as a portrait photographer was immeasurably advanced by learning directly from the legendary photographer, Philippe Halsman.”

The Bern Schwartz Family Foundation were the first major funder to support the V&A’s new Photography Centre, which was opened by HRH The Duchess of Cambridge in October 2018. The Bern and Ronny Schwartz Gallery, a refurbished 19th-century picture gallery, is currently host to a major display entitled Collecting Photography: From Daguerreotype to Digital, which explores photography as a way of ‘collecting the world’. An extension to the Photography Centre is scheduled to open in 2022 and will expand the V&A’s photography offer further with new and exciting ways for visitors to encounter this diverse and dynamic art form.

I am searching for information on these 2 photos of the Wedgwood family. One portrait of "Fanny Wedgwood, (Mrs. Francis) and one portrait of three children listed as "Aunt Rose, Aunt Mab, and Grandaddy Wedgwood (Lawrence).

They are both about 8 x 10" albumen prints, mounted behind arch-topped boards. Fanny heavily painted(oil?), and the children, well sadly it looks as if they were painted at one time and someone has tried to remove the paint.

Would anyone be able to tell me if these indeed are Wedgwood family members descended from Josiah Wedgwood? Are they related to Emma Wedgwood? Is the boy Lawrence the one who eventually took over the pottery factory?

Thanks in advance for any information!

David