I am looking for information on the German born industrial photographer Adolf (sometimes Adolph) Morath who worked extensively for British Petroleum and the Kuwaiti Oil Company in the mid-20th century, photographing oil workers, their daily life and the company facilities in Kuwait and other places. Despite his huge portfolio, there seems to be hardly any information on Morath. I would be very thankful for any information, material or recommendation where to look.
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BPH has learnt that Philip L Condax, former Curator of Technology at George Eastman House, died on Monday, 21 April 2014. Phil Condax was born on 24 May 1934, the son of Louis M Condax (1897-1961) and Constance W. Condax. Louis invented a dye-transfer colour process which was commercialised by Eastman Kodak Co in 1945.
Phil joined the then International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House under Director Beaumont Newhall in 1971, where he curated the Technology Collections starting as 'Assistant Curator, Equipment Archive'. When the Philadelphia-based American Museum of Photography became available after the death of its founder, Louis Walton Sipley, Phil was involved with the then Director and other staff members in securing it for GEH where it filled important gaps.
Two highlights from his career include the 1980-1981 exhibition Selections from the Spira Collection: An Exhibition at George Eastman House - the first time GEH had held such an exhibition from outside of its own collections; and the 1984 joint IMP/GEH and JCII exhibition The Evolution of the Japanese Camera which showed in Rochester, NY, and Tokyo. He was also in post when the new Mees Gallery - it has since been replaced - was opened in 1992. He attended Photokina regularly where he was able to source material for the GEH collections.
When Czechoslovakia was firmly behind the Iron Curtain, Phil managed to visit regularly. There were suggestions that during his military service and afterwards he was working for the CIA. He came to know Jan Sudek and bought many important prints for the museum and for his own personal collection.
Condax, along with other senior curators, was made redundant in 1994, in his case over a dispute with the Director, a fact over which he continued to remain bitter. After GEH Phil undertook some museum and photo-history consultancy work, in particular he developed and curated the photographic collection of the Museum of Imagery Technology operated by Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. He co-authored The Photographic Flash: A Concise Illustrated History with Pierre Bron (of Bron Elektronik AG) in 1998.
Jonathan Spira commented: 'I am deeply saddened by the death of Phil Condax, a close family friend. Not only did he help popularize photography's history but he helped lead the George Eastman House during a very tumultuous period.'
I met Condax several times at his Rochester home and despite a difficult relationship with a demanding father he was a great enthusiast for the work that his father had undertaken on colour. He maintained an extensive archive of his father's work. An example showing Louis Condax with an example of the dye transfer process, from Phil's personal archive is shown left.
He had an affection for Britain and he travelled extensively, particularly to South East Asia.
Dr Michael Pritchard
- Revisions made 6/5/2014.
UPDATE 28/10/2013: This event has been cancelled.
On 5 December 2013 the Getty Conservation Institute is holding a one-day symposium Turning Over An Old Leaf: Thomas Wedgwood, Humphry Davy, and Their Early Experiments in Photography.
The first published article on photography "An Account of a method of copying Paintings upon Glass, and of making Profiles, by the agency of Light upon Nitrate of Silver. Invented by T. Wedgwood, ESQ. With Observations by H. Davy" was published in 1802 by Humphry Davy in the Journals of the Royal Institution.
In his article, Davy described his and Thomas Wedgwood's pioneering work experimenting with light-sensitive materials, creating photographic copies of plant leaves, and testing the feasibility of creating "views from nature" using a camera obscura. Generations of photography historians have searched for any material sample of Wedgwood and Davy's experiments, as these photographic images, if found and authenticated, would be nearly a quarter of a century older than Niepce's "First Photograph."
In April 2008, a photographic image known as The Leaf was placed for auction. The image attracted a great deal of interest from photography experts and enthusiasts when questions were raised about its origins. The Leaf was subsequently removed from auction for further research.
Turning Over An Old Leaf will present results of recently completed scientific analyses by GCI scientists of The Leaf and results from analyses of two botanical images from the Getty Museum's collection that once belonged to the same album as The Leaf, an album of photographic images assembled by British watercolorist Henry Bright.
Conservation scientists and conservators from the Metropolitan Museum of Art will present results from their analytical study of Shark Egg Case, an image from their collection that was also part of the album assembled by Bright.
These scientific results and findings will be discussed in light of current advances in historical research of the Henry Bright album and in light of a series of experimental scientific, photographic, and recreational studies of the photographic work of Thomas Wedgwood and Humphry Davy as described in their 1802 article. In addition, demonstrations will be held to provide symposium participants with a deeper insight into photographic experiments from this important era of the prehistory of photography.
List of Scheduled Presenters
Geoffrey Batchen, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
Roy Flukinger, Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas, Austin
Michael Gray, Image Research Associates, United Kingdom
Art Kaplan, Getty Conservation Institute, Los Angeles
Nora Kennedy, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Jill Quasha, Private Photography Dealer, New York
Grant Romer, Independent historian of photography, Rochester
Larry J. Schaaf, Independent historian of photogrpahy, Baltimore
Dusan Stulik, Getty Conservation Institute, Los Angeles
Frances Terpak, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles
For more information, contact oldleaf@getty.edu or see: https://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications_resources/public_programs/turning_over.html
This autumn, Tate Britain will present The 80s: Photographing Britain, a landmark survey which will consider the decade as a pivotal moment for the medium of photography. Bringing together nearly 350 images and archive materials from the period, the exhibition will explore how photographers used the camera to respond to the seismic social, political, and economic shifts around them. Through their lenses, the show will consider how the medium became a tool for social representation, cultural celebration and artistic expression throughout this significant and highly creative period for photography.
This exhibition will be the largest to survey photography’s development in the UK in the 1980s to date. Featuring over 70 lens-based artists and collectives, it will spotlight a generation who engaged with new ideas of photographic practice, from well-known names to those whose work is increasingly being recognised, including Maud Sulter, Mumtaz Karimjee and Mitra Tabrizian. It will feature images taken across the UK, from John Davies’ post-industrial Welsh landscape to Tish Murtha’s portraits of youth unemployment in Newcastle. Important developments will be explored, from technical advancements in colour photography to the impact of cultural theory by scholars like Stuart Hall and Victor Burgin, and influential publications like Ten.8 and Camerawork in which new debates about photography emerged.
The 80s will introduce Thatcher’s Britain through documentary photography illustrating some of the tumultuous political events of the decade. History will be brought to life with powerful images of the miners’ strikes by John Harris and Brenda Prince; anti-racism demonstrations by Syd Shelton and Paul Trevor; images of Greenham Common by Format Photographers and projects responding to the conflict in Northern Ireland by Willie Doherty and Paul Seawright. Photography recording a changing Britain and its widening disparities will also be presented through Anna Fox’s images of corporate excess, Paul Graham’s observations of social security offices, and Martin Parr’s absurdist depictions of Middle England, displayed alongside Markéta Luskačová and Don McCullin’s portraits of London’s disappearing East End and Chris Killip’s transient ‘sea-coalers’ in Northumberland.
A series of thematic displays will explore how photography became a compelling tool for representation. For Roy Mehta and Vanley Burke, who portray their multicultural communities, photography offers a voice to the people around them, whilst John Reardon, Derek Bishton and Brian Homer’s Handsworth Self Portrait Project 1979, gives a community a joyous space to express themselves. Many Black and South Asian photographers use portraiture to overcome marginalisation against a backdrop of discrimination. The exhibition will spotlight lens-based artists including Roshini Kempadoo, Sutapa Biswas and Al-An deSouza who experiment with images to think about diasporic identities, and the likes of Joy Gregory and Maxine Walker who employ self-portraiture to celebrate ideas of Black beauty and femininity.
Against the backdrop of Section 28 and the AIDS epidemic, photographers also employ the camera to assert the presence and visibility of the LGBTQ+ community. Tessa Boffin subversively reimagines literary characters as lesbians, whilst Sunil Gupta’s ‘Pretended’ Family Relationships 1988, juxtaposes portraits of queer couples with the legislative wording of Section 28. For some, their work reclaims sex-positivity during a period of fear. The exhibition will spotlight photographers Ajamu X, Lyle Ashton Harris and Rotimi Fani-Kayode who each centre Black queer experiences and contest stereotypes through powerful nude studies and intimate portraits. It will also reveal how photographers from outside the queer community including Grace Lau were invited to portray them. Known for documenting fetishist sub-cultures, Lau’s series Him and Her at Home 1986 and Series Interiors 1986, tenderly records this underground community defiantly continuing to exist.
The exhibition will close with a series of works that celebrate countercultural movements throughout the 80s, such as Ingrid Pollard and Franklyn Rodgers’s energetic documentation of underground performances and club culture. The show will spotlight the emergence of i-D magazine and its impact on a new generation of photographers like Wolfgang Tillmans and Jason Evans, who with stylist Simon Foxton pioneer a cutting-edge style of fashion photography inspired by this alternative and exciting wave of youth culture, reflective of a new vision of Britain at the dawn of the 1990s
The 80s: Photographing Britain
21 November 2024 – 5 May 2025
Tate Britain, Millbank, London SW1P 4RG
Open daily 10.00–18.00
Tickets available at tate.org.uk and +44(0)20 7887 8888
The British Journal of Photography has been digitised up to 2005 with the remainder to be completed early in 2016, BPH first reported on the project here back in 2013. The digital archive is currently only available to colleges, universities and institutional subscribers via Proquest.
The publisher of the BJP, Apptitude Media, is intending to make the digitised BJP from 1854 to the present day accessible to the wider public in 2016, although BPH understands that the charging model has yet to be determined.
See the Proquest Art and Architecture catalogue here.
BPH will report when the BJP becomes publicly available but in the meantime from its January 2016 issue the BJP is delving in to its digital archive for a regular back page feature.
Britain's photographic heritage is likely to be adversely impacted if proposals in a leaked National Trust discussion document come to pass. Written by the Trust's visitor experience director Tony Berry, it sets out a ten-year vision that will directly impact historic properties, curatorial and conservation posts and put collections in to storage. The Times newspaper (21 August 2020, p.5) reported on the paper and art historian Bendor Grosvenor, who also had sight of the document, flagged it on his Twitter account @arthistorynews
National Trust Director-General Hilary McGrady responded to the claims (https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/blogs/directors-blog/our-vision-for-places-and-experiences) as partial, but as Grosvenor noted she failed to deny a number of the claims, including that the Trust will 'dial down' its status as a 'major national cultural institution', make specialist curatorial staff redundant and take objects off display.
The Trust has been significantly impacted by COVID-19 not least a loss of £200 million in income caused by the closure of many of its 550 houses, parks and gardens and has already announced significant redundancies affecting some 13 per cent of its workforce, putting 1,200 employees at risk. The Trust has £1.3 billion in financial reserves, although much of these are designated and cannot be used for general purposes.
So, what does this mean for photography? The short answer at the moment is that it is unclear. The Trust has significant collections of historic and important photography - at least 50,000 images, although more is yet to be documented, across its historic properties. This includes material that is significant in its own right, along with photographs collected and made by individuals associated with its many properties.
The following are areas that the wider photographic community should be aware of, and be prepared to support, should the need arise:
- The Trust appointed its first National Photography Curator in July 2019, providing oversight of photography across the Trust's properties. As a specialist curator this new role, which was a two-year appointment, appears to be under threat.
- Roger Watson, curator of the Fox Talbot Museum is a specialist curator and, again, this role may also be under threat.
- The Trust employs specialist photographic conservators. Photographic materials are fragile and susceptible to environmental deterioration, more so than many other objects, and it is important that light sensitive materials continue to properly assessed, conserved and stored. The National Photography Curator's role was - and remains - key in surveying the Trust's collections and identifying important material and that which needs urgent conservation. It also has a key part in opening up the Hardman House collections (see below).
- The possible closure of Trust properties (see below) and the move of photographs and photographic equipment into storage will limit access to material that is of national importance, beyond the Trust's own interests.
- Although photography is in many of the Trust's properties two are particularly important:
The Fox Talbot Museum, Lacock, was opened in 1975 to show and interpret objects relating to William Henry Fox Talbot, his life and the development of photography, and to exhibit photography. In recent years the museum has broadened its remit to contextualise Talbot within a broader history of photography and the acquisition of the Fenton Collection in 2016 has allowed it to show a history from the 1830s to the 1990s.
- Adjacent is the Grade 1 listed Lacock Abbey, Talbot's home, where many of his experiments were undertaken and the location of many of his early photographs. It is the birthplace of negative-positive photography. The house and the surrounding village of Lacock were given to the National Trust in 1944.
- E. Chambré Hardman House, Liverpool. Opened by Burrelll and Hardman in 1923 the company remained in business until c1965/6. The building and negatives were acquired by a charitable trust and later transferred to the National Trust.
- in addition, many of the National Trust's other properties contain significant smaller groups of photographs.
UPDATES >>
This piece by Grosvenor is worth reading and does not bode well for Lacock Abbey https://www.arthistorynews.com/articles/5685_Inside_the_National_Trusts_Beeching_Plan In the absence of anything from the National Trust one fears the worst.
See also: https://www.theartnewspaper.com/comment/national-trust-restructuring-plan-job-cuts
Images: © Michael Pritchard. Top: the entrance to the Fox Talbot Museum; lower: entrance to Hardman House.
Note: none of the individuals mentioned above have spoken to BPH in connection with this blog piece.
Applications are invited for a three year full time PhD, working within the Irish Photobook research project in the School of Art and Design. The project focus is the representation of Ireland through photographic publishing. The project team; Paul Seawright, Donovan Wylie and Martin Parr will supervise the research. The Irish PhotoBook project develops Parr and Badger's internationally acclaimed work on the history of the Photobook, using their methodology to evaluate the development of Irish Photography. Seawright and Wylie are key figures in Irish photography and have long standing research interests in both the representation of Ireland and the photographic book. Plans are in place for a major exhibition and publication in partnership with the Photo Ireland Photography Festival and the Gallery of Photography, Dublin and the creation of a special book collection at Ulster. The successful candidate will play a key role in the project and we welcome research proposals that develop a body of research within this framework.
Project Title /Subtitle
The Photo Book in Ireland
Supervisor 1 Professor Paul Seawright
School of Art and Design, Faculty of Art Design and the Built Environment.
Research Institute Art and Design.
Supervisor 2 Donovan Wylie
School of Art and Design, Faculty of Art Design and the Built Environment.
Research Institute Art and Design.
Adviser
Professor Martin Parr
PRIORITY RESEARCH DEGREE TOPICS
The Research Institute Art and Design and the Faculty of Art and Design and the Built Environment Research Graduate School advertises priority topics on which applications for research degrees are particularly invited. Applications may be for full time or part time study.
The recruitment process often co-coincides with recruitment to research degree studentships managed by the University. These are normally full time.
Applications are also welcomed from students who are self funding or who are applying for other external studentships, grants, bursaries and awards.
While priority topics are advertised, applications on topics proposed by the applicant are also considered where there is supervisory capacity and relevant resources. Applicants are advised to discuss this with the head of the Faculty of Art Design and Built Environment Research Graduate School.
Undertaking a research degree is significant commitment. Applicants may contact the potential supervisor of the priority topic for clarification during the development of their application. There is no requirement to do so and applicants who do not do so are not penalised.
APPLICATION
Applications are normally submitted online.
https://srssb.ulster.ac.uk/PROD/bwskalog.P_DispChoices <https://srssb.ulster.ac.uk/PROD/bwskalog.P_DispChoices>
Information for prospective research degree students, including application forms, can also be found on the university Web pages
http://research.ulster.ac.uk/info/status/prospective.html <http://research.ulster.ac.uk/info/status/prospective.html>
Professor Neil Hewitt heads the Research Graduate School (RGS) of the Faculty of Art Design and Built Environment.
http://www.adbe.ulster.ac.uk/schools/graduate_school/ <http://www.adbe.ulster.ac.uk/schools/graduate_school/>;
The Research Institute Art and Design (RIAD) Director is Professor Karen Fleming. There are 3 research centres within RIAD - the Centre for Applied Art Research, the Design and Architecture Research Centre and the Centre for Fine art Research. Research students are members of RIAD.
http://www.riad.ulster.ac.uk/index.php <http://www.riad.ulster.ac.uk/index.php>
Kate Bush has been appointed by Tate Britain to the new post of Adjunct Curator of Photography, starting in October 2017. Kate is a curator and critic specialising in contemporary art and photography. She was most recently Head of Photography at the Science Museum Group – including the Science Museum in London and National Media Museum in Bradford which she joined in 2014 – and was previously Head of Art Galleries at the Barbican Centre in London.
She will work with Ann Gallagher (Tate’s Director of Collections for British Art), Alex Farquharson (Director of Tate Britain) and Simon Baker (Tate’s Senior Curator of Photography and International Art) alongside Tate Britain’s wider curatorial team, researching and building the collection of British photography and curating exhibitions and displays at Tate Britain.
Image: Science Museum Group / Jennie Hills, 2014
Today, the V&A announces the appointment of renowned photography curator and scholar Duncan Forbes as Director of Photography. Forbes will take up the newly-created role in April 2020 to drive forward the V&A’s reputation as one of the world’s leading institutions for the research, exhibition and understanding of international photography.
Forbes will lead the V&A’s team of photography curators on its mission to bring new photographic narratives and histories to light through new acquisitions, artist collaborations, international partnerships, research projects and exhibitions. He will also spearhead a major cataloguing and digitisation programme to further enhance public access to the V&A’s photography collections – one of the largest and most important in the world.
In addition, Forbes will oversee the development of Phase Two of the V&A Photography Centre, opening in 2022 and led by Marta Weiss, Senior Curator of Photographs. The V&A Photography Centre is designed to showcase the museum’s expanded photography holdings following the transfer of the Royal Photographic Society (RPS) collection in 2017. The first phase, encompassing a suite of four galleries, was opened by Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge in October 2018 with a display spanning a history of photography from the daguerreotype to digital, a digital wall for screen-based media, a screening room, newly-commissioned work by leading contemporary artists and space to showcase new acquisitions. Phase Two will add a further four rooms, including two climate-controlled galleries suited to the display of large-scale contemporary works, interactive features and a reading room dedicated to the enjoyment of photographic books.
Previously Director of Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland, and Senior Curator of Photography at the National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, Forbes has researched, exhibited and published prolifically on the medium. He returns to the UK from the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles where he has been exploring and extending its rich archival holdings of photography.
Tristram Hunt, Director of the V&A, said: “Photography is one of our most powerful forms of global communication, and a medium that we have been collecting and interpreting since our founding in 1852. We now care for one of the most important international photography collections in the world, and we’re on a mission to share it with audiences across the globe. With Duncan at the helm, we’ll drive forward our support of emerging and established practitioners and develop our contemporary collecting programme through the generosity of the V&A Photographs Acquisitions Group. Through the expansion of the V&A Photography Centre, ground-breaking UK and touring exhibitions, artist collaborations, pioneering research and international partnerships, we’ll open up photography to new perspectives and possibilities like never before.”
Duncan Forbes said: “I’m thrilled to be joining the V&A at such an exciting moment in the development of its photography holdings. The addition of the Royal Photographic Society collection in 2017 has lent further weight to what is already one of the world’s great photography collections. The challenge of bringing new histories to light in collaboration with partners around the world is a compelling one. I can’t wait to get started.”
The V&A was the first museum in the world to collect photographs, beginning with its founding in 1852, and continues to collect and commission new work today. Comprising over 800,000 photographs, the collection charts the global history of photography from its invention to the present day. Spanning fine art, fashion, journalism, documentary, portraiture, sport, architecture, medical and landscape photography, alongside many other genres, highlights include:
- A range of pioneering photographic media, including daguerreotypes, calotypes, and early colour photography
- Work by key British innovators including William Henry Fox Talbot, Hill & Adamson, Roger Fenton, Julia Margaret Cameron and Lady Clementina Hawarden
- 20th-century greats and international artists including Berenice Abbott, Ansel Adams, Diane Arbus, Richard Avedon, Cecil Beaton, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Claude Cahun, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Martine Franck, Horst P. Horst, Rinko Kawauchi, Dorothea Lange, Lee Miller, Tina Modotti, Curtis Moffatt, Helmut Newton, J.D. ’Okhai Ojeikere, Man Ray, Alfred Stieglitz, Paul Strand and Edward Weston
- Work by the most exciting image-makers working today including William Eggleston, Sir Don McCullin, Zanele Muholi, Cornelia Parker, Martin Parr, Sebastião Salgado, Cindy Sherman, Juergen Teller and Wolfgang Tillmans
- Photography books, journals and archival materials relating to the world’s most revolutionary artists and practitioners
- Cameras and equipment associated with groundbreaking photographers from William Henry Fox Talbot to Madame Yevonde
- Recent acquisitions of work by Valérie Belin, Mitch Epstein, Lee Friedlander, Martin Kollár, Susan Meiselas, Abelardo Morell, Thomas Ruff, Ursula Schulz-Dornburg, Jem Southam and Hiroshi Sugimoto.
Duncan Forbes was previously Director of Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland, and Senior Curator of Photograph at the National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh. He has most recently been based in Los Angeles, working as a Researcher at the Getty Research Institute, where he has been exploring and extending its rich archival holdings of photography. Forbes has published widely in the history of photography and curated exhibitions across three centuries of photographic history, including with leading contemporary photographers. His most recent books and exhibitions include Provoke: Between Protest and Performance: Japanese Photography 1960–1975 (Steidl, 2016), Beastly / Tierisch (Spector Books, 2015), Manifeste! Eine andere Geschichte der Fotografie (Steidl, 2014), and Edith Tudor-Hart: In the Shadow of Tyranny (Hatje Cantz, 2013). His latest essays have appeared in Camera Austria International (Graz, 2018 and 2019), Helen Levitt (Kehrer Verlag, 2018), Another Kind of Life: Photography on the Margins (Prestel, 2018), ZUM (São Paulo, 2017), The Japanese Photobook, 1912–1990 (Steidl, 2017), and History Workshop Journal (London, 2017).
Image: Duncan Forbes / V&A handout.
Ramires, Alexandre (2014) The Voyage of the Daguerreotype. On the Daguerreotypes and Physionotypes of the Oriental Hydrographe, Coimbra: author's edition. This text provides documental support for the first daguerreotype experience in Portugal, in October 1939, and the probable daguerreotype practice in islands of Madeira and Canarias latter in the same month. It also provides further documental evidence of the daguerreotype practice in Brasil.
For copies of the book we will provide the author's contact.
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.
This conference explores the multifaceted history and cultural significance of flash photography. Flash, introduced in the 1860s, has played a crucial role in photography, making previously unseen scenes visible, from the nocturnal lives of animals to the bustling nights of New York City. There is a keynote presentation from Dr Sara Dominici.
This conference aims to move beyond a purely technical narrative of flash as merely a tool for overcoming darkness. Instead, it seeks to understand flash as a socio-technical device that shapes photographic practice and cultural perceptions. Flash photography, from early magnesium bursts to modern electric strobes, not only illuminates scenes but also influences the photographic event itself. The noise, smoke, and sudden light of early flashes contributed to the dynamic nature of photo shoots, impacting both photographers and subjects.
This conference will investigate the diverse dimensions of flash, including its aesthetic, cultural, and media implications. The performative nature of flash and its role in capturing rapid motion, filling in light, and creating new visualities will be discussed. Flash has been both embraced and rejected by photographers, creating boundaries between art and non-art. Its use has marked significant moments in the history of photography, contributing to genres like celebrity and wildlife photography.
Moreover, flash photography has served as a metaphor in literature and theory, symbolizing revelation and memory. It has been linked to powerful narratives, such as those documenting social injustices. Despite technological advancements reducing the need for flash, its historical and cultural impacts remain significant. The conference invites discussions on the flash’s role in photographic history, its cultural and social uses, and its ongoing relevance in contemporary visual regimes.
Blind by Light: Just to see: Flashes and Revelations
17-18 October 2024
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Richelieu
See the programme and register here
The amateur photography of Rupert Potter, father of the celebrated children’s book author and illustrator, Beatrix Potter, will be explored in a new display opening at the National Portrait Gallery to celebrate the centenary of his death. As well as two new acquisitions showing Beatrix Potter on holiday with her father, The World of Rupert Potter: Photographs of Beatrix, Millais and Friends will display portraits taken by Rupert Potter of close family friends, showing the circles within which he socialised and the influence this had on his daughter’s life and work.
A professional lawyer and a keen photographer in his personal time, Rupert Potter (1832–1914) took many carefully posed portraits, particularly during the Potters’ lengthy summer holidays in the Lake District and Scotland, which show his impressive technical skill and aesthetic ability. He was a member of the Photographic Society, later the Royal Photographic Society from 1867 until 1912. As a result of his particular interest in portrait photography and, through his friendship with the painter Sir John Everett Millais, Potter began taking photographs of Millais’ sitters and paintings. Millais rated Potter's photographs so highly that he often used them to assist his working process, such as for his ‘Rosebery’ portrait of William E Gladstone, the second of his four paintings of the Prime Minister.
Beatrix Potter’s journals from the 1880s and 1890s vividly reveal the influence of her exposure to the art world and the life of a working artist before becoming one herself. She later used photography to aid her work, learning with one of her father’s old cameras. With their mutual interests in art and photography, father and daughter enjoyed a close relationship and despite their closeness being tested in later years,
Rupert was a significant influence in Beatrix's development as an artist and writer. Large numbers of Potter’s photographs survive in several collections, with the earliest dating to the 1860s. The World of Rupert Potter: Photographs of Beatrix, Millais and Friends will feature a carefully selected range of Potter’s photographs from the National Portrait Gallery’s extensive collection of his works, some of which were directly donated to the Gallery by Potter during his lifetime. A larger set of 186 photographs relating to his work for Millais was given to the Gallery by Jack Edward Ladeveze, currently Trustee of the Enid Linder Foundation, in 1993.
Two new acquisitions will be on display for the first time, which show Beatrix Potter on family holidays at two different points in her life. The first of these was taken in 1894, with her father and brother, before she became a published author. The Potter family enjoyed frequent holidays in Scotland and the Lake District, which provided the siblings with the opportunity to explore the surrounding countryside and indulge their interest in animals and natural history, and inspired the illustrated children's books for which Beatrix became famous. The second new acquisition was taken in the Lake District in 1906, by which point Beatrix had published eight books, and shows her with the Potters’ family friend, Hardwicke Rawnsley. Rawnsley encouraged Beatrix in her literary ambitions, and as co-founder of the National Trust, his conservationist views deeply influenced Beatrix, which led to her future contributions to the Trust.
Other portraits on display will include photographs of the painter Sir John Everett Millais in his studio with unfinished paintings as well as portraits of sitters used by Millais for his paintings, including his daughter Effie and statesman John Bright. Constantia Nicolaides, Photographs Cataloguer, National Portrait Gallery, says: ‘Rupert Potter was taking photographs at a time when the medium was still very technically demanding, so that the proliferation of his images to be found in various collections today is astounding. Meanwhile, his subjects are of great historical interest, and we are thrilled to add these two self-portraits, also showing his talented daughter Beatrix, to our existing collection of his photographs of distinguished Victorian figures at leisure, and his work for Millais. This display will provide an opportunity to see fine examples of these.'
Images:
Top: Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Bt in his studio at 2 Palace Gate, Kensington by Rupert Potter, July 1886 © National Portrait Gallery, London
Above: Rupert Potter, Beatrix Potter and Bertram Potter in Lennel, Coldstream by Rupert Potter, 1894 © National Portrait Gallery, London
For further information, please visit www.npg.org.uk and http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/display/2014/the-world-of-rupert-potter-photographs-of-beatrix-millais-and-friends.php
The World of Rupert Potter: Photographs of Beatrix, Millais and Friends, Room 28, 13 May-16 November 2014, at the National Portrait Gallery, London. Admission Free
William Henry Fox Talbot’s gift of his photography and photo-illustrated books to his sister Horatia Gaisford has sold at Sotheby's New York for $1.6 million ($1.96m with charges). The lot was described here and has been estimated at $300,000-500,000. Efforts by British institutions to secure this important group of early photography with such wonderful provenance came to nought. Sotheby's have yet not released any information about the buyer.
Read more about the lot content here: https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2021/50-masterworks-to-celebrate-50-years-of-sothebys-photographs-2/william-henry-fox-talbots-gifts-to-his-sister
UPDATE: Antiques and the Arts Online has reported than Hans P Kraus was the buyer of the lot.
According to the Yorkshire Film Archive, the magic lantern manufacturer, Riley Brothers, operated out of 55 & 57 Godwin Street, Bradford. They produced a machine called the Kineoptoscope in 1896 using a design patented by Cecil Wray. This was advertised at the time in The Era as, 'Steady as Lumière's. No breakdowns. Most portable and the most perfect known'. This was modified into the Kineoptoscope camera in June 1897, and it may be this which is being used in this film. The Riley Brothers put on the first cinema performance in Bradford at the People’s Palace on 6th April 1896, now the site of the National Media Museum.
Hundred of images of old Ireland and the globe-trotting adventures of affluent West Cork Methodists are among the subjects in an extraordinary collection of 19th century photography recently discovered in a house clearance. This also includes an important late 19th century magic lantern made by The Riley Bros of Bradford.
With an estimate of €1,500-€2,500, details of tomorrow's auction in Cork can be found here.
Regular BPH readers will be aware of the general story of the Quillan Leaf. Some of you may have attended the recent Rethinking Early Photography conference at the University of Lincoln where Professor Larry Schaaf, gave a public lecture which, for the first time, told the story of the leaf. It presented the outcome of further research which identified the likely author of the leaf image, adding a new name to British photography's early canon.
BPH is pleased to provide exclusive advance access to a video of Schaaf's lecture at the link here http://youtu.be/iP3sloApu50: or below and titled The Damned Leaf: Musings on History, Hysteria and Historiography.
BPH offers its thanks to Professor Schaaf, Dr Owen Clayton, the conference organiser, and Adam O'Meara who undertook the video production.
'Professor Schaaf's talk will be made public on the conference website on Monday, with other conference keynote talks to follow - check back for a link.
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
A look at London stations. During the Victorian era, competing railways built several stations in London. Since then, all stations have undergone a major renovation, but many still retain some of their original architectural features, including impressive roof extensions.
London Bridge - Inaugurated in 1836, London Bridge was the first station to be built. Located on the south bank of the Thames via the London Bridge, it was immediately added and rebuilt. The trains served south London, Kent, and Sussex.
Euston - Opened in 1837 and extended soon after by the London and Birmingham Railway and later by the London and North Western Railway. It served Birmingham, in the northwest of England and beyond. Originally designed in the style of classical architecture, the station has undergone a major renovation and little remains of the original station. The name comes from the landowners of the day, the Fitzroy family and their country house, Euston Hall.
Paddington - A Great Western Railways London service terminal was built in 1838 on Bishop's Bridge Road, Paddington. Later, in 1854, traffic increased, saying that the old terminal was inadequate and that the great Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel designed the much larger Paddington station across the road.
Fenchurch Street - The first station to be built in the city in 1841 for the London and Blackwall railways. Built in Minories, it was rebuilt in 1854 at its current location on Fenchurch Street. Served trains to Blackwall, Tilbury and Southend in Essex.
Waterloo - Opened in 1848, with several later additions, creating a jumble of platforms and buildings. Rebuilt later. Named after the nearby Waterloo bridge. Served in southwest London and in the counties.
King's Cross - Opened in 1852 for the Great Northern Railway, which serves the main east coast route to Peterborough, York and beyond. Named after a monument to George IV that was erected nearby.
Victoria - Built in 1860 and named after Queen Victoria, the station was divided into two sections and shared by four train companies serving Kent and Sussex.
Cannon Street - Built in the city in 1866 for the South Eastern Railway, which serves south-east London, Kent and East Sussex. Named after the street where it is located.
Charing Cross - Opened in 1864 at The Strand as a link to extend London Bridge services.
St Pancras (shown above right) - Built in 1866. At the time, it had the largest single span roof in the world. The jewel of Gothic architecture at the Midland Great Hotel was built next door. Named after the area in which it is located. Served trains to Midlands and East Yorkshire.
Liverpool Street - Located east of the city of London and replacing an old station in Shoreditch. Inaugurated in 1875 by the Great Eastern Railway, which served Essex and East Anglia. Named after the street where it is located.
Blackfriars - Originally called St. Paul's, it opened in 1886 to serve passengers from South London to the city. Named after the nearby St. Paul's Cathedral, and the area in which it is located.
Marylebone - Built in 1899 on Marylebone Road. One of the smallest stations in London, served Aylesbury and beyond to Manchester.
A look at London stations.
During the Victorian era, competing railways built several stations in London. Since then, all stations have undergone a major renovation, but many still retain some of their original architectural features, including impressive roof extensions.
London Bridge - Inaugurated in 1836, London Bridge was the first station to be built. Located on the south bank of the Thames via the London Bridge, it was immediately added and rebuilt. The trains served south London, Kent and Sussex.
Euston - Opened in 1837 and extended soon after by the London and Birmingham Railway and later by the London and North Western Railway. It served Birmingham, in the northwest of England and beyond. Originally designed in the style of classical architecture, the station has undergone a major renovation and little remains of the original station. The name comes from the landowners of the day, the Fitzroy family and their country house, Euston Hall.
Paddington (shown left) - A Great Western Railways London service terminal was built in 1838 on Bishop's Bridge Road, Paddington. Later, in 1854, traffic increased, saying that the old terminal was inadequate and that the great Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel designed the much larger Paddington station across the road.
Fenchurch Street - The first station to be built in the city in 1841 for the London and Blackwall railways. Built in Minories, it was rebuilt in 1854 at its current location on Fenchurch Street. Served trains to Blackwall, Tilbury and Southend in Essex.
Waterloo - Opened in 1848, with several later additions, creating a jumble of platforms and buildings. Rebuilt later. Named after the nearby Waterloo bridge. Served in southwest London and in the counties.
King's Cross - Opened in 1852 for the Great Northern Railway, which serves the main east coast route to Peterborough, York and beyond. Named after a monument to George IV that was erected nearby.
Victoria - Built in 1860 and named after Queen Victoria, the station was divided into two sections and shared by four train companies serving Kent and Sussex.
Cannon Street - Built in the city in 1866 for the South Eastern Railway, which serves south-east London, Kent and East Sussex. Named after the street where it is located.
Charing Cross - Opened in 1864 at The Strand as a link to extend London Bridge services.
St Pancras - Built in 1866. At the time, it had the largest single span roof in the world. The jewel of Gothic architecture at the Midland Great Hotel was built next door. Named after the area in which it is located. Served trains to Midlands and East Yorkshire.
Liverpool Street - Located east of the city of London and replacing an old station in Shoreditch. Inaugurated in 1875 by the Great Eastern Railway, which served Essex and East Anglia. Named after the street where it is located.
Blackfriars - Originally called St. Paul's, it opened in 1886 to serve passengers from South London to the city (free essay writers online according to this topic). Named after the nearby St. Paul's Cathedral, and the area in which it is located.
Marylebone - Built in 1899 on Marylebone Road. One of the smallest stations in London, served Aylesbury and beyond to Manchester.
Peter Brunning has written a short biography of the London studio photographer Robert Hellis. The piece was published in the Friends of West Norwood Cemetery newsletter. The newsletter containing the article can be downloaded here: newsletter87.pdf. The same newsletter also contains an article on J H Pepper, of Pepper's ghost fame.
BPH would like to thank Peter Brunning, Bob Flanagan and FOWNC for permission to make the newsletter available.
