Blogs

The website for Dimbola, which houses information on the legendary Victorian photographer, Julia Margaret Cameron, has been totally revamped. It is now a lot more easier to navigate and focus is on upcoming events and exhibitions. Links to social networks like Facebook and Twitter have also been incorporated. You can check out the new look for yourself by clicking on the link here.

Dimbola Lodge, the best kept secret on the Isle of Wight, was saved from the bulldozers literally at the last minute, in the early 1990s. Cameron who virtually invented the close-up and photography as an art form, made Dimbola Lodge her home from 1860 to 1875.

Three visual arts researchers have each been awarded a fellowship in the history of photography by the National Gallery of Canada (NGC) as part of its Research Fellowships Program for the 2011–12 academic year. This program encourages and supports advanced research on the NGC’s collections, including those in the Library and Archives. 

Elizabeth Cavaliere holds a bachelor of arts from Mount Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick, a master’s degree in art history from York University, Toronto, and is currently a doctoral candidate in art history at Concordia University, Montreal. During her residency she will study the photographs of Alexander Henderson (1831-1913) to deepen understanding of 19th century Canadian topographical landscape photography.

Jacob Lewis holds a bachelor of arts from Saint Mary’s College of Maryland and a master’s degree in art history from Williams College. He currently holds a Sylvan C. Coleman and Pamela Coleman Memorial Fund Fellowship in the Department of Photographs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and is also a doctoral candidate in art history at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois. He will use his Fellowship at the Gallery to study the photographs of Charles Nègre (1820-1880), as well as other 19th century French photographers.

Hyewon Yoon holds degrees from Seoul National University in Korea, as well as a master’s degree in art history from Harvard University, where she is currently a doctoral candidate. During her residency she will explore the Lisette Model fonds of negatives and documents in the National Gallery of Canada Library and Archives, as part of her research into female European émigré photographers.

Congratulations!

The New York Historical Society has put together a short video clip showing some of the oldest photographs ever taken of Manhattan.  All were shot by photographer Victor Prevost in the 1850s.

You can view them by clicking on the link here.

We are looking for a Curator to take responsibility for the BFI National Archive’s collection of posters, designs and museum objects. Working as part of the BFI curatorial team you will be required to document, develop, research and interpret the poster and designs collections, ensuring they are embedded within the cultural programme of the BFI.

You will have a strong knowledge of British film and television in both its historical and contemporary contexts. You should also have an interest in, and demonstrable knowledge of, 20th and 21st century British art and design, particularly as it relates to the film and television industries.

You will be educated to degree level or equivalent, with a recognised archive, museum or conservation qualification or equivalent experience.

You will be based at the John Paul Getty Conservation Centre, Berkhamsted but you will be required in central London on a regular basis.

You will enjoy benefits such as a final salary pension scheme, 28-33 days annual leave, tickets to BFI festivals and events plus many others.

Further details about the post (including an information pack) can be obtained by visiting www.bfi.org.uk/jobs or by email: jobs@bfi.org.uk.

The closing date for applications is 23 September 2011 Interviews will be held weeks commencing 3 October and 10 October 2011.

Which photographers were included? How were the photographs selected? And Why?

The Lives of Great Photographers was a compelling exhibition drawn exclusively from the Museum's extensive and diverse Photography Collection, including works from The Royal Photographic Society Collection and the Daily Herald Archive. Together this exhibition presented a selection of photographs by some of the greatest photographers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. 

From photographs by William Henry Fox Talbot, Julia Margaret Cameron and Eadweard Muybridge to Tony Ray-Jones and Weegee, this exhibition highlighted some of the most famous and memorable images ever produced. It illuminated the extraordinary and sometimes exceptional lives these photographers led.

Director of the Impressions Gallery, Bradford, Anne McNeill questions Brian Liddy, the curator of the exhibition, about the choices he faced and the decisions he made in the video below:

There is a case study of the National Media Museum's on-going marketing campaign by the creative team behind a recent series of posters. The idea was, in the words of the agency behind the campaign: 'Let the objects speak for themselves! By doing this, we were able to communicate the depth and variety on offer at the National Media Museum whilst also bringing out the stories to be found. The campaign was created to be engaging, through the use of stories and eye catching imagery, and also inspire visitors to find out more by actually visiting the museum itself, this was emphasised by use of the sign off strapline ‘Discover the full story at National Media Museum’

As they say the success of the campaign will be judged by any increase in visitor numbers which are due to be released shortly.

The full report can be found here: http://www.sumodesign.co.uk/work/campaign/national-media-museum.html 

In 1973, photographer Daniel Meadows went on an extraordinary journey, photographing the English as he travelled the country in a double-decker bus. Imagine a young, long-haired hippy with a penchant for Bob Dylan, a sense of adventure and a passion for photography, giving away photographs from his converted double-decker studio. 
Meadows was one of an important group of photographers who spearheaded the independent photography movement in the early 1970s, breaking with tradition and infusing the medium with new energies and ways of seeing. His practice is complex, passionate and sometimes deeply autobiographical. He produced an astonishing record of urban society across Britain, working in a uniquely collaborative way with his subjects, many of whom he interviewed. These are those rare photographs that people come to love, for their innocence, their directness and their sense of longing.
Together with recently discovered unpublished work from Meadows’ own archive, this book presents his five best known projects: The Shop on Greame Street, 1972, Butlin's by the Sea, 1972, June Street, Salford, 1973, The Free Photographic Omnibus 1973-74, and Nattering in Paradise, 1984.
With an insightful view of the culture and fashions of the age, this book Illuminates a remarkable period in British photography when everything seemed new, and gloriously possible. Writer and curator Val Williams has written a fascinating text placing Meadows’ work in the context of contemporary culture.
From the remarkable free photographic studio on Greame Street in Moss Side to his study of suburbia, Meadows emerges as a powerful and engaging documentarist and an incisive commentator on his times.
To accompany the publication of this book, a new exhibition on Meadows's work will be on display at the National Media Museum, details of which can be found here. It will then tour to Ffotogallery, Cardiff; Birmingham Central Library, and the London College of Communication.

A review can be found here, and you can search for the book using the Amazon link on the right.

In October 2010 the National Media Museum hosted the 'Niépce in England' Conference where they could announce and share with the photographic, conservation and scientific communities the ground breaking findings which had been discovered during the collaborative research partnership between the National Media Museum (NMeM) and the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI).

The aim of the project is to record the ‘signature’ of every photographic process and the variants throughout the history of photography. Within the National Photography Collection at the NMeM are three early examples of photography by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce and there is no better place to start on a project than at the beginning.

This new research places Niépce in his rightful place within the history of photography as it revealed new exciting evidence about the examples of photography which Niépce had brought to England to show the Royal Society of London in 1827. Photo historians had always assumed, incorrectly, that the examples Niépce brought were examples of his Heliographic process. However, scientific analysis revealed that the NMeM has examples of three different photographic processes by Niépce.

Speaker: Philippa Wright from the National Media Museum, Bradford, 1pm on 14 October 2011 at the Royal Society.

Further details: http://royalsociety.org/events/Niepce-in-England/?utm_source=Adestra&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Ni%C3%A9pce%20in%20England&utm_content=History%20of%20Science%20events&utm_campaign=Autumn%20events%202011

This is a free public lecture and all are welcome to attend, but prior booking is necessary.Reserve a place at this lecture.