Blogs

In 1909, the New York art critic Charles Caffin approached Charles Lang Freer with a proposal to have the celebrated photographer Alvin Langdon Coburn come to Detroit to make color slides for a planned lecture on Whistler. What began as an experiment in the use of the new autochrome process expanded into a twelve-day marathon during which Coburn and Freer—working together despite vast differences in age and background—recorded over forty-seven Whistlers and fifty-two Asian and Middle Eastern objects. Join Professor Emerita Anne McCauley for a talk centered on the surviving autochromes and why their creation inspired such outpourings of mutual excitement and friendship. 

This program is part of the monthly lunchtime series Sneak Peek, where staff members and outside scholars share personal perspectives and new research related to the collections of the National Museum of Asian Art. 

Anne McCauley, David H. McAlpin Professor Emerita at Princeton University, has published extensively on 19th- and early 20th-century photography, including A.A.E. Disdéri and the Carte de Visite Portrait Photograph; Industrial Madness: Commercial Photography in Paris, 1848–71; The Steerage and Alfred Stieglitz (co-authored); and Gondola Days: Isabella Stewart Gardner and the Palazzo Barbaro Circle (co-curated and co-authored). In 2017 she was the curator and primary author of Clarence H. White and His World: The Art and Craft of Photography, 1895–1925. She is currently writing a book on Coburn and the evolution during World War I of the vortographs, the “world’s first abstract photographs.”

Sneak Peek | A Colorful Meeting of the Minds: Coburn, Freer, and the Autochrome
Anne McClauley / Asian Art Museum-Smithsonian
Online, uesday, June 9, 2026, 12 – 12:45 PM EDT | 1700-1745 (BST) | 1800-1845 CEST
Free: register here: https://www.si.edu/events/detail?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D203956149

Image credit: Alvin Langdon Coburn; Photograph of a View of Works from the Freer Collection; United States, 1909; autochrome and glass; The Royal Photographic Society Collection at the V&A, acquired with the generous assistance of the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Art Fund. Featuring F1903.7, possibly F1908.113 or F1908.155 or F1908.184, F1908.115, F1908.161, F1908.159 from the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Collection

The Archives Centre at National Museums Liverpool is currently undertaking a project to catalogue and digitise prints by Stewart Bale Ltd. The project invites BPH readers to stay up to date with the project and discover newly digitised photographs by signing up to our mailing list.

Stewart Bale Ltd was a family run practice specialising in commercial and industrial photography, based in Liverpool from c.1911 to c.1980, with an additional London studio from 1949 to 1970. The quality of Bale’s photography is high and the firm was regarded as one of the best amongst its contemporaries. These photographs are a stunning record of 20th century British architecture, industry, leisure and commerce, including images of factories, shops, cinemas, exhibitions, churches, libraries not only in Liverpool but across the North West and the entire country.

With its eight volunteers hard at work cataloguing and digitising around 4,000 Stewart Bale prints, you can follow progress by subscribing to the newsletter.

Subscribe via the following link: https://forms.office.com/e/PibS2fsZet

 Image credit: Photograph of Swansea Civic Centre, 1934, Stewart Bale Collection, the Archives Centre, National Museums Liverpool, SB/P/11401-1.

The V&A has created a range of PhD placements based in collections departments, archives, the National Art Library, research, and collections care and access to support the professional development of PhD researchers across the UK and internationally. In addition to on-the-job experience and mentoring from supervisors, PhD placement students will have access to the Museum’s wider range of workshops, talks and postgraduate training opportunities, alongside a training package designed for the PhD placement cohort. Depending on the project, placements may combine onsite and remote work, with the exact working pattern agreed between the student and placement supervisors.

This placement will explore the V&A’s collection of photographs documenting the construction of the 1862 Exhibition building, designed by Captain Francis Fowke and formerly located on the site now occupied by the Natural History Museum and Science Museum. The collection includes approximately 260 photographs, comprising images commissioned by the Department of Science and Art during construction and photographs of the completed building contained within Spackmann’s scrapbook. These materials provide a valuable resource for understanding the technical and social history of the building but remain relatively understudied.

The placement researcher will investigate the potential of the photographic collection through close analysis and primary and secondary source research. Working with V&A researchers and curators, the student will explore the construction process, architectural techniques, and social history documented by the photographs, including evidence of labour practices, prefabrication, and the role of the Royal Engineers. The project may also consider the potential for visual or 3D reconstruction of the building and will contribute to the V&A’s understanding and future public presentation of this important collection.

V&A PhD Placement – A Visual Narrative: Photography and the Construction of the 1862 Building
Apply immediately - no set expiry date
No salary
Supported by Simona Valeriani, Ella Ravilious, and Patrizia Di Bello
See details here

A short article on an unusual photo-micrograph found buried in the State Library of NSW picture files. It was taken by an amateur photographer, Edward Wolstenholme Ward, who joined the Royal Engineers before coming to Sydney in 1854 to take up the position of deputy-master to the Sydney Mint. Here he worked with other keen amateur photographers Robert Fellows Hunt and William Stanley Jevons who were part of an active photography scene in Sydney in the late 1850s. full article

Dimbola Museum and Gallery, the former home of Julia Margaret Cameron in Freshwater, Isle of Wight, has renamed its main gallery space the Colin Ford Gallery. In a ceremony at the end of a two-day convening celebrating and exploring Cameron, her life and work, Sue Grayson Ford, Colin's widow, spoke about Colin's legacy and involvement with Cameron and inveiled the name plaque that will be installed in the gallery.

Colin Ford CBE was the first Head of the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television and a scholar of Cameron. He had supported the setting up of Dimbola as a permanent museum celebrating Cameron and her circle, and co-authored the Julia Maragaret catalogue raisonné. Colin died in December 2025. 

See the Dimbola website here

Images: © Michael Pritchard

Coinciding with the major exhibition The Joseph Hage Aaronson & Bremen Exhibition: Hepworth in Colour in the Courtauld’s Denise Coates Exhibition Galleries, this display brings together a remarkable group of photographs of Barbara Hepworth (1903–1975) and Ben Nicholson’s (1894–1982) shared London studio at 7 The Mall, Hampstead, taken in the early 1930s by the fine art photographer Paul Laib (1869–1958).

The photographs, which are held in the Courtauld’s collection, are among the most evocative and iconic studio images taken in Britain during the 20th century. As well as portraits and exquisite photographs of individual artworks, the images show their studio populated with sculptures, paintings and prints, carefully arranged side by side with carving tools, plants and other objects. The display has been curated by Gerlind May and Chloe Nahum. 

This display will offer a captivating insight into Hepworth and Nicholson’s London studio environment, which they occupied until moving to Cornwall in 1939, and which was the setting for a period of intense collaboration and experimentation for the two artists. It will also shine new light on Paul Laib, who photographed the work of many eminent British artists in the first half of the twentieth century.

Hepworth and Nicholson: The Hampstead Studio Photographs
6 June – 4 October 2026
Courtauld Gallery, Project Space, Floor 2
See: https://courtauld.ac.uk/whats-on/hepworth-and-nicholson-the-hampstead-studio-photographs/

alongside the display read an accompanying blog post: In the studio with Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson which discusses the photographs. 

Image: Paul Laib (1869-1958), The studio at 7 The Mall with various works by Ben Nicholson, June 1933. Modern gelatin silver print from the original glass plate negative. The de Laszlo Collection of Paul Laib Negatives, Courtauld Institute of Art. Ben Nicholson © All rights reserved, DACS; Paul Laib © The de Laszlo Foundation

The Hardmans’ Liverpool - A Legacy in Light: from Street to Studio invites audiences to experience Liverpool in the early to mid‑twentieth century through the photographic eyes of Edward Chambré and Margaret Hardman. See the city represented via evocative scenes before and after the Second World War. Everyday moments and familiar locations are elevated through an artistic play of composition, angle, light and shadow. As Margaret herself poetically wrote of one major Liverpool landmark ‘I know and love you in a thousand lights’.

From busy streets to serene studio sittings – this same creativity was applied to the Hardmans’ commercial portraiture, produced in their studios on Bold Street and later at 59 Rodney Street. Here they welcomed thousands of Liverpudlians and visitors to the city, photographing young children, newly-weds, artists, actors, soldiers, families and even pets to name a few. The studio took on particular significance during the Second World War, when portraiture of men and women in service – and the loved ones they left behind – played an important role in sustaining morale and supporting the war effort. Together with their photography documenting life beyond the studio, these works reflect the Hardmans’ exceptional vision of – and deep connection to – Liverpool.

The selected content on display, ranging from original photographic prints to letters and medals, is drawn from the National Trust’s vast Hardmans’ archive on deposit at Liverpool Central Library. The contribution of volunteers is reflected in the presentation of works recently conserved by them and staff over the course of several conservation projects – all supporting increased access and ongoing research into the Hardmans’ legacy. Additional material from the Hardmans’ House, including two of the photographers’ personal cameras, further enriches the exhibition.

Cultural Heritage Curator Amy Carney states “The Hardmans’ photographs have helped to shape how Liverpool is seen, remembered and understood today. Visitors are invited to consider their own relationship with the city, as well as with photography and memory itself.”

Enhancing this contemplation is the inclusion of images by Liverpool-based photographer and darkroom educator Rachel Brewster-Wright, founder of Little Vintage Photography. Commissioned to document The Hardmans House at 59 Rodney Street and to create new mini portraits of people posing in the historic Hardmans’ studio setting today, these prints instantly blend nostalgia with the present-day. National Curator of Photography, Anna Sparham, reflects how “They echo a shared desire to preserve meaningful moments – something that Chambré and Margaret’s customers sought, and successfully found, in their enduring and deeply relatable photographs of people and place”.

A further opportunity to experience being photographed in the original studio of The Hardmans’ House is available to book online, with sessions taking place on 26 August in collaboration with Little Vintage Photography. Free, limited sessions available. A guided Photo Walk between The Hardmans’ House and Liverpool Central Library is also programmed for 10 September.

In generous collaboration with Liverpool Central Library and supported by photo printing expert CEWE and Little Vintage Photography

The Hardmans’ Liverpool.  A Legacy in Light: from Street to Studio
5 June-28 September 2026
Hornby Library, Liverpool Central Library

Images: (Top): National Trust/capture Robert Thrift; (Below): © National Trust/Jayne Knight

In the first Photo History since Grace & Thurston published in 2022, I take a long look at the life of the celebrated campaigner and protest photographer David Hoffman, who I had the privledge to work with on Editorial Photographers UK (EPUK) between 2007 and 2015. A university friend of future Magnum president Chris Steele-Perkins, Hoffman has, since the early 1970s, compiled an extraordinary archive of images depicting protest and dissent, mainly on the streets of London.

Among Hoffman's most well known photographs are those he took during the Poll Tax Riot in central London on Saturday 31 March 1990, including Nidge & Laurence kissing. Hoffman's books Endurance & Joy and Protest! were published in 2024 and 2025 respectively.

David remains a tireless campaigner for the rights of photographers and today celebrates his 80th birthday.

Rebel Without Pause is a 75 minute read.

The Curatorial Fellowship in Photography, supported by The Bern Schwartz Family Foundation is an opportunity to further develop expertise in the history of photography by researching the collections of the V&A, while gaining vital curatorial experience working in a museum. The Curatorial Fellow will divide their time between key curatorial duties and pursuing an independent research project, which may relate to portraiture, colour photography or photographic processes, all areas of interest to the American photographer Bern Schwartz and The Bern Schwartz Family Foundation. The topic and scope of the project will be agreed at the start of the fellowship, depending on the Fellow’s expertise and the priorities of the Photography Section.

Details and apply: https://vam.current-vacancies.com/Jobs/Advert/4213163?cid=3279&rsid=24732&js=0&LinkType=1&FromSearch=False

For our project Mad About the Boy we are looking for contactdetails of Robin Shaw, Suzanne Greenslade, Harriet Thompson, Jane Ralley, Jane Erskine, and Diana Baylis.

Whose work was part of the book 'What She Wants - Women Artist Look at Men' (1994) by Naomi Salaman. In addition to the photographers, we hope to get in touch with Naomi Salaman.

If there are any other photographers you think shouldn't be missed, we would of course love to hear about that too!

Dirk Kome & Marloes Heineke

Some more info about the project;

We are two Dutch photographers and exhibition curators. In recent years, we have been researching female photographers who have photographed their loved ones nude. This serves as a counterpoint to the endless number of male photographers who have photographed their wives and girlfriends nude.

We have now found over 120 photographers, spread across the Americas, Asia, and Europe. The oldest photos date back to 1915 and the most recent to 2025. 

Our project is about love, lust, intimacy and the relationship between woman (as photographer) and man. In extension, we want to raise questions among the viewer about adopting a vulnerable stance within a relationship based on equality.  

Finding these images, however, turned out not to be that easy. Museum collections and image archives overflow with nude photos taken by male photographers of their wives/girlfriends. But why are so few images visible of female photographers who have immortalized their beloved naked? Are museums and their public not yet ready for these images? Is the male body not attractive? Do men prefer not to be photographed naked? Or are these photos hidden in boxes and hard drives because women think showing these images will hurt their careers?

The research we began in 2022 is still continuing. By examining the subject across such a broad range of time and geography, it reflects a wide variety of perspectives. It ranges from Imogen Cunningham (US), who photographed her husband as a faun in 1915, to Carla Franke (Germany), who captured her boyfriend with bat wings in 2025. From the conceptual work of Pixy Liao (China) and Snieguolé Michelkevičiūtė (Lithuania) to the more daring work of, for example, Lina Schenynius (Sweden) and Nan Goldin (US).