| Jan 16, 2011 | 19th Century Photographic Publications: Illustrated books | | | |
An introduction to the study of the 19th century illustrated book. Here are some references to follow up on.
Sheila Foster, Manfred Heiting, Rachel Stuhlman Imagining Paradise: The Richard and Ronay Menschel Library at George Eastman House, Rochester (Steidl and George Eastman House, Rochester, 2007) [A glorious volume to peruse.]
Helmut Gernsheim, Incunabula of British Photographic Literature: A Bibliography of British Photographic Literature, 1839-75 (London, Berkeley: Scolar Press in association with Derbyshire College of Higher Education, 1984)
Lucien Goldschmit & Weston J. Naef. The Truthful Lens: A survey of the photographically illustrated book, 1844-1914 (New York : Grolier Club, 1980)
P.M. Hertzmann, Inc / Margolis & Moss 100 Books with Original Photographs 1846-1919 (San Francisco & Santa Fe: P.M. Hertzmann, Inc / Margolis & Moss, 2003) [Sales catalogue]
David Margolis, David & Martha A. Sandweiss. To Delight the Eye: Original photographic book illustrations of the American West (S.l., 1994)
Julia Van Haaften "Original Sun Pictures: a checklist of the New York Public Library's holdings of early works illustrated with photographs, 1844-1900", New York Public Library Bulletin, Spring 1977
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Exhibition: 19th Century Photographic Publications: Illustrated books
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| | Jan 16, 2011 | Scientific: 19th Century Geology and Palaeontology | | | |
An overview of how photography was used in the 19th century to provide evidence for the study of geology and palaeontology.
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Exhibition: Scientific: 19th Century Geology and Palaeontology
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| | Jan 15, 2011 | Online exhibitions on Scientific Photography | | | | The core of Luminous-Lint online exhibitions on Scientific Photography now includes:
Thanks to all the people and organisations who have assisted with these.
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| | Jan 9, 2011 | Will Dunniway: Plains Indian Tintype Plates | | | |
This series of contemporary tintypes taken using the wet plate collodion by Will Dunniway of Plains Indian portraits raises lots of questions. The photographs are taken using cameras, lenses and chemical formulae that are as close as possible to those used by nineteenth century photographers. The growth of interest in nineteenth century processes has highlighted what does and doesn't work and this experimentation enriches our knowledge of the past.
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Exhibition: Will Dunniway: Plains Indian Tintype Plates
More about this photographer
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| | Jan 9, 2011 | James Robertson | | | |
James Robertson (1813-1888) was an English photographer who photographed throughout the Mediterranean in the 1850s. In 1855 he photographed the Crimean War. Later he photographed in Egypt, the Middle East and India. He was the brother-in-law of photographers Antonio and Felice Beato.
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Exhibition: James Robertson
More about this photographer
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| | Jan 8, 2011 | Online exhibitions on Documentary Photography | | | | Over the last few months we've added a number of online exhibitions on Documentary Photography:
Thanks to all the people who assisted in providing examples.
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| | Jan 3, 2011 | Images and Words | | | | Light Research and Luminous-lint - A further bit of the puzzle...
Robert Hirsch of Light Research and Alan Griffiths of Luminous-Lint have been collaborating to create a visually rich online history of photography that we call Images and Words. As it is the 5th anniversary of Luminous-Lint we have a bit of a surprise for you and here it is - the first tentative step of what we are planning.
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This part of Luminous-Lint is a collaborative project to provide authoritative online histories of photography
created to the highest academic standards that evolve over time as the knowledge within the global community improves.
We will be adding additional content, footnotes, examples and indexes as the project proceeds.
Our motivation in this project is to allow readers access to a greater range of illustrative examples than is possible within
the confines of printed volumes. It will take full advantage of the Internet with links for additional research, audio and
video materials where appropriate. We do not see this project as one with boundaries and set authors but rather as one that is expansive
and collaborative.
The advantage of this collaboration is that it will allow the highest quality texts to be supported by the wide range of
images, biographies and online exhibitions that are already indexed and available on Luminous-Lint and elsewhere. As much of the material
comes from private collections this will allow us to create rich, deep, fluid and highly visual histories of photography. Whereas a
normal history may refer to the 1894 Photo Club of Paris catalogue we can show all the images for those interested in gaining a deeper
understanding. Iconic photographs can be explained by critics, photo-historians or the photographer who took the image. The structure
of a printed book however is important as it provides a coherent form that is lacking in almost all websites - sometimes to their benefit
but not where a structured understanding is required. This project will have both a structure but allow access to additional materials in novel ways.
Both authors appreciate that there are subjects which are covered only briefly or not at all and over time we will work
with colleagues to gradually fill in the pieces. We are not seeking to reinvent the wheel so if you have material
that will fill in a gap or elucidate a point or footnote please let us know.
This project is an adventure that both of us are enthusiastic about and if it helps to encourage a deeper understanding of
a subject we love so much the better.
Over the years both of us have been assisted by thousands of people and we will make certain that
each is thanked properly on this site as it progresses.
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Starting points...
Robert Hirsch Exploring Color Photography, Fifth edition (Focal Press, 2010)
Robert Hirsch Seizing the Light: A Social History of Photography, Second edition (McGraw-Hill, 2009)
Robert J. Hirsch
Light Research
146 Newfield Street
Buffalo, NY 14207-1650
USA |
Alan Griffiths
Luminous-Lint
Box 33055 Quinpool RPO
Halifax NS B3L 4T6
Canada |
| hirsch@lightresearch.net | alan@luminous-lint.com |
| www.lightresearch.net | www.luminous-lint.com |
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Final note...
If it fails, strange things show up on the screen, text shows out of order and links do not work... no problem that is software testing! Come back soon or drop me an email at alan@luminous-lint.com and I‘ll try and sort it out. Many thanks for your patience. |
| | Dec 22, 2010 | Newsletter 4.09 - December 22, 2010 has been emailed | | | | Luminous-Lint Newsletter 4.09 - December 22, 2010 has been emailed to all those on our mailing list and you can subscribe to these free newsletters if you haven't already done so.
Past issues of the newsletter are in the library on the Luminous-Lint website. Best, Alan
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| | Dec 21, 2010 | Angus McBean - The Christmas Cards | | | |
Angus McBean is well-known for his photographic record of theatrical productions at the Old Vic, the National Theatre and various productions in London's West End. He also photographed the ballet at Sadler's Wells and Glyndebourne. Less well-known is the series of photographic self-portrait Christmas cards he produced from 1933 to 1985. Terence Pepper commented that these 'made him unique amongst his peers and hold a special place in the history of photographic self-portraiture.' In 1967 McBean stopped producing his Christmas cards and was not to issue another one until 1981. In letters that he wrote during this time he cited ill health including several hip operations and the lack of 'a rich vein of creativity' as reasons for not producing them.
In 1981 he started sending cards again, writing in a letter on the back of the card My Dearest Vivienne, my first card for 12 years! Done in front of the BBC cameras for the Arena programme about me and my "Art". He went on to complain that being filmed just two weeks before Christmas gave him no time to mount them properly. Throughout the period when he was producing cards for himself, he also created them for his mother Cherry, his partner David Ball and for the occasional friend.
In 1974 McBean sold his collection of negatives to the Harvard Theatre Collection, having found no institutional takers for it in England. In 1977 the National Portrait Gallery made its first purchase from his vintage prints, which thankfully he had retained.
Pierre Spake
www.pierrespake.com
December 2010
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Exhibition: Angus McBean - The Christmas Cards
More about this photographer
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| | Dec 19, 2010 | Tintypes - Exterior views (1860-1900) | | | |
When one looks at salt prints and to a lesser extent Daguerreotypes of exterior views one has the sense that the photograph was taken with an artistic intent in the framing and composition that went beyond a simple documentary record. On those occasions the view might be devoid of people, human habitations or any semblance of civilization. Here we have art for art's sake.
If one looks at vast numbers of tintypes one has a different sense and surviving artistic scenic views are almost totally non-existant. This puzzled me and so I asked Andrew Daneman the possible reasons and he proposed three:
- The tintype process itself lacks tonal range and so there are no pure whites. This would render any landscapes unsatisfactory and particularly snowscapes unattractive and therefore have no artistic purpose making them unsaleable.
- Usually the creator of tintypes was an operator with limited training and lacking any formal, or informal, understanding of art. With the makers of Daguerreotypes and salt prints the best photographers were frequently educated artists and/or scientists with refined tastes, sometimes travelled widely, and had a sophisticated understanding of classical and contemporary artistic traditions.
- At the same time as tintypes were popular there was the move to a negative / positive process and the albumen print offered greater artistic control and room for experimentation. This meant that those inclined to art would not be drawn to making tintypes.
The tintype was a means of recording the everyday and as such it has immense cultural value just as would real photo postcards later. It was a means for largely itinerant photographers to earn a living and there was little or no market for low contrast photographs of a valley, an isolated tree or an untamed stream. If you can show us tintype examples of the wonders of nature we'd both be fascinated to see them and be proved wrong.
Alan Griffiths
[with thanks to Andrew Daneman]
All photographs are courtesy of the Andrew Daneman collection of American Tintypes.
Related Luminous-Lint exhibitions:
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Exhibition: Tintypes - Exterior views (1860-1900)
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