The Photographs Gallery, V&A, London.

It was a pleasure to visit the Photographs Gallery at the V&A on two counts: I was keen and interested to see the exhibition and it was a delightfully cool space with dim lighting, such a contrast to the heat wave glare of a baking hot London outside.  Light levels are kept low in the gallery in order to prevent damage to original prints.

The V&A was the fist museum to collect photographs and began to accumulate them in 1852 with the first exhibition taking place in 1858.  Its collection is now among the most important in the world and it forms the national photography collection.  The works currently on display in the gallery are highlights from the permanent collection and document the history of photography from its earliest beginnings to the present day.  The exhibition is organised in seven sections: Discovery, Documents, Records and Travel, Facts and Focus, After the War: Personal Vision, Modernism , Recent Acquisitions and finally In Focus: The Museum Photographers.

Discovery
Photography was officially announced in 1839 by Louis Daguerre in France and William Henry Fox Talbot in England.  Both made use of the light sensitivity of silver salts, Daguerre using metal plates and Fox Talbot Paper.  Fox Talbot's use of photosensitive paper led to the development of negatives.  From this period the museum has examples of Daguerrotypes such as those by Antoine Claudet from 1847 and John Benjamin Dancer from 1857.  In both instances it is clear that these are images on metal plates and appear to have been hand coloured.

Image 1

Other examples include Cyanotypes and paper negative Calotypes such as Alexander Gardener's Street in Boulogne from 1853.  This was very dark and hard to see the features.In this process the negative could be stored for a few days which was very useful for travelling photographers.  Also on display are a selection of albumen prints such as the Anatomy Lesson by Charles Dodgson.  Albumen prints used egg white to bind the photographic chemicals to the paper.  Charles Dodgson is more famously known as Lewis Caroll, author of 'Alice in Wonderland'.  He was also a mathematics don at Oxford and an accomplished amateur photographer.

Image 2

In these early days of photography, photographers found it difficult to reproduce sky and foreground accurately and so skies were often white and bleached.  This image, also an albumen print by an unknown photographer from circa 1860 concentrated on the sky.

Image 3

Documents, Records and Travel
During the second half of the 19th century the commercial potential of photography was realised as it was an ideal medium to combine science and art in the new industrial age.  Western photographers travelled widely with heavy and cumbersome equipment and often worked in difficult conditions. Their images crossed the boundaries of commercial, documentary, social and artistic photography.  Portrait studios thrived and cartes-de-visite became very popular.  Photographs became a powerful tool for documenting, classifying or controlling people and places and for the visual dissemination of both facts and opinion.

One example of this genre that I liked and had come across before was the 1855 salted paper image of Soldiers at Camp by Roger Fenton.  Fenton was one of the first war photographers, often enduring harsh conditions and the technical complications of the wet colloidon process to produce 360 images of the British army during the Crimean War.

Image 4

The Carte-de Visite was patented by Andre Disderi in 1854 and became the most popular form of portrait photograph.

Image 5

Buildings were regularly photographed and the The Society for Photographing Relics of Old London was founded in 1875 to document building which were in danger of demolition.

Image 6

Frank Meadow Sutcliffe was another photographer of this genre and worked almost exclusively in Whitby where he was, and still very much is, popular with tourists to the town.  His images were more than just factual recording and became atmospheric, often enhanced by both mist and chimney smoke as in this 1880 image of Whitby Upper Harbour, also an albumen print.  Today modern copies of his images are readily available for sale as prints or canvasses in Whitby.

Image 7

Facts and Focus
In the early years of the twentieth century photography reached a crossroads.  Some photographers adopted a factual style or 'straight photography' where subjects were recorded sharply and with precision.  Others chose a more personal and self-consciously artistic approach that imitated painting.  They favoured fine, limited and hand-crafted prints and soft-focus effects that they saw as being in keeping with 'naturalistic' human vision.  These were the 'Pictorialist' photographers who formed societies promoting the cause of photography as fine art over its prevailing status as a mechanised medium.

Edward Steichen began his photographic career as a proponent of the Pictorialist genre until perhaps the beginning of the first World War.  Initially he aspired to be a painter but after the war he destroyed all of his paintings.  This image 'Heavy Roses, Voulangis, France', is probably the last photograph he took in France before the outbreak of the war.  It has a painterly quality and the fact the the blooms are slowly withering can be looked at as a metaphor for the tragedy to come.  It has inspired me to photography some slowly dying roses my wife was given for her birthday.

Image 8

Another image in the Pictorialist style is the 1933 image 'Vienna by Night' by Edward Hartwig.  It is an atmospheric city scene and wet pavements reflect the street lamps above.  The soft focus and evening light are reminiscent of a nocturne painting by Whistler, an artist much admired by the Pictorialists.  Hartwig declared this to be one of his favourite prints and it was found in his suitcase after his death.

Image 9

Alfred Steiglitz took this image of 'Poplars, Lake George' while his wife Georgia O'Keefe was away in New Mexico.  The loneliness of separation led Stieglitz to to contemplate his own mortality.  The commentary suggests that he identified the trees' dwindling vitality, photographing them repeatedly, almost as one might check one's pulse.

Image 10

After the War: Personal Vision
After the Second World War, photography was increasingly understood as a form of documentation that could also communicate a personal vision.  Magazines and the fashion industry enabled photographers to earn a living out of the medium whist at the same time allowing them individual expression.  Photographers began to try to understand and explore the world through their photography which began to be used as part of conceptual art.


 Cartier-Bresson became interested in photography in 1930, around the same time he met the Surrealists.  This surreal image reveals a strong sense of geometry and composition.

Image 11

'Givenchy Hat, Paris' was taken by Frank Horvat at Lngchamp in 1958 for the fashion magazine Jardin des Modes.  After meeting Henri Cartier-Bresson he decided to pursue a career in photojournalism and brought a reportage style to fashion using a 35mm camera and available light.

Image 12

Arnold New is known for his images for Life Magazine of politicians and artists.  This photograph was taken seven months before Marilyn Monroe's death in 1962.  It is grainy as it is a large crop from a negative of the actress in conversation with the biographer Carl Sandburg.

Image 13

Recent Acquisitions
The V&A continues to collect both historic and contemporary work.  The recently acquired work covers the spans the 1970s to the present.  Several of the works explore photography's relationship to other media, including painting and film.  Most are conventional images but some are digital or are chemically altered.

Kevin Lear presented this image 'Jiving at the Long Bar - Southend on Sea' taken in 1974 to the V&A. Born in 1947 he grew up in the rock'n'roll years of the 1950s.  In the 70s the fashions and music made a comeback and Lear made a series of photographs of the Teddy Boy revival.  The result is a mixture of 1950s and 1970s styles.

Image 14

James Ravillious documented daily life in the village of Beaford, Devon, over a period of 17 years, creating one of the most detailed visual records of any rural area in England.  The careful composition of this 1979 image 'Olive Bennett and her Red Devon Cows' reveal an affection and admiration for the people whose lives he recorded.

Image 15

 Modernism
In the period between the wars photographers embraced the mechanical aspects of the medium as never before.  Many found photography a fitting tool for recording the dynamic streets and dizzying heights of the expanding city.  Some experimented with extreme vantage points of high or low which often resulted in abstract images.  Others combined photography with typography or used camera-less techniques.  The sleek glamour of modernism was also evident in fashion photography and portraiture.  Documentary photography was often used to portray a social message.

Although Paul Strand is best known as a still photographer, in the 1920s he worked as a film maker.  In this photograph taken in 1923 and printed in 1975 he uses a new movie camera as a subject for a still image.

Image 16

Ilse Bing moved to Paris to concentrate on photography.  She was one of the first proponents of the 35mm Leica that enabled photographers to capture fast-moving events.  She liked cropped compositions, quirky angles and aerial views.

Image 17

Berenice Abbott carefully planned this image knowing it had to be taken on the shortest day of the year when it would be dark but the lights would still be on in the offices.

Image 18

Edward Weston, like his contemporaries Stieglitz and Steichen, began his career as a Pictorialist, later becoming a prime practitioner of 'straight photography' which favoured sharp focus and non-manipulated images over painterly compositions.  Straight photography emphasised the elementary geometric structure of subjects shown here in the unusual arrangement of limbs.

Image 19

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to the V&A Photography Room and have illustrated here some of the images which I enjoyed, interested me or helped my understanding of the history of the medium.  I especially found the caption that accompanied the  image of limbs by Edward Weston fascinating as it helped fix the place of some of the early photographers in the Pictorialist Straight/Modernist arenas and the way that they changed their thinking, especially Weston himself.  I am particularly fond of his quote when he refers to the Pictorialists as 'Those Fuzzy Wuzzies' so it was fascinating to discover that he began his career as a Pictorialist.  I enjoyed seeing photographs that I recognized by familiar photographers such as the example by Frank Sutcliffe and that by Roger Fenton.  On the other hand there were other works by photographers with whom I am aware of but not familiar with the image selected, such as those by Edward Weston, Paul Strand and Henri Cartier-Bresson.  There were also examples of work by photographers who were new to me.  I particularly enjoyed the section on Facts and Focus and the discussion of Pictorialism and 'Straight' photography.  The image of roses by Edward Steichen has inspired me to photograph some dying roses that my wife received for her birthday.

Images

1. Benjamin Dancer, J 1851 Scientist in His Laboratory
[daguerreotype stereograph] [online image] V&A, Available from:  http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O119158/scientist-in-his-laboratory-daguerreotype-dancer-john-benjamin/ [Accessed 13.8.14]

2. Dodgson, C. 1857, The Anatomy lesson with Dr George Rolleston [albument print] [online image] V&A, Available from: http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O182302/the-anatomy-lesson-with-dr-photograph-unknown/ [Accessed 13.8.14]

3. Unknown, 1860, Cloud Study [albumen print] [online image] V&A, Available from: http://collections.vam.ac.uk/search/?listing_type=imagetext&offset=0&limit=15&narrow=1&extrasearch=&q=Cloud+study%2C+unknown+photographer&commit=Search&quality=1&objectnamesearch=&placesearch=&after=&after-adbc=AD&before=&before-adbc=AD&namesearch=&materialsearch=&mnsearch=&locationsearch= [Accessed 13.8.14]

4. Fenton, R. 1855, Soldiers at Camp [salted paper print] [online image] V&A, Available from:  http://collections.vam.ac.uk/search/?listing_type=imagetext&offset=0&limit=15&narrow=1&extrasearch=&q=Soldiers+at+Camp%2C+Roger+Fenton&commit=Search&quality=1&objectnamesearch=&placesearch=&after=&after-adbc=AD&before=&before-adbc=AD&namesearch=&materialsearch=&mnsearch=&locationsearch= [Accessed 13.8.14]

5. Horne and Thornthwaite, Mayall, J.E., Unknown, 1860s, Cartes-de
visite, [hand coloured albumen prints] [online image] V&A, Available from:  http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/galleries/level-3/room-100-photographs-gallery/ [Accessed 13.8.14]

6. Dixon, H. with Boole, A&J, 1875, Cloth Fair London, [carbon print] [online image] V&A, Available from: http://collections.vam.ac.uk/search/?listing_type=imagetext&offset=0&limit=15&narrow=1&extrasearch=&q=Cloth+Fair+London+Henry+Dixon&commit=Search&quality=1&objectnamesearch=&placesearch=&after=&after-adbc=AD&before=&before-adbc=AD&namesearch=&materialsearch=&mnsearch=&locationsearch= [Accessed 13.8.14]

7. Sutcliffe, F.M. 1880, Whitby Upper Harbour, [albumen print] [online image] V&A, Available from: http://collections.vam.ac.uk/search/?listing_type=imagetext&offset=0&limit=15&narrow=1&extrasearch=&q=Whitby+Upper+Harbour%2C+Frank+Sutcliffe&commit=Search&quality=1&objectnamesearch=&placesearch=&after=&after-adbc=AD&before=&before-adbc=AD&namesearch=&materialsearch=&mnsearch=&locationsearch= [Accessed 13.8.14]

8. Steichen, E. 1914, Heavy Roses, Voulangis, France, http://www.afterimagegallery.com/steichenheavyroses.htm

9. Hartwig, E. 1933, Vienna by Night, [gum bichromate print] [online image] V&A, Available from: http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1141241/vienna-by-night-photograph-hartwig-edward/ [Accessed 13.8.14]

10. Stieglitz, A. 1932, Poplars, Lake George, [gelatin silver print] [online image], V&A, Available from: http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O118846/poplars-lake-george-photograph-stieglitz-alfred/ [Accessed 13.8.14]

11. Cartier-Bresson, H. 1931, Shop Window, Hungary, [gelatin silver print] [online image] V&A, Available from:  http://www.magnumphotos.com/image/PAR44916.html [Accessed 13.8.14]

12. Horvat, F. 1958, Givenchy Hat, Paris, [elatin silver print] [online image] V&A, Available from: http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O166914/photograph/ [Accessed 13.8.14]

13. Newman, A. 1962, Marilyn Monroe, Beverly Hills, [gelatin silver print] [online image] V&A, Available from: http://www.artnet.com/auctions/artists/arnold-newman/marilyn-monroe-beverly-hills-california [Accessed 13.8.14]

14. Lear, K. 1974, Jiving at the Long Bar-Southend on Sea, [gelatin silver print] [online image] V&A, Available from:  http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1242654/jiving-at-the-long-bar-photograph-kevin-lear/ [Accessed 13.8.14]

15. Ravillious, J. 1979, Olive Bennett and her Red Devon Cows, Cuppers Piece, Beaford, Devon, [gelatin silver print] [online image] V&A,  Available from: http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1249540/olive-bennett-and-her-red-photograph-james-ravilious/ [Accessed 13.8.14]

16. Strand, P. 1923, Akely Motion Picture Camera, New York City, [gelatin silver print] online image] V&A, Available from:   http://www.mutualart.com/Artwork/Akeley-Motion-Picture-Camera-New-York-Ci/2568A0C56262E9C8 [Accessed 13.8.14]

17. Bing, I. 1932, Paris, Rue de Valois, [gelatin silver print] [online image] V&A, Available from: http://www.classic-photographers.com/wp-content/gallery/ilse-bing/ilse_bing_puddle-rue-de-valois-paris-1932.jpg [Accessed 13.8.14]

18 Abbott,B. 1934, New York at Night (Exchange Place from Broadway), [gelatin silver print] [online image] V&A, Available from:   http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O112513/new-york-at-night-exchange-photograph-abbott-berenice/ [Accessed 13.8.14]

19. Weston, W. 1934, Nude, 1-50 (Legs and Arms), [gelatin silver print] V&A