A Journey into the Past
Points of View
Capturing the 19th Century on Photography
30 October 2009 – 07 March 2010
British Library, St Pancras, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB
http://www.bl.uk/pointsofview/
I finally managed to see Points of View, a free exhibition at the British Library. The exhibition shows rarely seen photographs from the British Library’s unique collection of more than 300’000 images. At the same time, it illustrates the history of photography – from one of the first Caleotypes taken by William Henry Fox Talbot (An Oak Tree in Winter) to the invention of the George Eastman No 1 Kodak camera. As such, the exhibition is a unique chance to see some of the earliest photographs in a historical context.
One of the photographs I especially liked is Istanbul from the Galata Tower by an unknown photographer that joins a number of separate exposures together to a fantastic 360 degree view of Istanbul, but also Eadweard Muybridge’s ‘moving’ pictures of humans and animals. Some of the photographs are, however, quite hunting – for example, the portrait of Guillaume Duchenne de Boulogne’s in the course of one his experiments with patients at the Salp?tri?re Hospital in Paris taken by Adrien Tournachon in c.1854, but also the X-ray photograph of frogs taken by Josef Maria Eder and Eduard Valenta in c.1896.
Despite the diverse palette of evoked feelings, it is hard to imagine what role these photographs have played at the time they were taken. Nowadays, we are continuously confronted with thousands of images – in newspapers, magazines and journals, but also on TV and in the Internet – and we hardly notice any of them.
Nevertheless, these old images still carry a certain fascination (even for people who are not interested in photography) as they offer a rare view into the past. We can see, with our own eyes, how things must have looked like. We can, however, also see, how photography has changed our worldview – for example, through the invention of the stereoscope by Sir Charles Wheatstone in c.1830.
As a consequence, it is worth to have a look at the exhibition, although the setting for the images sometimes seems a bit old-fashioned as they are displayed in cabinets surrounded by posters heavily loaded with text. Nevertheless, Points of View offers a rare glimpse at some marvellous pieces and technical discoveries. In addition, it allows visitors to look through a camera obscure (right at the entrance of the exhibition) and a magic lantern.
For people who do not have the possibility to see the exhibition at its venue, the British Library provides an online gallery.
See: http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/pointsofview/index.html
In addition, there is also a blog that informs about the exhibition and accompanying events.
Comments
No comments yet. Use the form above to have your say.
