Black and grey

Attarine Medersa, Fez, by Katie Cooke, taken with a pinhole camera. ©Katie Cooke

An exhibition at the Fox Talbot Museum, Lacock, which runs from 12 April until 22 September 2013, examines the relevance of black and white photography today.

Musée Gallo-Romain, Lyon, by Nettie Edwards, taken with an iPhone. ©Nettie Edwards

The exhibition features the work of six artists working with black and white photography: Anthony Jones, Deborah Parkin, Trevor Ashby, Nettie Edwards, Mark Voce and Katie Cooke.

Ben Youssef Medersa, Marrakech, by Katie Cooke, taken with a pinhole camera. ©Katie Cooke

Roger Watson, the curator at the Fox Talbot Museum, comments that the absence of colour forces us to notice the texture, line and shape in the images.

Versailles Grand Canal: February 2013, by Nettie Edwards, taken with an iPhone. ©Nettie Edwards

The cameras and techniques used vary from the most recent – the iPhone – to the most traditional – the pinhole camera – demonstrating the almost infinite possibilities of black and white photography. However, all the artists seem to share an interest in contemplative observation and an appreciation of the passing of time.

Freshly squeezed research

Every year the National Trust produces a collection of articles, the Historic Houses and Collections Annual, reflecting the latest research by its curators. The 2010 issue has just come out, published in association with Apollo.

Read all about:

• Riots at Knole
• A Meissen folly
• Books at Canons Ashby
• Embroidery designs by Robert Adam
• The library-rooms at Dunham Massey
• Coleshill House and the 2nd Earl of Radnor
• The Edwardian plant collector Frederic Lubbock
• Scotney Old Castle
• National Trust acquisitions 2009-10

To access or buy the Historic Houses and Collections Annual, click here (it is about to be listed on the NT bookshop site, but do let me know if it hasn’t appeared yet).

©NTPL/Andreas von Einsiedel

The slightly daunting cover image relates to a recent major acquisition at Lacock Abbey, where a group of Baroque terracotta figures by the mysterious artist Victor Alexander Sederbach populates the walls of the hall. We have now acquired the models for these sculptures, among many other things.

John Ivory Talbot (?1691-1772) by Michael Dahl. ©NTPL/John Hammond

Sederbach was commissioned to do these sculptures by John Ivory Talbot, who had the hall created by his architect Sanderson Miller in 1754-5. It is a well-preserved example of the the early neo-Gothic style, sometimes termed ’Gothick’ in the self-consciously antiquarian fashion of the day.

©NTPL/Andreas von Einsiedel

The figure of a goat in one of the Sederbach sculptures has a sugarlump on its nose. It was first placed there by a student in 1919 and has remained there (or rather has been periodically replaced) ever since – we value our traditions!