New V&A photography centre will go ‘global’
V&A BOSS Tristram Hunt today said a world-famous photography collection will be shared with a “global” audience after its controversial acquisition.
The museum today announced it is building a new photography centre to house the vast Royal Photographic Society collection which is being moved from the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford.
The South Kensington institution was accused of “cultural vandalism” when the move was announced last year with opponents saying it strengthened the capital’s cultural dominance over the regions.
Mr Hunt said its plans, which include digitising the 270,000 pictures and putting more on display, would help make photography one
of the defining collections” of the museum in the 21st century. He said: “We have been conserving and interpreting photography since 1852 and we are now delighted to welcome the RPS collection to the museum.
“Today, the V&A cares for one of the most important photography collections in the world. We want to share this remarkable resource with audiences and photography enthusiasts on a global scale, both in person and through an unparalleled digital resource.”
Adding the collection to the V&A’s existing archive will reunite historical artefacts including Fox Talbot’s first prints with his handmade cameras and 1844 photography book The Pencil of Nature.
Other works that will go on show include images such as Eadweard Muybridge’s 1887 image of man performing a handstand, Coco Chanel in 1937, fashion photographer John French and Daphne Abrams in a tailored suite from 1957 and Cecil Beaton’s 1953 image of the Queen.
The Photography Centre, due to open in Autumn 2018, will more than double the amount of gallery space currently given to photography in the museum. Work to digitise the collection has already begun.