Brilliant Photography: Drawn by Light

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Nude on Sand - Oceano, California by Edward Weston, 1936
Nude on Sand - Oceano, California by Edward Weston, 1936Courtesy of Science Museum

An extraordinary photography exhibition brings us some of the greatest treasures from the RPS’ archives

Who? The Royal Photographic Society (RPS) was founded in London in 1853 with the purpose of fostering the Art and Science of Photography. The RPS has acquired photographs and items of historical relevance since its creation – recording the fast technical development of the photographic industry – but it wasn’t until the mid-1920s that a collection was formally established. Featuring over a quarter of a million photographs, nearly 10,000 pieces of equipment and more than 30,000 photography publications (including books, documents and journals), the collection is one of the largest and most complete in the world.

What? Now Drawn by Light, a brilliant new exhibition at the Science Museum, has opened up some of the collection's most significant and unique pieces for public consumption. The display discloses the story behind the works of some of the most prominent photographers of the 20th century, presenting a wide selection of portraits, landscapes, stills, nudes and photo-reportage by pioneers such as Roger Fenton, William Henry Fox Talbot and Ansel Adams. Visitors can take a journey as far back in time as 1913 and dream of wandering on a golden beach with Christina, the picturesque subject of Lieutenant Colonel Mervyn O’Gorman’s iconic portrait. They can contemplate Audrey Hepburn’s timeless beauty, captured in a stunning semi-nude shot by Angus McBean in 1956 (for which the photographer paid the Hollywood actress a £4 modelling fee!); or admire the magnificence of nature in Albert Renger-Patzsch’s 1922 plant study Sempervivum Percarneum.

Why? This is the first major London exhibition to reveal the treasures of the oldest-surviving photographic society’s legendary collection. Drawn By Light allows visitors to appreciate some of the earliest-known photographic material, dating all the way back to the 1820s, while featuring the work of some of the industry’s most illustrious practitioners such as Peter Henry Emerson and Paul Martin, to more contemporary photographers such as Terry O’Neill and Don McCullin. Now in its final weeks in London, the exhibition demonstrates how photography, technology, art and science interact and affect each other’s progress. As co-curator Colin Harding puts it, "The collection reveals how photography has fundamentally shaped our perception of the world and illustrates photography’s enduring power, richness and variety over nearly two hundred years of innovation and creativity.”

Drawn by Light is at the Science Museum until March 1 and then at the National Media Museum, Bradford from March 20 - June 21.