Pioneering pictures: ’Julia Margaret Cameron’ at the V&A
![Red wall with old framed photographs](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/Kzs2aTx2w9PnoxFYHpZYnH-415-80.jpg)
London’s V&A is celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of pioneering photographer Julia Margaret Cameron by hauling out more than 100 of her photographs from its collection.
The V&A was the only museum to present her work while she was still alive and had a unique relationship with Cameron. She received her first camera as a gift in 1863 when she was 48 but was instantly fascinated by the possibilities of the new technology. Within two years she was selling her work and donating her photography to what was then the South Kensington Museum. In 1868, the museum offered her two rooms to use as a photography studio and she became a de facto artist in residence.
In 16 years Cameron produced 1,200 photographs – no easy feat when photography still required huge wooden boxes and splashing about with nasty chemicals (though, being a lady of means, however wilfully bohemian, she had staff). In that time, Cameron re-defined portrait photography, as much as it had been defined – taking intimate portraits of notables in her circle, including Alfred Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, Thomas Carlyle, Charles Darwin, Anthony Trollope, the astronomer Sir John Herschel, who may or may not have first used the term ‘photography’, and Julia Jackson, her niece and Virginia Woolf’s mother. She also recreated biblical, Shakespearean, mythical and historical scenarios, which have perhaps aged less well.
Cameron had not just a remarkable sense for composition but was hugely experimental, shooting intentionally out of focus and leaving scratches and smudges on her prints for affect. Her most famous portrait, Iago – a tight-in head shot of a popular Italian painter’s model – is startlingly modern, and not just because of his high-cheekbones, rock star hair and stubble. The exhibition also includes an illuminating selection of letters to the V&A’s founding director Henry Cole, as well as Cole’s diary from 1865.
The exhibition is part of a series of events celebrating Cameron’s bicentenary, that also includes 'Julia Margaret Cameron: Influence and Intimacy' at the Science Museum’s Media Space.
In 1868, the V&A (then the South Kensington Museum) offered her two rooms to use as a studio. From there, photographer and museum built a lifelong working partnership
Thanks to Cameron's elevated societal position (she was a lady of means) famous sitters were relatively accessible. Pictured left: Henry Cole, c.1868. Courtesy the Royal Society of Art, London. Right: Charles Darwin, 1868, printed 1875. Courtesy Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Cameron accepted irregularities in her photography, giving her works an earthy, extremely contemporary feel. Pictured left: Whisper of the Muse, 1865. Right: William Michael Rossetti, 1865. Courtesy Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Pictured left: The Passing of King Arthur, 1874. Right: Sappho, 1865. Courtesy Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Cameron also photographed family members, such as her niece Julia Jackson (pictured left) in 1867. Right: Paul and Virginia, 1864. Courtesy Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Pictured left: Annie, 1864. Right: Circe, 1865. Courtesy Victora & Albert Museum, London
INFORMATION
'Julia Margaret Cameron' is on view at the V&A until 21 February 2016. For more information, visit the V&A's website
ADDRESS
Victoria & Albert Museum
Cromwell Road
London, SW7 2RL
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
-
Commune’s sustainable personal care products look ‘quite unlike anything else’
Commune’s Somerset-made products stand out in the sustainable skincare crowd. Madeleine Rothery speaks with the brand’s co-founders Kate Neal and Rémi Paringaux
By Madeleine Rothery Published
-
‘Hedonistic and avant-garde’: Rabanne’s Julian Dossena on the legacy of the chainmail 1969 bag
Paco Rabanne’s 1969 chainmail handbag encapsulates the late designer’s futuristic, space-age style. Current creative director Julien Dossena tells Wallpaper* about the bag’s particular pleasures
By Jack Moss Published
-
Postcard from Paris: Olympic fever takes over the streets
On the eve of the opening ceremony of Paris 2024, our correspondent shares her views from the streets of the capital about how the event is impacting the urban landscape.
By Minako Norimatsu Published
-
Looking at people looking at art: inside the mind of a gallery attendant
Visitor experience workers at London’s Tate Modern, Serpentine, Barbican and V&A share what it’s like to watch people looking at art during a time of changing attention spans and rising vandalism
By Kyle MacNeill Published
-
Review: K-style takes centre stage at ‘Hallyu! The Korean Wave’ at the V&A
‘Hallyu! The Korean Wave’ at V&A South Kensington celebrates South Korea’s cultural soft power through K-art, K-pop, K-drama, K-film, K-fashion and K-beauty
By Fiona Bae Last updated
-
Tom Hingston on designing for Serpentine Galleries, the V&A, and Wallpaper*
London-based art director and graphic designer Tom Hingston discusses his visual identities for Serpentine Galleries
By TF Chan Last updated
-
Theaster Gates: London, urban reform and exemplars of Black excellence
The American artist and urban planner returns to London for a cultural takeover on a grand scale, and – as one of five visionaries invited to nominate creative leaders of the future for ‘5x5’, Wallpaper’s 25th anniversary project – picks five exemplars of Black excellence leading the way for social and creative change
By TF Chan Last updated
-
Thomas Ruff reimagines 1850s India and Burma at the V&A Photography Centre
By Jessica Klingelfuss Last updated
-
Snap! David Kohn’s V&A Photography Centre opens its doors
By Ellie Stathaki Last updated
-
Jameel Prize announces first ever joint winners of the Islamic art and design award
By Jessica Klingelfuss Last updated
-
V&A announces major video games exhibition and residency
By Jessica Klingelfuss Published