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07/25/2004 Archived Entry: "Ottoline's Album"

I might have to confess to a false nostalgia. I enjoy many old photographs even if they are not really particulary "well made". Academia has enbranced Julia Margaret Cameron, so I don't have too much guilt there, and wet plate photography has been making a sort of weird comeback with Sally Mann probably being the most conspicous artist picking up the technique, so when I admire the wet plate look I can argue that it is more than a wistful look back in time.


Very early candid photography I find wonderful even though I can't always say it's because the compositions are so great, or the tones so smooth, or even because it give me insight into the age. There is something amazing about see reality largely unadulterated from long ago. A Merchant Ivory film might delude you every now and than that you are seeing something from a world now dead, but they you remember it's all fake, just a bunch of actors in fancy dress.


My local library had a book, Lady Ottoline's Album. Ottoline, between the two world wars, was good at getting interesting and intelligent people to spend their hours at her shabby chic house in England . Luckey for her. Lucky for posterity she was a shutterbug.






I don't know if I've ever imagined T.S. Elliot as looking like anything except old, but of course he spent much of his youth young. This image of T.S. Elliot charms me even though the pose is silly, and the focus lacking. Nevertheless I love staring at this photograph. And then there are group pictures which are facinating.

My favorite is this one with Bertand Russell in the middle, Lytton Strachey to the left, and Philip Morrell to the right. So prim but at the same time comfortable picture. There is some quality about this image in particular which reminds me of the best Irving Penn's.


I wonder how many great photographs of the famous and obscure are carelessly thrown out? I know I have done just such a thing with old photographs of my father's. An older gentleman I knew told me that his mother threw out hundreds of glass plates from his father's photography career. That is probably a common story.


Most antiques are mass produced antiques. Many photographs and virtually all negatives are one of a kind.

Replies: 1 Comment (Add your comments)

I have a photo album from the late 20's and 30's and 40's that used to belong to my grandfathers ex-wife. I love to look thru it and even though I'm not related to them I feel a connection. I thought about selling it but changed my mind. I think I'll keep it.

Posted by Rose Hill @ 07/25/2004 01:25 AM PST

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