A Celebration of Photography at Lacock Abbey

In 1989, The National Trust and Kodak presented an exhibition at Lacock Abbey, ‘A Celebration of Photography’. Lacock Abbey, the home of Fox Talbot and location of many of his early images has become known as the birthplace of photography.

The National Trust was founded in 1894 “to preserve ‘places of historic interest and natural beauty'” (Taylor, 1994). Kodak was founded in 1888 by American George Eastman. It’s interesting to note on their website, under the heading “Heritage” the statement:

With the slogan “you press the button, we do the rest,” George Eastman put the first simple camera into the hands of a world of consumers in 1888. In so doing, he made a cumbersome and complicated process easy to use and accessible to nearly everyone.

(Heritage | Kodak, 2020)

These two organisations had their own separate vested interests but they agreed “on a general effusion of English heritage”. (Taylor, 1994)

For The National Trust, the exhibition was probably less about history of Photography and not least the history of Art Photography but the wider history and nostalgia that had it’s basis in the “superior national identity found in or reconstructed through, the homes and artefacts of the landed gentry and aristocrats”. (Taylor, 1994 pg 220)

Kodak was focussed on the ‘hobby of photography’. They produced a souvenir leaflet advising amateur and hobbyist photographers on the best ways of photographing these types of locations. The image below taken by Martin Parr sets an interesting scene. The actors recreate an image attributed to Fox Talbot. The scene of the ‘Victorian gentleman’ playing chess, smacks of class and privilege and presents this typical view of ‘enduring Englishness’.

The amateur photographers keenly capture the scene taking a piece of history, a tourist momento or as Taylor describes an ‘occasion of memories’ something that both the Trust and Kodak were keen to promote and to foster a sense of repetition and standardisation in making the experience easy and to create ‘a sense of belonging among communities’.

This joint venture by The National Trust and Kodak was an opportunity to celebrate ‘continuity’ of both business and the nation. (Taylor, 1994) I found it interesting to note that The Chess players images attributed to Fox Talbot is thought to not actually be one of his images and likely taken by photographer Antoine Claudet and Talbot’s assistant Nicolaas Henneman.

Bibliography

1. Sothebys, 2020. [online] Available at: <http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2014/photographs-l14780/lot.13.html&gt; [Accessed 19 May 2020].
2. Kodak.com. 2020. Heritage | Kodak. [online] Available at: <https://www.kodak.com/gb/en/corp/aboutus/heritage/default.htm&gt; [Accessed 19 May 2020].
3. National Trust. 2020. From Abbey To Country Home. [online] Available at: <https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/lacock-abbey-fox-talbot-museum-and-village/features/discover-800-years-of-history-at-lacock-abbey&gt; [Accessed 19 May 2020].
4. Fox Talbot Museum. 2020. History Of Lacock Village, Abbey & Estate – Fox Talbot Museum. [online] Available at: <https://foxtalbot.co.uk/history-of-lacock-village-and-lacock-abbey/&gt; [Accessed 19 May 2020].
5. Lacock Photography. 2020. Photography Courses – In The Birthplace Of Photography. [online] Available at: <https://www.lacockphotography.com&gt; [Accessed 19 May 2020].
6. Taylor, J., 1994. A Dream Of England. Manchester [England]: Manchester University Press.
7. The Art Institute of Chicago. 2020. The Chess Players | The Art Institute Of Chicago. [online] Available at: <https://www.artic.edu/artworks/27083/the-chess-players&gt; [Accessed 19 May 2020].