From playful contemporary paintings to fascinating historical autochromes, explore our Cataloguer's favourites from the archive
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What is your role at Bridgeman? I work in the cataloguing department, working on all the new material that comes into us from collections and suppliers. I'm also in charge of searching our uncatalogued Giraudon and Charmet archives and dealing with image requests from the Paris office.
What do you love most about the job? I get to look at pictures all day! I love the enormous variety of images I work with, one week I can be cataloguing photographs of soldiers in World War One from the National Army Museum, and the next I'll be looking at ancient Roman frescoes. I feel that I have learnt a huge amount since being here, on a wide variety of subjects.
What misconceptions do clients most commonly have about the archive? I think the main one is that people think we only have fine art, whereas in reality Bridgeman also has, among other things, an enormous range of photography, new and old, as well as travel photography from around the world.
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Japanese Art Japanese art is my absolute favourite, and I'm desperate to go to Japan to see the landscapes that inspired work like this. Bridgeman has an incredible amount of Japanese prints, they're among my favourite things to catalogue. I find this painting of Mount Fuji by Hokusai incredibly calming. |
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Andre Kertesz Andre Kertesz is a favourite photographer of mine, this is one of many that I could have chosen. I love the way he plays with shadow and different angles to offer a new and beautiful perspective on every day life. The Eiffel Tower is such a heavily photographed subject, yet this photograph feels completely fresh and new. |
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Rebecca Campbell Rebecca Campbell is a contemporary artist I've come across through working at Bridgeman, and I love her playful paintings of animals and the way she creates pattern in her work. This is my favourite of hers, I love the flashes of red as the foxes dash across the picture.
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National Geographic Society Autochromes The National Geographic Society's collection of autochromes is one of the first collections I worked on. I was enchanted by these colour photographs of people and places around Europe and beyond, showing them in their traditional dress. They capture a way of life that has been lost in the modern world.
This one of Dutch women and their children dressed for the market was taken in 1933. I love the grumpy little girl with her arms folded, and their clogs peeping out of the bottom of their clothes.
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Capturing New York on Film I love footage that can take you back to a moment in time, and this early Thomas Edison clip does just that. It's amazing to me that we can be transported back to the streets of New York in 1903 to get a glimpse of daily life for the people of the time.
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Cy Twombly Cy Twombly is one of my favourite artists, I remember being blown away by his work at MoMA on a trip to New York and have been a fan ever since. I love the sense of freedom in his work, and the way he uses colour and line to convey emotion. |
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