Ian Wallace Photographer and Photo Historian

My Latest research is now published in the RPS PhotoHistorian.

I’m delighted to have my new research into the work of EA Bierman and the Colour Autochrome Plate published in the latest RPS PhotoHistorian. This research began early last year when I inspected some Autochrome plates held at the West Berkshire Museum where I am a volunteer.

The beautiful still life which appears on the cover of the photo historian was amongst the plates at the West Berkshire museum is one of the earliest plates taken in the UK using the first generally available colour photography process. The Autochrome process was invented by the Lumiere brothers in France and was launched in Paris in 1907. Having discovered this wonderful plate amongst the collection, I set out to learn more about the man that created it.

I discovered a real pioneer and something of an evangelist who had been for many years leading light of the Birmingham photographic Society. Tracking down EAB’s work took me to museums and libraries from Birmingham to Oxford and Lacock. I even had the opportunity to undertake one of my favourite photo history, activities of revisiting the location of historic photographs. It seems that you just always discover things you didn’t know from simply looking at the picture.

Hopefully my article on EA Bierman and the Colour Autochrome Plate will help raise his profile in the history of photography. I am immensely grateful to have the support of EAB’s family for the publishing this work and the agreement of the institutions who hold his plates and photographs to their inclusion in the publication.

This paper was first read as a part of the V&A’s Colour Fever festival in November 21.

For copyright reasons I cannot reproduce the full article with all of the images. However, if you’re a member of the RPS. You can get a copy of the PhotoHistorian. I can provide the text of the article on request and a short talk is also available should you like to have me as a speaker.