Lacking a Local Buyer, an Historic Photo Album by Pioneering Photographer Julia Cameron Gets the Go-Ahead to Leave the UK
artnet News | Naomi Rea
A collection of important work by the Victorian photographer Julia Margaret Cameron is at risk of leaving the United Kingdom. Earlier this month, a temporary export bar on the photographer’s historic Norman Album expired amid a lack of local buyer interest. Now, the photo collection is primed to relocate should it intrigue buyers outside of the UK.
Cameron is a pioneer of portrait photography, known particularly for her portraits of celebrities of the era as well as photos depicting scenes from myths and legends. Mrs Cameron’s Photographs from the Life, more commonly referred to as the Norman Album, is up for sale at a £3.7 million ($4.9 million) asking price.
The album features portraits of important historical figures including Charles Darwin and the poet Alfred Tennyson, which she compiled between 1864 and 1869. Comprising 74 albumen prints, the book was originally gifted to Cameron’s daughter Julia and her husband Charles Norman to thank them for giving Cameron her first camera and introducing her to the art of photography…read more
Image: King Ahasuerus and Queen Esther. From Images from the Life(the Norman Album), by Julia Margaret Cameron