Helmut Gernsheim
(1913-1995), Photographic historian and collectorSitter in 4 portraits
Gernsheim is noted as the author, with his wife, Alison Eames, of The History of Photography, published in 1955. During research he made several key finds, rediscovering the photographs of Lewis Carroll and identifying the oldest existing photograph. Born in Germany, he studied art history and photography. He fled to England in 1937 and served a wartime stint as photographer for an architectural survey at the Warburg Institute of Art in London, becoming a British citizen in 1946. He began collecting photographs in 1945, eventually acquiring a vast collection, now held at the University of Texas. He published biographies of Lewis Carroll, Julia Margaret Cameron and Louis Daguerre.
by Ida Kar
2 1/4 inch square film negative, 13 January 1962
NPG x31633
by Ida Kar
2 1/4 inch square film negative, 13 January 1962
NPG x132972
by Ida Kar
vintage bromide print, 13 January 1962
NPG x125361
by Ida Kar
vintage bromide print, 13 January 1962
NPG x125362
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