Other works by John Blakemore
In 2001 Blakemore presented the Library with a gift of six tulip prints. Two of these were shown alongside a portrait of Blakemore by Richard Sadler in an exhibition at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. It was this gift that led to discussions about the Library becoming a potential home for his archive.
There are also 5 prints by Blakemore and a handful of images (by other photographers) of him giving workshops at the Photographer’s Place in the Paul Hill / Photographer’s Place Archive (MS 2294).
John Blakemore’s archive has a number of connections with material and collections held in the Library of Birmingham. The most significant of these is the Paul Hill / Photographer’s Place Archive, acquired with support from the Art Fund in 2005. Hill and Blakemore worked closely together teaching photography at Derby and Trent Polytechnic in the early 1970s. Blakemore was also one of the eminent teachers at the Photographer’s Place, set up by Hill in 1976.
In addition to the prints by Blakemore mentioned above, the Hill archive includes exhibition catalogues (solo / group shows), copies of articles and essays which make reference to Blakemore and a large series of administrative documents (relating to the Art Council, Royal Photographic Society etc) which help to establish Blakemore’s history and significance as a photographer. None of these items are duplicated in the Blakemore Archive. The experience gained on the current project cataloguing the Paul Hill / Photographer’s Place Archive will provide a model in devising a similar programme of wok for the Blakemore material.
There is a portrait of Blakemore in his studio (2000) by his close friend and colleague at Derby Polytechnic, Richard Sadler. Blakemore’s Archive also relates closely to other collections which document the rise of independent photography in the UK and the role of Midlands based organisations within that history.
Its acquisition would enable the Library to further document, display and disseminate knowledge about the rise of independent photography in Britain in the 1970s and the related debates about the medium as an autonomous means of self expression within the filed of the visual arts.
The acquisition would enable the Library to further fulfil the aim, stated in our acquisition policy, to become the major repository documenting the import role which Midlands-based photographers have played in the history of British photography. We are currently discussing related acquisitions from photographers including John R Myers, whose book/exhibition Middle England (1974) was one of the first project supported by the new established Arts Council Photography Panel in the 1970s.
