City News

Centenary Square
Birmingham
20th September - 30 October 2008

‘…Benjamin Stone is a national institution.  Photography has been with him,
as has been well said, not a hobby but a passion…’
The Strand Magazine, 1910.

Between 1890 and 1910 the Conservative MP, Sir Benjamin Stone, was a household name.  He was often known by the affectionate nick-names given to him by the Press on account of his keen, even obsessive activities as an amateur photographer.  He was playfully dubbed ‘Sir Kodak’,‘Sir Snapshot’ and ‘The Knight of the Camera’.

Stone’s photographs were taken ‘always for the same object – to show those who will follow us, not only our buildings, but our everyday life, our manners and customs. Briefly I have aimed at recording history with the camera…’

Following the exhibition and publication project, 'A Record of England: Sir Benjamin Stone' and the National Photographic Record Association at the V&A in 2006, and Stone's inclusion in the Tate Britain exhibition How We Are: Photographing Britain 1840 to the Present (2007) in September 2008 Birmingham  Library and Archives Services and Marketing Birmingham are presenting the first major display of Stone’s photographs in his home town of Birmingham for almost a century.

The exhibition of over 100 facsimile images - staged to coincide with the Conservative Party Conference and the 170th anniversary of Stone’s birth – will be opened by the Right Hon. David Cameron MP. It will include some of his most iconic pictures of Parliament, Customs and Festivals and others such as his previously unseen photographs of the Franco-British Exhibition in London, 1908. The exhibition will also include a ‘Legacy’ section revealing the influence of Stone’s work on subsequent generations of British photographers such as Homer Sykes, Daniel Meadows and Anna Fox.

These extraordinary photographs are presented on a specially commissioned outdoor display system in themed sections representing his diverse fields of activity with comments from his Parliamentary Diaries, remarks from writers of the day and ephemera from the vast Sir Benjamin Stone Collection held in Birmingham Central Library.

The site if the exhibition is symbolic in that it stands on the former site of the Raymond Mason statue, Forward. It also sits between the site of the current library and that of the new Library of Birmingham. The new Library will see the creation of a world class library and cultural centre and these will be linked with the Birmingham Repertory Theatre to create a leading venue for the city, the region and the UK. This will be the first of a series of outdoor exhibitions drawn from the Libraries nationally and internationally important collection of photographs presented in the run up to the opening of the new Library of Birmingham.

The Sir Benjamin Stone Collection – consisting of 22,000 photographs mostly with handwritten captions; over 600 stereoscopic prints; 17,000 glass negatives; over a hundred albums and scrapbooks  containing collected prints, press cuttings and invitations, print and negative indexes and copies of his Parliamentary Diaries – was presented by Stone’s Trustees to the Library in 1921. It is now housed in the Archives and heritage Department in the Central Library. There is a micro-fiche copy of the photographic material available.

The exhibition is sponsored by Anthony Collins Solicitors, Birmingham City Council,  Marketing  Birmingham, The Mailbox, Centro and the West Bromwich Building Society.