Join author Nichole Fazio for a conversation about her recently published book on Julia Margaret Cameron, which features the remarkable collection of photographs held by the Bodleian Library and Ashmolean museum, Oxford. We will consider how Cameron pursued the poetic in her portraiture and photographic illustrations, including those of Alfred Tennyson’s poetry. In doing so, we will reencounter aspects of her art that confirm Cameron’s place in the history of photography and explain why her images continue to capture our imaginations.

Nichole J. Fazio received her doctorate in History of Art from the University of Oxford, where she specialized in 19th-century British photography. She is currently the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Research and Scholars Programs at the University of Chicago. She is also the founding executive director of its College Center for Research and Fellowships and lecturer in the Humanities Collegiate Division.

Suggested donation £4, Refreshments available to purchase before the talk (last orders 3:45pm)

Limited copies of the book will be available to purchase

JULIA MARGARET CAMERON: A POETRY OF PHOTOGRAPHY reveals how deeply she was convinced of the poetic possibilities of her medium, particularly its capacity for suggestive rather than literal meaning. She did not get it right on all counts, and her practice violated the aesthetic orthodoxy of the day. But the blurring of the ‘real’ subject before her lens created unparalleled possibilities for a broader pursuit of the sublime and beautiful.

Drawing on over 100 items from the photographic collections at the Bodleian Library and Ashmolean Museum at the University of Oxford, as well as comparative works of art, this book celebrates a collection that illustrates the aesthetic development of the photographer from her earliest pictures to her most poetic photographs. It also includes her own poetry and the key images she created for her extraordinary Illustrations to Tennyson’s Idylls of the King, and Other Poems, further demonstrating an abiding appreciation for the unique aspects of the photographic medium.

About Bodleian Library Publishing:

Bodleian Publishing has a diverse list of gift, general interest and scholarly books on a wide range of subjects drawn from or related to the Library’s rich collections of manuscripts, rare books, maps, postcards and other printed ephemera. Details and online shop at www.bodleianshop.co.uk.

About the Bodleian Libraries:

The Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford is the largest university library system in the United Kingdom. It includes the principal University library – the Bodleian Library – which has been a legal deposit library for 400 years; as well as 26 libraries across Oxford including major research libraries and faculty, department and institute libraries. Together, the Libraries hold more than 13 million printed items, over 80,000 e-journals and outstanding special collections including rare books and manuscripts, classical papyri, maps, music, art and printed ephemera. Members of the public can explore the collections via the Bodleian’s online image portal at digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk or by visiting the exhibition galleries in the Bodleian’s Weston Library. For more information, visit www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk. Follow the Bodleian Libraries on Twitter @bodleianlibs and on Instagram @bodleianlibrarypublishing.

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