Hannavy_RT72353_C000v1.indd

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Kincses Károly, Hogyan (ne) bánjunk (el) régi fényképeinkkel?
Magyar Fotográfi ai Múzeum, 2000.
Marcel Safi er, “The Gem & Carte de Visite Tintype,” http://mem-
bers.ozemail.com.au/~msafi er/photographs/tintypes.htm.
“Photographs George Eastman House Rochester,” in Photogra-
phy’s Public and Private Lives, 312–313, Ny, Taschen Köln,
London, 1999.
Pieske, Christa, Bilder für jedermann: Wandbilddrucke 1840–
1940. Berlin: Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz;
München: Keyser 1988.
Recht, Camille, Die Alte Photographie, Paris und Leipzig,



  1. (Sammlung P. Nadar, Paris: Lazerges (H.) und Dal-
    lemagne—Portrat, 1864.)
    Roeper, Adalbert, Bilder-und Spiegel-rahmen, Leipzig:
    Baumgartner’s Buchhandlung, 1897.
    Schiffer, Herbert F., The Mirror Book—English, American &
    European, Exton: Schiffer Publishing L., 1983.
    Solodkoff, Alexander, Masterpieces from the House of Faberge,
    New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1984.
    Spiegel, Rahmen,Tafeln zur Geschichte der Möberformen—
    1904–1911.
    The Victorian pattern glass and china book: The classic Victorian
    illustrated pattern catalog of English and foreign ornamental
    tableware, glassware, and decorative household goods, New
    York: Arch Cape Press, 1990.


MUCHA, ALPHONSE MARIE (1860–1939)


Professional photographer


The arrival of the young Moravian painter, Alphonse
Mucha, in Paris in 1887 heralded the beginning of a
career which would elevate him to the highest echelons
of the Art Nouveau movement. Mucha’s paintings, post-
ers and typographic designs epitomise the extravagance
of the period.
Mucha’s interest in photography dates from about
the time of his arrival in Paris, initially commissioning
photographs as part of the preparations for his works,
but his interest soon became a passion which would
endure for the remainder of his life.
By the end of the 1880s he had started to take his
own photographs but, according to his son Jiri Mucha,
‘he remained the world’s worst photographer’—an
inaccurate remark as many of his photographs show
remarkable visual perception (see Ovenden, Alphonse
Mucha Photographs, Academy Editions, 1974).
Like many painters of the period, Mucha made exten-
sive use of photographs of models posed in his studio,
and many examples of these survive, several squared and
ruled up ready to be used as sources for major works.
Mucha became interested in the psychic investiga-
tions of Albert de Rochas, the librarian at the Ecole
polytechnique in Paris, and in conducting photographic
experiments in his studio at rue de Val de Grace, he
continued work which de Rochas had started with Nadar
decades earlier.
John Hannavy


MUDD, JAMES (1821–1906)
English photographer

From his photographs it is possible to show that James
Mudd was working as an amateur from around 1850.
In the Manchester Trades Directory of 1852, James
Mudd and his brother, Richard are referred to as calico
printers’ designers at 54 George Street. By 1854 they
appear as calico printers’ designers and photographers
at 94 Cross Street, while the George Street address re-
mains. In 1861, James Mudd appears as a photographer
at 10 St. Ann’s Square while Richard is still at George
Street. In 1871 the fi rm is recorded as J. Mudd & Son.
The son, James Willis Mudd, seems to be connected
with the studio from about 1865 although no particular
work can be attributed to him. George Grundy worked
as an assistant from about 1880 and eventually bought
the business in 1895. In the Directory of 1900 the fi rm
still appears under the name of J. Mudd & Son although
the ownership had passed to Grundy some years previ-
ous though the address was now recorded as 10 Police
Street. James Mudd and James Willis Mudd continued
to work in photography from Bowdon, Cheshire until
1905, after which date all activity ceased. It was only
following the death of James Mudd in 1906 that the
business was known as G. Grundy & Sons.
The landscape was Mudd’s initial interest in photog-
raphy. Early Mudd calotypes correspond very closely
in location with calotypes taken by Joseph Sidebotham
in Wales in 1851 or 1852. Both Mudd and Sidebotham
were involved in calico printing in the Manchester
area thus providing the link for their collaboration.
Two landscapes on waxed paper, “Cottages at Trefriw”
and “a Watermill” were hung in the Exhibition of Art
Treasures of the United Kingdom held in Manchester in


  1. Also that year he gave a paper, “Artistic arrange-
    ment of photographic landscapes” to the Manchester
    Photographic Society. It would appear from reviews of
    various exhibitions in London, Dublin and Edinburgh in
    the period from 1857 to 1865 that Mudd was considered
    an equal with Francis Bedford, O. G. Rejlander, Henry
    Peach Robinson, and Camille Silvy.
    In 1857, Mudd produced a series of photographs il-
    lustrating the effects on local fl ora allegedly caused by
    emissions from a chemical works at Irlam near Man-
    chester. These images, which catalogued the effect of
    pollution from the works on trees downwind of the site,
    were taken in support of a celebrated court case, Regina
    v. Spence, which was heard in court in 1857. The court
    found against the owner of the alum works in question,
    but while the environmental pollution was proved, the
    court ruled that the noxious fumes had not had any
    detrimental effect on the local residents! While not
    apparently presented in court, these photographs stand


MOUNTING, MATTING, PASSE-PAURTOUT, FRAMING, PRESENTATION

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