December
Opening again
The
6th PSS Exhibition returned to the same timescale as the first four
exhibitions. It opened in mid-December and remained open for about
two months.
The exhibition was held in
DR Hay's
Fine Art Saloon, 90 George Street. But the venue appears to have been not
entirely satisfactory.
"Council
have for a considerable time been aware that the present place for the
Exhibition is not well suited for the purpose."
[PSS Council Report: 13 May 1862]
Admission
prices and opening times were the same as in previous years:
-
10am
to 5pm: Admission 1/-
-
7pm
to 9pm: Admission 6d or 3 for 1/-
-
Season
tickets [I have found no reference to these]
"Like
all similar Exhibitions, it suffered from the prevailing public depression
caused by the lamented death of the Prince Consort, and resulted in a loss to
the Society of about £40."
[PSS Council Report: 13 May 1862]
A
selection of photographs from this exhibition was purchased by PSS and distributed to
members.
Rules
The
Rules for Exhibition were the same as for the 4th Exhibition:
-
All descriptions of photographs will be admissible (as
before)
-
The Committee strongly recommends that pictures should be
framed and glazed with margins of mounting board not exceeding 2 ½ ins in
width all round.
- It
also recommends that in the case of pictures smaller than 9 x 7 inches,
four should be in one Frame, but a Frame containing more than one picture
must not exceed 12 square feet in area
-
Give details: subject, artist, owner, process and price (if for sale)
Medals
Silver
Medal for the Best
Picture of a Group
David
Octavius
Hill
'Dr. John Brown and his Cousin Dr. John Taylor Brown'.
Silver
Medal for the Best Frame containing Cartes de Visite
-
Henry Peach Robinson
'six cartes
de visite'
Silver
Medal for the Best Photograph of Any Other Thing
-
James Mudd
'The Tay above
Dunkeld'
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Exhibitors
There
were 85 exhibitors. The British Journal of Photography reported:
"The varieties of processes used in
production of these pictures are
few - indeed, year after year they are getting fewer and fewer.
Most by the collodion process, some by modifications such as
collodio-albumen, tannin, malt, 'hot water'".
[British Journal of Photography]
The
Scotsman newspaper reported:
"Why
they were so called is a question not easily answered. Visiting cards they
most certainly were not. In the photographic exhibition last year, 2 or 3 frames
were exhibited, if we recollect right, for the first time; but in the present
exhibition, their name is legion, the upper end of the large room being almost
entirely occupied by these specimens."
[The Scotsman:
1 January 1862]
For
further details of many of the entries in the PSS 6th Exhibition, please select from the
two lists below:
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