The Architectural Photography of Bedford Lemere & Co

Explore the work of Bedford Lemere & Co, the leading architectural photography company of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In business from the 1870s until the 1940s, Bedford Lemere and his son Harry Bedford Lemere pioneered professional architectural photography and set the standard for others to follow.

In this display, English Heritage, custodians of the Bedford Lemere & Co collection, showcase the company's extraordinary client list. Employed by a wide range of industrialists, retailers and government departments, the firm's photographs capture new buildings in pristine condition, often showing the work of leading contemporary architects, interior decorators, designers and artists.

The reputation of the company rested above all on the quality of its work. Its photographers were outstanding technicians with a highly developed visual sense, able to capture the monumentality of a building as well as the minute detail of its decorative scheme. Using large format negatives, they produced images of exceptional quality, depth and sharpness. The size and clarity of the photographs render them as fresh and legible today as when they were first composed.

"Each of the photographs illuminates England's history in a unique way. The Bedford Lemere collection demonstrates the extraordinary craftsmanship and boldness in Victorian architecture and offers a fascinating glimpse of society during this dynamic and fast changing area".

Place : Victoria and Albert Museum, London
During : until 30th October2011
Further information: http://www.vam.ac.uk

Editing : Aglaia Megremi