Helmut Gernsheim reconsidered

Abstract This publication assembles the papers presented at the 2003 annual meeting of the European Society for the History of Photography (ESHPh). The symposium was devoted in large part to the life and work of pioneering historian of photography, Helmut Gernsheim (1913–1995). Born in Munich, Gernsheim studied the history of art at the University of Munich and photography at the State School. He emigrated to England in 1937 and worked as a photographer for the Warburg Institute in London during World War II. In 1945, he began collecting photography, rediscovering landmark material such as the earliest work of Nicephore Niepce. With his wife, Alison Eames, Gernsheim researched and published a number of now classic books, including the 1955 standard The History of Photography, from the Camera Obscura to the beginning of the Modern Era (1685–1914). Participants in the ESHPh symposium addressed the many facets of Gernsheim's life: photographer, collector, historian, personality extraordinaire.