To mark the centenary of colour photography, an exhibition has opened at Exbury in Hampshire, where Lionel de Rothschild created a beautiful garden in the 1920s. The exhibition runs from 1 May to 27 September 2009.
On display is a selection from the hundreds of pictures taken by Lionel, including some images of Gunnersbury Park. These are autochromes, an expensive but particularly beautiful technique for producing exquisitely softly coloured images, amd they come from the Rothschild Archive.
Some of the Gunnersbury pictures appeared in “Gunnersbury Park and the Rothschilds” by Ann and James Collett-White, published for Gunnersbury Park Museum by Hounslow Council in 1993. Now the Rothschild Archive has published a special book of the photographs,”Colours of Another Age” compiled by the Archivist, Vic Gray. It costs £10 including postage and is available from the Archive at New Court, St Swithin’s Lane, London EC4P 4DU.