Rob's Pics

What is your role at Bridgeman?
 
I am an account manager in the UK & ROW sales team with a range of responsibilities including developing relationships with clients, researching project briefs for stills and footage requests, and negotiating licences on behalf of the artists we represent and the museums and galleries whose content we administer.  
 
In my position I manage our relationship with some of the UK's leading publishers as well as additional publishing clients. I also handle copyright clearances for major exhibitions, providing a conduit between our clients’ and copyright holders and Estates.
 
What do you love most about the job?
 
The variety! Every day there is a new challenge, whether it be trying to find that perfect image or special piece of footage that will help elevate my client’s project to something special or guiding a client through the copyright clearance process.  It’s never dull.
 
What misconceptions do clients most commonly have about the archive?
 
“I didn’t know you could do that” is a phrase I often hear from prospective clients. Bridgeman is not simply an archive library. With nearly 50 years' experience we pride ourselves on the additional services we provide to our clients, whether new to us or having intrusted their content requirements for years.

If you don’t see something on our site you are looking for we have a dedicated collections team who will endeavour to find everything on your ‘wish list’ from one of our worldwide suppliers. If you need an image manipulated, colourised or improved, we have a dedicated scanning department. Or perhaps you are looking for ideas - one of our researchers can put together online lightboxes of stills and footage that meets your brief.

The Tube Train
 

Having lived in London for the last 17 years I have become accustomed to the perils of the daily commute. I find solace in the work of Cyril Power and his depictions of mid-20th century travel in London. 

His work is often dominated by the use of stark, aggressive angular shapes and patterns in the foreground set against flowing curvature and light backgrounds working together to create both contrasting and complementary images.

This is encapsulated in The Tube Train with its rigid shapes depicting resigned commuters as they travel in one flowing tunnel, together in close proximity, yet to destinations unknown to each other.

Storm in Harvest
 

I find this oil on canvas by John Linnell beautifully atmospheric and plays with positive and negative emotions. With one viewing I see the small figures in the foreground compelled to work in the growing storm with little choice but to continue their desperate task before they are consumed by the rolling thunder. 

On another viewing, I see them working tirelessly and urgently in perfect union to finish their task together against dark brooding clouds and violent lighting. It is filled with both hope and despair.

Max Ferguson
 

I love the way Max Ferguson brings the everyday to life.  His work often portrays modern-day New York through a nostalgic lens allowing the viewer to witness a contemporary event or experience that has a vintage feel. This fills the image with a sense that you are witnessing the past and present simultaneously. Modern life continues unabated but remains heavily influenced by the past.

For me, his work is beautifully nostalgic while hinting that the past is helping to create the future.

Animal Farm

I first came across George Orwell’s Animal Farm at school and although I didn’t appreciate its political satire at the time I developed a greater understanding while studying history and politics at university. This clip from the 1955 animated film by Halas and Batchelor is filled with hope for a better future as the animals adopt the Seven Commandments of Animalism, the most important of which is, "All animals are equal."

It is amazing to think that back in 1943 out of fear of upsetting then allies the USSR, publishers in the UK and USA were pressured to reject the manuscript but this animated edition was eagerly encouraged in 1951 as relations between East and West deteriorated into the Cold War. So much so that this film was secretly part financed by the C.I.A!

Lewinski Archive

To be honest I could pick any image from the Lewinski Archive. From 1966, Jorge Lewinski became the pre-eminent photographer of artists in Britain and his subjects include titans of British art such as Lowry, Hockney, Blake, Hepworth, Gormley and Gilbert and George.

What makes the archive special is Lewinski’s choice of capturing the subject in their studio, with their work (often in progress) and always with a keen sense of stylistic panache. This photo of Francis Bacon in his studio perfectly illustrates the skill of the photographer and his ability to capture the personality of the artist.

The Vietnam War
 

Although The Vietnam War was over before I was born, the classic films and television I grew up with throughout the 1970s and 1980s remained heavily influenced by it. The fact it was one of the first international conflicts both filmed and photographed in colour means it still feels modern and raw. 

This photograph by English photojournalist Larry Burrows, who was killed during the war, shows the aftermath of a fierce firefight. The focus of the photograph are the two soldiers, bloody, exhausted and demoralised, yet still determined to look out for each other and help each other off the battlefield.