Acquisition of archive material

In 2004 Birmingham Central Library purchased an extraordinary photographic archive which documents one of the most important periods in the development of British Fine Art photography. The funding for the acquisition came from The Art Fund, the MLA / V&A Purchase Grant Fund, the Friends of the National Libraries, the Charles Hayward Charitable Trust and the Owen Family Trust.

The Paul Hill / Photographer’s Place Archive comprises a stunning collection of photographs by Professor Paul Hill MBE (b. 1941) himself, and also work by internationally renowned photographers such as Lartigue, Brassai, Edward Weston, Paul Strand, and Bill Brandt.

As the substantial entries in publications such as the MacMillan Biographical Encyclopedia of Photographic Artists and Innovators and the international directory, Contemporary Photographers, amply testify to the fact that Paul Hill is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential photographers and teachers of photography working in the UK during the last thirty years.