Unknown Pleasures closed on 30 March 2003. For details of our current exhibitions, take a look at our what’s on page.
Marking the 150th anniversary of the Royal Photographic Society, Unknown Pleasures offered an insight into one of the world’s greatest collections of photographs and photographic technology.
Founded in January 1853 by a small group of respectable amateurs, the Royal Photographic Society looked to promote the art and science of photography in Britain and further afield. Since then the collection has grown in ways beyond those envisaged by its founding members to reflect the diversity of the medium. Known primarily for its high art and Pictorialist work, the RPS Collection also includes medical, documentary and amateur uses of photography.
By mixing ideas, technologies and images, Unknown Pleasures looked at how photography has shaped our ways of seeing. Examples of the some of the finest work by pioneering photographers such as Talbot, Cameron, Stielgitz and Weston were on display alongside experimental cameras, stereoscopic equipment, portable darkrooms from the 1850s, pioneering colour processes, postcards, illustrated books and journals, manuscripts and ephemera.
A NOTE ON THE COLLECTION
The Royal Photographic Society collection was in our care between 2002 and 2016. In 2016 we announced that it would transfer to the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A).
