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Making Fragile Art Accessible
Enclosed in protective display
cases are two exquisite albums containing
more than a hundred beautiful
and informative images – each
telling a story about the past – taken by
19th-century photography pioneers Felix
Bonfils and Maxime Du Camp. The albums
are Bonfils’ Souvenirs d’Orient, Album
pittoresque des sites, villes et ruines de la Terre-
Sainte, 1878, and Du Camp’s Egypte, Nubie,
Palestine et Syrie, vol. 2, 1852.
Both albums are now so fragile that they can
only be handled with the greatest of care by
trained museum professionals, meaning that the
stories they tell about the places and settings that
moved or intrigued Bonfils and Du Camp are largely
lost to Gallery visitors, who cannot touch the pages.
This situation raised an important question for the
National Gallery: How could it showcase the albums
and share the important photographs they contain with visitors so
that they could fully appreciate them without jeopardizing the delicate
integrity of the works?
The Gallery found the answer in HP Canada’s interactive
TouchSmart technology, which allows users to simply pinch, rotate,
arc, flip, press or drag a finger across the screen of a PC to access
information, entertainment and social networks in a natural,
intuitive way.
Cover: Félix Bonfils, The Cedars of Lebanon, Syria, (detail) before 1878 − one of the beautiful
photographs contained in Bonfils Souvenirs d’Orient, Album pittoresque des sites, villes et
ruines de la Terre-Sainte, 1878. Purchased 1972. NGC
Couverture : Félix Bonfils, Syrie. Les cèdres du Liban, (détail) avant 1878 – Une des magnifiques
photographies du livre de Bonfils intitulé Souvenirs d’Orient, Album
pittoresque des sites, villes et ruines de la Terre-Sainte, 1878. Acheté en 1972. MBAC
4 accolade
Félix Bonfils, Souvenirs d'Orient, Album pittoresque des sites,
villes et ruines de la Terre-Sainte, 1878. Folio: 39 x 50.5 cm.
Purchased 1972, NGC / Acheté en 1972, MBAC
The HP TouchSmart initiative at the Gallery was launched at
the exhibition 19th-Century French Photographs from the National
Gallery of Canada, on view until May 16, 2010. Exhibition visitors
are able to browse the multitude of images, which have been meticulously
scanned and are presented in an album format. Viewers
are transported back in time as they “flip through” electronic versions
of these historical photographs on a widescreen display with
a multi-touch enabled screen, while the original works sit next to
the interactive installation, safely preserved in a display case.
The Foundation and the National Gallery are proud to collaborate
with HP in this Canadian first – the Gallery being the first
major cultural institution in Canada to use the HP TouchSmart
technology. HP’s generous gift opens a world of possibilities for
the Gallery to present some of its most fragile works in an exciting
and innovative way.
“We are partnering with the Foundation and National Gallery
to enrich the lives of visitors by providing interactive access to fragile
works of art,” says Charles Salameh, Vice President and General
Manager, Personal Systems Group, HP Canada . “With HP’s multitouch
technology, visitors can interact with and view pieces of history
that were previously inaccessible.”
For the National Gallery, this is only the beginning. Several exhibitions
will benefit from HP’s innovative technology, including
the exhibition 19th-Century British Photographs from the National
Gallery of Canada slated for 2011. Canadians from across the country
will also enjoy the enhanced experience provided by HP’s
multi-touch technology, as these interactive displays will become
part of some of the exhibitions travelling throughout Canada under
the Gallery’s On Tour program.
We applaud and thank HP Canada for its generous contribution
making this interactive experience possible.