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From the Collection: Credit—OWEN in Black Star

September 13 – December 9, 2023
From the Collection Wall, The Image Centre
Curator: Valérie Matteau

When studying historical press prints, such as those found in the IMC’s Black Star Collection, the information on the back of a photograph can reveal as much to scholars as the image on the front. In the pre-digital era of photojournalism, before the 1990s, magazines and newspapers required physical prints when making reproductions to illustrate their stories. Black Star’s photographs were in high demand; to guarantee their return and maintain their inventory, the agency’s staff stamped the versos with the company’s name and New York address, alongside the photographer’s credit. 

The prints on view here are all attributed to a photographer named OWEN. The locations and dates when this photographer was supposedly working range widely, from London, England, in 1872; to Normandy, France, in 1944; and Washington, DC, in 1963. So, who is this enigmatic OWEN? The answer reveals a fascinating truth about the agency’s inner economic workings. Rather than a photographer’s name, OWEN was a generic term used by Black Star to assert ownership of the prints—and the fees paid for their reproduction—when the picture’s maker was unknown, or deliberately obscured. 

Photographs labelled OWEN entered Black Star’s library in two significant ways: through distribution agreements with a partnering photo agency, or by handout from various US government departments, who issued prints alongside their official press releases. Black Star sometimes added the name or initials of their staff photographers who acted as couriers—picking up the prints on the agency’s behalf—to the OWEN credit, thus signaling to its file clerks that the courier should be paid a small portion of the reproduction fee. Ultimately, the use of “OWEN” was just one of the ways Black Star maximized the reproduction fees it retained. This false credit must be considered alongside the agency’s practice of sometimes redacting other media company’s stamps, and its occasional concealment of credit for outside photographers. Still clear on the verso of many Black Star prints, “OWEN” reminds us how critical reproduction fees and photographic ownership were to the agency’s core business of print distribution.

From the Collection is a rotating display highlighting works from The Image Centre’s permanent collection. 

 

 

 

Fig. 1

Unidentified photographer, attributed to OWEN, [Soldier, Japan], ca. 1941, gelatin silver print (verso). The Black Star Collection, The Image Centre (BS.2005.074544)

Fig. 2

Unidentified photographer for US Air Force, attributed to OWEN and Fred Ward, [Aerial reconnaissance, Vietnam War], 1966, gelatin silver print (verso). The Black Star Collection, The Image Centre (BS.2005.082892)

Fig. 3

Unidentified photographer, attributed to OWEN, [President John F. Kennedy with Civil Rights leaders], ca. 1963, gelatin silver print (verso). The Black Star Collection, The Image Centre (BS.2005.222360)

Fig. 4

Unidentified photographer, attributed to OWEN, [Dog], date unknown, gelatin silver print (verso). The Black Star Collection, The Image Centre (BS.2005.235043)

Fig. 5

Unidentified photographer from Post-Dispatch Pictures, attributed to OWEN, [A couple dance the mambo], 1951, gelatin silver print (verso). The Black Star Collection, The Image Centre (BS.2005.282316)

Fig. 6

Shelton from US Signal Corps, attributed to OWEN and Dennis Brack, [Vehicles and British troops on board a landing ship, tank off Utah Beach, Normandy, France], 1944, gelatin silver print (verso). The Black Star Collection, The Image Centre (BS.2005.283312)

Fig. 7

Unidentified photographer, attributed to OWN, [Woman operating a large drill jig at the Winchester Arms Company, Utah, USA], ca. 1945, gelatin silver print (verso). The Black Star Collection, The Image Centre (BS.2005.283722)

Fig. 8

Unidentified photographer for Mauritius-Verlag, attributed to OWEN, [Hermann Wilhelm Göring], ca. 1939, gelatin silver print. The Black Star Collection, The Image Centre (BS.2005.287300)

Fig. 9

Unidentified photographer, attributed to OWEN, [Engraving of women's sufferage meeting at the Hanover Square Rooms, 1872. Mrs. Fawcett, Mrs. Mark Pattison, Mrs. Ernestine Rose, Miss Lydia E. Becker, and Miss Rhoda Garrett], date unknown, gelatin silver print (verso). The Black Star Collection, The Image Centre (BS.2005.291078)

Fig. 10

Henri Cartier-Bresson, attributed to OWEN, [Spectators at the Coronation of George VI, London, England], 1937, gelatin silver print (verso). The Black Star Collection, The Image Centre (BS.2005.291739)

Installation Shots

Fig. 1

From the Collection: Credit—Owen in Black Star (installation view), 2023 © LF Documentation, The Image Centre
 

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