The Bridging the World exhibition gives a vivid, contemporary glimpse of the superhuman effort and vision responsible for three iconic examples of late Victorian engineering, all designed by the relatively un-known engineering genius, Benjamin Baker.
The exhibition centres on twenty eight images, selected and printed from over 500 original glass negatives held by the National Archives of Scotland, showing the construction of the Forth Rail Bridge through the eyes of Evelyn Carey, Baker’s engineering assistant and extraordinary photographer in his own right.
From the Belgian workers sinking caissons in the dark, to vertigo inducing images of the cantilevers growing slowly across the Forth, the images give a vivid documentary record of the construction of a bridge which, on completion in 1890 was not only the first steel bridge but also the longest in the world.
The exhibition also includes rarely seen images of two of Baker’s other visionary engineering projects, the construction of the Aswan Dam (completed 1902) and the transportation of Cleopatra’s Needle from Alexandria to London (1878) from Getty Images.
Size: flexible up to 150sqm and 150 – 350sqm
Size comments: 40 b/w prints – various sizes, largest approx 75 x 85cm. Most prints created from original glass plate negatives, framed and captioned; text panels.
Security: regular checking
Hire fee: negotiable: £800 - £1,000
Insurance value: £8,000
Insurance responsibility: Hirer
Transport responsibility: Two ways by hirer
Notes: Exhibition is supported by project web-site www.benjaminbaker.org.uk with background research, education resources and activity ideas.
Availability comments: Available October 09 onwards
