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A shot out of the hut from the invisible gun

Photograph
early 20th century (photographed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Andrew Pitcairn-Knowles (born Rotterdam 1871, died Hastings 1956) was a pioneering photographic journalist who published his work in the new illustrated magazines of the late 19th and early 20th century. From the turn of the century he travelled around Europe, living in Berlin, Brussels, Paris and Jersey. With his eye for detail, timing and geometry, he accurately captured the leisure activities, sports and customs of the period. Besides their documentary value, his photographs have a quirky and almost surreal quality.
Both Andrew Pitcairn-Knowles and his wife Margaret Pitcairn-Knowles were sports fanatics. Andrew Pitcairn-Knowles practised tennis, football, ice skating, ice hockey, hockey, cycling, golf and cricket at one point of his life. But he was equally keen on organizing sporting events. Among the clubs he helped to found were the Anglo American Tennis Club in Berlin, the Berliner Golf Club (Berlin's Golf Club) and the Berliner Hockey und Radpolo Club (Berlin's Hockey and Cycle Club).
Margaret Pitcairn-Knowles formed the first ladies' hockey team in France, was a member of several teams, and wrote a column in The Hockey Field, a magazine published in Berlin.
In 1895 Pitcairn-Knowles launched his magazine Sport im Bild (Sports Illustrated), a monthly magazine which distinguished itself from some other magazines by, as the title implies, its illustrations. The magazine published photographs by its staff but also organised competitions for amateur photographers to send in their photo's. Four years after the founding of the magazine, Pitcairn-Knowles started publishing Sport im Wort (Sports in Words), in which pictures were entirely absent but which, like Sport im Bild, paid special attention to Hockey.
Pitcairn-Knowles published articles and photo reports on sports in several magazines, among others in the World Wide Magazine, The Badminton Magazine of Sports & Pastimes and Outing: The Illustrated Magazine of Sport Travel Adventure and Country Life. His subjects range form motor racing, to ice skating, and from tobogganing to fishing and hunting. We would not call Pitcairn-Knowles a sports photographer though: he was as interested in the goings-on around the track as in the sports themselves and sports which could just as well be labeled 'leisure activities'.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Titles
  • A shot out of the hut from the invisible gun (assigned by artist)
  • Chasse à la tonne (In the landes) (series title)
Materials and techniques
Gelatine-silver print
Brief description
'A shot out of the hut from the invisible gun', photograph by Andrew Pitcairn-Knowles, early 20th century.
Physical description
In this photograph smoke hangs in the air next to a small hut in a swamp.
Dimensions
  • Height: 12.8cm
  • Width: 17.8cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • '011/10' (Donor's reference, verso, pencil.)
  • '0144550' (Topham picture library reference number, verso pencil.)
  • '10.' (Andrew Pitcairn-Knowles' reference (possibly), verso, blue pencil.)
  • 'A shot out of the hut from the invisible gun.' (Gordon Pitcairn-Knowles' writing (possibly), verso, pencil.)
  • 'A. PITCAIRN-KNOWLES, / RIPOSO, / ST. HELEN'S PARK, / HASTINGS.' (Verso, stamp.)
  • 'THE INTERNATIONAL PRESS AGENCY / 46, AVENUE MARICE, 46 / IXELLES-BRUXELLES' and 'THE INTERNATIONAL PRESS AGENCY / 36, RUE DE LONGCHAMP, 36 / NEUILLY-PARIS' (Verso, stamps on top of each other, crossed out with blue pencil.)
  • 'REPRODUCTION INTERDITE / COPYRIGHT' (Verso, stamp.)
Credit line
Purchased through the Cecil Beaton Royalties Fund
Object history
Pitcairn-Knowles Archive purchased from Andrew Pitcairn-Knowles' grandson Richard Pitcairn-Knowles.
Historical context
Andrew Pitcairn-Knowles (born Rotterdam 1871, died Hastings 1956) was a pioneering photographic journalist who published his work in the new illustrated magazines of the late 19th and early 20th century. From the turn of the century he travelled around Europe, living in Berlin, Brussels, Paris and Jersey. With his eye for detail, timing and geometry, he accurately captured the leisure activities, sports and customs of the period. Besides their documentary value, his photographs have a quirky and almost surreal quality.
Both Andrew Pitcairn-Knowles and his wife Margaret Pitcairn-Knowles were sports fanatics. Andrew Pitcairn-Knowles practised tennis, football, ice skating, ice hockey, hockey, cycling, golf and cricket at one point of his life. But he was equally keen on organizing sporting events. Among the clubs he helped to found were the Anglo American Tennis Club in Berlin, the Berliner Golf Club (Berlin's Golf Club) and the Berliner Hockey und Radpolo Club (Berlin's Hockey and Cycle Club).
Margaret Pitcairn-Knowles formed the first ladies' hockey team in France, was a member of several teams, and wrote a column in The Hockey Field, a magazine published in Berlin.
In 1895 Pitcairn-Knowles launched his magazine Sport im Bild (Sports Illustrated), a monthly magazine which distinguished itself from some other magazines by, as the title implies, its illustrations. The magazine published photographs by its staff but also organised competitions for amateur photographers to send in their photo's. Four years after the founding of the magazine, Pitcairn-Knowles started publishing Sport im Wort (Sports in Words), in which pictures were entirely absent but which, like Sport im Bild, paid special attention to Hockey.
Pitcairn-Knowles published articles and photo reports on sports in several magazines, among others in the World Wide Magazine, The Badminton Magazine of Sports & Pastimes and Outing: The Illustrated Magazine of Sport Travel Adventure and Country Life. His subjects range form motor racing, to ice skating, and from tobogganing to fishing and hunting. We would not call Pitcairn-Knowles a sports photographer though: he was as interested in the goings-on around the track as in the sports themselves and sports which could just as well be labeled 'leisure activities'.
Subjects depicted
Summary
Andrew Pitcairn-Knowles (born Rotterdam 1871, died Hastings 1956) was a pioneering photographic journalist who published his work in the new illustrated magazines of the late 19th and early 20th century. From the turn of the century he travelled around Europe, living in Berlin, Brussels, Paris and Jersey. With his eye for detail, timing and geometry, he accurately captured the leisure activities, sports and customs of the period. Besides their documentary value, his photographs have a quirky and almost surreal quality.
Both Andrew Pitcairn-Knowles and his wife Margaret Pitcairn-Knowles were sports fanatics. Andrew Pitcairn-Knowles practised tennis, football, ice skating, ice hockey, hockey, cycling, golf and cricket at one point of his life. But he was equally keen on organizing sporting events. Among the clubs he helped to found were the Anglo American Tennis Club in Berlin, the Berliner Golf Club (Berlin's Golf Club) and the Berliner Hockey und Radpolo Club (Berlin's Hockey and Cycle Club).
Margaret Pitcairn-Knowles formed the first ladies' hockey team in France, was a member of several teams, and wrote a column in The Hockey Field, a magazine published in Berlin.
In 1895 Pitcairn-Knowles launched his magazine Sport im Bild (Sports Illustrated), a monthly magazine which distinguished itself from some other magazines by, as the title implies, its illustrations. The magazine published photographs by its staff but also organised competitions for amateur photographers to send in their photo's. Four years after the founding of the magazine, Pitcairn-Knowles started publishing Sport im Wort (Sports in Words), in which pictures were entirely absent but which, like Sport im Bild, paid special attention to Hockey.
Pitcairn-Knowles published articles and photo reports on sports in several magazines, among others in the World Wide Magazine, The Badminton Magazine of Sports & Pastimes and Outing: The Illustrated Magazine of Sport Travel Adventure and Country Life. His subjects range form motor racing, to ice skating, and from tobogganing to fishing and hunting. We would not call Pitcairn-Knowles a sports photographer though: he was as interested in the goings-on around the track as in the sports themselves and sports which could just as well be labeled 'leisure activities'.
Bibliographic reference
Pitcairn-Knowles, Richard. The Edwardian eye of Andrew Pitcairn-Knowles 1871-1056. Sussex: The Book Guild Ltd, 2000.
Other numbers
  • 011/10 - Donor's reference
  • 0144550 - Topham Picture Library reference number
  • 10 - Andrew Pitcairn-Knowles' reference (possibly)
Collection
Accession number
E.3419-2004

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Record createdApril 10, 2006
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