From an album of tattooed criminals to the burnt-out filing cabinets of Iraq, a new exhibition shows how images originally taken to provide visual proof have emerged as works of art
"I go out buying photographs every day, whether it’s in a flea market or a gallery,” Michael Hoppen said cheerfully, when asked about the provenance of some of the more arcane pieces in his collection. “I have these mental boxes sitting there waiting for things to be dropped into them.” Over the years, these have included the entire collection of boxers and prizefighters that once lined the walls of the French House in Soho, where Francis Bacon and Jeffrey Bernard used to drink; a tiny anonymous 19th-century albumen print of a voluptuous nude, her curves sculpted by the play of light, made as an artist’s study; a slightly cloudy autochrome — an early colour process — showing a group of chefs gathered around a table for lunch, which looks like a still from a French film.