1860 ART JOURNAL
Vol. n.s. VI?, old series vol. ?
ver: Aug. 15, 2007
START:
NOTES:
--Italics have been retained from publications, which use them for both titles as well as emphasis. To more easily locate image titles, I have continued this italicization when titles have been rendered in all capitols or put in quotes, however italics have NOT been used when the general subject of an image is mentioned.
--Image numbers listed in articles can be either an entry number in an exhibition, or the photographer’s own image number as found on labels.
--All names have been bolded for easy location. Numbers frequently refer to the photographer’s image number, but can also refer to a number in a catalog for a show. Decide whether to bold or not if can tell.
--It is not always possible in lists of photographers to know when two separate photographers are partners or not, e.g., in a list, “Smith and Jones” sometimes alludes to two separate photographers and sometimes to one photographic company. Both names will be highlighted and indexed but a partnership may be wrongly assumed. Any information to the contrary would be appreciated.
-- Brackets [ ] are used to indicate supplied comments by the transcriber; parenthesis
( ) are used in the original sources. If the original source has used brackets, they have been transcribed as parenthesis to avoid confusion.
--“illus” means that I have the view mentioned and should be scanned and included.
--Articles by photographers about technical matters – when transcribed, only names and titles have been listed. If other names are associated with the paper they are listed as well.
--Meetings of Societies – Names of officers, members attending or referenced, dates and locations of meetings have been given. If the reports are very short or discuss photographs, then the articles have been copied; if administrative or technical in nature, they have not.
--“[Selection]” = This has been used when not all portions of a feature are copied, such as The Photographic News’ “Talk In The Studio”. If the word does not appear, then the entire feature was transcribed.
-- Some journals, e.g., The Art-Journal, cover both photographer and painting/drawing. As they frequently refer to the production of both the photographer and the painter as “pictures” it is not always possible to tell when photography is indicated. If there is doubt, it will be included but a note will be added stating that the names listed may in fact not be photographers.
--Mostly articles totally discussing technical aspects of photography, products, etc. are not transcribed unless they are part of a larger article covering photographs. When technical descriptions are too lengthy to transcribe that is noted.
--Cultural sensitivity – these are direct transcriptions of texts written in the 19th-century and reflect social comments being made at that time. Allowances must be made when reading some texts, particularly those dealing with other cultures.
1860: Art Journal, Mar. 1, n.s. vol. VI, no #, p. 71:
Exhibition of the Photographic Society.
The seventh exhibition of the Photographic Society is now open, and, with great unwillingness, we are compelled to declare that we are unable to detect any improvement in any division of this interesting art. There are numerous very beautiful pictures, but they are all at that dead level of excellence which has become wearisome. A few glaring departures from the stereotyped customs of the photographists of the day—even were they examples of failure—would be a great relief.
The Photographic Society has been established for many years, and their Journal has been regularly published since March, 1853. They begin their work with the following paragraph:--“The object of the Photographic Society is the promotion of the art and science of Photography, by the interchange of thought and experience among photographers, and it is hoped this object may, to some considerable extent, be effected by the periodical meetings of the society.” Let any one examine the work done by the Society in the seven years which have passed—let any one go carefully over the collection of pictures now exhibiting, remembering the promise of former years—we are convinced that their judgment will be in accordance with our own, and that they will declare the Society has failed in every way to fulfil the hopes, upon the strength of which it was started. We believe the cause of this lies somewhat below the surface, and hence it has not been detected in the earlier working of the Society; and the influence has evidently extended itself too thoroughly through the body now for us to entertain any hope of its removal, or of there being any chance for a renovation of a society which might have done much for the advancement of the art and science of photography.
The exhibition of last year was rendered above the average by the collection of photographs from the Cartoons. Those were the striking point of that exhibition; the present one, wanting this, is singularly tame and uninteresting. There are the same exhibitors as before, and a few new ones.
Mr. Roger Fenton exhibits between thirty and forty pictures, all of them fine specimens of photography, and many of them exceedingly beautiful. These pictures are examples of great industry, of the most careful photographic manipulation, and a true artistic feeling. Mr. C. Thurston Thompson, who devotes himself to the photographic department of the Art-Museum at South Kensington, has contributed copies of the sketches by Raphael and Michael Angelo; of drawings by Holbein and some others, which are evidences of the value of photography as a means of multiplying the works of our greatest masters for the purposes of study. Mr. Alfred Rosling is charming, as usual, in his small but complete pictures. Mr. Lyndon Smith, in his views on the Wharfe, treads close on the heels of Roger Fenton. Mr. Francis Bedford, always good, quite equals any of his former works: there are few things in the exhibition superior to those pictures which are to illustrate a work entitled “The Home tour of the Picturesque and Beautiful.” Messrs. Cundall and Downes have two or three very charming photographs; some are, however, to our eyes, objectionable in colour. It is useless particularizing the works of all: as photographs the works deserving of commendation are those of the well known Bisson Frères, of Captain Tupper, of J. M. Mackie, of Lake Price—whose ‘Romes’ are excellent, of John H. Morgan, of V. A. Prout, of Mrs. Verschoyle, of A. J. Melhuish, and of Sykes Ward. There others who have produced good photographs, but they do not appear to rise in any respect above the level, which is so easily obtained by the Collodion process with a good camera-obscura. Mr. Samuel Fry has attempted a large picture of a heavy sea at Brighton; we cannot but regard this as a failure. The wave rolling on the shore is most imperfectly represented. “Sea and Clouds,’ by the same photographist, is superior to the other attempt. Mr. Henry P. Robinson has some composition pictures; of these, ‘Sour Apples’ is the only one possessing any merit. The groups are most unartistically arranged, and the photography is of the common order. The exhibition of portraits is large, and many of them are certainly excellent specimens of the art, and highly recommendatory of the several exhibitors to those who desire faithful resemblances of their friends or of themselves.
Photographs of the finest kind are now so publicly exhibited in the shop windows of our principal streets, that we must urge upon the Photographic Society the importance of their insisting on the production of novelties for their exhibitions. If the Society desires to maintain a respectable position, it must sternly refuse any picture which ahs been previously exhibited; and it should abandon the very objectionable plan of putting in their catalogue the prices at which the photographs are to be sold. There are 586 photographs named in the catalogue; of this number about one-half have the selling price printed, and the large majority of those not so priced are advertisements of individuals or companies who live by taking photographic portraits. The profession is a most honourable one, and one which calls upon the mind of the artist for the exercise of some of its best functions. We have the highest respect for all, an especial friendship for some, but we do contend that a Society honoured by having the Queen and the Prince Consort for Patrons, and the Lord Chief Baron for President, should not allow their exhibition-room to be converted into a shop. We have heard the Royal Academy and the Water-Colour exhibitions quoted in defence: we have never seen the selling price of a picture in the Royal Academy catalogue. But there is no parallel between the sale privately f a picture, which has been the labour of months, or it may be of years, and the sale of photographs, which can be multiplied at will, and of which the finest specimens by Mr. Roger Fenton are ticketed at 12s. This must be altered, or the Photographic Society may rest assured that each exhibition will become less and less attractive, and it will learn that, as a Society, it has lost its vocation, since it does not attend to “The promotion of the art and science of photography.”
1860: Art Journal, April 1, n.s. vol. VI, no #, p. 126:
Photographs and Stereoscopic Views, by Mr. F. Bedford, have been issued by Messrs. Catherall and Prichard, of Chester, descriptive of scenery, buildings, &c., in North Wales. The series of the latter is large, and comprehends a considerable number of the leading objects which excite the wonder and admiration of tourists, and have been the special delights of artists time out of mind. The photographs are of good size, and it is scarcely requisite to say, are of the highest possible merit,--the name of Mr. Bedford will sufficiently guarantee their excellence. They picture the leading beauties of the country—hills, dales, rivers, rocks, and waterfalls—and are delicious copies of surpassing natural attractions. The stereoscopic views are certainly among the best that have been produced, supplying a rich intellectual feast: to us they have given enjoyment of the rarest character—and so they may to our readers, for they are attainable at small cost. We name them at random, but they are all of famous places—Pont Aberglaslyn, Capel Curis, Llyn Ogwen, Bettys-y-coed, Beddgelert, Pont-y-gilli, Trefriew, Llanberis, Pen Llyn, with views also of the Britannia Bridge, Carnarvon Castle, &c. It is highly to the credit of a provincial establishment to have issued a series so entirely good.
1860: Art Journal, July 1, n.s. vol. VI, no #, p. 221:
“America in the Stereoscope.”
There are hundreds of thousands in Great Britain who are continually hearing of the grandeur and beauty of scenery in the United States and in Canada who have not, and probably never will have, a chance of examining its peculiar marvels and graces, except by the aid of the artist. And that aid is rarely so obtained as to convey assurance of positive truth; we suspect, if we are not certain, that Art has derived help from Fancy; we doubt while we admire, and attribute to invention that which may be only fact. The photograph, however, cannot deceive; in nothing can it extenuate; there is no power in this marvelous machine either to add to or take from: we know that what we see must be true. So guided, therefore, we can travel over all the countries of the world, without moving a yard from our own firesides. Fortunately there are those who, from love of wandering, or of Art, or of gain, will incur any amount of fatigue or danger, and bring to us enjoyment and knowledge, without demanding from us either labour or risk; giving in an hour the information that has been gained by years of toil and peril. All honour to the men who are thus our ministers!
The series of stereoscopic views recently brought under our notice by the London Stereoscopic Company—taken in various parts of Canada and the United States—bring us, as far as they go, into closer and safer acquaintance with the New World than all the books that have been written on the subject, and “their name is legion.” Lake and mountain, glen and river, picturesque waterfalls and gigantic cataracts, spacious harbours, populous cities—all the glories of Nature and of Art—are here brought so vividly before the eye that we seem to have journeyed with the traveller and worked with the artist. It is indeed impossible to over-rate the debt we owe for so much of pleasure and so much of information.
The city views are chiefly those of New York, Boston, Washington, Philadelphia, Quebec, Montreal, and Ottawa (the new capital of Canada); but more interesting are those which picture attractive scenes on the rivers St. Lawrence, the Delaware, and the Hudson. Still more so, perhaps, are those that introduce us to the far-famed “Katskills,” Sleepy Hollow, the Indian Fall, the Falls of the Pontiac, and Trenton Falls—not forgetting Pougkeepsie, in which resides our valued correspondent, Lossing, and which other accomplished Americans have made renowned. There is, indeed, no one of the series that fails to gratify; some may be better than others, but all are full of interest, and convey instruction. The artist has, however, most put forth his strength where it became most effective. Hundreds of pictures have been painted, and descriptions written, to make us acquainted with Niagara; but until now we seem to have been utterly ignorant concerning the character of this—one of the wonders of the world. The views are many:--Comprising 1. the Suspension Bridge, hung, as it were, in mid air; the railway trains, as they pass, seeming but little larger than the miniature toys of children; 2. The Bridge again, a nearer view; 3. The Bridge over the Rapids, a remarkably light and graceful structure; 4. The Lewiston Suspension Bridge; 5. The American Fall; 6. The American Fall in winter; 7. The Terrapin Tower and Bridge, the tower standing on the very edge of the Great Horse-shoe Fall—
“How dizzy ‘tis to cast one’s eyes below;”
8. Another view of the terrific scene, the torrent rushing over the brink; 9. The Rapids: a view that must have been caught instantaneously, the tremendous character of which is given with marvelous accuracy; 10. A general view of the Falls, in which Niagara is beheld “in all its glory and magnificence;” 11. A sylvan scene on Goat Island, the rush of waters in the distance; and though last not least in this singular series, are two views showing the daring adventurer, Blondin, crossing the Niagara on a tight rope—one of the most daring feats ever achieved. We have thus some fifteen or sixteen views of this wonderful work of nature, including the objects by which Art has succeeded in rendering Niagara in a degree subject to the will of man. Unquestionably no series of stereoscopic views has been yet issued at once so interesting and so instructive; they so thoroughly convey accurate ideas of the marvels they depict. Moreover, they are exceedingly well executed, and may vie with the best, in clearness of detail and power of effect, when seen in the stereoscope. A brief but carefully written description accompanies each view, giving such particulars as are requisite for a complete comprehension of the theme, in its grandeur, or its beauty, or its combination of both.
We shall rejoice if our notice be the means of enabling others to partake of the rich treat we have enjoyed in examining this delightful series: it would be difficult to pass an hour more pleasantly or more profitably. Of the many boons conferred by the London Stereoscopic Company this, their latest, is undoubtedly the best.
1860: Art Journal, Aug. 1, n.s. vol. VI, no #, p. 254:
Minor Topics of the Month:
The Chapel Royal, Windsor.—
A charming series of stereoscopic views has been issued by Mr. Frederick Jones, of 146, Oxford Street, exhibiting all the more striking and interesting points in this singularly beautiful and time-honoured structure. The chapel of St. George ranks among the best preserved, as well as the most perfect, of our ecclesiastical remains; it has been guarded from the iconoclast of all ages. Even Cromwell’s soldiers were compelled to respect the saints whose effigies were here: the dust of a succession of sovereigns has been held “sacred” for generations; and as immediately a part of Windsor Castle, there have been always “keepers” at hand when Vandals were seeking to destroy. There is, consequently, no better theme for photographic art. Mr. Jones has skillfully dealt with it: the selected prints are of value to the architect and the archælogist, and cannot fail to interest visitors. The series indeed yields to none, within reasonable compass, as a means of instruction and enjoyment.
1860: Art Journal, Aug. 1, n.s. vol. VI, no #, p. 254:
Minor Topics of the Month:
Stereographs of the Franklin Relics.—
An accomplished officer of the navy, Lieutenant Cheyne, has published a series, consisting of fourteen stereographs, representing the various relics conveyed to England by Sir Leopold McClintock—all that were found to indicate the fate of the brave and enterprising Franklin, for whose loss a nation mourned. They are undoubtedly painful, though very interesting, records of the terrible close of life of so many gallant men, not the less terrible because there is scarce a fact to guide imagination. These scraps of clothing, broken weapons, weather-stained books, rusty nails, and—bleached bones, are all! The rest is but a sad brooding over manly patience, indomitable resolution, suffering, and death! As we pass them, one after another, through the stereoscope, what material we find for thought! Honoured by their names, the humblest among them, although no stone will indicate their graves, among the ice mountains where they perished. The art has given us no scenes so remarkable or so interesting; sorrowful, but instructive; they are monuments to the memory of true heroes. Our thanks are due to Lieut. Cheyne, for a welcome, though a painful, gift.
1860: Art Journal, Oct. 1, n.s. vol. VI, no #, p. 319:
Minor Topics of the Month:
The Scenery of Yorkshire, so full as it is of the picturesque in nature and Art, may well tempt the photographer. A series of ten stereoscopic views, taken and published by Mr. W. Hanson, of Leeds, present us with a few of the more striking “bits” in the country: among them are ‘Scarborough Castle,’ ‘Bolton Abbey,’ ‘Kirkstall Abbey,’ ‘Fountain Abbey,’ ‘Whitby Abbey.’ Independent of the peculiar value of these pictures as representing places unsurpassed in beauty by any in the kingdom, they are capital examples of photographic art, clear and artistically expressed.
1860: Art Journal, Nov. 1, n.s. vol. VI, no #, p. 351:
Minor Topics of the Month:
Stereoscopic Views of Canada.—A publisher in Canada, Mr. Notman, of Montreal, has issued a mass of views for the stereoscope, of which he has sent us some specimens, together with his list, containing the names of no fewer than five hundred and twenty places thus pictured. Judging from those before us, the productions are of great merit; skifully manipulated, and arranged with much artistic skill, the subjects being judiciously selected. They give us, indeed, almost a perfect idea of the interesting country which is just now attracting special attention in England—the ties that bind us to our valuable colony having been drawn closer and closer by recent events. It is impossible for us to convey an idea of the extent of country embraced in this large series: of the Victoria Bridge alone there are forty views; of Montreal, and its neighbourhood, sixty; of Quebec, and its vicinity, forty; while of Niagara, there are, perhaps, one hundred. The publication is a large boon to Art: the views cannot fail to be acceptable to all who take delight in the stereoscope.
1860: Art Journal, Dec. 1, n.s vol. VI, no #, p. 362-363: [although not mentioned, Bedford makes stereographs of the Wroxeter Excavations, which probably date the views to this time frame]
The Wroxeter Excavations.
Sir,—I regret to say that the excavations on the site of the Roman city of Uriconium are on the eve of being interrupted through the want of funds, and I will ask permission through your columns to take the opportunity of stating briefly the extent of the discoveries already made, and of appealing to the public for support in continuing them. It is proposed to discontinue the work during the winter, and to recommence on the approach of longer days, when we hope to have sufficient funds in hand, keeping only one man employed to take care of the ruins already uncovered, and I may add that the excavations will still remain open to visitors.
The discoveries hitherto made are these:--First, the basilica of the Roman city, or, in plainer terms, the town-hall, an extensive building, which from accidental circumstances at the commencement of the undertaking the excavation committee were obliged to fill up. Second, the extensive public baths of Uriconium, of the importance of which your readers will form some notion when I tell them that this building covers four times the space of the baths discovered at Pompeii. It is the more interesting to be able thus to examine in our own island the public sanitary institutions which were established here by the Romans at a moment when the question is so much agitated of introducing the same description of baths among our modern population. Third, a building, also of some extent, which there can now be little doubt was a marketplace. Fourth, a laboratory of some description or other, with the remains of furnaces and other circumstances which lead me to look upon it as the workshop of an enameller, and this opinion seems partly confirmed b y a recent and curious discovery. Just within the entrance of this workshop a heap of sixty coins were found, and near them the fragments of a small earthen vessel which had perhaps contained them; among, or close to these coins lay a steel button, beautifully ornamented by damascening, and apparently dropped there when it was quite new, and I suspect made in this identical shop. The coins, which have not yet been fully examined, will give another clue to the exact period when the Roman city was destroyed. Fifth, some buildings between this workshop and the baths, and adjoining the south wall of the basilica, which were very puzzling at first, but further excavation seems to demonstrate that they were public cloacœ. All these buildings, with some others which have not been opened, form an extensive square, bounded on the north and south by parallel streets and on the west facing the Forum of the Roman city. It will not be possible to examine the Forum itself, because the modern road occupies the middle of it, but accidental discoveries made in the field on the other side seem to show that it had a large central area, enclosed with short stone pillars, and perhaps rails. On the south of the southern of the two streets the buildings are found to continue along the side of that street, and of another which runs southwardly at right angles to it, and which has a gutter on one side; but it is not at present possible to say whether these are public buildings or private houses.
It will thus be seen that a very interesting, though small, part of this great Roman city has already been brought to light. Any one who has recently visited the Museum in Shrewsbury knows how many objects illustrating the condition and manners of its inhabitants have been deposited there. In fact, the importance of these excavations has now become too well attested to allow them to depend on the subscriptions which can be collected in the way we have been collecting them; and I think the time is come when her Majesty’s Government might take it up as a work of national interest, and I have no doubt that any grant for this purpose would not be an unpopular one. I see in the columns of one of our literary journals at this moment a book advertised under the title, “Carthage and its Remains: being an Account of Excavations and Researches of the Site of the Phœnician Metropolis, and in other adjacent Places, conducted under the Auspices of Her Majesty’s Government.” Surely, if money can be found for excavating the ruins at Carthage, it ought not to be wanting for excavations on the site of one of the ancient cities in our own island, which are certainly of much greater importance to us and to our national history. As this assistance, however, is not at present given to us, we can only continue to look for public subscriptions, and they will be gladly received, and may be sent either to the bank of Messrs. Masterman, Mildred, and Co., in the City, or to your obedient servant, Thomas Wright. Sydney Street, Brompton.
(We earnestly hope the appeal of Mr. Wright will be responded to: surely, if the Government can find funds to excavate at Carthage, it can supply them to disinter in Shropshire. It is impossible to say how much light may be thrown upon the history of these islands by a proper examination of the ruins that are now covered with earth at Wroxeter: more than ample recompense ahs been obtained by the discoveries already made; those who have seen the ground and its “produce” will have no doubt whatever that an enormous harvest will reward those who delve and throw up the clay that covers the buried city. We have recently visited these “Ruins,: and can testify as to their rich “yield:” not a hundredth, scarcely a thousandth, part of the ground has been explored, yet the Museum at Shrewsbury contains an immense mass of curious matter—the results of limited private subscriptions. It is impossible for public money to be more wisely expended: the purpose concerns the whole kingdom and its future. The records of the Romans in Britain are involved in dense obscurity: there cannot be a question that inquiries here would secure a large and valuable contribution to British history. And it is not only here that the labours of the antiquary may enlighten the historian; throughout the kingdom there are many such buried cities, though few, perhaps, so extensive as Uriconium, from which valuable witnesses might be disinterred to tell us much which the whole world is anxious to know. A strong and convinced effort on the part of the press would surely stimulate Government into energetic action.)
1860: Art Journal, Dec. 1, n.s. vol. VI, no #, p. 379:
Stereoscopic Views of Eton Chapel.—Mr. F. Jones, Oxford Street, has published a series of Stereoscopic views of the interior of the Chapel of Eton College. Several alterations recently made have enabled him to produce some new and very striking views: such as Lupton’s Chapel, which was one portion of the building that for a considerable time had been concealed by wainscoting; and the removal of the screen, which, since the days of Wren, shut out the original altar-piece as well as several fine ancient monuments, ahs brought them into prominent positions for the artist’s purpose. Not the least interesting of these slides are the copies of the walls containing the Crimean Memorials erected in honour of old Etonians. The whole of these views are remarkably clear and effective. Mr. Jones, who seems to make architecture his specialty, is, we believe, preparing to publish a series of interior views of the Houses of Parliament.
1860: Art Journal, Dec. 1, n.s. vol. VI, no #, p. 379:
Victoria Cross Gallery.—A series of photographs from some of the most important pictures, by Mr. Desanges, known as the “Victoria Cross Gallery,” has recently been published. They are excellent as specimens of the photographic art, and convey a faithful representation of the spi rited original works. The gallant deeds of these heroes of the Crimean and Indian wars will, by means of these copies, find a wider field for public observation than the gallery in which the paintings are hung.; To the companions in arms and the personal friends of those whose deeds the artist has depicted, the photographs must be especially welcome.