Another
successful Exhibition
The
4th PSS exhibition was held in the same rooms as the previous year's exhibition,
DR Hay’s Art Saloon, 90 George Street. The room was rented for
three months for £30. At least five hundred posters were ordered to
publicise the exhibition, at a cost of 3/- per hundred.
The
exhibition opened on 17 December 1859 with a with a Private View by invitation
the previous evening. It remained open until3 March 1860.
The
Council reported:
-
A
larger
collection of works was sent in than had ever before been received, several of
the chief Photographers of England contributing for the first time.
-
The
Newspapers and Photographic Journals, almost without exception, pronounced the
Exhibition to be greatly in advance of any previous exhibition, either in
Edinburgh or elsewhere
-
The Exhibition profit of
£24 7s 0d was lower than last year. This fall in profit was blamed on the
remarkable severity of the weather.
Rules
Rules
for entrants included the following:
-
The Committee strongly recommends that pictures should be framed and glazed with
margins of mounting board not exceeding 2 ½ ins in width all round.
-
It also recommends that in the case of pictures smaller than 9 x 7 inches, four
should be in one Frame, but a Frame containing more than one picture must not
exceed 12 square feet in area.
-
Each picture must have written on the back,
-
Pictures touched by the brush will not be admissible, unless so described
Exhibitors
Several,
but not all, of the exhibitors are listed below.
Scottish
Entries
|
Comments
|
|
Thomas Annan
Glasgow |
Photos for sale from 3/-
to £3 3 0d |
|
Archibald Burns
4 Calton Hill, Edinburgh |
2 frames, each
with 10 stereoscopic views from negatives by Fothergill’s Dry Process |
|
EW
Dallas
Edinburgh |
Landscapes,
copies from other prints, fragments, sculptures and portraits, etc. |
|
J
Farmer
Edinburgh |
"He exhibited a portrait
of Ivan Szabo, so well executed we took it at first to be a production
of that master, himself."
[Evening News: 24 February
1859]
|
|
G&D Hay
68 Princes Street, Edinburgh |
11
prints
"
Comparison betwixt these excellent works and the dark crude performances
of he early photogaphers will show at once what immense stride has been
made in Edinburgh within the last few years."
[Evening News: 24 December 1859]. |
|
J
Henderson
Edinburgh |
Small
views around Ochtertyre |
|
Cosmo
Innes
Edinburgh
|
Cosmo
Innes, amateur photographer and Vice President of the Photographic
Society of Scotland, entered a number of picturesque scenes of Venice
and the old towns of Germany. |
|
McCraw
Edinburgh |
20 frames of photos, all from collodion
negatives.
"A
tableau containing twenty-eight of the Edinburgh Town Council during the
Provostship of Sir James Melville.
The
portrait of the Late Lord Provost, however, is the least successful; he
looks as if he were enduring physical pain, having much the appearance
of a martyr at the stake.".
[Evening
News: 24 February 1859]
|
|
Kenneth MacLeay RSA
Edinburgh |
14 collodion
and 6 plain photographs in one frame. Prices
from 5/- to 10 gns.
"Portrait
of a Young Lady:
This work displays unusually
fine qualities. It is painted with breadth and unaffected power,
yet tenderness of feeling that lift it far above ordinary competition."
[Evening
News: 24 December 1859] |
|
John Moffat,
Edinburgh |
-
2 frames of wet collodion stereoscopic views at 1/- each
-
1frame of wet collodion stereoscopic views at 1/3d each
-
1frame of untouched prints from collodion negatives
|
|
Edwin
Musgrave
Edinburgh |
Edwin
Musgrave was an amateur photography who went on to become Secretary of
Edinburgh Photographic Society.
In
this exhibition, he exhibited coloured collodions. |
|
A Orange
Edinburgh |
A
frame of 36 stereoscopic photographs of
statuary |
|
Rev
TM Raven |
Studies
of Melrose Abbey, Dunkeld
Abbey, Bridge of Dunkeld and Spanish
scenes. |
|
Horatio
Ross
|
Horatio
Ross was an amateur photographer, one of the founding members of PSS and
a Member of Parliament.
He exhibited large studies of grouse,
blackcook, etc. |
|
T
Rodgers jun.
St Andrews |
"Seems
to take the lead in portraiture amongst Scottish
photographers"
[Evening
News: 24 December 1859] |
|
Truefitt
Brothers
Edinburgh |
[No
entry this year - this was regretted by the press] |
|
Messrs
Tunny
Edinburgh |
"Nine
interesting groups by JG Tunny who may almost be pronounced the father
of photography in Edinburgh and whose portraits of eminent men and
beautiful landscape scenery fill the portfolios of most of our artists.
Mr Tunny has the true eye of
an artist and his photographs have in consequence been always highly
valued, not only by the general public but also by members of the artistic
profession."
[Evening News: 24 December
1859] |
|
J
Valentine
Dundee |
7
photographs |
|
George
Washington Wilson
Aberdeen |
GW
Wilson's entered six frames of photographs. All were
views. One of the frames was described as instantaneous views.
Another consisted of six studies of evening effects on the Loch of Park,
Aberdeen.
He
sold many photographs at this exhibition. The prices were very
modest. He
sold 40 small views at 10d each, but had to work hard for his £1 13s 4d.
He wrote:
“Owing
to an accidental contamination of the printing chemicals, I find the views
printed for you so bad in colour that I could not let them out of my hands.”
[Letter from GW Wilson to PSS: 10 March 1860]
Then
he
wrote:
“I
am exceedingly annoyed to find that the views which I had ready for you
yesterday have been pilfered off my counter, and having only a dozen left (of
those you want) I am unable to send you the whole.”
[Letter from GW Wilson to PSS: 15
March 1860]
"There
are two or three copies not quite so good as I should have wished but our hurry
just now has prevented the getting that personal attention which these things
require"
[Letter
from GW Wilson to PSS]
|
Entries
(not Scottish)
|
Comments
|
|
R
Fenton |
Landscapes |
|
S
Ions |
[admired
in the press] |
|
Maxwell
Lyte
The Pyrenees |
Despite
all his efforts, Maxwell Lyte had trouble with
the photographs that he sent from the Pyrenees to Edinburgh for this
exhibition. |
|
Maull
& Polybank
London |
32
framed photographs - portraits |
|
TH
Morgan |
Landscapes |
|
James
Mudd
Manchester |
22
framed photographs - 5/- to 6/6d each, framed |
|
Myall |
His
portraits still hold their distinguished position for truthful rendering
of the character
[Caledonian Mercury: 17 Dec
1859] |
|
T
Dixon Piper |
'Gainsburgh
Lane, Near Ipswich', a most picturesque picture, one of the
most artistic studies in the room
[Daily Scotsman: 26 December
1859] |
|
Henry
Peach Robinson
Leamington |
"[There
is] nothing so deeply affecting as his 'Passing
Away' last year, but [he] gives evidence of assiduous study
including 'Here
They Come' and 'Ophelia', a pretty study from his favourite
model who re-appears in 'The Lady of Shalott'." [Press comment]
©
HP Robinson's
photograph Here
They Come
won a Silver Medal in
the exhibition for the Best Portrait of a Group.
©
HP
Robinson sold over 100 copies of photographs from this exhibition at
prices that ranged from 4/-
to 15/-.
'The
Lady of Shalott'
cost
7/6d and was accompanied by a verse from Tennyson.
"She
left the web, she left the loom,
She made three paces through the room,
She saw the water lily bloom,
She saw the helmet and the plume
She look’d down to Camelot."
|
|
Thomas
Rodger sen.
Thomas
Rodger jun. |
Thomas
Rodger sen. entered five frames of
calotypes. Titles included:
-
Should Auld Acquaintance be Forgot
-
Velocipede and its Maker.
He
wrote:
"If
you think my small contributions worth putting in the Catalogue, I hope
you'll distinguish my name by the word Senior" as my pictures are
not worthy to be classed with the name of my Son. His box will be
sent approx to morrow."
[Letter from Thomas Rodger sen. to PSS] |
|
Silvy
[entry in French] |
Press
reaction was mixed:
"There is no
great beauty in this scene
[La Mare Aux Cygnes]
His cartes de visite are not
generally so good as those of our own artists."
[Edinburgh
Evening Courant: 24 December 1859]
"...
the quiet dignity and grace and artistic effectiveness of the sweet female portrait."
[Evening
News: 24 December 1859] |
|
Lyndon
Smith
Leeds |
Despite
the criticism he encountered in last year' s exhibition, Lyndon Smith entered more
scenes of mist, including:
-
'Valley of the Wharf - Early Morning'
-
'Views in the Valley of Desolation'
[several photographs]
He
also entered
-
'Approach to Bolton Abbey':
"One of the most artistic
studies on the room"
[Daily
Scotsman: 26 Dec 1859]
He
wrote:
"I
find so much bother and expense connected with printing that I shall not
permit any copies for sale. I have no objection to sell those in
the exhibition as they are with frames but I do not care to part with
them for less than£3 each which perhaps your customers think too much"
[Letter
from Lyndon Smith to PSS]
|
F Maxwell Lyte
Entries from the Pyrenees
F
Maxwell Lyte became a regular contributor to PSS exhibitions, submitting his
entries from his home in the Pyrenees.
He
had previously exhibited at the 1855 Paris Exhibition.
He was in distinguished company when he won a Silver Medal at that
exhibition. Several Silver Medal
winners in the Paris Exhibition were based in Britain.
They
were Claudet, Fenton, Llewelyn, Rejlander, Turner, Townsend, Williams and Count
de Montizon. Talbot won the Grand
Medal of Honour.
Please handle carefully!
Prints
at PSS Exhibitions were hung in frames. Framed photographs were usually
supplied. But in some cases,
unframed photos arrived with requests for PSS to arrange for framing, then bill
the photographer. Maxwell Lyte knew how he wanted his prints to be handled and
framed. He submitted 12 views of
Spain and the Pyrenees to the 4th PSS Exhibition in 1859. He wrote
several letters to PSS, from which these extracts are taken:
|
“Please
to handle these pictures carefully and to take care not to bend the board or
crease it by handling it roughly – also take care to touch with clean hands.
It is particularly requested that they may not be injured in the custom
house examination.”
“If
there is no regulation pattern of frame to be used throughout the Exhibition,
let the pictures be placed in plain gold-beading frames of narrow beadings.”
“Take
care that the pictures touch the glass. I
like glass as free as possible from flaws.
Paste up the back board of the frame with paper all round, so as to keep
out the dust. Be careful of thumb
marks and do not handle the board roughly or crease it by taking up the pictures
in one hand”
|
The
result
It
is ironic to read the press coverage of this Exhibition.
The
Daily Scotsman wrote on 26 Dec 1859:
|
“Maxwell
Lyte: ‘Bagneres di Bigonne’ –An excellent specimen.
Other specimens of the same artist are equally good; and we are happy to
add that the injury these beautiful views sustained in their transmission to
this country, by a nail being driven through them has been skillfully repaired,
and does not now injure their general effect.”
|
This
damage did not deter Maxwell Lyte form submitting further work to PSS
exhibitions. He continued to send
entries and instructions to exhibitions.
He
won a medal in the 5th
exhibition
For
the 6th exhibition, he submitted a further 15 Pyrenean landscapes, each 13½ ins x 6
ins. He asked for them to be
framed: 25¼ ins x 19½ ins inside measurement, black or better still rosewood molding.
He
offered unframed copies of these photographs for 20/- each.
He
won another medal in the and 7th
exhibition. |
