Edinburgh Photographic Society

1908

 Open Exhibition

Exhibition Entries

The 1908 Open Exhibition  was held from 22 February until 8 March in the EPS Premises at 38 Castle Street.  There was no formal opening on account of influenza and other causes.

The EPS Transactions, in March 1908, reported:

"There is nothing, perhaps, of an outstanding nature, either good or bad, but the work exhibited is generally of a high standard.

The phenomenally bad summer which we experienced last year has caused s shrinkage in the exhibits, but this is by no means an unmixed evil, for as a result it has been unnecessary to 'sky'* pictures as an alternative to rejecting them, with the consequent grumbling on the part of their owners."

*  The practice of 'skying' pictures referred to hanging them very high on the wall where they could hardly be seen.

The number of Sections and Classes of picture was greater than in recent years, this year including a Section for Photographs in Colour.  See the list of award winners at the end of this page.

Exhibition Entertainment

Entertainment was provided during the exhibition.  The tradition of giving lectures of a popular nature on each of the Saturday evenings continued, but this year there were also six evenings when the lantern slides were shown:

Sat 22 Feb

''The Environs of Edinburgh''
[illustrated with slides taken by James A Angus]
W Reid

Mon 25 Feb

Exhibition of Lantern Slides

Thu 28 Feb

Exhibition of Lantern Slides

Sat 29 Mar

''The Passion Play of 1900 at Oberammergau'' [illustrated]
Robert T Skinner FRSE

Mon 4 Mar

Exhibition of Lantern Slides

Thu 7 Mar

Exhibition of Lantern Slides

Sat 7 Mar

''Bonnie Prince Charlie in the Highlands'' [illustrated (with what?)]  Mrs Parrott

 

Art Union

In recent years, the Art Union Draw has been a feature of the exhibition, with the prize-winners receiving a selection of prints from the exhibition.  However, there there appears to have been no Art Union draw in 1908.

Exhibition Judges

Judges for the exhibition were:

Martin Hardie RSA

J Craig Annan

William Crooke

 

Section I  -  Class A

Portraiture

Open to All

Honourable

Mention

Eric Allan Rendall, Edinburgh

"Portrait of Mr JL"

Oscar Hardie, Chislehurst

"Portrait Group"

 

Section I  -  Class B

Landscape, &c.

Open to All

Medals

G L A Blair, Paisley

"While London Sleeps"

W J Croal FRPS, Edinburgh

"On a Normandy Farm,
The Calves Dinner Hour
"

Harry Lindoe, Sunderland

"The Deserted Mill"

Honourable Mentions

A K Dannatt, Blackheath

"The Early Boat"

Arthur Marshall, Nottingham

"Nocturne"

Louis J Steele, Portsmouth

"The Fringe of the Deserted"

 

Section II

EPS Members Only

Medals

J D Paterson, Edinburgh

"At the Quay"

J D Paterson, Edinburgh

"On the Foreshore"

Honourable Mentions

J D Paterson, Edinburgh

"The Last 'Rake'"

 

Section III

EPS Members Only

Restricted to those who have not previously gained a Medal

at the Society's Exhibition

Medals

D W Thompson, Edinburgh

"The Harvest of the Sea"

James A Angus, Edinburgh

"Across the Harbour"

Honourable Mentions

A D E Mathison, Edinburgh

"Haunts o' Jack Howieson"

Louis C Login, Edinburgh

"Dusk"

David A Christian, Edinburgh

"In His Study"

 

Section IV

Lantern Slides

in sets of four

Medals

Graystone Bird, Bath

No 187 (2)

Richard Hancock, Stechford

No 190 (3)

Alfred J Loughton, Southwell

No 194 (1)

Honourable Mentions

George M Aikman, Edinburgh

No 177 (2)

Thomas Carlyle, Paisley

No 181 (4)

G Suter, Loughton

No 191 (3)

J C McKechnie, Edinburgh

No 197 (1)

 

Section V

Photographs in Colour

in sets of four

Medals

Arthur W Walburn,
West Hartlepool

"A Fruit Study" (Autochrome)

 

Questions

Medals Awarded to

Andrew Paterson (Inverness)

Andrew Paterson

I see that the recently launched Andrew Paterson Collection web site refers to and illustrates EPS Medals awarded for portraiture to Andrew Paterson in 1908 and 1920.

 I have two questions:

Questions

Q1.  How can I  reconcile

(a) the Medal awarded by EPS  to Andrew Paterson in 1908 and illustrated on the Andrew Paterson Collection web site with

(b)   the Medals that I have listed above***?

 ***  I believe that I took these details from contemporary editions of Transactions of EPS and The British Journal of Photography.

Q2.  Was the Inverness photographer and Medal winner, Andrew Paterson related to the EPS Member and Medal winner, J D Paterson, listed above?

Peter Stubbs, Edinburgh:  July 28, 2013

 

Reply

1.

John Hadden

Edinburgh

Thank you to John Hadden for helping to solve Q1 above.

John wrote:

Q1.

1920 Medal

"Page 9 of the 'Paterson's Inverness Portraits' magazine shows two medal images.   However, were these two images, perhaps, of the same medal, but taken from opposite sides to allow all of the edge writing to be viewed." 

Comment

Agreed, except that there may well be still more writing that could be viewed.. This style of EPS medals often also had inscriptions along its top and bottom edges.

I agree that both images are likely to be of the 1920 EPS Medal.

Peter Stubbs, July 28, 2013

1908 Medal

"The image of a letterhead  page 9 of the magazine lists  'Higher Honours for Portraiture' awarded to Andrew Paterson, including 'Scottish National, Edinburgh, 1908' and Edinburgh, 1920'.

So, was the 1908 award from a different organisation than EPS? Was it, perhaps, related to the Scottish National Exhibition at Edinburgh in 1908?

Comment

Agreed.  That seems to me to be very likely to be the answer.

The 1908 Scottish National Exhibition was a major exhibition in Edinburgh, as the postcard below shows.  The exhibition gave awards for many subjects including photography.

Scottish National Exhibition

Edinburgh, 1908

Post Card  -  Scottish National Exhibition, 1908  -  WR&S Reliable Service ©

Peter Stubbs, July 28, 2013

John Hadden, Edinburgh:  July 28, 2013 (2 emails)

 

Reply

2.

Adrian Harvey

Inverness, Inverness-shire, Scotland

Thank you to Adrian Harvey for responding to the two questions above.  Adrian's answers to Q1 are consistent with the suggestions made above by John Hadden.

Adrian wrote:

Q1.

1920 Medal

"The list of  23 Awards, Honours and Medals  proudly displayed on Andrew Paterson's stationery, was the only record we had of his achievements for a long time.

Then we received the photographs of the EPS medal in its case. (It is gold by the way).  It seems to be the 1920 award, as inscribed on its bottom edge.

 The two photographs in the magazine are, in fact, of the same Medal.  It has been photographed from both sides to show both Andrew Paterson's name and the category, Portraiture.

The case inlay has the words Alex Kirkwood & Son, Medalists, 9 St. James Square, Edinburgh. Est. 1825? 

On the face of the medal, bottom left is 'A. Kirkwood & Son SC' and on the right there is wording that I can't quite make out.  it looks like:   'A. HOPE DEL.'  Maybe you know of this."

Comments

Adrian's comment about the 1920 Medal being gold is in response to a question that I asked him about what metal it was mad from.

Adrian also comments on the company that produced the medal, A Kirkwood & Son.  That's the same company as still produces medals annually for EPS Exhibitions.

In fact the die for this style of Medal was re-discovered by Kirkwood in 2012, so arrangements were made for more medals in this style to be cast, three in gold, for the 2012 EPS Exhibition. Here is the cover of the catalogue for this exhibition.  It features this medal.

The 'A HOPE DEL'  inscription near the bottom of the medal on the right, that Adrian mentions can be seen on the medal.  This denotes that A Hope (whoever that was) drew the image for the medal.  (DEL = delineavit, Latin, 'he/she drew'.)

EPS International Exhibition of Photography - Exhibition Catalogue for the 2012 Exhibition

© Reproduced with acknowledgement to Edinburgh Photographic  Society

Peter Stubbs, July 28, 2013

Q2.

J D Paterson

"J.D. Paterson would not have been a close family member (descendant or sibling) to Andrew, but that's not to say he isn't related somewhere. His older brother, after all, lived in Glasgow."

Comment

Paterson is a fairly common name in Scotland so it seems quite likely to me that 2 photographers exhibiting in Edinburgh in 1908, both named Paterson, may just be coincidence.

Peter Stubbs, July 28, 2013

Adrian Harvey, Inverness, Inverness-shire, Scotland:  July 28, 2013

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Exhibition Rules      1891

 

 

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