Quick Search
|
Search Results
24 items
items as
Girdleness Lighthouse
467 Girdleness Lighthouse at the Bay of Nigg. Constructed in 1833, the architect was Robert Stevenson, grandfather of the Treasure Island author. Treasure 32: George Washington Wilson South Africa Photography Collection
2320 George Washington Wilson is one of the great names in 19th century photography, famous for capturing images of people, buildings and landscapes across Scotland. His photography drew attention to the beauty of his country, but his travels further afield are not as well known.
As an innovative pioneer in photography, George Washington Wilson's work reflected the reality and attitudes of society during his lifetime (1823-1893). In our collections we hold a vast selection of photographs and portraits taken by the G. W. Wilson Company in South Africa. These images were taken by his son, Charles Wilson, and Fred Hardie, a company photographer of George Washington Wilson & Co.
The company's photographs of South Africa captured scenes of the country which would have been perceived as unusual and exotic to British people at the time.
South Africa and its Treasures
The majority of British colonization was concentrated in South Africa during the 19th century. In the past, the country was colonized in order to control one of the main trade routes to India. Due to the abundance of resources such as spices and tea, European interest in Africa increased dramatically in the late 19th century, especially with the discovery of gold and diamonds in the 1860s-1880s.
On their return to Britain, George Washington Wilson & Co presented many photographs showing these natural resources, from the Robinson Gold mine in Johannesburg to De Beers Diamond Mines in Kimberley.
Tea was also a very valuable resource, and people in Britain were keen to learn more about its production and its use in South Africa.
Photography and Tourism
The collection held by Aberdeen City Libraries shows local places of interest in South Africa. These photographs capture Cape Town and Johannesburg, two of the biggest cities in the country. Many Europeans emigrated to these cities in the 19th century, due to the discovery of valuable resources in the surrounding area.
With the rapid rise of tourism in this period, George Washington Wilson & Co. looked for new ways to promote and sell their work. Around 1880-1890, they started to commercialize their photography via picture postcards, a relatively new concept in Britain. This new form of media met with huge success as it was easy to write and cheap to send. It soon became the standard way to communicate with friends and family when abroad, a holiday tradition which remains today.
The postcards, in colour and having a standard size, featured many different scenes from South Africa and were viewed as an innovative way to publicize the country - and the works of photographic firms such as George Washington Wilson & Co. Treasure 31: Hays' Isometrical View of Aberdeen 1850
2586 In September 1850 an advert appeared in the local papers of Aberdeen for "Hays' Isometrical View of Aberdeen, giving a Distinct and Correct View of the Whole City and Environs". We hold copy of the plan from 1850 in our Local Studies collection.
The plan was available to purchase for 3s. 6d. and measured 34 inches by 19 inches. Carvers and gilders, J. & J. Hays, had premises at 2 Market Street where they also sold prints and optical instruments. At the bottom left of the image we see the words George Wilson, Delt. (abbreviation of delineator, i.e. the artist). George Wilson was to find fame a few years later as George Washington Wilson when he became one of Scotland's premier photographers.
George Washington Wilson
George Washington Wilson was born in 1823 at Waulkmill of Carnousie in Banffshire and left school at 12 years of age to be an apprentice carpenter. He practised his artistic skills by drawing portraits of friends and neighbours and, after training at art schools in Edinburgh and London, he returned to Aberdeen to become an art teacher and portrait painter.
By the late 1840's Wilson was attracted by the work of Fox Talbot in the new art of photography and after initial experiments with a homemade camera, he advertised a business offering photographic portraits before eventually expanding into landscape photography.
A Bird's Eye View of History
Wilson created this panoramic view of the city by making numerous sketches from the roofs of high buildings and then merging them into one comprehensive drawing. We are looking north across the city from the harbour with Union Street running horizontally across the centre and Old Aberdeen in the far distance. We can see how small the city actually was at this time - open fields are visible just to the north of the west end of Union Street.
A key to the most prominent buildings was provided and it is interesting to see which buildings have survived until today, often with additions, and which had yet to be built. Robert Gordon's Hospital (now College), Marischal College, and various churches including the Triple Kirks and St Nicholas East and West are all still standing but the West Prison, Castlehill Barracks and the Poorhouse have been demolished.
Bird's Eye View 1889
In December 1889, the Aberdeen Free Press offered its readers an updated version of the Bird's Eye View as a supplement to their newspaper. Numerous changes to the landscape of the city had taken place since Wilson's view. Grinding Corn in Skye
3220 A print of a George Washington Wilson photograph showing a couple grinding and winnowing grain on Skye in 1885. Planting Potatoes in Skye
3221 A print of a George Washington Wilson photograph of a group farming on the island of Skye in around 1885. The man are using the caschrom, or foot plough, and the women are fertilizing the ground with seaweed. Spinning of wool on Skye
3313 A print of a George Washington Wilson photograph showing a woman demonstrating the spinning of wool. The woman has obviously put on her best clothes for the occasion but is still wearing her heavy everyday tacketted boots. Crofter's home on Skye
3314 A print of a George Washington Wilson photograph showing a crofter's home on Skye. People of Skye
3315 A print of a George Washington Wilson photograph showing two men in front of a crofter's home. Skye crofter
3316 Another photograph taken by George Washington Wilson. The photograph is shows a crofter on Skye. The man is using a caschrom, or foot plough. Cas chrom on Skye
3317 A print of a George Washington Wilson photograph showing a woman and a man.
The soil depth was so shallow that a normal spade was often replaced by the cas chrom, the foot plough. Planting potatoes on Skye
3318 A print of a George Washington Wilson photograph of a group farming on the island of Skye. The men are using the caschrom, or foot plough, and the women on the right are fertilizing the ground with seaweed. Going for peats on Skye
3319 A print of a George Washington Wilson photograph showing a woman carrying a creel. Creels were used for carrying all sorts of heavy loads, including peats and meal. Washing day on Skye
3320 A print of a George Washington Wilson photograph showing a group of women on washing day. Homestead on South Uist, Hebrides
3321 A print of a George Washington Wilson photograph showing a hut partially dug into the ground as protection from the wind.
Lobster fisher's hut on South Uist, Hebrides
3322 A print of a George Washington Wilson photograph showing a lobster fisher's hut.
The meagre existence of crofters in the vast landscapes of Hebridean islands is demonstrated vividly in the South Uist images of the huts used by lobster fishermen and kelp makers which are partially dug into the ground as protection from the wind. Kelp maker's hut on South Uist
3323 A print of a George Washington Wilson photograph showing a kelp maker's hut. Fishermen's huts on Orkney
3324 A print of a George Washington Wilson photograph showing fishermen's huts in the area of Stenness, Orkney. Cart on Orkney
3325 This print of a George Washington Wilson photograph was taken on the island of Hoy. It shows an ox that has been harnessed to a cart. Shetland knitter
3326 A print of a George Washington Wilson photograph showing a woman carrying kishies (creels) of peat and continuing with her knitting as she walked. Shetland children
3328 A print of a George Washington Wilson photograph showing a group of children. Most of them are barefoot. Herring in Shetland
3329 George Washington Wilson rarely gave us an insight into industrial life but he obviously found that herring fishing offered these fascinating images of harbour scenes with arrays of boats, sails and barrels.
Women worked in the open air at the troughs (farlins) gutting the newly landed herring, salting and packing them into the barrels which the men later closed before loading them on to the larger sailing vessels for export to Germany and Russia.
Fingal's Cave on Staffa
3332 This photograph was taken by George Washington Wilson.
Wilson made arrangements with a local man, Sandy Macdonald, for a rowing boat with four oarsmen to take them to Staffa. George Walker described the problems experienced by Wilson when small clouds racing across the sky caused variations in the light levels thus affecting the exposure times needed for his glass plates.
However, Wilson's skill was such that only one plate of two dozen images was under-exposed. Walker notes "so much were Wilson's views in demand at this time that he could have sold each of these negatives for £10, (about £800 today), thus making £230 (nearly £20,000 today) as his day's work but by selling the views taken from these he must have turned out much more than this large sum". Treasure 109: George Washington Wilson Portraits
330 This month we look at some of George Washington Wilson's work as a portrait photographer and especially the creation of photomontages selected from the large collection of images he had taken of men from the city and surrounding area who were leading figures in business, industry, law, education, and the church.
Wilson, encouraged by his friend George Walker of the firm of A. Brown & Co, booksellers, created his first grouping of Aberdeen Portraits in 1857, with a second collection in the following year. They spent many hours selecting and arranging the images to form an oval of faces where their perceived prominence of each individual is determined by the size and placing of each portrait within the oval. Images of Walker, Wilson and Wilson's brother Robert were included in the first selection.
The venture was a huge success with thousands of prints being sold, and, eventually a further seven groupings were created from the stock of images held. In 1907, a booklet with an alphabetical list of all 897 portraits was produced by G. W. Wilson & Co. when a portfolio of all 9 groups with the list could be purchased for 10 shillings and 6 pence. |