World of William Notman: The Nineteenth Century Through a Master Lens

Long acknowledged as the giant of nineteenth-century Canadian photography, William Notman – along with his sons and protégées – created perhaps the most vital photographic studio of his day, a venture that spanned almost sixty years and an entire continent. As the authors clearly demonstrate in this stunning new book, Notman’s ambition did not expire at the Canadian border but continued far into the United States; and his photographs chronicled not only the nineteenth century but extended well into the twentieth.

Largely forgotten today, Notman was a dominant figure of photography in the U.S. and Canada in the 1870s and '80s. His Montreal-based family firm documented a continent's prideful development through photographs of architectural triumphs, universities and the land's ascendant citizens in elaborately staged studio portraits. The authors adequately describe the Glasgow emigrant Notman's business flair and ingenious artistry, but the real excitement is provided by the 173 duotones and 70 halftones. The railroads' westward thrust, Niagara's towering suspension bridge, a Royal Artillery review, a sidewheel steamer breasting the rapids, Quebec farms and Indian villages are all brought to life again. Longfellow, Emerson, Mark Twain, Lillie Langtry, the exiled Jefferson Davis, a young George V, Sitting Bull, Buffalo Bill, scholars, statesmen and tycoons posed for Notman cameras. A striking curiosity to modern eyes are the composite portraits of "Confederate Commanders, 1883" or a "Yale College group" which combine photos of individuals against an illustrated background with surprisingly effective results.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In 1856, William Notman (1826-91) left a bankrupt textile business in Scotland and emigrated to Canada, where he became as successful a photographer as he had been unsuccessful a businessman. From his base in Montreal, he established a chain of studios that reached across Canada and into the U.S.--a photographic enterprise rivaling such big stateside firms as Mathew Brady's. Notman's success was founded in both good business practices and very high-quality photography. His studios used some charming and unusual winter scenes as backdrops, but we look to Notman photographs not for invention or originality but for clarity, excellent craft, and the depiction of dignified, bourgeois prosperity in Victorian Canada. Besides making portraits--their mainstay--Notman photographers documented the extension of the Canadian railway and the growth of Canadian cities. In the U.S., Notman's photographers were among the top college photographers, especially at Ivy League schools, and the official photographers of the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition of 1876 were Notman's. Although not the first Notman history, this is the first to cover Notman's U.S. activity. For that as well as hundreds of excellent illustrations, it is highly recommended for American studies and photography collections. Gretchen Garner

William Notman (1826-91) was a Victorian-era photographer and consummate businessman. His studio name lasted 60 years in Canada and the United States, until the last of at least 26 Notman studios was sold by his son in 1935. Beginning with the first studio in Montreal in 1856, the business grew along with technical improvements and the railroads' expansion to western Canada. Today Notman is thought of for his unusual and portable studio backdrops and imaginative composite photographs, but the Notman Photographic Company's success was based on more than gimmicks. Notman and his sons (and nephews) photographed the leading citizens of Canada and the United States and the infamous as well--such as the St. Albans Raiders, a group of U.S. Confederate bank robbers based in Canada. The official photographer for the Philadelphia Centennial exhibition, Notman was also commissioned to document the construction of the Victoria Bridge in 1858; together with his sons, he produced landscapes of newly opened territories and city and architectural views as well. Though based heavily on the Notman Photographic Archives at McGill University, this book's borrowings from other institutions indicate just how widespread the Notman name became. An example of the highest quality printing, this definitive work on Notman and his family business is highly recommended for photography collections.
- Kathleen Collins, New York Transit Museum, Brooklyn
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.