George Taylor (photographer)

George Thomas Taylor (September 6, 1838 – April 5, 1913) was a Canadian photographer and painter known for his work in capturing the landscapes and everyday life of nineteenth-century New Brunswick. He is regarded as being a pioneering nature photographer in the country.

George Taylor
Born(1838-09-06)September 6, 1838
DiedApril 5, 1913(1913-04-05) (aged 74)
Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada
Years active1856–1906
Known forPhotography and painting[lower-alpha 1]
Spouses
  • Sarah George
    (m. 1860; died 1866)
  • Mary Avery
    (m. 1868; died 1905)
Children6

Taylor was born in Fredericton, New Brunswick, and he developed an early interest in photography, embarking on his career in 1856, during which he documented and captured various provincial locations, including the Tobique Valley. As the twentieth century dawned, with photography becoming more accessible to the general public, Taylor retired and shifted his pursuits to landscape painting until his death in 1913, during which he often used his own photographs as references. Presently, hundreds of his images are preserved and have been exhibited at the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick.

Early life and career

George Thomas Taylor was born on September 6, 1838, in Fredericton,[2] a British garrison town in the colony of New Brunswick.[3] His father, William P. Taylor, was a migrant from London, England who worked as a carpenter, and his mother was Frances (Morrison) Taylor. George was the middle child among five siblings,[2][4] and the family lived in a house built by William in 1846.[5][6] He developed an early interest in photography through borrowing magazines from local garrison members,[7] which drove him to pursue diligent self-study, particularly in the "science" of this art form.[1] During his teenage years, Taylor started creating daguerreotypes,[7] and while working as a carpenter in the 1850s and 1860s, he continued to develop his photographic skills. He was also a self-taught painter, even though a 22nd (Cheshire) Regiment captain's wife gave him lessons.

In 1856, Taylor, guided by a local portrait photographer, started his work as a photographer.[4] The same year, he began exploring daguerreotype production after building his first camera.[6] Taylor borrowed and read English periodicals from Garrison officers to deepen his understanding of photography.[4] With the help of his father,[8] Taylor had built his own basic cameras by 1860, at the age of 22, while having amassed extensive knowledge of the collodion process.[1][4] He went on to establish his first studio at the Queen and Carleton Street intersection.[1]

In 1860, Taylor was married to his first wife, Sarah George, until her death in 1866. He later remarried in 1868 to Mary Avery and had six children with her,[4] until Avery's death on February 14, 1905, at the age of 66.[9]

Party of lumbermen in Victoria County, c. 1862

Photographic career

A Maliseet camp in Tobique, 1865

Taylor expanded his photographic work beyond the confines of his studio in Fredericton.[4] In the early 1860's, he developed a friendship with Arthur Hamilton Gordon, the last Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick before the colony's confederation.[7] In 1863, Gordon commissioned Taylor to document various provincial locations,[4] and with a reference letter from the governor, he embarked on an expedition to the Tobique River, one of the first photographers to explore its reaches.[7] During this period, Taylor was also commissioned by officers from the imperial regiments stationed in Fredericton, who were impressed by his photography skills. When the forces relocated to Halifax, Taylor was encouraged to join them.[1]

Wolastoqey guides along the Tobique River, 1862

Throughout his expeditions, Taylor formed friendships with Maliseet peoples, including a notable individual known as Gave Acquin, with whom he frequently collaborated while exploring the province.[4] According to an exhibit chairwoman, Taylor could speak the Maliseet language fluently.[10] He traversed the forests and river valleys of New Brunswick by canoe,[11][12] being aided by First Nations guides who referred to him as "Garge".[7] Whilst embarking on his expeditions, Taylor used a portable darkroom to process photographs on the go, and brought with him all of his equipment, including this portable darkroom, his camera, his chemicals and his negatives.[11] In the following decades of his career, Taylor revisited the Tobique River.[7]

Canoeing in Fredericton during spring freshet, 1887

While Taylor, who continued to live in Fredericton after 1896,[1] did earn an income from capturing studio portraits of notable individuals, his true passion lay in landscape and scenery photography.[12] His extensive collection primarily consisted of images depicting various aspects of New Brunswick, including rivers, towns, mills, lumber camps, hunters, fishermen, and indigenous guides.[7]

Fredericton, New Brunswick, 1889

In 1868, examples of Taylor's work were featured in the inaugural edition of Canadian Illustrated News, a national news magazine at the time.[4] Government and local businesses often sought his services to capture unexplored regions of New Brunswick. For example, the New Brunswick Railway Company commissioned him to photograph sites along the route to Edmunston before the tracks were laid west of Fredericton.[1] At some point during his career, Taylor also expanded his house to add a portrait studio.[6]

During the 1870s, Taylor may have faced financial difficulties, as indicated by his advertisements for the sale of his negatives. Nevertheless, his career spanned various formats, rangingfrom daguerreotypes to wet plates to dry plates.[4] He kept himself updated through publications like The Philadelphia Photographer and experimented with stereoscopic and conventional cameras. Occasionally, he even ventured into trick photography. In 1873, he described himself as a "photographic artist," as seen on a carte de visite he issued.[7] Although Taylor kept quiet about his work, he did attend an 1879 presentation in Saint John by geologist Edward Jack, which featured his photographs.[13]

Later life and death

George Taylor in an undated family photograph. Taylor is the second person in the standing row.

Taylor's final photographic expedition occurred in 1906,[7] for which he returned to the Tobique River.[4] Following this expedition, Taylor shifted his focus from photography to oil and watercolor painting, despite facing a lack of popularity in comparison to his photographic work.[4][1]

Taylor went onto lead a quiet life,[14] retiring from photography due to the growing popularity of amateur photography brought about by the increased accessibility of cameras,[7] which resulted in reduced demand for Taylor's photography.[1] As he transitioned to painting, Taylor frequently employed his own photographs as references,[7] often creating scenes inspired by New Brunswick and its forests.[15][7] Over time, those such as the Government of New Brunswick would collect his paintings, including four that are displayed at Fredericton's Old Government House.[7]

On April 5, 1913, Taylor died at the age of 74 in his Fredericton residence.[16] His funeral took place three days later at his home, and he was laid to rest in the Fredericton Rural Cemetery. At the time of his death, he left behind two surviving siblings and all of his children.[17] The house where he spent most of his life resided in, known as the William Taylor House, is now a historical landmark which features a plaque in his memory.[1][6]

Legacy

Landscape With Man Resting Ashore (1889)[18]

Taylor, who is recognized as one of the earliest photographers in the province,[11] remains relatively unknown beyond the boundaries of New Brunswick, despite being hailed as a pioneering figure in Canadian nature photography.[12][19][20] Through his extensive body of work, Taylor provides a captivating window into everyday life in nineteenth-century New Brunswick,[5][21] establishing himself as a leading figure in the region's photography scene.[8][15] Taylor's photography work was featured in the book Slow Seconds: The Photography of George Thomas Taylor.[22] Ronald Rees, one of the book's authors,[11] described Taylor as "the first wilderness photographer in the Maritimes and one of the first in all of Canada."[23]

A private exhibition was held on March 28, 1968, at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery to showcase recently donated artworks. Included were 12 paintings by Taylor: 8 oil paintings and 4 watercolor paintings. Among the guests in attendance were to be Lieutenant Governor Wallace Samuel Bird and his wife, Premier Louis Joseph Robichaud, Government and Legislative Assembly members, and the mayor of Fredericton along with his wife.[24] Later in the same year, during the opening ceremony of the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, a selection of Taylor's images were exhibited.[25] Presently, the archive houses a preserved collection of hundreds of Taylor's images,[1][4] including nearly 900 glass negatives, which were showcased in a 2019 exhibit titled Glass Plate Alchemist.[11]

Notes

  1. Taylor turned to painting after retiring from photography, which he is much better known for.[1]

References

  1. "PHSC: Excerpts: Volume 24-1". www.phsc.ca. Archived from the original on September 23, 2023. Retrieved July 4, 2023.
  2. "Taylor, George Thomas - ArchivesCANB". search.canbarchives.ca. Archived from the original on September 23, 2023. Retrieved July 5, 2023.
  3. "Fredericton | New Brunswick, Canada |". www.britannica.com. Britannica. Archived from the original on February 20, 2023. Retrieved July 5, 2023.
  4. "George T. Taylor - ArchivesCANB". search.canbarchives.ca. Archived from the original on September 23, 2023. Retrieved July 4, 2023.
  5. "Slow Seconds 101". Goose Lane Editions. Archived from the original on September 23, 2023. Retrieved July 4, 2023.
  6. "William Taylor House House". mynewbrunswick.ca. September 28, 2014. Archived from the original on September 23, 2023. Retrieved July 4, 2023.
  7. "Pioneer Photographer George T. Taylor Gave New Brunswickers An Early View of Their Spectacular Wilderness…and More" (PDF). The Associates of the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 23, 2023. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
  8. "George Thomas Taylor •". mynewbrunswick.ca. June 13, 2020. Archived from the original on September 23, 2023. Retrieved July 2, 2023.
  9. "DEATHS IN FREDERICTON". da.tj.news. The Daily Times. February 14, 1905. p. 7. Archived from the original on September 23, 2023. Retrieved July 5, 2023.
  10. "George Thomas Taylor". da.tj.news. New Brunswick Telegraph Journal. June 19, 1999. p. 82. Archived from the original on September 23, 2023. Retrieved July 4, 2023.
  11. Chisholm, Cassidy (September 29, 2019). "With a camera and canoe, early photographer captures 19th-century life". CBC News. Archived from the original on September 23, 2023. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
  12. "Throwback Thursday: The pioneering photography of George T. Taylor". canadiangeographic.ca. Archived from the original on September 23, 2023. Retrieved July 4, 2023.
  13. Rees, Green 2019, p. 7.
  14. "OBITUARY - George Thomas Taylor". Daily Telegraph. April 19, 1913. Archived from the original on September 23, 2023. Retrieved September 3, 2023.
  15. "Biography – TAYLOR, GEORGE THOMAS – Volume XIV (1911-1920) – Dictionary of Canadian Biography". www.biographi.ca. Archived from the original on September 23, 2023. Retrieved July 2, 2023.
  16. "George Thomas Taylor". Daily Telegraph. April 19, 1913. Archived from the original on September 23, 2023. Retrieved September 3, 2023.
  17. "The Late George T. Taylor". da.tj.news. The Daily Gleaner. April 7, 1913. p. 8. Archived from the original on September 23, 2023. Retrieved July 17, 2023.
  18. "Inventory Detail Page". Waddingtons.ca. Archived from the original on September 23, 2023. Retrieved July 4, 2023.
  19. MacLean, Andrew. "Backyard history: The province's first outdoor photographer you already know". TJ.news. Archived from the original on September 23, 2023. Retrieved July 4, 2023.
  20. "Many Firsts Recorded In New Brunswick". da.tj.news. Telegraph Journal. May 26, 1978. p. 28. Archived from the original on September 23, 2023. Retrieved July 5, 2023.
  21. "Taylor documented N.B. in 19th century". da.tj.news. Saint John Telegraph Journal. March 30, 2002. p. 53. Archived from the original on September 23, 2023. Retrieved July 4, 2023.
  22. Fitzherbert, Corinne (January 21, 2020). "Archivist keen to share 'Slow Seconds,' depicting historical images". The Victoria Star. Bugle Observer. Archived from the original on September 23, 2023. Retrieved July 4, 2023.
  23. Rees, Green 2019, p. 8.
  24. "Private Showing March 26". da.tj.news. Telegraph Journal. March 15, 1968. p. 3. Archived from the original on July 17, 2023. Retrieved July 17, 2023.
  25. "Archives Open". da.tj.news. The Daily Gleaner. May 30, 1968. p. 1. Archived from the original on July 4, 2023. Retrieved July 4, 2023.

Bibliography

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