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{{short description|Canadian photographer (1834–1918)}}
{{Infobox artist
{{Infobox artist
| name = Hannah Maynard
| name = Hannah Maynard
Line 6: Line 7:
| birth_name = Hannah Hatherly
| birth_name = Hannah Hatherly
| birth_date = {{birth date|1834|01|17}}
| birth_date = {{birth date|1834|01|17}}
| birth_place = [[Bude]], [[Cornwall]]
| birth_place = [[Bude]], Cornwall, England
| death_date = {{death date and age|1918|5|15|1834|01|17}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|1918|5|15|1834|01|17}}
| death_place = [[Victoria, British Columbia|Victoria]], [[British Columbia]]
| death_place = [[Victoria, British Columbia]], Canada
| field = [[Photography]]
| field = Photographer
| spouse = [[Richard Maynard (photographer)|Richard Maynard]]
}}
}}


'''Hannah Hatherly Maynard''' ([[Bude]], 1834 &ndash; [[Victoria (British Columbia)|Victoria]], 1918)<ref name="Camera Workers">[http://members.shaw.ca/bchistorian/cw1858-1950.html Mattison, David. Camera Workers, The British Columbia Alaska & Yukon Photographic Directory, 1858-1950]</ref> was a Canadian photographer best known for her portrait work and experimental photography involving [[photomontage]] and [[multiple exposure]]s. She also photographed people using techniques that made them appear as statuary: on columns or posing as if they were made of stone.
'''Hannah Hatherly Maynard''' ([[Bude]], 1834 – [[Victoria (British Columbia)|Victoria]], 1918)<ref name="Camera Workers">{{Cite web |url=https://cameraworkers.davidmattison.com/getperson.php?personID=I434&tree=cw18581950|title=Maynard, Hannah Hatherly|last1=Mattison|first1=David|website=Camera Workers, The British Columbia Alaska & Yukon Photographic Directory, 1858–1950 |access-date=15 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160629155424/https://cameraworkers.davidmattison.com/getperson.php?personID=I434&tree=cw18581950|archive-date=29 June 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> was a Canadian photographer best known for her portrait work and experimental photography involving [[photomontage]] and [[multiple exposure]]s. She also photographed people using techniques that made them appear as statuary: on columns or posing as if they were made of stone.


==Early life and career beginnings==
==Early life and career==


She was born in 1834 as Hannah Hatherly, in [[Bude]], [[Cornwall]]. Hannah married in 1852 [[Richard Maynard (photographer)|Richard Maynard]], an apprentice boot-maker, and in the same year they emigrated to [[Bowmanville]] in [[Canada West]] (present-day [[Ontario]]), where four of their five children were born.<ref name="Wilks">Wilks, Claire Weissman. ''The Magic Box: The Eccentric Genius of Hannah Maynard.'' Exile Editions, Toronto, 1980. ISBN 0-920428-34-7</ref> In 1858, Richard joined the exodus of gold-seekers on the [[Fraser River]] in [[British Columbia]], and his venture appears to have been profitable.<ref name="Watson">Watson, Petra Rigby. ''The Photographs of Hannah Maynard: 19th Century Photographs.'' Exhibit Catalogue. Charles H. Scott Gallery, July 17 &ndash; August 23, 1992.</ref> While her husband was out west, Hannah learned the basics of photography, most likely from R & H O'Hara Photographers, in Bowmanville. After selling the boot store, in 1862 the family moved to [[Victoria (British Columbia)|Victoria]] on the [[Colony of Vancouver Island]]. Richard soon left for the [[Stikine River]] to take up [[placer mining]], and it is believed that in 1862 Hannah opened up her first photographic studio, Mrs. R. Maynard's Photographic Gallery.<ref name="Wilks"/> Upon his return home in 1863,<ref name="Wilks"/> Richard found his wife successfully entrenched as a photographer, and by 1864 Hannah had taught her husband the principles of photography while he operated a second boot store.<ref name="Pioneer">Palmquist, Peter E.; and Thomas R. Kailbourn. ''Pioneer Photographers of the Far West: A Biographical Dictionary 1840-1865.'' Stanford University Press. Stanford, California, 2000. ISBN 0-8047-3883-1</ref>
She was born in 1834 as Hannah Hatherly, in [[Bude]], Cornwall. Hatherly married in 1852 [[Richard Maynard (photographer)|Richard Maynard]], an apprentice boot-maker, and in the same year they emigrated to [[Bowmanville]] in [[Canada West]] (present-day [[Ontario]]), where four of their five children were born.<ref name="Watson page 1">Watson 1992, p. 1.</ref> In 1858, Richard joined the exodus of gold-seekers on the [[Fraser River]] in British Columbia, and his venture appears to have been profitable.<ref name="Watson page 1"/> While her husband was out west, Maynard learned the basics of photography, most likely from R & H O'Hara Photographers, in Bowmanville. After selling the boot store, in 1862 the family moved to [[Victoria (British Columbia)|Victoria]] on the [[Colony of Vancouver Island]]. Richard soon left for the [[Stikine River]] to take up [[placer mining]], and it is believed that in 1862 Hannah opened up her first photographic studio, Mrs. R. Maynard's Photographic Gallery.<ref name="Wilks page 5">Wilks 1980, p. 5.</ref> Upon his return home in 1863,<ref name="Wilks page 5"/> Richard found his wife successfully entrenched as a photographer, and by 1864 Hannah had taught her husband the principles of photography while he operated a second boot store.<ref name="Wilks page 5"/><ref name="Pioneer page 387">Palmquist & Kailbourn 2000, p. 387.</ref>


⚫
In the ensuing years, Hannah and Richard had contrasting photographic specialties. Hannah was best known for her portrait work and at the same time managed darkroom affairs and studio promotion, while Richard focused almost exclusively on outdoor photography.<ref name="Williams page 64">Williams 2003, p. 64.</ref> From 1874 onwards, the couple operated their photographic studio and shoe store in one building.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Bassnett, Sarah; Parsons, Sarah |url=https://www.aci-iac.ca/art-books/photography-in-canada-1839-1989/key-photographers/hannah-maynard/ |title=Photography in Canada, 1839–1989: An Illustrated History |publisher=Art Canada Institute |year=2023 |isbn=978-1-4871-0309-5 |location=Toronto |language=English}}</ref> The couple frequently traveled together, in 1875 to purchase photographic equipment in San Francisco, in 1879 on a pleasure cruise around [[Vancouver Island]], and to [[Banff, Alberta|Banff]] in the late 1880s.<ref name="Camera Workers"/><ref name="Wilks pages 5-7">Wilks 1980, pp. 5–7.</ref> Hannah also made a solo trip to the [[Queen Charlotte Islands]] sometime in the same decade.<ref name="Wilks page 5"/> While they published their photographs under separate imprints, it is sometimes unclear in the case of landscape views whether Hannah or Richard was the photographer.<ref name="Wilks page 5"/>
==Hannah and Richard Maynard==

⚫
In the ensuing years, Hannah and Richard Maynard had contrasting photographic specialties. Hannah was best known for her portrait work and at the same time managed darkroom affairs and studio promotion, while Richard focused almost exclusively on outdoor photography.<ref name="Williams">Williams, Carol J. ''Framing the West: Race, Gender, and the Photographic Frontier in the Pacific Northwest.'' Oxford University Press, New York, 2003. ISBN 0-19-514630-1</ref> The couple frequently traveled together, in 1875 to purchase photographic equipment in [[San Francisco]], in 1879 on a pleasure cruise around [[Vancouver Island]], and to [[Banff, Alberta|Banff]] in the late 1880s.<ref name="Camera Workers"/><ref name="Wilks"/> Hannah also made a solo trip to the [[Queen Charlotte Islands]] sometime in the same decade.<ref name="Wilks"/> Richard continued to travel on his own, to Alaska three times, and throughout British Columbia, sometimes sponsored by government commissions, and in 1892 he traveled to the [[Pribilof Islands]] in the [[Bering Sea]].<ref name="Wilks"/> While they published their photographs under separate imprints, it is sometimes unclear in the case of landscape views whether Hannah or Richard was the photographer.<ref name="Wilks"/>


==Portraiture and experimental photography==
==Portraiture and experimental photography==


[[Image:Gems of British Columbia 1883.jpg|right|thumb|200px|''Gems of British Columbia.'' 1883]]
[[Image:Gems of British Columbia 1883.jpg|right|thumb|upright=0.9|''Gems of British Columbia.'' 1883]]
Hannah's portrait work encompassed several different formats following the fashions of the day, [[Carte de visite|cartes-de-visite]] in the 1860s, [[Cabinet card|cabinet cards]] in the following decade, as well as larger-sized prints.<ref name="Watson"/> The Maynard studio is known to have produced forty-three cartes-de-visite of native people, often [[Victoria (British Columbia)|Victoria]] street vendors.<ref name="Watson"/> Hannah Maynard was a master of lighting technique, and she was one of the early adopters of line-lit photography to highlight facial features.<ref name="Wilks"/> Her backgrounds were often highly ornamental, utilizing painted backgrounds and elaborate domestic interiors and props.<ref name="Watson"/>
Maynard's portrait work encompassed several different formats following the fashions of the day, [[Carte de visite|cartes-de-visite]] in the 1860s, [[cabinet card]]s in the following decade, as well as larger-sized prints.<ref name="Watson pages 2-3">Watson 1992, pp. 2–3.</ref> The Maynard studio is known to have produced forty-three cartes-de-visite of native people, often [[Victoria (British Columbia)|Victoria]] street vendors.<ref name="Watson pages 2-3"/> Maynard was a master of lighting technique, and she was one of the early adopters of line-lit photography to highlight facial features.<ref name="Wilks page 119.">Wilks 1980, p. 119.</ref> Her backgrounds were often highly ornamental, using painted backgrounds and elaborate domestic interiors and props.<ref name="Watson pages 2-3"/>


Starting about 1880, Hannah Maynard began to experiment with [[photomontage]] in her ''Gems of British Columbia'' series which she created each year between 1881 and 1895. Conceived as an annual greeting card to be sent out on New Years to all the mothers of children she had photographed in the preceding year, it was very popular. She cut out the outline of the photograph of each baby or child, and then mounted the images on a pane of window glass and re-photographed the whole.<ref name="Wilks"/><ref name="Williams"/> Starting in 1884, she began to incorporate the montages of previous years in [[symbolist]] patterns, resulting in compositions that included up to several thousand individual photographs.<ref name="Wilks"/> Her ''Gems'' of 1885 was published and praised by the ''St. Louis and Canadian Photographer'' in 1886, bringing Hannah a measure of recognition throughout North America.<ref name="Williams"/>
Starting about 1880, Maynard began to experiment with [[photomontage]] in her ''Gems of British Columbia'' series which she created each year between 1881 and 1895.{{refn|group=nb|Wilks (1980) gives the last year for ''The Gems'' as 1895, Williams (2003) as 1898.}} Conceived as an annual greeting card to be sent out on New Years to all the mothers of children she had photographed in the preceding year, it was very popular. She cut out the outline of the photograph of each baby or child, and then mounted the images on a pane of window glass and re-photographed the whole.<ref name="Wilks pages 9, 13">Wilks 1980, pp. 9, 13.</ref><ref name="Williams pages 126-127">Williams 2003, pp. 126–127.</ref> She began to incorporate the montages of previous years in [[symbolist]] patterns, resulting in compositions that included up to 22,000 individual photographs.<ref name="Wilks pages 10, 31">Wilks 1980, pp. 10, 31.</ref> Her ''Gems'' of 1885 was published and praised by the ''St. Louis and Canadian Photographer'' in 1886, bringing Maynard a measure of recognition throughout North America.<ref name="Williams page 129">Williams 2003, p. 129.</ref><ref name="Wilks page 9">Wilks 1980, p. 9.</ref>


Beginning in 1883 Hannah was struck by personal tragedy, with the death of her 16 year-old daughter Lillian of typhoid fever, followed in later years by another daughter Emma and daughter-in-law Adelaide, and some of her photographs began to take on the aspect of a memorial to the departed.<ref name="Watson"/> It was also in this period that she took an interest in [[seances]] and [[Spiritualism]].<ref name="Wilks"/><ref name="Watson"/> She began in the 1880s to create a type of photograph called photosculpture, in which the figures were described by Hannah as "Living Statuary" or "Statuary from Life", the sitter often appearing as a bust on a pedestal.<ref name="Wilks"/> Her experimentation developed further into the realm of multiple exposure, and some photographs show as many as four or five likenesses of Hannah, often engaged in different tasks, or in one notable image, holding a single garland of flowers.<ref name="Wilks"/><ref name="Watson"/> A selection of her double and multiple exposure photographs were published in the ''St. Louis and Canadian Photographer'' in 1894.<ref name="Wilks"/> Another difficult technique that Hannah pursued was that of [[bas-relief]], which involved the embossing of a photograph.<ref name="Wilks"/> Around 1897, Hannah discontinued her investigations of [[trick photography]].<ref name="Wilks"/>
Beginning in 1883 Maynard was struck by personal tragedy, with the death of her 16-year-old daughter Lillian of typhoid fever, followed in later years by another daughter Emma and daughter-in-law Adelaide, and some of her photographs began to take on the aspect of a memorial to the departed.<ref name="Watson pages 6-7">Watson 1992, pp. 6–7.</ref> It was also in this period that she took an interest in [[seances]] and [[Spiritualism (movement)|Spiritualism]].<ref name="Wilks page 11">Wilks 1980, p. 11.</ref><ref name="Watson page 7">Watson 1992, p. 7.</ref> She began in the 1880s to create a type of photograph described by her as "Living Statuary" or "Statuary from Life", the sitter often appearing as a bust on a pedestal.<ref name="Wilks pages 10-11, 35">Wilks 1980, pp. 10–11, 35.</ref><ref name="Watson page 6">Watson 1992, p. 6.</ref> Her experimentation developed further into the realm of multiple exposure, and some photographs show as many as four or five likenesses of Maynard, often engaged in different tasks, or in one notable image, holding a single garland of flowers.<ref name="Watson pages 6-7"/><ref name="Wilks pages 11-12">Wilks 1980, pp. 10–11.</ref> She also often included members of her close family in these photographs, such as in ''Hannah Maynard and her grandson, Maynard McDonald, in a tableau vivant composite photo'', c.1893.<ref name=":0" /> A selection of her double and multiple exposure photographs were published in the ''St. Louis and Canadian Photographer'' in 1894.<ref name="Wilks page 12">Wilks 1980, p. 12.</ref> Another difficult technique that Maynard pursued was that of [[bas-relief]], which involved the embossing of a photograph.<ref name="Wilks page 124">Wilks 1980, p. 124.</ref> Around 1897, Maynard discontinued her investigations of [[trick photography]].<ref name="Wilks page 13">Wilks 1980, p. 13.</ref>


==Later years and legacy==
==Later years and legacy==


Between 1897 and 1903, while continuing her studio portraiture, Hannah was the official photographer of the [[Victoria Police Department]], producing [[Mug shot|mug shots]] as required.<ref name="Wilks"/><ref name="Watson"/> In 1907 her husband Richard died, and in 1912 Hannah retired, selling her photographic equipment to a local Chinese photographer.<ref name="Camera Workers"/><ref name="Wilks"/> She summarized her achievement by stating that “I think I can say with confidence that we photographed everyone in the town at one time or another.”<ref>Victoria Daily Colonist, September 29, 1912. Cited in Watson, 1992.</ref> Hannah died in 1918 in Victoria at the age of 84. She is buried in [[Ross Bay Cemetery]].<ref name="Wilks"/>
Between 1897 and 1902, while continuing her studio portraiture, Maynard was the official photographer of the [[Victoria Police Department]], producing [[mug shot]]s as required <ref name="Wilks page 113">Wilks 1980, p. 113.</ref> as well as portraits of officers.<ref name=":0" /> She also photographed for the government in other capacities and worked as an ethnographic photographer.<ref name=":0" /> In 1907 her husband Richard died, and in 1912 she retired, selling her photographic equipment to a local Chinese photographer.<ref name="Camera Workers"/><ref name="Wilks page 13"/> She summarized her achievement by stating that "I think I can say with confidence that we photographed everyone in the town at one time or another."<ref>Victoria Daily Colonist, September 29, 1912. Cited in Watson, 1992.</ref> Maynard died in 1918 in Victoria at the age of 84. She is buried in [[Ross Bay Cemetery]].<ref name="Wilks page 13"/>


A play based on the life of Hannah Maynard, ''Be Still'', premiered at [[Richmond, British Columbia|Richmond's]] Gateway Theatre on March 1, 2001 and opened at Victoria's Belfry Theatre on March 14 of the same year.<ref name="Camera Workers"/>
A play by [[Janet Munsil]] based on the life of Maynard, ''Be Still'', premiered at [[Richmond, British Columbia|Richmond]]'s Gateway Theatre on March 1, 2001 and opened at Victoria's Belfry Theatre on March 14 of the same year.<ref name="Camera Workers"/> [[Elizabeth Lazebnik]] subsequently adapted the play into the film ''[[Be Still (film)|Be Still]]'', in which Maynard was portrayed by [[Piercey Dalton]].<ref name="Devlin">Mike Devlin, [https://www.timescolonist.com/entertainment/film-about-victoria-photographer-premieres-at-vancouver-film-festival-4692428 "Film about Victoria photographer premieres at Vancouver Film Festival"]. ''[[Victoria Times-Colonist]]'', September 29, 2021.</ref> Lazebnik also previously made a short film about Maynard, ''The Multiple Selves of Hannah Maynard'', in 2005.<ref name="Devlin"/>


==Gallery==
==Gallery==
<gallery>
<gallery widths="190px" heights="180px" >
File:Verso of carte-de-visite showing studio logo of Hannah Maynard, ca. 1868-1878.jpg|''Verso of carte-de-visite showing studio logo of Hannah Maynard.'' ca. 1868-1878
File:Amelia Douglas.jpg|''Lady Amelia Connolly Douglas.'' 1862
File:Amelia Douglas.jpg|''Lady Amelia Connolly Douglas.'' 1862 (wife of Governor [[James Douglas (governor)|James Douglas]])
File:Capt Jack, Chief of the Rupert Indians with his wife, c. 1868.jpg|''Captain Jack and his wife.'' c. 1868
File:Capt Jack, Chief of the Rupert Indians with his wife, c. 1868.jpg|''Captain Jack and his wife.'' c. 1868 ([[Kwakwakaʼwakw]] couple)
File:Laura Lillian Maynard.jpg|''Laura Lillian Maynard.'' 1874
File:Laura Lillian Maynard.jpg|''Laura Lillian Maynard.'' 1874
File:John Wallace Crawford.jpg|''[[John Wallace Crawford]].'' c. 1878
File:John Wallace Crawford.jpg|''[[John Wallace Crawford]].'' c. 1878
File:Bust of a yound girl.jpg|''Bust of a young girl.'' c. 1882<ref name="Wilks"/>
File:Bust of a yound girl.jpg|''Bust of a young girl.'' c. 1882<ref name="Wilks page 35">Wilks 1980, p. 35.</ref>
File:Statuary from life; girl holding a bird.jpg|''Girl holding a bird.'' Living Statuary series. 1884
File:Statuary from life; girl holding a bird.jpg|''Girl holding a bird.'' Living Statuary series. 1884
File:Gems of British Columbia 1885.jpg|''Gems of British Columbia.'' 1885
File:Gems of British Columbia 1885.jpg|''Gems of British Columbia.'' 1885
File:Ah Foo.jpg|''Ah Foo.'' c. 1885
File:Ah Foo.jpg|''Ah Foo.'' c. 1885
File:Portrait of an unidentified woman.jpg|''Unidentifed woman.'' Example of line-lit photography. c. 1890
File:Portrait of an unidentified woman.jpg|''Unidentified woman.'' Example of line-lit photography. c. 1890
File:Hannah Maynard cycling.jpg|''Hannah Maynard cycling.'' c. 1892
File:Hannah Maynard cycling.jpg|''Hannah Maynard cycling.'' c. 1892
File:Richard Maynard.jpg|''[[Richard Maynard (photographer)|Richard Maynard]].'' 1890s
File:Richard Maynard.jpg|''[[Richard Maynard (photographer)|Richard Maynard]].'' 1890s
Line 56: Line 57:


==Notes==
==Notes==
{{reflist}}
{{reflist|group=nb}}

==References==
{{reflist|20em}}

==Sources==
*{{Cite book|last1=Palmquist|first1=Peter E.|last2=Kailbourn|first2=Thomas R.|title=Pioneer Photographers of the Far West: A Biographical Dictionary 1840–1865|publisher=Stanford University Press|location=Stanford, California|date=2000|isbn=0-8047-3883-1}}
*{{Cite book|last=Watson|first=Petra Rigby|title=The Photographs of Hannah Maynard: 19th Century Portraits|publisher=Charles H. Scott Gallery, Emily Carr College of Art & Design|type=exhibition catalogue|date=June 1992}}
*{{Cite book|last=Wilks|first=Claire Weissman|title=The Magic Box: The Eccentric Genius of Hannah Maynard|publisher=Exile Editions Limited|location=Toronto|date=1980|isbn=0-920428-34-7}}
*{{Cite book|last=Williams|first=Carol J.|title=Framing the West: Race, Gender, and the Photographic Frontier in the Pacific Northwest|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|date=2003|isbn=0-19-514630-1}}


==External links==
==External links==
*[https://search-bcarchives.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/maynard-family-fonds Maynard family collection] at the British Columbia Archives
*[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Hannah_Hatherly_Maynard Hannah Hatherly Maynard] photographs at Wikimedia Commons
*[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Hannah_Hatherly_Maynard Hannah Hatherly Maynard] photographs at Wikimedia Commons
*[https://www.gallery.ca/collection/artist/hannah-maynard Hannah Maynard] at the National Gallery of Canada
*[https://cwahi.concordia.ca/sources/artists/displayArtist.php?ID_artist=50 Hannah Hatherly Maynard] at the Canadian Women Artists History Database


{{Authority control|VIAF=20588548}}
{{Authority control}}


{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->
| NAME = Maynard, Hannah
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES = Hatherly, Hannah
| SHORT DESCRIPTION = Canadian photographer
| DATE OF BIRTH = 17 January 1834
| PLACE OF BIRTH = [[Bude]]
| DATE OF DEATH = 15 May 1918
⚫
| PLACE OF DEATH = [[Victoria, British Columbia]]
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maynard, Hannah}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maynard, Hannah}}
[[Category:1834 births]]
[[Category:1834 births]]
[[Category:1918 deaths]]
[[Category:1918 deaths]]
⚫
[[Category:Artists from Victoria, British Columbia]]
⚫
[[Category:Canadian women photographers]]
[[Category:English emigrants to pre-Confederation Ontario]]
[[Category:Immigrants to the Province of Canada]]
[[Category:People from Bude]]
[[Category:People from Bude]]
[[Category:People from Victoria, British Columbia]]
⚫
[[Category:Canadian photographers]]

Revision as of 02:12, 26 March 2024

Hannah Maynard
Born
Hannah Hatherly

(1834-01-17)January 17, 1834
Bude, Cornwall, England
DiedMay 15, 1918(1918-05-15) (aged 84)
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Known forPhotographer
SpouseRichard Maynard

Hannah Hatherly Maynard (Bude, 1834 – Victoria, 1918)[1] was a Canadian photographer best known for her portrait work and experimental photography involving photomontage and multiple exposures. She also photographed people using techniques that made them appear as statuary: on columns or posing as if they were made of stone.

Early life and career

She was born in 1834 as Hannah Hatherly, in Bude, Cornwall. Hatherly married in 1852 Richard Maynard, an apprentice boot-maker, and in the same year they emigrated to Bowmanville in Canada West (present-day Ontario), where four of their five children were born.[2] In 1858, Richard joined the exodus of gold-seekers on the Fraser River in British Columbia, and his venture appears to have been profitable.[2] While her husband was out west, Maynard learned the basics of photography, most likely from R & H O'Hara Photographers, in Bowmanville. After selling the boot store, in 1862 the family moved to Victoria on the Colony of Vancouver Island. Richard soon left for the Stikine River to take up placer mining, and it is believed that in 1862 Hannah opened up her first photographic studio, Mrs. R. Maynard's Photographic Gallery.[3] Upon his return home in 1863,[3] Richard found his wife successfully entrenched as a photographer, and by 1864 Hannah had taught her husband the principles of photography while he operated a second boot store.[3][4]

In the ensuing years, Hannah and Richard had contrasting photographic specialties. Hannah was best known for her portrait work and at the same time managed darkroom affairs and studio promotion, while Richard focused almost exclusively on outdoor photography.[5] From 1874 onwards, the couple operated their photographic studio and shoe store in one building.[6] The couple frequently traveled together, in 1875 to purchase photographic equipment in San Francisco, in 1879 on a pleasure cruise around Vancouver Island, and to Banff in the late 1880s.[1][7] Hannah also made a solo trip to the Queen Charlotte Islands sometime in the same decade.[3] While they published their photographs under separate imprints, it is sometimes unclear in the case of landscape views whether Hannah or Richard was the photographer.[3]

Portraiture and experimental photography

Gems of British Columbia. 1883

Maynard's portrait work encompassed several different formats following the fashions of the day, cartes-de-visite in the 1860s, cabinet cards in the following decade, as well as larger-sized prints.[8] The Maynard studio is known to have produced forty-three cartes-de-visite of native people, often Victoria street vendors.[8] Maynard was a master of lighting technique, and she was one of the early adopters of line-lit photography to highlight facial features.[9] Her backgrounds were often highly ornamental, using painted backgrounds and elaborate domestic interiors and props.[8]

Starting about 1880, Maynard began to experiment with photomontage in her Gems of British Columbia series which she created each year between 1881 and 1895.[nb 1] Conceived as an annual greeting card to be sent out on New Years to all the mothers of children she had photographed in the preceding year, it was very popular. She cut out the outline of the photograph of each baby or child, and then mounted the images on a pane of window glass and re-photographed the whole.[10][11] She began to incorporate the montages of previous years in symbolist patterns, resulting in compositions that included up to 22,000 individual photographs.[12] Her Gems of 1885 was published and praised by the St. Louis and Canadian Photographer in 1886, bringing Maynard a measure of recognition throughout North America.[13][14]

Beginning in 1883 Maynard was struck by personal tragedy, with the death of her 16-year-old daughter Lillian of typhoid fever, followed in later years by another daughter Emma and daughter-in-law Adelaide, and some of her photographs began to take on the aspect of a memorial to the departed.[15] It was also in this period that she took an interest in seances and Spiritualism.[16][17] She began in the 1880s to create a type of photograph described by her as "Living Statuary" or "Statuary from Life", the sitter often appearing as a bust on a pedestal.[18][19] Her experimentation developed further into the realm of multiple exposure, and some photographs show as many as four or five likenesses of Maynard, often engaged in different tasks, or in one notable image, holding a single garland of flowers.[15][20] She also often included members of her close family in these photographs, such as in Hannah Maynard and her grandson, Maynard McDonald, in a tableau vivant composite photo, c.1893.[6] A selection of her double and multiple exposure photographs were published in the St. Louis and Canadian Photographer in 1894.[21] Another difficult technique that Maynard pursued was that of bas-relief, which involved the embossing of a photograph.[22] Around 1897, Maynard discontinued her investigations of trick photography.[23]

Later years and legacy

Between 1897 and 1902, while continuing her studio portraiture, Maynard was the official photographer of the Victoria Police Department, producing mug shots as required [24] as well as portraits of officers.[6] She also photographed for the government in other capacities and worked as an ethnographic photographer.[6] In 1907 her husband Richard died, and in 1912 she retired, selling her photographic equipment to a local Chinese photographer.[1][23] She summarized her achievement by stating that "I think I can say with confidence that we photographed everyone in the town at one time or another."[25] Maynard died in 1918 in Victoria at the age of 84. She is buried in Ross Bay Cemetery.[23]

A play by Janet Munsil based on the life of Maynard, Be Still, premiered at Richmond's Gateway Theatre on March 1, 2001 and opened at Victoria's Belfry Theatre on March 14 of the same year.[1] Elizabeth Lazebnik subsequently adapted the play into the film Be Still, in which Maynard was portrayed by Piercey Dalton.[26] Lazebnik also previously made a short film about Maynard, The Multiple Selves of Hannah Maynard, in 2005.[26]

Gallery

  • Verso of carte-de-visite showing studio logo of Hannah Maynard. ca. 1868-1878
    Verso of carte-de-visite showing studio logo of Hannah Maynard. ca. 1868-1878
  • Lady Amelia Connolly Douglas. 1862 (wife of Governor James Douglas)
    Lady Amelia Connolly Douglas. 1862 (wife of Governor James Douglas)
  • Captain Jack and his wife. c. 1868 (Kwakwakaʼwakw couple)
    Captain Jack and his wife. c. 1868 (Kwakwakaʼwakw couple)
  • Laura Lillian Maynard. 1874
    Laura Lillian Maynard. 1874
  • John Wallace Crawford. c. 1878
    John Wallace Crawford. c. 1878
  • Bust of a young girl. c. 1882[27]
    Bust of a young girl. c. 1882[27]
  • Girl holding a bird. Living Statuary series. 1884
    Girl holding a bird. Living Statuary series. 1884
  • Gems of British Columbia. 1885
    Gems of British Columbia. 1885
  • Ah Foo. c. 1885
    Ah Foo. c. 1885
  • Unidentified woman. Example of line-lit photography. c. 1890
    Unidentified woman. Example of line-lit photography. c. 1890
  • Hannah Maynard cycling. c. 1892
    Hannah Maynard cycling. c. 1892
  • Richard Maynard. 1890s
    Richard Maynard. 1890s
  • Self-portrait with multiple exposure. c. 1893
    Self-portrait with multiple exposure. c. 1893
  • Likenesses of Hannah Maynard with garland. c. 1895
    Likenesses of Hannah Maynard with garland. c. 1895
  • Belle Adams (Victoria Police Department photo). 1898
    Belle Adams (Victoria Police Department photo). 1898

Notes

  1. ^ Wilks (1980) gives the last year for The Gems as 1895, Williams (2003) as 1898.

References

  1. ^ a b c d Mattison, David. "Maynard, Hannah Hatherly". Camera Workers, The British Columbia Alaska & Yukon Photographic Directory, 1858–1950. Archived from the original on 29 June 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
  2. ^ a b Watson 1992, p. 1.
  3. ^ a b c d e Wilks 1980, p. 5.
  4. ^ Palmquist & Kailbourn 2000, p. 387.
  5. ^ Williams 2003, p. 64.
  6. ^ a b c d Bassnett, Sarah; Parsons, Sarah (2023). Photography in Canada, 1839–1989: An Illustrated History. Toronto: Art Canada Institute. ISBN 978-1-4871-0309-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ Wilks 1980, pp. 5–7.
  8. ^ a b c Watson 1992, pp. 2–3.
  9. ^ Wilks 1980, p. 119.
  10. ^ Wilks 1980, pp. 9, 13.
  11. ^ Williams 2003, pp. 126–127.
  12. ^ Wilks 1980, pp. 10, 31.
  13. ^ Williams 2003, p. 129.
  14. ^ Wilks 1980, p. 9.
  15. ^ a b Watson 1992, pp. 6–7.
  16. ^ Wilks 1980, p. 11.
  17. ^ Watson 1992, p. 7.
  18. ^ Wilks 1980, pp. 10–11, 35.
  19. ^ Watson 1992, p. 6.
  20. ^ Wilks 1980, pp. 10–11.
  21. ^ Wilks 1980, p. 12.
  22. ^ Wilks 1980, p. 124.
  23. ^ a b c Wilks 1980, p. 13.
  24. ^ Wilks 1980, p. 113.
  25. ^ Victoria Daily Colonist, September 29, 1912. Cited in Watson, 1992.
  26. ^ a b Mike Devlin, "Film about Victoria photographer premieres at Vancouver Film Festival". Victoria Times-Colonist, September 29, 2021.
  27. ^ Wilks 1980, p. 35.

Sources

  • Palmquist, Peter E.; Kailbourn, Thomas R. (2000). Pioneer Photographers of the Far West: A Biographical Dictionary 1840–1865. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-3883-1.
  • Watson, Petra Rigby (June 1992). The Photographs of Hannah Maynard: 19th Century Portraits (exhibition catalogue). Charles H. Scott Gallery, Emily Carr College of Art & Design.
  • Wilks, Claire Weissman (1980). The Magic Box: The Eccentric Genius of Hannah Maynard. Toronto: Exile Editions Limited. ISBN 0-920428-34-7.
  • Williams, Carol J. (2003). Framing the West: Race, Gender, and the Photographic Frontier in the Pacific Northwest. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-514630-1.

External links

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