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'''Hannah Hatherly Maynard''' ([[Bude]], 1834 &ndash; [[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.
'''Hannah Hatherly Maynard''' ([[Bude]], 1834 &ndash; [[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]]. 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>
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> 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&ndash;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 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> 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&ndash;7.</ref> Hannah also made a solo trip to the [[Queen Charlotte Islands]] sometime in the same decade.<ref name="Wilks page 5"/> 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 page 7">Wilks 1980, p. 7.</ref> 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"/>


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

Revision as of 21:15, 6 April 2023

Hannah Maynard
Born
Hannah Hatherly

(1834-01-17)January 17, 1834
DiedMay 15, 1918(1918-05-15) (aged 84)
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] 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][6] 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.[7] The Maynard studio is known to have produced forty-three cartes-de-visite of native people, often Victoria street vendors.[7] Maynard was a master of lighting technique, and she was one of the early adopters of line-lit photography to highlight facial features.[8] Her backgrounds were often highly ornamental, utilizing painted backgrounds and elaborate domestic interiors and props.[7]

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.[9][10] She began to incorporate the montages of previous years in symbolist patterns, resulting in compositions that included up to 22,000 individual photographs.[11] 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.[12][13]

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.[14] It was also in this period that she took an interest in seances and Spiritualism.[15][16] 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.[17][18] 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.[14][19] A selection of her double and multiple exposure photographs were published in the St. Louis and Canadian Photographer in 1894.[20] Another difficult technique that Maynard pursued was that of bas-relief, which involved the embossing of a photograph.[21] Around 1897, Maynard discontinued her investigations of trick photography.[22]

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.[23] In 1907 her husband Richard died, and in 1912 she retired, selling her photographic equipment to a local Chinese photographer.[1][22] 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."[24] Maynard died in 1918 in Victoria at the age of 84. She is buried in Ross Bay Cemetery.[22]

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.[25] Lazebnik also previously made a short film about Maynard, The Multiple Selves of Hannah Maynard, in 2005.[25]

Gallery

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. ^ Wilks 1980, pp. 5–7.
  7. ^ a b c Watson 1992, pp. 2–3.
  8. ^ Wilks 1980, p. 119.
  9. ^ Wilks 1980, pp. 9, 13.
  10. ^ Williams 2003, pp. 126–127.
  11. ^ Wilks 1980, pp. 10, 31.
  12. ^ Williams 2003, p. 129.
  13. ^ Wilks 1980, p. 9.
  14. ^ a b Watson 1992, pp. 6–7.
  15. ^ Wilks 1980, p. 11.
  16. ^ Watson 1992, p. 7.
  17. ^ Wilks 1980, pp. 10–11, 35.
  18. ^ Watson 1992, p. 6.
  19. ^ Wilks 1980, pp. 10–11.
  20. ^ Wilks 1980, p. 12.
  21. ^ Wilks 1980, p. 124.
  22. ^ a b c Wilks 1980, p. 13.
  23. ^ Wilks 1980, p. 113.
  24. ^ Victoria Daily Colonist, September 29, 1912. Cited in Watson, 1992.
  25. ^ a b Mike Devlin, "Film about Victoria photographer premieres at Vancouver Film Festival". Victoria Times-Colonist, September 29, 2021.
  26. ^ 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