Photographer who embraced beauty
Curator presents talk on Frederick H Evans
Report: Shona Wall Photographs:Stewart Wall www.Contemporarytimes.net
T
HE EXTRAORDINARY skill of Frederick Henry Evans was the subject of a talk to the Historical Group of the Royal Photographic Society after its annual meeting.
In depth research: Anne M Lyden talked to the RPS Historical Group
‘A veritable sea of steps,’ Frederick H Evans’s most famous photograph
Listening carefully: the attendees at the talk on Frederick H Evans
‘What can’t be seen’: beautiful craftsmanship in cathedrals
A cheeky Easter tribute to chairman Dr Donald Stewart
The talk was presented by Anne M Lyden, International Curator of Photography at the National Gallery of Scotland, to about 40 people at the National Media Museum in Bradford on April 12, 2014.
Anne explained that she had conducted extensive research on the photographer, which led to her visiting homings of his work all over the world. She thanked museum staff members Brian Liddy and Colin Harding for their assistance in putting on display original works from the museum’s collection. At the beginning of the 20th Century many groups such as the Photo Secessionist movement were being established which considered photography to be a fine art. Their aim was to embrace the beauty and avoid the ugly, said Anne. Alfred Stieglitz led the movement in America, Evans in the UK. Writing in Camera Work, Stieglitz singled Evans out for praise, saying his photography defied one single categorisation. It was an accolade. Evans was best known for
photographing cathedrals, and Anne showed slides of his work at Ely Cathedral in 1899, Bourges Cathedral in 1900, Canterbury Cathedral in 1885, Winchester Cathedral in 1885 and 1900, and York Minster in 1901. Evans had been inspired by Joseph Mallard William Turner’s watercolour of Ely Cathedral in 1794 and had tried to recreate the effect. He tried to display an emotion, rather than concentrate on typography, said Anne.
He regarded his subjects as poems in stone. Evans favoured lantern slides as he felt they gave a better quality than print. An open doorway was a common feature of his work, inviting viewers in. Before taking photographs, he would visit each site and make notes, recording what time light was falling in several places. He used to remove pews to take away modern pieces of furniture and tried to recreate the buildings as they had looked
in medieval times. He looked to the past as something to be celebrated and photographed.
F
rom the very beginning, Evans wanted to capture beauty and make visible “what can’t be seen”. He saw beautiful detailing and craftsmanship as evidence of God and man paying homage to a greater being in control of natural elements. His most famous photograph was of the Stairs to the Chap-
ter House at Wells Cathedral, taken in 1903, said Anne. It was described as a “veritable sea of steps”. His work was very different from that of commercial photographs of the period. Anne showed an image taken by George Washington Wilson of York Minster’s Five Sisters – a set of arched windows – and contrasted Evans’s photograph of the same scene, which showed only two of the famous ‘sisters’ and an interesting play
Attendees had a chance to view original works from museum archives
of light on the wall to one side. Anne said Evans had run a bookshop in London for many years and was aware of critical
that it did not interfere with the picture itself. His work was exhibited at 291 in New York, and Boston. He
“He looked to the past as something to be celebrated and photographed” thinking and theory. One of his best-known portraits was of George Bernard Shaw. He signed prints with chalk so
displayed great care with mounting his work but Anne described him as “adaptable” and did not think he would be
too shocked by the technological advances seen today. After her talk, Anne was thanked by Historical Group chairman Dr Donald Stewart. Attendees were then allowed to view original works and lantern slides by Evans, which had been sourced from the museum’s archives and put on display by Mr Liddy and Mr Harding.
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