George Washington Wilson (7 February 1823 – 9 March 1893) was a pioneering Scottish photographer. In 1849, he began a career as a portrait miniaturist, switching to

portrait photography Portrait photography, or portraiture, is a type of photography aimed toward capturing the personality of a person or group of people by using effective Photographic lighting, lighting, Painted photography backdrops, backdrops, and poses. A portr ...

in 1852. He received a contract to photograph the

Royal Family A royal family is the immediate family of monarchs and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term papal family describes the family of a pope, while th ...

, working for

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

and

Prince Albert Prince Albert most commonly refers to: *Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1819–1861), consort of Queen Victoria *Albert II, Prince of Monaco (born 1958), present head of state of Monaco Prince Albert may also refer to: Royalty * Alb ...

. He pioneered various techniques for outdoor photography and the mass production of photographic prints as he gradually began to largely do

landscape photography Landscape photography (often shortened to landscape photos) captures the world's outdoor spaces, sometimes vast and unending and other times microscopic. Landscape photographs typically capture the presence of nature but can also focus on human-ma ...

in the 1860s. By 1864, he claimed to have sold over half a million copies.

Biography

Wilson was born in 1823 in Alvah, Banffshire. After studying art in Edinburgh and London, Wilson returned to his native city of

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

in 1849 and established a business as a portrait miniaturist catering to the wealthy families of the North East of Scotland. After some years of mediocre success, Wilson ventured into

in 1852, setting up a portrait studio with John Hay in 25 Crown Street in Aberdeen. From there, aided by his well-developed technical and commercial acumen and a contract to photograph the

while documenting the building of

Balmoral Castle Balmoral Castle () is a large estate house in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and a residence of the British royal family. It is near the village of Crathie, west of Ballater and west of Aberdeen. The estate and its original castle were bought ...

in 1854–1855, he established himself as one of Scotland's premier photographers working for

and

in 1860. Pioneering the development of techniques for photography outside of the studio and the mass production of photographic prints, he moved increasingly from portraiture to

in the 1860s. He also produced stereoscopic pictures whose main characteristic was that exposures were very short. By 1864 he claimed to have sold over half a million prints. At the time of his death in 1893 (he had handed over the business to his sons, Charles, Louis and John Hay Wilson in 1888) the firm employed 40 staff and was one of the largest publishers of photographic prints in the world, competing with James Valentine, who was also a prolific photographer, with a large company in

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

. The business survived until 1908, when it was wound up at auction. He died in 1893, aged 70, and was buried in Nellfield Cemetery in Aberdeen.

Collection

Moroccan couple from Tangier by George Washington Wilson

Over 40,000 of Wilson's photographic glass plates survive, largely due to the meticulous washing and chemical treatments he insisted on. Aberdeen University is in possession of some 38,000 of these, which were donated by an Aberdeen photographer, the late Archie Strachan, in 1958. They date from the late 1850s down to the early years of the 20th century and cover not only Aberdeen and the North East of Scotland but the whole of

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and most of

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, as well as parts of

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

and

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

including

Tangier Tangier ( ; , , ) is a city in northwestern Morocco, on the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The city is the capital city, capital of the Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region, as well as the Tangier-Assilah Prefecture of Moroc ...

, the South of Spain, and (especially) colonial

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. A further 500+ photographic glass plates can be found in Aberdeen City Council Archives, Gallery and Museums Collection. From about 1870 onwards Wilson relied increasingly on others to add to his stock. Thus all of the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

views and many of the English and Scottish series are the work of staff photographers, or were commissioned by the company from photographic firms elsewhere in the UK; and the Australian and South African images were added to the firm's stock in the 1890s by Charles Wilson (George's son) and staff photographers such as Fred Hardie. File:George Washington Wilson c.1865.jpg, Wilson c.1865 File:Edinburgh Castle from Grass Market.jpg, Edinburgh from the Grass Market File:Struthers Tay Whale Dissection by George Washington Wilson.jpg, John Struthers (at left, in top hat) with the Tay Whale at John Woods' yard, Dundee, 1884, photographed by Wilson File:Queen Victoria, photographed by George Washington Wilson (1863).jpg,

on 'Fyvie' with John Brown at Balmoral, 1863,

National Galleries of Scotland The National Galleries of Scotland (, sometimes also known as National Galleries Scotland) is the executive non-departmental public body that controls the three national galleries of Scotland and two partner galleries, forming one of the Nation ...

File:Glen Tilt Aug 1885.jpg, Wilson's August 1885 photograph of the

Glen Tilt Glen Tilt (Scottish Gaelic: Gleann Teilt) is a glen in the extreme north of Perth and Kinross, Scotland. Beginning at the confines of Aberdeenshire, it follows a South-westerly direction excepting for the last 4 miles, when it runs due south t ...

looking upstream toward Forest Lodge. File:George Washington Wilson, The British journal of photography, Vol XL, No 1715, March 17, 1893, p. 165.jpg, Engraving of George Washington Wilson File:George Washnigton Wilson's House At Queen's Cross - George Washington Wilson - ABDMS022574.jpg, George Washington Wilson's House At Queen's Cross - artwork in Aberdeen Archives, Gallery and Museums Collection

References

External links

R.V. Pringle, 'The George Washington Wilson Photographic Archive: a Postscript'

AberdeenshireBanffshireFifeshire

ForfarshireKincardineshireMorayshireNairnshire
Photographs from the George Washington Wilson 1904 Catalogue of Scottish Landscape and Architectural Views
Photographs of Gibraltar, South of Spain and Morocco
from the George Washington Wilson 1908? Catalogue
George Washington Wilson collection
at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History ''(Photographic History collection)''
The University of Aberdeen Photographic Archives

Works in the National Galleries of Scotland

* ttp://photocollection.alonsorobisco.es/scottish_samples.html Scottish Scenery by G.W. Wilson
Scottish photographers exploring Morocco at the end of the 19th Century
yacout.info {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, George Washington 1823 births 1893 deaths 19th-century Scottish photographers People from Aberdeen Scottish portrait painters British portrait photographers 19th-century Scottish businesspeople 19th-century Scottish painters Scottish male painters 19th-century Scottish male artists

Biography

Collection

References

Further reading

External links