John Muir Wood, (31 July 1805–25 June 1892) was a Scottish musician, piano maker,

music publisher A music publisher is a type of publisher that specializes in distributing music. Music publishers originally published sheet music. When copyright became legally protected, music publishers began to play a role in the management of the intellectu ...

and an early amateur photographer.

Early life

John Muir Wood was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

on 31 July 1805, the son of Andrew Wood and Jacobina Ferrier. Wood's father was a partner in the Edinburgh piano manufacturing and music publishing firm of Muir, Wood and Company, and later Wood, Small and Company. In 1799 his company won a royal warrant as "''Musical Instrument Makers of His Majesty''." Wood was named for his father's initial business partner, John Muir (d. 1818). His father's later business partner was George Small.

Music

Wood's interest in music likely stemmed from his father's profession as a piano manufacturer and music publisher in Edinburgh. As a youth in Edinburgh Wood received training as a pianist, eventually travelling to Paris and Vienna to continue his musical studies. In 1828 Wood returned to Edinburgh as a music teacher, later entering the family business. With his brothers, George (1812-1893) and Robert (1797-1871), he operated the piano and music publishing firm of Wood & Co. in Edinburgh. After relocating to

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, Wood established John Muir Wood & Co. on

Buchanan Street Buchanan Street is one of the high street, main shopping thoroughfares in Glasgow, the largest city in Scotland. It forms the central stretch of Glasgow's famous shopping district with a generally more upmarket range of shops than the neighbou ...

. Wood's music businesses were quite successful and through his work he was involved in arranging many classical music concerts in Glasgow. One of those concerts was the visit of

Frédéric Chopin Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period who wrote primarily for Piano solo, solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown ...

to Scotland in 1848, which Wood coordinated with London-based piano-manufacturer

James Shudi Broadwood James Shudi Broadwood (20 December 1772 – 8 August 1851) was a piano maker in London and a magistrate in Surrey. James Shudi Broadwood was born on 20 December 1772 at Great Pulteney Street, London. His parents, John Broadwood, piano manufacturer ...

. In 1884, Wood edited a new edition of George Farquhar Graham's "''Songs of Scotland''".

Photography

Wood never pursued photography for profit. The focus of his photographs included individual portraits, group scenes, streetscapes, ruins and rural landscapes. He travelled to remote locations for his photography. Wood's knowledge of photography may date from his friendship in the 1840s with the

eye surgeon Eye surgery, also known as ophthalmic surgery or ocular surgery, is surgery performed on the eye or its adnexa. Eye surgery is part of ophthalmology and is performed by an ophthalmologist or eye surgeon. The eye is a fragile organ, and requires ...

Dr. Jasper MacAldin, who shared his knowledge of

optics Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of optical instruments, instruments that use or Photodetector, detect it. Optics usually describes t ...

and

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

. MacAldin was also a subject in several of Wood's portraits. In 1841, Wood toured the west of Scotland with

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes th ...

painter

James Eckford Lauder James Eckford Lauder (15 August 1811 – 27 March 1869) was a notable mid-Victorian era, Victorian Scottish artist, famous for both portraits and historical pictures. Life and work A younger brother of artist Robert Scott Lauder, he was b ...

(1811-1869). After settling in

, Wood took

paddle steamer A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine driving paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, whereby the first uses were wh ...

s, as well as more traditional boats, to explore and photograph the Clyde,

Largs Largs () is a town on the Firth of Clyde in North Ayrshire, Scotland, about from Glasgow. The original name means "the slopes" (''An Leargaidh'') in Scottish Gaelic. A popular seaside resort with a pier, the town markets itself on its histor ...

, Arran, the

Isle of Bute The Isle of Bute (; or '), known as Bute (), is an island in the Firth of Clyde in Scotland, United Kingdom. It is divided into highland and lowland areas by the Highland Boundary Fault. Formerly a constituent island of the larger County of ...

and other Scottish locales. Wood produced his photographs using a

calotype Calotype or talbotype is an early photographic process introduced in 1841 by William Henry Fox Talbot, using paper coated with silver iodide. Paper texture effects in calotype photography limit the ability of this early process to record low ...

process. He also experimented with the addition of various metals, such as copper,

tin Tin is a chemical element; it has symbol Sn () and atomic number 50. A silvery-colored metal, tin is soft enough to be cut with little force, and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, a bar of tin makes a sound, the ...

, gold and

uranium Uranium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Ura ...

in an attempt to produce different color tones and more permanent images. Wood's collection of more than 900 images, believed by experts to be the first serious series of

pictures of Scotland, are part of the collection of the National Galleries of Scotland. An exhibit of this collection was held at the

National Gallery of Scotland The National (formerly the Scottish National Gallery) is the national art gallery of Scotland. It is located on The Mound in central Edinburgh, close to Princes Street. The building was designed in a neoclassical style by William Henry Playfa ...

in 2008. The collection is permanently held at the

Scottish National Portrait Gallery National Galleries Scotland: Portrait is an art museum on Queen Street, Edinburgh. Portrait holds the national collections of portraits, all of which are of, but not necessarily by, Scots. It also holds the Scottish National Photography Collec ...

. A selection of Wood's photographs, entitled "''Photography of John Muir Wood''", by Sarah Stevenson, et al., was published in 1988.

Personal life

On 22 January 1851 in

Gorbals The Gorbals is an area in the city of Glasgow, Scotland, and former burgh, on the south bank of the River Clyde. By the late 19th century, it had become densely populated; rural migrants and immigrants were attracted by the new industries and e ...

Lanark Lanark ( ; ; ) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, located 20 kilometres to the south-east of Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton. The town lies on the River Clyde, at its confluence with Mouse Water. In 2016, the town had a populatio ...

, Scotland, John Muir Wood married Helen Kemlo Stephen. The couple raised a large family together. Muir Wood died at

Cove A cove is a small bay or coastal inlet. They usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are often circular or oval, and are often situated within a larger bay. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creek (tidal), creeks, or recesses in a coast ...

Dumbartonshire Dunbartonshire () or the County of Dumbarton is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the west central Lowlands of Scotland lying to the north of the River Clyde. Dunbartonshire borders Perthshire to the north, Stirling ...

(now

Argyll and Bute Argyll and Bute (; , ) is one of 32 unitary authority, unitary council areas of Scotland, council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. The current lord-lieutenant for Argyll and Bute is Jane Margaret MacLeod ...

), Scotland on 25 June 1892. Wood's body was returned to Glasgow and was buried in the

Glasgow Necropolis The Glasgow Necropolis is a Victorian era, Victorian cemetery in Glasgow, Scotland. It is on a low but very prominent hill to the east of St. Mungo's Cathedral, Glasgow, Glasgow Cathedral (St. Mungo's Cathedral). Fifty thousand individuals have ...

. John Muir Wood is the great-grandfather of Sir Alan Muir Wood (1921-2009), a British

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...

known as the father of modern tunneling. Sir Alan and his son, Dr. Paul Muir Wood, were instrumental in donating John Muir Woods photographic images to the National Galleries of Scotland.

References

External links