Malcolm Arbuthnot (born Malcolm Lewin Stockdale Parsons, 1877,

Cobham, Surrey Cobham () is a large village in the Borough of Elmbridge in Surrey, England, centred south-west of London and northeast of Guildford on the River Mole, Surrey, River Mole. It has a commercial/services High Street, a significant number of pr ...

– died 27 March 1967) was a

pictorialist Pictorialism is an international style and aesthetic movement that dominated photography during the later 19th and early 20th centuries. There is no standard definition of the term, but in general it refers to a style in which the photographer ha ...

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who uses a camera to make photographs. Duties and types of photograp ...

and artist. In his teenage years he was a keen cyclist, who participated in renowned endurance events like the Bath Road Cycling Club's 100 miles race. In 1907, he joined the

Brotherhood of the Linked Ring The Linked Ring (also known as "The Brotherhood of the Linked Ring") was a British photographic society created to propose and defend photography as being just as much an art as it was a science. Members dedicated to the craft looked for new tec ...

, an organisation founded in 1892 by Alfred Maskell and others dissatisfied with the ethos of the

Royal Photographic Society The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, commonly known as the Royal Photographic Society (RPS), is the world's oldest photographic society having been in continuous existence since 1853. It was founded in London, England, in 1853 as th ...

exhibitions, with the aim to promote naturalistic and aesthetic photography as an independent art. From 1914, Arbuthnot ran a portrait studio in London's

New Bond Street New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

, in the early 20th century photographing many celebrities including the actress

Lillah McCarthy Lillah, Lady Keeble OBE (born Lila Emma McCarthy; 22 September 1875 – 15 April 1960) was an English people, English actress and Actor-manager, theatrical manager. Biography Lila Emma McCarty was born in Cheltenham on 22 September 1875, the s ...

, the pianist Harriet Cohen and the poet Robert Nichols. His studio, along with many of his works, was destroyed in a fire. Malcolm Arbuthnot
National Portrait Gallery page He was a friend of

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 188 ...

. Also in 1914, he was one of the signatories - the only photographer - to the manifesto of the

Vorticism Vorticism was a London-based Modernism, modernist art movement formed in 1914 by the writer and artist Wyndham Lewis. The movement was partially inspired by Cubism and was introduced to the public by means of the publication of the Vorticist mani ...

movement published in the first issue of the literary magazine '' BLAST''.''Modernism: An Anthology'', Lawrence S Rainey, Blackwell Publishing, 2005, He combined his interests in photography and art by using gum and oil pigment processes, after joining the Linked Ring making increasingly controversial anti- naturalistic gum prints. After

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, he gave up photography in favour of painting, working in oils, watercolours and

gouache Gouache (; ), body color, or opaque watercolor is a water-medium paint consisting of natural pigment, water, a binding agent (usually gum arabic or dextrin), and sometimes additional inert material. Gouache is designed to be opaque. Gouach ...

s. He married twice, and had numerous adopted children. His first marriage to Florence Emily Goold ("Daisy") ended in divorce following her adultery with the poet John Gould Fletcher, whom she later married. (The settlement from Fletcher for her upkeep was instrumental in Arbuthnot financing the launch of his London studio).''Fierce Solitude: A Life of John Gould Fletcher'', Ben F Johnson, University of Arkansas Press, 1994, His second wife Florence Annie Davison was the widow of George Davison, a millionaire through investments in

Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company, referred to simply as Kodak (), is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in film photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorporated i ...

, and her inherited wealth enabled the couple to retire to

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

in 1931.

References

External links

Malcolm Arbuthnot
prints at National Portrait Gallery * {{DEFAULTSORT:Arbuthnot, Malcolm 1877 births 1967 deaths People from Cobham, Surrey Photographers from Surrey British portrait photographers 20th-century English painters English male painters 20th-century English male artists