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PSS
Exhibitors
Oscar Gustav Rejlander
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OG Rejlander
©
Reproduced by courtesy of Edinburgh
Photographic Society
This engraving of Rejlander is from a
photograph taken in his own studio.
[OG Rejlander obituary:
British Journal of Photography, 1875, p.54] |
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Sweden - Rome -
Wolverhampton - London
OG Rejlander was born in
Sweden, son of a Swedish Army Officer, and studied in Rome. In
England, he was first a portrait painter, then a photographer, working in
Wolverhampton.
He
moved to London, possibly in 1860. He had a studio at Haymarket,
then Kentish Town, then Victoria Street, Westminster. He died at his
home in Clapham, London, on 18 January 1875, aged 61.
He had been a pioneer photographer,
his photographs often being engraved for religious publications. He
had an appreciation of the Old Masters, copying many of their works.
[OG Rejlander obituary:
British Journal of Photography, 1875, p.54] |
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Two Ways of Life
E Draper wrote, in the
British
Journal of Photography
[BJP:1875, p.54]
"Without encouragement,
with the most imperfect appliances, with nothing but coarse work girls and
non-professional male models, and under other difficulties of the most
disheartening nature - with no possibilities demonstrated for his
guidance, no examples of success to encourage him - he took up the camera,
as he took up the brush and pencil to embody therewith the creations of a
previously-educated mind.
He resolved to do what
never had been done, and what crowds of able thinkers in art declared
loudly, never could be done, and he produced as a first result 'The Two
Ways of Life', which was exhibited in the Art Treasures' Exhibition in
Manchester."
[OG Rejlander obituary:
British Journal of Photography, 1875, p.54]
It was the Rejlander's 'Two Ways
of Life' that caused controversy amongst the Members of
The Photographic Society of Scotland, when he
submitted it to their Exhibition in December 1857. |
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Two
Ways of Life - O G Rejlander
©
The Royal Photographic Society, Bath,
England. web site http://www.rps.org.
This
photograph was made using thirty different negatives.
The Photographic Society of Scotland rejected this photograph when it was submitted to their Exhibition.
Edinburgh’s professional photographers were unhappy with this decision.
A
Special General Meeting of the PSS
was called, but did not result in the changes demanded by many of Edinburgh's
professional photographers.
Many
of Edinburgh's professional photographers subsequently left the
Photographic Society of Scotland.
They went on to join
Edinburgh Photographic Society when it was established in 1861.
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Tributes from EPS
The death of Rejlander was
reported to a Meeting of Edinburgh Photographic Society on 3 February
1875.
At the same Meeting, an album,
lent by Mr Constable, containing a large collection of pictures by the
late OG Rejlander was laid on the table, together with a collection of
mounted prints by Rejlander, lent by Mr Elliott.
Several Members paid tribute to
OG Rejlander. Below are some extracts:
[BJP: 12 Feb 1875; p. 81] |
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Tribute to OG Rejlander
by
James Ross
"I feel confident that
all present will agree with me when I say that the lamented death of O
Rejlander has left a vacant space in the ranks of photography which few,
if any, are able to fill; indeed I have never met any
The British Journal of Photography ... and the PSSphotographer
who did not willingly bear testimony to the artistic excellence of his
pictures.
We can all tell a
"Rejlander" at a glance - not from any particular mode of lighting or
style of background, but from the impress on the artist's own genius,
which is more or less stamped upon them all.
My own admiration of his
works has all along been so sincere and so ardent that, somehow, I have
remained entirely blind to his alleged defects as a manipulator.
...
There is one [letter]
likewise from Mrs Rejlander containing an account of her husband's
funeral, the expenses of which, I fear, will leave but a small balance at
her banker's.
A few friends, however
in Edinburgh are endeavouring to dispose of Prince Albert's picture by
subscripton, for the purpose of helping the widow in her affliction, which
is really the true and proper way to honour the memory of our departed
friend and brother OG Rejlander"
[BJP: 12 Feb 1875; p. 81] |
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Tribute to OG Rejlander
by
W
Neilson
"The photographer with a
true knowledge of the art will conceive the picture in his brain, train
and manipulate his model to be what he has conceived, and then make his
camera reproduce the conception. This was the way Rejlander set
about his work, and the result - those magnificent pictures on the table -
was beyond all praise.
[BJP: 12 Feb 1875; p. 81] |
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Tribute to OG Rejlander
by
Norman Macbeth
"The photographer with a
true knowledge of the art will conceive the picture in his brain, train
and manipulate his model to be what he has conceived, and then make his
camera reproduce the conception. This was the way Rejlander set
about his work, and the result - those magnificent pictures on the table -
was beyond all praise.
[BJP: 12 Feb 1875; p. 82] |
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Rejlander Memorial Fund
In June 1875, a notice appeared in the
BJP announcing the creation of the 'Rejlander Memorial Fund', to
meet some claims that existed at the death of Rejlander, and to make
some provision for his widow.
[BJP: 4Jun 1855] |
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