Tuesday 16th December - Ave Maria

Today is my last book club of the year at work and we've been reading War of the Worlds by H G Wells and I feel traumatised. Blimey, that was far scarier than I was expecting and I now worry that we will be invaded by Martians, although apparently the chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one... Back to the books!

Ave Maria (1905) Emma Barton

I must admit, I didn't know anything about Emma Barton before embarking on this, so I am very much looking forward to this one. Obviously, having written Light and Love, I am a fan of early photography, but Mrs Barton is the generation after Mrs Cameron, so let's have a little look.

The Awakening (1903)

Okay, I can see a definite Cameron influence here and so I'm happy. The Awakening was probably her best known photograph, winning her a medal at the Royal Photographic Society exhibition of 1903 and also appeared in the British section of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St Louis, Missouri in 1904.

The Soul of the Rose (1905) (after J W Waterhouse's painting of the same name)

Born in Birmingham in 1872, Emma Boaz Rayson was the daughter of  Ambrose and Elizabeth Rayson. Ambrose, a boatman, was already a widower by the age of 31, so when he married Elizabeth (daughter of a boatman, so possibly how they met) it might have been the case of having to get married as little Emma appeared barely 9 months later. She was joined by 6 siblings in very quick succession, the last, Ambrose jnr was born the same month in 1885 his father died, leaving Elizabeth with seven children (although Ambrose jnr died the year after and William (b.1880) died when he was 9).  Elizabeth married again in 1890 to Edgar Birchler (1846=1903) who ran a tripe shop (lovely). 

St Margaret (c.1903)

According to her Wikipedia page, Emma (or Emmie as she is often referred to as in censuses) was introduced to photography by the brother-in-law of her stepfather (which is nice and confusing) - Edgar had four sisters - Louisa, Mary, Matilda and Clara, and it was Louisa's husband, Walter, who was the photographer according to 1891 census. According to a brief internet search, he ran a studio called the Highgate Studio at 110 Moseley Road in Brum and Ebay has lots of his work for sale such as this one.

By 1891, Emma had got a job as a clerk in a manufacturers office, and the family was living next door to Walter so I think we can guess where she got her introduction to photography. It was around this time she also met, then 'married' George Albert Barton. I use the term loosely as there are no records of their marriage apart from the 1911 census claiming they had got married 19 years previously, so around 1892. Their daughter Dorothy was born in the summer of 1893 and it is suggested that one of the impetuses for Emma taking up photography was to photograph her children. Whilst she does seem to have used her children as models, I wonder how often that is suggested about male photographers?

Family Group (c.1908)

In the picture are (from the left) Emma's son Aubrey (1894-1969), then Emma, then daughters Marjorie (1896-1985) and Hilda (1899-1969), then Cecil (the baby in The Awakening) (1901-1981) and finally Dorothy (1893-1962).  The fact that she regularly used her children is probably the same reason that Julia Margaret Cameron used her grandchildren, friends and maids, because they were there. She also featured herself in many, including The Awakening, giving her more in common with Cindy Sherman than Cameron on that front. 

Dorothy and Rose (c.1905)

I'm guessing the lass in Ave Maria was probably Dorothy who seems to crop up quite a bit and would be around the right age. The family all lived in a purpose-built house in Four Oaks Park Estate which contained a dark room. George was a solicitor and nicely off, so married or not, they lived a very respectable life indeed and at the time, Emma was extremely well-known in photographic circles. She even dabbled in autochrome with her 1911 photograph The Blue Bonnet, again featuring Dorothy.

The Blue Bonnet (1911)

I seem to have gone off on a ramble, but returning to Ave Maria it reminds me very much of Rossetti paintings like Prosepine and other three-quarter length paintings and Henry Ryland's beauties, tight up against a patterned background, such as The Guarded Flame painted around the same time...

The Guarded Flame (undated)

Emma and George moved to Shanklin on the Isle of Wight where she died on 4 April 1938 and is buried in Shanklin cemetery (yes, I will be searching for her when I'm next over there). Just as JMC and Clementina Hawarden have had their renaissances, I think it's about time we saw more of Emma Barton and her gorgeous photographs and I would definitely support a retrospective.

See you tomorrow.