Preparing biographies
Johnstone’s entry in the 1857 exhibition of the Birmingham Photographic Society was both atypical and revealing. His first four calotypes, of Kenilworth Castle and Tintern Abbey, received particular notice in the catalogue for demonstrating “the permanency of good Photographs having been printed more than 11 years.” This places Johnstone’s start in calotyping at least as far back as the mid-1840s, when he was an active daguerreotypist in Birmingham, but also demonstrates that he was unusually adept at printing. Two of his calotype portraits were included in the Richard Willats album, taken “by his modification of Calotype Process on Paper.” According to Photogram, Johnstone was known among his colleagues as a painstaking worker “who knew that he was always right,” and who took a particular interest in the electro-disposition of metals. In the catalogue for the 1857 exhibition he advertised Johnstone’s Photographic Establishment in Birmingham, stressing that his portraits were “highly finished, Artistic, Permanent, and at Reasonable prices.” Johnstone was also a friend of the London photographer John Mayall.
Roger Taylor & Larry J. Schaaf Impressed by Light: British Photographs from Paper Negatives, 1840-1860 (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2007)
This biography is courtesy and copyright of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and is included here with permission.
Date last updated: 4 Nov 2012.
SHARED BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION PROJECT
We welcome institutions and scholars willing to test the sharing of biographies for the benefit of the photo-history community. The biography above is a part of this trial.
If you find any errors please email us details so they can be corrected as soon as possible. |
|
| | Premium content for those who want to understand photography |
References are available for subscribers.There is so much more to explore when you subscribe.
Subscriptions
| | Portraits
If you have a portrait of this photographer or know of the whereabouts of one we would be most grateful.
alan@luminous-lint.com |
Family history
If you are related to this photographer and interested in tracking down your extended family we can place a note here for you to help. It is free and you would be amazed who gets in touch.
alan@luminous-lint.com |
|
LuminousLint 
@LuminousLint