| Dates: | 1813 - 1873 | | Born: | Scotland, Ayr | | Active: | Scotland |
Preparing biographies
Born in Ayr and described by the Scotsman as “a man of exquisite taste and fine perception,” Clark sadly had his life cut short by a tramway accident in Edinburgh. At a time when chemical knowledge was essential to industry, he became a prosperous calico printer in Derbyshire. Then, according to his obituary in the British Journal of Photography, Clark set up house in Edinburgh, gathering “round him a circle of friends interested in art and photography.” It was during this early retirement that Clark took up a second career, buying the print shop of Alexander Hill (brother of David Octavius Hill) and expanding the stock with a “higher class of articles of virtu.” He was secretary of the Photographic Society of Scotland and a vice president of the Edinburgh Photographic Society. A prolific exhibitor, Clark was contributing photographs taken by the waxed-paper process as late as 1858. His largest single body of work is an extensive stone-by-stone photographic documentation of Melrose Abbey. For this project, Clark rented a large furnished house nearby, welcomed his photographic friends, and engaged workmen to erect scaffolding to secure the best points of view for photographing the abbey.
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