George Washington Wilson (1823-1893) Photographically innovative and entrepreneurial in business, Wilson was the most notable, successful and prolific stereo-photographer in Scotland and perhaps the entire UK. Having trained in Edinburgh as an artist, he worked as a miniature portrait painter and art teacher in Aberdeen from 1848. He started experimenting with photography in 1852, probably realising that it could potentially supplant his previous profession. In a short-lived partnership with Hay, he first exhibited stereoviews in 1853 at the Aberdeen Mechanics' Institution. A commission to photograph the construction of Balmoral Castle in 1854-55 led to a long royal association. His photos were used in the form of engravings for Queen Victoria's popular book “My Highland Journal”. His best-selling carte-de-visite of her on a pony held by Brown (judiciously cropped to remove other superfluous retainers) fuelled the gossip surrounding this relationship. His portrait studio in Aberdeen provided steady cashflow and in 1857, to promote his studio, he produced a print grouping together famous Aberdonians, one of the earliest ever examples of a photo-collage. He soon recognised that stereoviews were the key to prosperity and by 1863 had a catalogue of over 400 views from all across the UK, selling them in a wide variety of outlets including railway kiosks and inside cathedrals. His artistic training helped him compose picturesque and beautiful images, but he was also an innovative technician, experimenting on improving photographic techniques, chemistry and apparatus, working closely with camera and lens manufacturers. He was among the very first to publish “instantaneous” views, ranging from a bustling Princes Street, Edinburgh to a charming view of children paddling in the sea, both dating from 1859. Perhaps the most famous of his instantaneous images are ones of gun practice on HMS Cambridge (number 316 and 317), taken in 1860. Such photographs, captured in a fraction of a second, were a technical tour-de-force when normal exposures could be counted in minutes and cameras did not yet have built-in shutters. By 1858, inspired by le Grey's seascapes, he was experimenting with pointing his lens directly into the sun. By lining his lenses and camera with black velvet to prevent internal reflections, he became the first to capture successful single exposure views (le Grey's prints were composites from two negatives, although GWW would not know this at the time). In 1858 he took dramatic images of the sunset at Oban and, in 1859, his family boating on the Loch of Park. These photographs created a sensation when sent for review and exhibited. By the mid 1860s his company was printing over 500,000 photographs annually. He tried to keep ahead of fashion, producing various formats in addition to his stereoviews. In conjunction with London printers Marion, he was first to introduce the cabinet card size, which became a very popular format. His commercial success and prolific output, with much of the later work being by his sons and other company photographers (many of the later stereoviews of England are probably by his illegitimate son, Alexander Wilson), seems to have led to Wilson today being rather overlooked as an artist. Although his many views of Scottish hills and cathedral interiors (albeit technically astounding) can become a bit repetitive, his catalogue contains some true gems of the stereo-photographer's art. He was fêted in his day, winning 27 medals internationally, including the only one for a Scottish photographer at the prestigious London International Exhibition of 1862. The British Journal of Photography in 1860 stated that he was “pre-eminently successful in delineating some most interesting and picturesque subjects”, while Photographic Notes commented in 1858 that his stereoviews were “so far in advance of what one usually sees, that they require especial notice” and in 1861 reported that Wilson “has now achieved for himself a position which no other photographer has reached”. Wilson's prestige was such, that the renowned Roger Fenton's submissions to the 1861 London Photographic Society's Exhibition were dismissed in BJP, Jan 1861, as being “somewhat in the style of Mr Wilson's”. After his death in 1893, his sons seem to have lacked his entrepreneurial spirit and the enterprise went rapidly downhill, being finally dissolved in 1902. A significant portion of the original negatives (some five tons of glass!) are now held by the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. 1 The Stereoviews of GWW This catalogue of the stereoscopic views of George Washington Wilson is based on several known published Wilson catalogues, and is informed by Roger Taylor's and Tex Treadwell's previous publications. The earliest known catalogue was published by Wilson in 1856. Views from this catalogue are found on various coloured card (blue, cream, white, grey). Usually the photos are square, but occasionally have rounded tops. They are often found in a poor state, faded with glue streaking, but are sometimes remarkably well preserved. Sometimes these views have a G.W.Wilson blindstamp, otherwise the photographer's name does not appear. Some have descriptive labels of various designs, others have hand-written titles, some are untitled and mostly they are not numbered. In November 1858, Photographic Notes reviewed a group of Wilson views, presumably taken earlier that year, mainly representing a trip to the west coast of Scotland, visiting Oban, Inverary and Fingal's Cave. Only some of the views were described; the views so far identified which match these descriptions are on white or light yellow card with square or rounded top photographs and hand-written titles. Wilson's name does not appear. Views from 1858/59 seem to have been published as a second numbered series, for which a catalogue has not yet been discovered. These include views such as “27. Mustard, Skye Terrier”, “85. The Victoria Steamer, bound for Peterhead (instantaneous)” and early views of Edinburgh up to number 120. Such views tend to be on cream or light yellow coloured card and have small printed labels. These are ascribed to Wilson, based on style, content and other observations (eg. the small label is the same style as that used in later views, the chair in the Mustard view also appears in portraits taken by Wilson, a similar view to The Bagpipe Lesson later appears as a Wilson lantern slide, The Victoria Steamer was reviewed in Jan 1860 in The British Journal of Photography, view “79. A Breaking Wave” also appears with a standard blue GWW label). View 110A is a version of the famous instantaneous view of Princes Street, Edinburgh mentioned on the first page. There were 10 photographers working in Aberdeen alone in the late 1850s, therefore it would be naive to believe that all early views of Scotland, or even the Aberdeen area, are the work of Wilson. Additionally, other photographers, of which Fenton and Frith are the most renowned, travelled to these parts. It is therefore conceivable that some of these early stereoviews have been wrongly ascribed to Wilson based on similarity of title or subject matter. Encouraged by favourable reviews in the photographic press, by 1859 Wilson had decided to significantly expand the topographical stereoscopic views side of his business. He started accumulating a new (third) series of views, with the occasional inclusion of the older negatives, but now renumbered and published on a distinctive bright yellow card, normally with a plain white rear, but occasionally yellow on early cards. He added around eighty to one hundred new titles per year. Using contemporary reviews in the photographic journals as a guide, the views can be approximately dated as follows: 1859 – up to 176 1860 – up to 292 1861 – up to 360 1862 – up to 440 1863 – up to 524 1864 – up to 600 1865 – up to 681 1866 – up to 748 2 Wilson's first photographic trip to England was in 1860, producing views numbered from 192 – 239. All views initially had a small white printed label without Wilson's name. This collector has not seen this style of label on cards numbered over 300 (with titles which correspond to the catalogues), suggesting that it was in use until 1861. It was replaced by the well-known large blue label (which also occasionally appears in cream, beige, pink, green, purple or yellow), now clearly identifying G.W.Wilson & Co. as the photographer. This label may have been in response to his increasing personal reputation and to the Fine Art Copyright Law of 1862, which provided some protection of authorship and attribution. The main series is numbered fairly self-consistently although there does appear occasionally to be some overlapping numbering (eg. in the 240s where a series of views from Ryde Pier overlap with views of Skye). Additionally, the 1893 catalogue introduces some seemingly anomalous low-numbered views. The conclusion that the views are mainly numbered chronologically, from when Wilson first photographed the scene, is supported by comments in his diaries and contemporary reviews. However, he frequently returned to the same spot, especially for popular scenes, and when he rephotographed, he often retained the original number. This means that many variants are seen of popular views, some versions taken concurrently and others years apart. Probably in the second half of the 1870s and into the 1880s, Wilson published views (on yellow card with blue labels) entitled Scottish Scenery and English Scenery which were in general not numbered. Similar large blue labels are also found on later views with the text “Photographed by” and numbered by hand. Later still, the yellow card was replaced by a grey or cream card with G.W. Wilson and Co. printed on the front.