Julia Margaret Cameron and Archival Creativity

258 Pages·2017·3.4 MB·English

by  Lucy Smith

Julia Margaret Cameron and Archival
Creativity: Traces of Photographic
Imagination from the Victorian Album to
Neo-Victorian Fiction

Lucy Christina Smith
September 2017

This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements
for the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the
University of Portsmouth.

Word Count: 79,899.

1
Abstract

The photographs and albums of Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879) form an
originating site of archival creativity, both in their internal dynamics and for a range
of textual representations. Conceptually, the archive is increasingly being explored
as a creative and affective site for the production of culture and fiction, with
Victorian traces featuring prominently due to their richness and profusion. Creative
experiments with textual archives have met with critical attention; yet the visual
archive is also embedded with fluid patterns of meaning, complicated by the flexible
relation between image and text. Victorian photography in particular offers auratic
and temporal qualities that can produce implicit narratives. Drawing on a recent
wave of Cameron scholarship, I argue that Cameron was an archival artist, creating
portraits inspired by history and literature that embed a matrix of cultural strands
which demand to be interpreted affectively by the viewer. Her many photographic
albums can be “read” as visual archives that present a series of imagined experiences
to the viewer, question Victorian politics of identity, and contain fluid narrative
potential. These archival narratives can be compared to the way in which Cameron’s
photographic imagination has been translated over the last century and a half into
textual narratives, in which the photographs act as material tokens of memory,
conduits of female emancipation and transformative visual experiences. Her visual
structures and arresting style significantly influenced her great-niece, Virginia
Woolf, who was also an advocate of archival affectivity as a means to bring attention
to “obscure lives”, and whose flexible approach to history adds layers to Cameron’s
literary afterlife. In recent years, Cameron’s works have been evoked in neo-
Victorian fiction as visual traces that open the text to new interpretations.
Representations of Cameron’s photographs deconstruct the dynamics of nineteenth-
century visual culture and bring “obscure lives” into the light, conduct structural and
temporal experimentations in fiction through sequences of visual experiences, and
present the overwhelming power of light as access to the intangible amidst a collage
of fragmented materials and meanings. Cameron’s Victorian photographs and
albums are radical archival artforms, and demonstrate the exponential archival
creativity of the photographic trace to blur accepted borders between reality and
fiction, and between the Victorian imagination and the multiple perspectives of the
present.
2
Contents

Abstract ........................................................................................................................ 2
Declaration ................................................................................................................... 5
List of Figures .............................................................................................................. 6
Acknowledgments ...................................................................................................... 15
Dissemination ............................................................................................................. 16

Introduction: Archival Creativity ............................................................................... 17
The Archive, Photography and Literature .............................................................. 20
The Photographs and Albums of Julia Margaret Cameron................................. 28
Woolfian Intertexts ............................................................................................. 32
Neo-Victorian Fiction ......................................................................................... 35
Chapter Outline ...................................................................................................... 39

Chapter One: Archival Imagination ........................................................................... 47
The “Magical” Quality of Traces ........................................................................... 49
Archival Imagination in Julia Margaret Cameron’s Photography ......................... 54
Transformed Identities: Reading Cameron’s Archive with Virginia Woolf .......... 62
“Obscure Lives” and Archival Imagination in Neo-Victorian Photographic Fiction
................................................................................................................................ 72
Tracing the Heroine: Helen Humphrey’s Afterimage ......................................... 75
Reinventing Photography in the Margins: David Rocklin’s The Luminist ......... 83
Cameron’s Archival Imagination: The Creative Fact ............................................ 98

Chapter Two: Creative Structures ............................................................................ 101
Narrative Potential in the Archive ........................................................................ 104
The Album as Archive: Creative Ordering in Julia Margaret Cameron’s
Photographic Albums ........................................................................................... 108
Cameron’s Miniature Albums: Re-structuring Reality ........................................ 111
Pre-Career and Scrapbook Albums: Experiments with Form .............................. 119
A Dialogue Between Albums: Modernist Appropriations of Structure ............... 125
Creative Structures in Victorian Archive Fiction ................................................. 132
Creative Ordering, Ekphrasis, and the Persistence of Meaning: Adam Thorpe’s
Ulverton ............................................................................................................ 136
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A Textual Journey Through a Visual Maze: Michelle Lovric’s The True and
Splendid History of the Harristown Sisters ...................................................... 146
Creative Archival Structure and the Return of Meaning ...................................... 156

Chapter Three: Blurred Temporalities ..................................................................... 161
Photography, Cultural Memory and Translation .................................................. 164
Mirror Time: The Photograph as Self-Reflection ................................................ 168
The Translation of Memory in Cameron Fictions ................................................ 187
Memories of Light: Anne Thackeray Ritchie’s “From an Island” ................... 188
Fragments of a Broken Mirror: Gail Jones’s Sixty Lights ................................ 196
Writing with Time and Light ................................................................................ 211

Conclusion: “Schemes of Form” and “Schemes of Light” ...................................... 215
The Fluidity of the Archive .................................................................................. 218
Photographic Imagination: Archival Energy .................................................... 219
Photographic Structures: The Meaning of Fragmentation ................................ 224
Photographic Time: A Hall of Mirrors ............................................................. 229
Reading Archival Creativity ................................................................................. 233

Works Cited ............................................................................................................. 237

Appendix: Form UPR16 .......................................................................................... 257

4
Declaration

Whilst registered as a candidate for the above degree, I have not been
registered for any other research award. The results and conclusions
embodied in this thesis are the work of the named candidate and have
not been submitted for any other academic award.

5
List of Figures

Note on formatting of photograph titles:
In referring to Cameron’s photographs throughout this thesis, I use italics for the
artist’s own image titles as found in the catalogue raisonné, Julian Cox and Colin
Ford’s Julia Margaret Cameron: The Complete Photographs, or as given by the
gallery or repository, and give any additional titles, for example those given as
annotations in albums by Cameron or others, in double quotation marks. In this list, I
additionally give the generally accepted title or a relevant description in square
brackets, if it is not given in the original context. If no original title is known for a
Cameron image, I use Cox and Ford’s description of the image in square brackets.
Album titles are given in double quotation marks as listed in the catalogue raisonné,
(87, 96, 502-505). In the main text, references are given for individual images
mentioned in writing only, by their page number in the Complete Photographs.
Repository information was correct at the time of download, although items from the
Royal Photographic Society Collection, previously held at the National Media
Museum (now the National Science and Media Museum) have been owned from
April 2017 by the Victoria and Albert Museum. This includes all images from the
Herschel Album as well as individual prints.

Repository Abbreviations
BL – British Library
HRC – Harry Ransom Center
IOWCC – Isle of Wight County Council
JMCT – Julia Margaret Cameron Trust
NMM – National Media Museum
NPG – National Portrait Gallery
VAM – Victoria and Albert Museum

6
Introduction
Figure 1 (p. 17)
Julia Margaret Cameron. The Angel at the Sepulchre (1869-70). VAM,
London. Victoria and Albert Museum Collections. Web. 12 Sept. 2016;
Julia Margaret Cameron. A Study (1865-66). Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York. Met Museum. Web. 12 Sept. 2016.
Julia Margaret Cameron. Lilies (1869), NMM, Bradford. National Media
Museum Collections. Web. 12 Sept. 2016.
Julia Margaret Cameron, After the Manner of Perugino (1865), NMM,
Bradford. Royal Academy. Web. 12 Sept. 2016.
Figure 2 (p. 29)
Julia Margaret Cameron. Iago – Study from an Italian (1867). NMM,
Bradford. National Media Museum Collections. Web. 7 Nov. 2016.
Chapter One
Figure 3 (p. 57)
Julia Margaret Cameron. Pomona. (1872). "The Yorck Project". 5000
Meisterwerke der Photographie des 19. Jahrhunderts’ Wikimedia Commons.
2008. Web. 30 May 2014.
Lewis Carroll. Alice Liddell as the “The Beggar Maid”. (1858).
Metropolitian Museum of Art, New York. Metropolitan Museum of Art
Collections. Web. 7. July. 2014. www.metmuseum.org.
Figure 4 (p. 61)
Julia Margaret Cameron. Sir John Herschel. (1867). Metropolitan Museum
of Art, New York. Metropolitan Museum of Art Collections. Web. 25. Apr.
2014. www.metmuseum.org.
Julia Margaret Cameron. Sappho. 1866. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
York. Met Museum. Web. 2 Jun. 2014. www.metmuseum.org.
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Figure 5 (p. 70)
Julia Margaret Cameron. La Madonna Riposata, Resting in Hope (1864).
VAM, London. Victoria and Albert Museum Collections. Web. 5 Jun. 2014.
Julia Margaret Cameron. Prospero and Miranda. (1865). VAM, London.
Victoria and Albert Museum Collections. Web. 5. Jun. 2014.
Figure 6 (p. 78)
John Everett Millais. Ophelia. (1851-1852). Tate Gallery, London. Tate Art
and Artists. Web. 5 Jun. 2014.
Julia Margaret Cameron. Ophelia. (1874). NMM, Bradford. The Royal
Photographic Society, National Media Museum Collections. Web. 5 Jun.
2014.
Figure 7 (p. 80)
Julia Margaret Cameron. Mary Mother. (1867). NMM, Bradford. National
Media Museum Collections, The Royal Photographic Society. Web. 6 Jun.
2014.
Figure 8 (p. 88)
Julia Margaret Cameron. [Group, Ceylon]. (c.1875-1879). NMM, Bradford.
Wikimedia Commons. Web. 9 Jun. 2014.
Julia Margaret Cameron. The Five Wise Virgins. (1864). VAM, London.
Victoria and Albert Museum Collections. Web. 20 Aug. 2014.
Figure 9 (p. 89)
Julia Margaret Cameron. A Group of Kalutura Peasants. (1878). NMM,
Bradford. The Royal Photographic Society, National Media Museum
Collections. Web. 10 Jun. 2014.
Figure 10 (p. 90)
Julia Margaret Cameron. My Niece Julia full face. (1867). NMM, Bradford.
Wikimedia Commons. Web. 20 Jun. 2014.
Figure 11 (p. 93)
Julia Margaret Cameron. Julia Jackson. (1864). VAM, London. Victoria
and Albert Museum Collections. Web. 20 Jun. 2014.
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Vanessa Bell. The Red Dress. (1929). Brighton Museum and Art Gallery,
Brighton. WikiArt. Web. 20. Jun. 2014.

Chapter Two
Figure 12 (p. 101)
Julia Margaret Cameron. Detail from “Julia Hay Norman Miniature Album”
(1869), 37. NMM, Bradford. Personal photographic copy. 15. Jul. 2014.
Cover of “Sun Artists: Mrs Cameron”. BL, London. Web Image. British
Library Collection Items. 30 Sept. 2015.
“Julia Margaret Cameron postcards”. 2016. Web. Dimbola Museums &
Galleries. 13 Apr. 2017.
Figure 13 (p. 112)
Julia Margaret Cameron. “Mary Ryan” [Detail from The Minstrel Group]
Detail from “Nelly Mundy Album” (c.1870-1874), 15. IOWCC,
Freshwater, IOW. Personal photographic copy. 16. Apr. 2014
Julia Margaret Cameron. “King David, Study for Henry Taylor” [Henry
Taylor, Study for King David]. Detail from “Nelly Mundy Album” (c.1870-
1874), 16. IOWCC, Freshwater, IOW. Personal photographic copy. 16. Apr.
2014.
Julia Margaret Cameron. Rosalba. Detail from “Nelly Mundy Album”,
(c.1870-1874), 17. IOWCC, Freshwater, IOW. Personal photographic copy.
16. Apr. 2014.
Figure 14 (p. 113)
Julia Margaret Cameron. [The Wild Flower]. Detail from “Albert Louis
Cotton Album” (c.1870-1874), 26. JMCT, Freshwater, IOW. Personal
photographic copy. 16. Apr. 2014.
Julia Margaret Cameron. “Mary (Lady) Cotton July 1867” [Detail from The
Minstrel Group]. Detail from “Albert Louis Cotton Album” (c.1870-1874),
14. JMCT, Freshwater, IOW. Personal photographic copy. 16. Apr. 2014.
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Figure 15 (p. 114)
Julia Margaret Cameron. “Sir Henry Taylor and Mary Cotton” [King
Ahasuerus and Queen Esther in Apocrypha]. “Albert Louis Cotton Album”
(c.1870-1874), 32. JMCT, Freshwater, IOW . Personal photographic copy.
16. Apr. 2014.
Figure 16 (p. 115)
Julia Margaret Cameron. Montage of Madonna Groups [Faith; Detail from
A Group; Long Suffering; The Nativity]. “Albert Louis Cotton Album”
(c.1870-1874), 39. JMCT, Freshwater, IOW. Personal photographic copy.
16. Apr. 2014.
Figure 17 (p. 116)
Julia Margaret Cameron. Unlabelled image of Freddie Gould [Love in
Idleness], “Hardinge Hay Cameron Album” (1869), 9. NMM, Bradford.
Personal photographic copy. 15 Jul. 2014.
Julia Margaret Cameron. “G. F. Watts”. “Hardinge Hay Cameron Album”
(1869), 10. NMM, Bradford. Personal photographic copy. 15 Jul. 2014.
Figure 18 (p. 120)
Julia Margaret Cameron. Composite image entitled “Charlotte and Julia
Hay Norman” (photographers unknown). Detail from “Julia Hay Norman
Album” (1862-c.1891), 4. NMM, Bradford. Personal photographic copy. 16
Jul. 2014.
Julia Margaret Cameron. Montage of Norman family members including
“Charlotte and Julia Hay Norman” (photographers unknown). “Julia Hay
Norman Album” (1862-c.1891), 4. NMM, Bradford. Personal photographic
copy. 16 Jul. 2014.
Figure 19 (p. 122)
Julia Margaret Cameron. Montage of Norman family members and “Mrs
Pattle” (photographers and painter unknown), “Julia Hay Norman Album”
(1862-c.1891), 5-6. NMM, Bradford. Personal photographic copy. 16 Jul.
2014.
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