Exploring Contemporary Typological Photographic Portraiture Using Archival Resources

Introduction to PhD Proposal - RD1 - 6th Draft - 05/04/2011

The early decades of the 20^th Century can arguably be considered the zenith of commercial photographic portraiture. Much of the work conducted was by city based ‘high street’ studio photographers who inadvertently, have systematically recorded the population of this era as a by-product of their economic sustenance. Most cities can subsequently lay claim to at least one notable contributor, but my interest lies specifically with the work of the Liverpool based photographer Edward Chambré Hardman[1]. Chambré Hardman was a prolific image maker and with a career spanning over sixty years, as a portraitist alone he photographed tens of thousands of Liverpool residents and visiting personalities. Becoming a member of Liverpool’s highly respected Sandon Studio Society in the early 1920’s, not only was Chambré Hardman’s work published monthly in the local press, but was also published nationally through his association with the annual London Salon Exhibitions.

Research has been conducted into the landscape element of Chambré Hardman’s archive[2], but little coherent analysis of his portraiture currently exists. Therefore, through this project, I firstly intend to take on the role of photographer as archivist and work within Chambré Hardman’s portraiture archive, with the aim of identifying a typology of portraits in relation to the photographs of Liverpool based cultural and arts practitioners taken for commercial purposes. It is acknowledged that the typology created would be a retrospective construct and would not represent Chambré Hardman’s original intentions. However, the purpose of this archival intervention is not to establish a historical understanding of Chambré Hardman’s practice, but rather to interpret and select from the Chambré Hardman archive with the aim of locating and informing my own photographic practice. I am intending to respond to this defined typology through the creation of a substantial body of portraits that will depict both cultural and visual arts practitioners currently based within Merseyside. The research will utilise all associated ephemera which relates directly to Chambré Hardman’s portraiture and through the written element of the project, will subsequently provide a framework for further theoretical debate surrounding such questions as ‘the photographer as archivist’. The written element of the project will also focus on the history and theory of photographic portraiture and the photographic typology, as well as examining both these fields in relation to contemporary practice. It is also important to emphasise the significant role the associated archival ephemera will play within the creation of the typology as it is accepted Chambré Hardman’s technical note taking and diaries were particularly comprehensive, therefore offering additional resource in relation to cross referencing detail and factual data.

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[1] Edward Chambré Hardman [1898-1988] was a commercial portrait photographer based in Liverpool. His vast photographic collection is now predominantly the property of the National Trust and can be split between his commercial portraiture and personal landscapes.

[2] Peter Hagerty, the Director of the Open Eye Gallery in Liverpool between 1978-1989, successfully submitted a PhD thesis to Liverpool John Moores University in 1999 entitled : The Continuity of Landscape Representation: The Photography of Edward Chambré Hardman [1898-1988], the research of which dealt specifically with the ‘landscape’ element of the collection.