Book Review: Julia Margaret Cameron: The Colonial Shadows of Victorian Photography by Jeff Rosen

A bold new study of Julia Margaret Cameron’s Victorian photographs, charting the legacy of colonialism following the 1857 Indian Uprising.
 

Julia Margaret Cameron, the celebrated Victorian photographer, was a child of the colonies. Born in 1815 in Calcutta, she was the daughter of a governing official of the East India Company. After relocating to London in 1848, Cameron was embraced by other British expatriates and a celebrated cultural network. This circle included literary personalities like Thackeray and Tennyson, painters and critics associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, and political figures like Thomas Babington Macaulay and Lord Lansdowne.

 

In 1857, Indians rebelled against British rule, and in London, Cameron became absorbed by news of the Uprising. In the aftermath of the revolt, national and imperial politics transfixed England, some seven years before Cameron took up photography. The impact of those forces, and the inspiration of the literary, artistic, and political works produced by her circle, influenced her earliest imagery. Through close readings of these photographs, which she assembled in

photographic albums, this book exposes how Cameron embedded in her work a visual rhetoric of imperial power.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Paul Mellon Centre (June 11, 2024)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 292 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1913107426
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1913107420

Courage, however admirable in the field, however worthy of our respect, admiration, and gratitude, cannot alone entitle a man to promotion and distinction in offices of trust and honour, if he has not, besides courage, the mental and moral qualities required to do justice to that office. (A letter dated 11 September 1843 from Julia Margaret Cameron to Captain George Broadfoot, pg.35).

The book title, The Colonial Shadows of Victorian Photography is a reference to the Indian Uprising of 1857. In May of 1857, young Indian men had no choice but to serve in the East India Company armies. They revolted against British officers who commanded their regiments; in an uprising that caused a rebellion which spead throughout the Indian subcontinent. As 1858 ended, Queen Victoria dissolved the East India Company, getting India as a British colony.

For Julia Margaret Cameron, the shadow of the Indian Uprising was direct and personal effecting not only her family but her photography as well. For instance, Arthur Prinsep, Julia Margaret's nephew, was a cadet assigned to the 4th European Light Cavalry on 20 October 1856.  In January 1857, he was promoted to lieutenant and called into action from base in Lucknow fort to the Kashmiri gate in Delhi.  As if this wasn't bad enough, in July 1857, living in London's Putney Heath, Julia Margaret left her home and travelled to the Photographic Institution on New Bond Street, so she could have a portrait made of her eldest son Eugene, who was about to report for duty in the Royal Artillery.  It was on the same day, 31 July 1857, that Julia Margaret wrote a letter to her eldest daughter, Juley, still thinking of the Indian Uprising, 

The extra telegraph of today brings shocking accounts of the massacre of European Women & Children- & of course this is shocking enough-but of course also our Soldiers must have been enveloped in defending them - & then other Regiments have revolted the 3rd Regiment I think this was the Regiment after swearing fidelity and receiving arms issued & murdered all their officers, (In a letter dated 31 July 1857 from Julia Margaret Cameron to her daughter Julia Hay Cameron, pg.70).

Being born of Indian blood, Julia Margaret Pattle was born in the capital city of Calcutta (Kolkata), daughter of a governing official of the East India Company. She would grow up to marry Charles Hay Cameron, President of the Calcutta Council of Education and member of the Supreme Council of India.

This book makes the case that Julia Margaet Cameron was shaped personally by these historical forces and argues that the legacy of the war in India infused her sense of national identity and enforced both her artistic practice and the narrative choices of her photography.

I establish that her early photographic activities - especially her construction of gift albums of members of her circle - were shaped by a discourse of British colonial superiority and driven by her strong desires to contribute to that historical narrative (Author and professor Jeff Rosen, pg. 70).

                                                           The lovely remains of my little Adeline (1872) 

The above photograph taken by Julia Margaret Cameron shows the dead body of Adeline Grace Clogstoun who died in Julia's home as a result of an accident rough-housing with her siblings. Placed on the wall is a framed photograph of Adeline's father who was a military man; an example of the Indian Uprising of 1857in plain sight.

                                           'Baby Pictet' by Julia Margaret Cameron, April 1864

Julia wrote underneath her albumen print, 'One year old infant shipwrecked once in the Madras surf and again in the wreck of the Colombo steamer. 'Baby Pictet' born Georgina Anna Mary Pictet on 12 September 1862 to Rose Prinsep Mackenzie and Francis Frederic Pictet. Georgina was Julia's great-niece.

                                        Sir Galahad and the Nun by Julia Margaret Cameron 1874

I am so happy that author Jeff Rosen has identified the young male sitter in the albumen print portraying Sir Galahad as  Arthur Prinsep, Julia Margaret's nephew. Julia Margaret Cameron captures the moment when the nun transfixes Sir Galahad with magical powers as she covers him in 'a strong sword-belt, and wove with silver thread, and crimson in the belt a strange device, a crimson grail with a silver beam'. Julia wants to convey how Sir Galahad's evangelical faith triumphs over militarism. 

                                                                                    

                                    Oscar Rejlander & Julia Margaret Cameron, At the Well, 1863

A series of photos taken during Oscar Rejlander's visit to Julia Margaret Cameron's home, Dimbola Lodge on Freshwater Bay, Isle of Wight, United Kingdom. Oscar photographed Julia's housemaids (shown in the photo) going about their daily duties as well as Julia's children. Some wonderful moments were captured.

Thank you to staff at Paul Mellon Centre and Yale University for mailing me a review copy. It is such a beautiful book.

To purchase a copy, Julia Margaret Cameron