William Morris Grundy - Le chasseur d'intimité
(English translation at the bottom of this page, courtesy of Chris Brummy)
Les vues pastorales de William Grundy (1806-1859) sont parmi les plus intimistes qu'il soit possible de rencontrer dans l'image stéréoscopique "primitive". Et, surtout, elles le sont avec une persévérance qu'il serait difficile de rencontrer chez tout autre photographe de la même époque.
Les images de Grundy sont particulièrement… silencieuses. Elles insinuent chez l'observateur, qu'il s'en aperçoive ou pas, le mutisme des paysans, des chasseurs ou des pêcheurs qui sont les protagonistes anonymes de ses photographies, la tranquillité des forêts et des rivières qui sont le décor habituel de ses prises de vues.
William Morris Grundy, Paysan devant son troupeau, vue stéréoscopique (stereoview) avant 1859 (Coll. José Calvelo)
William Grundy, Un pêcheur ? Vue stéréoscopique (stereoview) avant 1859 (Coll. J.C.)
William Grundy, Dutch Fisherman, vue stéréoscopique (stereoview) avant 1859 (Coll. J.C.)
W. Grundy, Dutch Fisherman, vue stéréoscopique précoce (n° 3) (stereoview) vers 1855 (Coll. J.C.)
William Grundy, Pêcheurs sur une barque, vue stéréoscopique (stereoview) avant 1859 (Coll. J.C.)
Grundy ne semble pas particulièrement intéressé par les mœurs ou les autres particularités de la vie paysanne comme pouvaient l'être ses contemporains en France Viret et Fraget ou en Angleterre T.R. Williams. Aucune "peinture", dans ses images, de la vie des champs, de ses travaux, de ses techniques. Non. Tout simplement, un homme seul – deux assez souvent, rarement davantage –, dans un vêtement débraillé, concentré sur ses préparatifs de chasse dans la forêt ou de pêche au bord d'un cours d'eau, qui rompt parfois le silence de la nature par une conversation apparemment désinvolte avec un comparse.
Tout cela dans une attitude peu protocolaire pour un XIXe siècle qui, beaucoup plus que le nôtre, avait le goût des convenances, des attitudes majestueuses et des belles toilettes. Grundy, c'est, décidément, l'anti-Silvy (du moins, de celui qui photographiait la Gentry dans son atelier londonien).
William Grundy, Deux pêcheurs (Fishermen), vue stéréoscopique enluminée (hand colored stereoview) avant 1859 (Coll. J.C.)
William Grundy, Deux pêcheurs sur une barque, vue stéréoscopique (stereoview) avant 1859 (Coll. J.C.)
Turkish Shop, une vue assez atypique dans la production de W. Grundy, publiée par un autre stéréoscopiste, J. Elliott. (Coll. J.C.)
Des contemporains n'ont pas manqué de lui reprocher le caractère trop familier, trivial voire grossier, de ses prises de vue, tel ce critique du Photographic News rédigeant le compte rendu d'une exposition de photographies au Crystal Palace en 1859, qui passe, d'une photographie à l'autre, de la louange aux reproches véhéments :
"The next person whom we have to notice in compositive photography, is Mr. Grundy, of Sutton Coldfield, near Birmingham. There is nothing new from the studio of that gentleman in the present collection. Already we have seen the whole of his productions at former exhibitions. There is a great and very perceptible difference between the style of Mr. Robinson and that of Mr. Grundy. The former, as we have shown in our last, attempts to delineate sentiment of a high class ; and more or less illustrates poetic subjects. The latter chooses subjects from every-day life, and in contradistinction to Mr. Robinson, portrays the real, rather than the ideal. He is to photography what Teniers and Wilkie were to art. He portrays, as they did, those characteristics of human nature which are seen in every-day life. His most successful pictures are decidedly Dutch in feeling, and, therefore, more or less gross. By this we do not mean anything derogatory to the class of picture, any more than that Dutch pictures of the highest class never exhibit anything bordering on the ideal. We all know that even when sacred subjects are being treated by Dutch masters, the character which is sacred and holy receives the same treatment as the most profane subject would. To illustrate more fully what we mean, we may merely recall to the mind of the reader any of the pictures by the Dutch masters of " Christ insulted," and as an invariable rule, it will be found, that the figure representing the Saviour is of exactly the same type as those cruel mockers who surround him—and those are generally drunken Dutch boors. So that it will be seen that there is seldom or ever on the part of Dutch masters any very poetic flights. They are almost photographic in their transcripts of interiors, and this enables Mr. Grundy to enter fully into the spirit of Dutch composition. They never crowd their pictures with useless detail; on the contrary, everything will be found in its proper place, and an examination of the detail only heightens the interest of the beholder, by the wonderful power which they display of imitative talent. Mr. Grundy groups with a care, accuracy, and precision, which is far from painful." (suite plus bas…)
William Grundy, Deux hommes conversant, vue stéréoscopique enluminée (hand colored stereoview) avant 1859 (Coll. J.C.)
William Grundy, Pêcheurs (Fishermen), vue stéréoscopique (stereoview) avant 1859 (Coll. J.C.)
"By this we mean, that crowding of objects into pictures which some photographic composers seem to think the acme of perfection, but which inspire in the mind of the beholder no more ennobling idea than would a walk through the Lowther Arcade ; and which are in fact more like copies of the interior of a bazaar than anything which had been arranged so as to give artistic effect. Mr. Grundy's studies of " Fishermen " ought to be highly prized by artists, as there is such an amount of care and tact displayed in the grouping. We cannot speak so highly of his Turkish studies. They are admirable in their arrangement, and a great knowledge of the costumes of that country is shown in the pictures ; but the faces are decidedly Anglo-Saxon, and this, we think, spoils the whole beauty of these pictures. Who that has seen the two chefs-d'œuvres entitled, "Dutch Fishermen," can withhold his admiration ? They combine the greatest amount of perfection which we may reasonably expect in this department of art. There is such clearness in the tone of the picture, such true feeling in the expression of the Fisherman's face, such exquisite detail in regard to the furniture of the interior and the dress of the figure, even to the darned stockings, the wooden clogs, the stunted chairs and tables, the oval goblet, all of which strongly call to mind a copy of a picture by Teniers at his best period. The best reason which we are enabled to give for the success which attends this class of picture is, that it is taken at one view; therefore, nothing is out of drawing, and there are none of the harsh combinations which may be seen in pictures which have been made up of several pieces. The results of Mr. Grundy's endeavours are successful to a certain degree, and this we apprehend arises from the fact of his having good models.
Then we come to two or three attempts at composition which exhibit this branch of the art under the worst possible circumstances. They are entitled "The Dutch Girl on Sunday," and "The Dutch Girl on Monday." The first ia a picture of a girl dressed in anti-Maccassar table covers, with no possible artistic effect; and why she should be denominated a Dutch girl at all, or if a Dutch girl, why she should represent a Dutch girl on Sunday, is certainly above our comprehension. We would advise the artist who composed the piece, to give a little more lucid information in regard to the meaning which he attempts to convey. There is certainly nothing in the countenance of the young lady that could justify the most imaginative being in thinking she was a Dutch girl. On the contrary, she has a decided look of a Somersetshire servant maid, who has, in an hour of vanity, arrayed herself in grandeur which ill becomes her. These pictures are really the most stupid compositions we have ever seen, and we think we may with safety venture to advise the artist who has perpetrated them, to retire upon the laurels he has already acquired, lest he produce something of which he shall himself be ashamed."
The Photographic News, a weekly record of the Progress of Photography, edited by William Crookes, F.C.S., London, 1859, Volume 1, page 52
William Grundy, Chasseurs (Hunters), vue stéréoscopique (stereoview) avant 1859 (Coll. J.C.)
William Grundy, Bétail dans une rivière (Cattle), vue stéréoscopique (stereoview) avant 1859. London Stereoscopic Company (Coll. J.C.)
Les images de William Grundy étaient suffisamment appréciées par les amateurs pour que la London Stereoscopic Company ait acheté ses négatifs pour les diffuser après sa mort. Et bien qu'on les trouve aujourd'hui en bien plus grand nombre dans les collections anglaises, il n'est pas rare de tomber sur des images de Grundy lorsqu'un lot de vues stéréoscopiques émerge d'un grenier français. Ces images pastorales étaient donc aussi goûtées sur le continent.
William Grundy, Chasseurs (Hunters), vue stéréoscopique (stereoview) avant 1859 (Coll. J.C.)
William Grundy, Le Forgeron (The Smithy), vue stéréoscopique (stereoview) avant 1859 (Coll. J.C.)
Attribué à William Grundy, Picturesque Ramblings in Old England, avant 1859 (Coll. J.C.)
Attribué à William Grundy, Rural and pastoral Scenes in England, avant 1859 (Coll. J.C.)
Attribué à William Grundy, Rural and pastoral Scenes in England, avant 1859 (Coll. J.C.)
Attribué à William Grundy, Rural and pastoral Scenes in England, avant 1859 (Coll. J.C.)
Attribué à William Grundy, Rural and pastoral Scenes in England, avant 1859 (Coll. J.C.)
Attribué à William Grundy, Rural and pastoral Scenes in England, avant 1859 (Coll. J.C.)
Additional information borrowed from the following site (I know nothing about the original source): http://birminghamz.blogspot.fr/2010_04_01_archive.html
"In 1859, William Morris Grundy, a wealthy local landowner, died leaving behind an estate worth £25,000. His home, at what is now the Royal Hotel on the High Street, looked over a hill and a sandstone barn constructed by Bishop Vesey. This belonged to Grundy until his death. The land was sold off in plots to developers who built homes along there. Some of the land was sold to the Midland Railway Company for £4,000 when it was discovered that it was to be part of their proposed new line. In 1862, Sutton Coldfield received a railway station; Sutton Coldfield railway station. The Sutton Park Line was then opened in the 1870s."
"William Morris Grundy (born 1806) is probably the most important early photographer to emerge from the shadows in the past few years. His father, Morris Grundy, was a partner in the Birmingham firm of Horton and Grundy, curriers and patent leather manufacturers, and in 1852 W.M. Grundy inherited a share in this highly profitable business, giving him time and resources to pursue his interest in photography. He is exceptionally early, having died in 1859. His views depict a rural idyll in England that was fast disappearing, especially around Sutton Coldfield near Birmingham w he lived. Very little is known about his life except that he died leaving £20,000 (a fortune in those days) to his sisters as he was unmarried, and that he lived at what is now the Royal Hotel in Sutton Coldfield and either rented or owned a farm in the vicinity. The barns that feature so prominently in his views are thought to be on the Bishop Vesey estates around what is now Old Moor Hall or Sutton Coldfield Park. Some views indicate that these were originally ecclesiastical buildings of some kind and I hope to go to the area for a few days next year to pursue further lines of research."
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(English translation courtesy of Chris Brummy)
William Morris Grundy - The Intimate Hunter
Pastoral views of William Grundy (1806-1859) are among the most intimate that it is possible to find in the "primitive" stereoview. And above all, they have a patience that would be difficult to find in any other photographer of the same era.
Grundy images have a particularly .... quiet. They insinuate into the observer, whether they are aware of it or not, the quiet of the farmers, hunters and fishermen who are the anonymous protagonists of his photographs, and the tranquility of the forests and rivers that are the usual settings of his shots.
Grundy does not seem particularly interested in the habits or other features of peasant life like his contemporaries in France, Viret and Fraget, or England, TR Williams. His images are no "portrait" of country life, labours, skills. No. Just one man - often two, rarely more - in unkempt clothes, focused on his preparations for hunting in the woods or fishing at the edge of a river, who occasionally breaks the silence of nature with an apparently casual conversation with a companion.
All this is in the manner of the slightly formal nineteenth century which, more than ours, had a taste for propriety, grand outlook and the ladies dressing table. Grundy is decidedly anti-Silvy (at least the Silvy who photographed the Gentry in his London workshop).
Contemporaries were quick to accuse his shots of being cliched characters, trivial or crude, like this critique by The Photographic News, recording the account of a photographic exhibition at the Crystal Palace in 1859, passing from one photograph to another, exclaiming vehement disapproval:
"The next person whom we have to notice in compositive photography, is Mr. Grundy, of Sutton Coldfield, near Birmingham. There is nothing new from the studio of that gentleman in the present collection. Already we have seen the whole of his productions at former exhibitions. There is a great and very perceptible difference between the style of Mr. Robinson and that of Mr. Grundy. The former, as we have shown in our last, attempts to delineate sentiment of a high class ; and more or less illustrates poetic subjects. The latter chooses subjects from every-day life, and in contradistinction to Mr. Robinson, portrays the real, rather than the ideal. He is to photography what Teniers and Wilkie were to art. He portrays, as they did, those characteristics of human nature which are seen in every-day life. His most successful pictures are decidedly Dutch in feeling, and, therefore, more or less gross. By this we do not mean anything derogatory to the class of picture, any more than that Dutch pictures of the highest class never exhibit anything bordering on the ideal. We all know that even when sacred subjects are being treated by Dutch masters, the character which is sacred and holy receives the same treatment as the most profane subject would. To illustrate more fully what we mean, we may merely recall to the mind of the reader any of the pictures by the Dutch masters of " Christ insulted," and as an invariable rule, it will be found, that the figure representing the Saviour is of exactly the same type as those cruel mockers who surround him—and those are generally drunken Dutch boors. So that it will be seen that there is seldom or ever on the part of Dutch masters any very poetic flights. They are almost photographic in their transcripts of interiors, and this enables Mr. Grundy to enter fully into the spirit of Dutch composition. They never crowd their pictures with useless detail; on the contrary, everything will be found in its proper place, and an examination of the detail only heightens the interest of the beholder, by the wonderful power which they display of imitative talent. Mr. Grundy groups with a care, accuracy, and precision, which is far from painful.
"By this we mean, that crowding of objects into pictures which some photographic composers seem to think the acme of perfection, but which inspire in the mind of the beholder no more ennobling idea than would a walk through the Lowther Arcade ; and which are in fact more like copies of the interior of a bazaar than anything which had been arranged so as to give artistic effect. Mr. Grundy's studies of " Fishermen " ought to be highly prized by artists, as there is such an amount of care and tact displayed in the grouping. We cannot speak so highly of his Turkish studies. They are admirable in their arrangement, and a great knowledge of the costumes of that country is shown in the pictures ; but the faces are decidedly Anglo-Saxon, and this, we think, spoils the whole beauty of these pictures. Who that has seen the two chefs-d'œuvres entitled, "Dutch Fishermen," can withhold his admiration ? They combine the greatest amount of perfection which we may reasonably expect in this department of art. There is such clearness in the tone of the picture, such true feeling in the expression of the Fisherman's face, such exquisite detail in regard to the furniture of the interior and the dress of the figure, even to the darned stockings, the wooden clogs, the stunted chairs and tables, the oval goblet, all of which strongly call to mind a copy of a picture by Teniers at his best period. The best reason which we are enabled to give for the success which attends this class of picture is, that it is taken at one view; therefore, nothing is out of drawing, and there are none of the harsh combinations which may be seen in pictures which have been made up of several pieces. The results of Mr. Grundy's endeavours are successful to a certain degree, and this we apprehend arises from the fact of his having good models.
Then we come to two or three attempts at composition which exhibit this branch of the art under the worst possible circumstances. They are entitled "The Dutch Girl on Sunday," and "The Dutch Girl on Monday." The first ia a picture of a girl dressed in anti-Maccassar table covers, with no possible artistic effect; and why she should be denominated a Dutch girl at all, or if a Dutch girl, why she should represent a Dutch girl on Sunday, is certainly above our comprehension. We would advise the artist who composed the piece, to give a little more lucid information in regard to the meaning which he attempts to convey. There is certainly nothing in the countenance of the young lady that could justify the most imaginative being in thinking she was a Dutch girl. On the contrary, she has a decided look of a Somersetshire servant maid, who has, in an hour of vanity, arrayed herself in grandeur which ill becomes her. These pictures are really the most stupid compositions we have ever seen, and we think we may with safety venture to advise the artist who has perpetrated them, to retire upon the laurels he has already acquired, lest he produce something of which he shall himself be ashamed."
The Photographic News, a weekly record of the Progress of Photography, edited by William Crookes, F.C.S., London, 1859, Volume 1, page 52
The images of William Grundy were sufficiently appreciated by admirers for the London Stereoscopic Company to have purchased his negatives to publish them after his death. Found more in English collections, it is not uncommon to come across images by Grundy when a batch of stereoscopic views emerges from a French attic. These pastoral images were thus also relished on the continent.
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William Morris Grundy, Hunters/Chasseurs, negative G997, stereoview, ca 1857 (Collection José Calvelo) William Grundy, Rural and Pastoral Scenes in England, stereoview (Collection J. Calvelo) William Grundy ?, Unknown Church (negative 386), stereoview (Collection J.
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