George Davison

Nationality

British

Lifetime

1856-1930

Biography

George Davison British, 1856-1930 George Davison is known as the founder of impressionistic photography, a movement he initiated in 1890 as an extension of the naturalistic theories of Peter Henry Emerson. This, however, infuriated Emerson, who subsequently renounced earlier statements regarding photography as art. Davison was an amateur who had been an audit clerk at the English Treasury before going to work in 1897 for Kodak, Ltd., where he became managing director and a board member. In 1913 he was forced out as a consequence of his strong Christian Socialist convictions. He used his personal wealth (gained from early purchase of Kodak stock) for altruistic purposes organizing weekend seminars to teach workers about socialism and, during World War II, providing a home in northern Wales for children from London's East End. Early on, Davison worked in a straightforward photographic manner (Kodak used several of his photographs in their advertisements), but after 1890 he also began to produce impressionistic images in a more pictorial style. He joined the London Camera Club in 1885, serving as secretary in 1886, and was also affiliated with the Royal Photographic Society and was a founding member of the Linked Ring. From 1888-1914 Davison exhibited his work in Europe and the United States. He died at his winter home in Antibes. T.W.F.

Artworks

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Camera Work: In a Village under the Sout...

George Davison

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Camera Work: The Onion Field - 1890

George Davison

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Camera Work: Harlech Castle

George Davison

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Camera Work: Houses Near Aix-les-Bains

George Davison

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Camera Work: A Thames Locker

George Davison

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Camera Work: Number 18, April 1907

George Davison

Sarah C. Sears

William B. Dyer

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Camera Work

A. Horsley Hinton

Alfred Stieglitz

Alice M. Boughton

Alvin Langdon Coburn

Anne W. Brigman

Arthur Allen Lewis

Arthur Radclyffe Dugmore

Baron Adolph de Meyer

C. Yarnall Abbott

Clarence H. White

David Octavius Hill

E.M. Bane

Edward Steichen

Ema Spencer

Eva Watson-Schutze

F. Benedict Herzog

Francis Bruguière

Frank Eugene

Frederick H. Evans

Frederick H. Pratt

George Davison

George Bernard Shaw

George H. Seeley

Gertrude Käsebier

Guido Rey

Hans Watzek

Harold Mortimer-Lamb

Harry Rubincam

Heinrich Kuehn

Herbert G. French

Hugo Henneberg

J. Craig Annan

John Francis Strauss

Joseph T. Keiley

Julia Margaret Cameron

Karl F. Struss

Marshall R. Kernochan

Oskar Hofmeister

Paul Strand

Paul B. Haviland

Prescott Adamson

René Le Bègue

Robert Adamson

Robert Demachy

Sarah C. Sears

Theodor Hofmeister

W.W. Renwick

William B. Dyer

William B. Post

William E. Wilmerding