Tomorrow, February 1, and next Wednesday, February 8, the Université de Montréal will host two lectures about the 19th-century photographer William Notman (1826-1891) at McCord Museum.
Notman opened his photographic studio in Montreal in 1856 and he was the first Canadian photographer to be internationally recognized. His name is linked to hundreds of thousands of photos that present a picture of Montreal and Canadian society during the second half of the 19th century.
Hélène Samson will speak tomorrow on Le portrait chez Notman : entre conformité et fantaisie. She is curator of McCord’s Notman Photographic Archives, a position she has held since 2006. She holds a PhD in art history from Université de Montréal.
Next Wednesday, Alexander Reford will speak about Notman and the “national dream.” Mr. Reford is an historian and director of Reford Gardens (Jardins de Métis) and the great-grandson of Elsie Reford, creator of the gardens.
Both lectures begin at 2:00 p.m. and will be delivered in French. Tickets for each lecture are $25 for adults, $21 for seniors, and $15 for students. Learn more here.
My husband and I travelled 2 weeks ago from Ottawa to Montreal to see the Notman exposition at the McCord Museum. You told us about it here Gail and thank you so much. It was FANTASTIC!! So well done and we really enjoyed it. We’re very familiar with William Notman’s work and 2 of our ancestors had portraits done by his studios.
If the exposition of Notman’s work is any indication – the 2 lectures will be well worth attending.
Glad to read you enjoyed the Notman exhibition — and even more interested to learn that two of your ancestors had their photos taken in his studio. Thanks for sharing. I may have mentioned my ancestors were photographed more than 220 times in Notman’s Montreal studio and four of them worked there.