Cecil Bostock
Encyclopedia
Cecil Westmoreland Bostock (1884–1939) was born in England. He immigrated to New South Wales
, Australia
, with his parents in 1888. His father, George Bostock, was a bookbinder.
who died a few years later in 1892.
He had an important influence on the development of photography in Australia
, intitiating a response to the strong sunlight. He presided over the transition from Pictorialism
to Modernism
and was a mentor to several famous Australian photographers: notably Harold Cazneaux
and Max Dupain
s from 1917-1920.
His Unit was the Field Artillery Brigade, May 1917 Reinforcements,
which embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A28 Miltiades
on 2 August 1917.
He served as a gunner where he made his only image of the war '‘Day breaks-cold-shrieking-bloody’.
He was discharged from the army in February 1920 in Sydney, and soon after married an English girl he had met in London whilst stationed there for six months in 1919. In London, Bostock joined the Royal Photographic Society
and socialized in photography circles. He also held a one man show of his watercolours of war scenes at the Adelphi Gallery in 1920.
. A "manifesto" was drawn up by Cecil and signed by all six attendees who pledged "to work and to advance pictorial photography and to show our own Australia in terms of sunlight rather than those of greyness and dismal shadows". This established what was known as
the ‘sunshine school’ of photography. The style of pictorialism
practiced by Australians was "concerned with the play of light, sunshine and shadow, and the attention to nature and the landscape, and had an affinity with the Heidelberg School
of painters."
During the war Harold Cazneaux
used Bostock's Phillip St. studio in Denman Chamberswhilst Bostock was away. 'The Circle' records show that meetings continued to be held in in Bostock's studio until 1921.
The Sydney Camera Circle(1920's - 40's): In 2002 a photography exhibit was held at the Shoto Museum of Art in Japan
and the Members listed by Yuri Mitsuda, Curator in the Exhibition Catalogue were: Cecil Westmoreland Bostock, Harold Pierce Cazneaux, Monte Luke(Charles Montague Luke), Henri Marie Joseph Mallard, D'Archy J. Webster, Charles E. Wakeford, William Stewart White, James E. Paton, Arthur William Christopher Ford, and Kiichiro(or Kihei) ISHIDA. Olive Cotton
joined the Circle in 1939 as the first female member.
. His studio soon became notable for colourful and decorative work in the new field of advertising
, illustration
, and graphic design
. Max Dupain
started his career in Bostock's studio, and worked there from 1930-34. Dupain worked as his assistant and was given an invaluable grounding in studio lighting, large format camera usage and the usage of black & white film and processing.
. However, as time went on, Bostock used the soft-focus, and painterly printing processes, such as bromoil
, so characteristic of the era less than in his earlier years as a photographer. His work became more austere and less manipulated, than the work of other pictorialist colleagues.
In 1917, Bostock produced an album titled: "A Portfolio Of Art Photographs" in which were mounted ten small photographs. This was a limited edition of 25 copies. These met with mixed reviews, reflecting the new trends in photography towards modernism.
.
In his later years Bostock's work turned toward big prints, glossy surfaces and geometric pattern which were becoming fashionable with young photographers in the late 1930s.
In 1934, he was largely responsible for the illustrations for The Book Of The Anzac Memorial N.S.W. (1934).
Bostock's work and studio pieces were scattered after his death, but a few examples are held by Australian National libraries and Museums.
In 2005 an exhibition of his work was held at the Lady Denman Maritime Museum on the south coast of NSW.
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, with his parents in 1888. His father, George Bostock, was a bookbinder.
who died a few years later in 1892.
He had an important influence on the development of photography in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, intitiating a response to the strong sunlight. He presided over the transition from Pictorialism
Pictorialism
Pictorialism is the name given to a photographic movement in vogue from around 1885 following the widespread introduction of the dry-plate process. It reached its height in the early years of the 20th century, and declined rapidly after 1914 after the widespread emergence of Modernism...
to Modernism
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
and was a mentor to several famous Australian photographers: notably Harold Cazneaux
Harold Cazneaux
Harold Cazneaux was and Australian pictorialist photographer; a pioneer whose style had an indelible impact on the development of Australian photographic history. In 1916 he was a founder of the Pictorialist Sydney Camera Circle...
and Max Dupain
Max Dupain
Maxwell Spencer Dupain AC was a renowned Australian modernist photographer.-Early life:Dupain received his first camera as a gift in 1924, spurring his interest in photography He later joined the Photographic Society of NSW, and when he left school, he worked for Cecil Bostock in Sydney.-Early...
Early life
Cecil was first apprenticed as an electrical fitter in the Waverley Tramway Workshop. He left home around 1901 as his mother was not pleased about his decision at that time to become an artist. In 1916 he became secretary of the Photographic Society of N.S.W., and a foundation member of the Sydney Camera Circle. In addition he became a member of the Commercial Artists' Association of New South Wales, implying he worked as a photographer.WW1
Bostock served in the Australian Imperial ForceAustralian Imperial Force
The Australian Imperial Force was the name given to all-volunteer Australian Army forces dispatched to fight overseas during World War I and World War II.* First Australian Imperial Force * Second Australian Imperial Force...
s from 1917-1920.
His Unit was the Field Artillery Brigade, May 1917 Reinforcements,
which embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A28 Miltiades
Miltiades
Miltiades or Miltiadis is a Greek name. Several historic persons have been called Miltiades .* Miltiades the Elder wealthy Athenian, and step-uncle of Miltiades the Younger...
on 2 August 1917.
He served as a gunner where he made his only image of the war '‘Day breaks-cold-shrieking-bloody’.
He was discharged from the army in February 1920 in Sydney, and soon after married an English girl he had met in London whilst stationed there for six months in 1919. In London, Bostock joined the Royal Photographic Society
Royal Photographic Society
The Royal Photographic Society is the world's oldest national photographic society. It was founded in London, United Kingdom in 1853 as The Photographic Society of London with the objective of promoting the Art and Science of Photography...
and socialized in photography circles. He also held a one man show of his watercolours of war scenes at the Adelphi Gallery in 1920.
The Sydney Camera Circle
On November 28, 1916, a group of six photographers met at Bostock's 'Little Studio in Phillip Street' to form the Pictorialist " Sydney Camera Circle ". This initially included Cecil Bostock, James Stening, W. S. White, Malcolm McKinnon and James Paton, and they were later joined by Henri MallardHenri Mallard
Henri Marie Joseph Mallard, Australian Photographer Born in Balmain of French parents, he came to photography via the industry. Using his French connections, and accent , he secured a position in 1900 with Harrington as a sales representative to the French consulate...
. A "manifesto" was drawn up by Cecil and signed by all six attendees who pledged "to work and to advance pictorial photography and to show our own Australia in terms of sunlight rather than those of greyness and dismal shadows". This established what was known as
the ‘sunshine school’ of photography. The style of pictorialism
Pictorialism
Pictorialism is the name given to a photographic movement in vogue from around 1885 following the widespread introduction of the dry-plate process. It reached its height in the early years of the 20th century, and declined rapidly after 1914 after the widespread emergence of Modernism...
practiced by Australians was "concerned with the play of light, sunshine and shadow, and the attention to nature and the landscape, and had an affinity with the Heidelberg School
Heidelberg School
The Heidelberg School was an Australian art movement of the late 19th century. The movement has latterly been described as Australian Impressionism....
of painters."
During the war Harold Cazneaux
Harold Cazneaux
Harold Cazneaux was and Australian pictorialist photographer; a pioneer whose style had an indelible impact on the development of Australian photographic history. In 1916 he was a founder of the Pictorialist Sydney Camera Circle...
used Bostock's Phillip St. studio in Denman Chamberswhilst Bostock was away. 'The Circle' records show that meetings continued to be held in in Bostock's studio until 1921.
The Sydney Camera Circle(1920's - 40's): In 2002 a photography exhibit was held at the Shoto Museum of Art in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and the Members listed by Yuri Mitsuda, Curator in the Exhibition Catalogue were: Cecil Westmoreland Bostock, Harold Pierce Cazneaux, Monte Luke(Charles Montague Luke), Henri Marie Joseph Mallard, D'Archy J. Webster, Charles E. Wakeford, William Stewart White, James E. Paton, Arthur William Christopher Ford, and Kiichiro(or Kihei) ISHIDA. Olive Cotton
Olive Cotton
Olive Cotton was a pioneering Australian modernist female photographer of the 1930s and 40s working in Sydney. As a female photographer in Australia of that era, she was overlooked and her work at the Dupain studio was considered "art" rather than commercial. Cotton only became a national "name"...
joined the Circle in 1939 as the first female member.
Professional work
From 1920 Bostock worked as a professional photographer . He opened commercial photography studios in various city locations in SydneySydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
. His studio soon became notable for colourful and decorative work in the new field of advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
, illustration
Illustration
An illustration is a displayed visualization form presented as a drawing, painting, photograph or other work of art that is created to elucidate or dictate sensual information by providing a visual representation graphically.- Early history :The earliest forms of illustration were prehistoric...
, and graphic design
Graphic design
Graphic design is a creative process – most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form – undertaken in order to convey a specific message to a targeted audience...
. Max Dupain
Max Dupain
Maxwell Spencer Dupain AC was a renowned Australian modernist photographer.-Early life:Dupain received his first camera as a gift in 1924, spurring his interest in photography He later joined the Photographic Society of NSW, and when he left school, he worked for Cecil Bostock in Sydney.-Early...
started his career in Bostock's studio, and worked there from 1930-34. Dupain worked as his assistant and was given an invaluable grounding in studio lighting, large format camera usage and the usage of black & white film and processing.
Work as a Pictorialist
His photographs, on the other hand, used the techniques of pictorialismPictorialism
Pictorialism is the name given to a photographic movement in vogue from around 1885 following the widespread introduction of the dry-plate process. It reached its height in the early years of the 20th century, and declined rapidly after 1914 after the widespread emergence of Modernism...
. However, as time went on, Bostock used the soft-focus, and painterly printing processes, such as bromoil
Bromoil Process
The Bromoil Process was an early photographic process that was very popular with the Pictorialists during the first half of the twentieth century...
, so characteristic of the era less than in his earlier years as a photographer. His work became more austere and less manipulated, than the work of other pictorialist colleagues.
In 1917, Bostock produced an album titled: "A Portfolio Of Art Photographs" in which were mounted ten small photographs. This was a limited edition of 25 copies. These met with mixed reviews, reflecting the new trends in photography towards modernism.
.
Later life
"Just prior to his death from cancer, Bostock was instrumental in forming The Contemporary Camera Groupe , which was designed to unite artists and photographers. 'The Groupe’ held a first and only exhibition in December 1938, for which Bostock designed the catalogue. He had previously edited and designed the catalogues for the Australian Salon exhibitions in 1924 and 1926. The logo and 'Declaration' of the Sydney Camera Circle were also his work. Bostock, who was a skilled craftsman and bookbinder, also bound various albums for the 'The Circle'.".
In his later years Bostock's work turned toward big prints, glossy surfaces and geometric pattern which were becoming fashionable with young photographers in the late 1930s.
In 1934, he was largely responsible for the illustrations for The Book Of The Anzac Memorial N.S.W. (1934).
Bostock's work and studio pieces were scattered after his death, but a few examples are held by Australian National libraries and Museums.
In 2005 an exhibition of his work was held at the Lady Denman Maritime Museum on the south coast of NSW.
Publications by Bostock
- A portfolio of art photographs by Cecil W Bostock :Publisher: Sydney : C.W. Bostock, 1917.
- Cecil W. Bostock : Australian Art and Artists file : Files contain material such as art exhibition catalogues, invitations, press clippings, media releases and/or other ephemeral items relating to Australian artists and galleries. Art Gallery of N.S.W.
- "Cameragraphs" of the year 1924 : a souvenir of the first exhibition of the Australian Salon of Photography
- "Cameragraphs" of the year 1926 : selections from the second exhibition of the Australian Salon of Photography
- Catalogue of an exhibition of camera pictures held in Farmer's Exhibition Hall April 22 to May 3, inclusive, 1924 : officially opened by the Hon. Sir William Cullen, K.C.M.G. on Tuesday, April 22, 1924