Case Study: William Notman Photography of Curling

Biography 

William Notman was a famous Canadian photographer who happened to capture quite a few photos of Canadiens curling during the 1800s. He was born in 1826 in the country of Scotland. He studied art and went into working in the family business. He eventually immigrated to lower Canada after the business failed. It was in Montreal in late December 1856 that his photography business became operational. He got his first Commission in 1858 from the Grand Truck Railway to photograph the construction of the Victoria bridge in Montreal. He continued to photograph the construction process of many bridges and gained international fame. This led him to create a Commission for the Canadian government of elaborate photos from when the Prince of Wales visited Montreal. Even Queen Victoria herself adored his photography. He continued his portrait work and captured many French Canadians throughout his career. He was also known for his group portraits of athletic clubs, social gatherings, and the predominant families of Montreal. It is at this point he turned to his most infamous role as a photographer of Canadian scenes in life.

By the mid-1860s the business had grown and Notman had around 35 employees in his Montreal studio. He would expand his business by opening a studio branch in Ottawa in the year 1868. This is around the time these vital photographs were taken of women curling. These are the photos of Miss V. Allen and Mrs. Russell Stevenson whose final product pictures the women curling outdoors. They were photographed in 1876 by the Notman studio in Montreal. They are excellent examples of both Notman’s infamous style of winter photography and the early days of women in curling.

A look into the Photos 

Looking at these photos it becomes quite apparent that much like Notman’s other photos, the figures remain stiff, formal, posed and so on. Part of the reason why this would be is that photographs were completely artificial during the time. The technology cannot support an action shot because it would take around 15 to 30 seconds to transfer the image onto the glass plate meaning those photographs would have to remain completely still throughout the duration. When looking at the finished scene you will that a few things are looking a little bit off. If you know anything about curling, the scene makes zero sense to the actual game. It's almost like he tried to take every part of curling and combined them into one photo. Notman is showing a sweeper and a thrower very close together which is not something you would see too much of. Notman then has more rocks around the two figures suggesting they are in the house mid-end. This is to say all three of these things would not appear in a game at the same place as they do in this photograph. This means that well this is one of the earliest photos of women curling, it is unclear how much this photo is posed from how they are standing to what they are wearing.

This set of photos is quite fascinating because we get to see the two before photos and then the final product after all the editing. Notman was famous for his tricks to create more appealing photos, and this can be seen in many of his winter scenes like this one. It was said that for snow he would use out-of-focus sheep's wool. Then for the ice, these women are standing on polished zinc to create an illusion of shiny ice. Notman was also a fan of using two photos combined to create a complex composition. We get to see a lot of the different techniques Notman was using in early photography to create these photos showing what it was like for women curling outside.

This is not the only instance in which Notman captured curling in the Victorian era. For the Commission that was to be sent to the Paris Exhibition, he decided to take a large-scale picture of curling in Canada. He was able to capture many important government officials and the Montreal elite alongside a scene of curling. This tells us a few things about these photographs. Notman must have been a fan of curling as he chose it for his Paris Exhibition. This means Notman has experience in the world of curling and at least enjoyed it as a subject matter. It also tells us that he was capturing some of the important people within society at the time including the Montreal elite. When you take the fact that he was a famous photographer when he took this photo and the way that these women are dressed it becomes clear that these women were on the higher end of society. They would also have the money to Commission high-effort photographs like these. This would be an example of high-social women curling. This is not mean that curling is strictly meant for those in high society many photos depicted women in more casual clothing suggesting more average women.

Even with all this, these photos remain an excellent reference point when looking into women curling in the victorian era. This is one of the earliest examples of what it looked like for women to curl even if it is just a hint of it. These photos show rocks and brooms they were using. It hints at what a slide for a woman would have looked like at the time. The photo is not 100% accurate but it is still based on curling at the time. It is in this that its importance lies because there are not too many photos from the 1800s of women curling as it was not the most popular activity for a lady.