Dr. Peter Hagerty (PhD)

Edward Chambré Hardman : Photographer (1898-1988)

Edward Fitzmaurice Chambré Hardman was an Irish photographer born in Dublin, Ireland. Aged 18 he spent four years as a regular officer in the Gurkha Rifles in India, after which he moved to Liverpool which became his permanent home. Influenced by his father's amateur experiments Chambré Hardman became interested in photography during his childhood, but did not establish a working practice until 1923 when he opened a portrait studio in Liverpool. While portraiture was Chambré Hardman's livelihood, his real photographic interest lay in landscape photography which he pursued throughout his life alongside his commercial practice. His most famous photographs include "A Memory of Avignon"(1923), "The Copse" (1934) and "The Birth of the Ark Royal" (1950).

After Hardman's death a trust was established to protect and conserve his work. His house and studio at 59 Rodney Street, Liverpool is now run by the National Trust,UK and is open to the public.

Details of Hardman's Studio, National Trust, UK http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk

Further details of Chambré Hardman's landscape photography can be found in the PhD thesis by Dr. Peter Hagerty "The Continuity of Landscape Representation: The Photography of E.Chambr� Hardman (1898-1988)"

see also Interiors of Chambré Hardman's House and Studio

see also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chambr%C3%A9_Hardman

The Continuity of Landscape Representation:
The Photography of E.Chambré Hardman (1898-1988)

Abstract

The major source of material for the research was the archive of the E.Chambré Hardman Trust. This archive comprises Hardman's bequest of photographs, negatives and associated ephemera. Prior to the present research the author had undertaken extensive ordering and conservation of this collection and the present work therefore builds upon this earlier research.

The research divides Hardman's oeuvre into portraiture and landscape, along lines that he had determined by ordering and concern. The thesis focuses exclusively on his landscape photography. The representation of landscape is a recognised genre within the history of art. The thesis locates the landscape photography of the British photographer Edward Chambré Hardman (1898-1988) within the histories of landscape photography and to the broader genre of landscape representation by British artists during the first half of the twentieth century.

The research describes the representations of landscape made by painters prior to the invention of photography as providing the initial subject model for photographers. Subsequently photographers wrote their own history of landscape representation and it is to this tradition to which Hardman is heir.

Using Hardman's notebooks, diaries, letters and collected ephemera the research constructs an accurate chronology for Hardman's life and the sequential production of his landscape photographs. From this reference the research establishes an overview of his photography and points to significant changes in working methods which mark periods in his development as an artist.

The research then makes comparison between Hardman and the work of his peers and other notable photographers of the period. The thesis further locates Hardman among a small number of twentieth century British artists whose work is included in the broader canon of landscape art. Comparisons of date, subject and the changing style of Hardman's work suggest that a number of his landscape photographs deserve to be included as important and representative of the period.

The thesis concludes that Hardman's landscapes are a unique example of the art of photography and should be considered as representative of salon photography during the period 1930-1950. Furthermore the research finds correspondence between Hardman's work and that of subsequent generations of British landscape photographers.

The complete PhD Thesis is available for download as Word document or in PDF format: see here

Interiors of Hardman's house and studio see here