Josiah Bruce

Josiah Bruce was a Canadian, known for creating notable photographs, of historic value, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.[1]

Josiah Bruce
Born(1840-06-16)June 16, 1840
Guelph, Ontario
DiedMay 14, 1913(1913-05-14) (aged 72)
Toronto
NationalityCanadian
Known foriconic photographs

Bruce's maternal grandfather, John Taylor, was a naval hero, who served under Horatio Nelson, who had his picture painted for Britain's National Picture Gallery, after he dived in and managed to retrieve dispatches a French officer had tried to dispose of by throwing them overboard.[2] Bruce's parents joined Taylor, in Guelph, Ontario, in 1837. Bruce was born there, in 1840. Bruce studied at the Paisley Block School, there, and studied architecture.

In 1861, Bruce worked briefly, as an architect, in Quebec City, but soon started working under established photographer William Notman, in Montreal.[2] Bruce worked for Notman, for about fifteen years, before setting up his own photography studio in Toronto.

According to his biographer, Joan M. Schwarz, Bruce's 1876 photo of Ned Hanlan was probably the first ever taken of the famous rower.[3]

According to Graeme Mercer Adam's 1891 Toronto, Old and New, "There are few houses of refinement in Toronto, or for that matter, in Ontario, that do not contain one or more photographs executed in Mr. Bruce's excellent studio."[2]

In 1894 Bruce was awarded a contract from Toronto's City Engineer to take photographs of the city's work on public projects.[4] Bruce replace photographer F.W. Micklethwaite. Bruce documented city work for five years.

References
  1. Kevin Plummer (2009-03-05). "Photographic Treasures from the Archives". Torontoist. Archived from the original on 2018-10-05. Retrieved 2018-10-05. Between 1891 and 1911, the City Engineer’s Office commissioned more than six hundred photos from F.W. Micklethwaite, Josiah Bruce, and Arthur J. Rust. The resulting photos, used to illustrate departmental reports, show abundant pride for the city’s modernization. With the appointment of Arthur S. Goss as official City Photographer in 1911, the camera was firmly entrenched as a vital municipal tool, though the range of subjects captured expanded to reflect the city’s broadening powers.
  2. Graeme Mercer Adam (1891). Toronto, Old and New: A Memorial Volume, Historical, Descriptive and Pictorial, Designed to Mark the Hundredth Anniversary of the Passing of the Constitutional Act of 1791, which Set Apart the Province of Upper Canada and Gave Birth to York (now Toronto) with Some Sketches of the Men who Have ... Mail printing Company. p. 174. Retrieved 2018-10-05.
  3. Joan M. Schwartz (1987). "Ned Hanlan: Portrait of a sports hero". History of Photography. 11 (2): 123–132. doi:10.1080/03087298.1987.10443780. Toronto photographer Josiah Bruce was probably the first to produce a portrait of the rising star (Figure 1). His full-length cabinet portrait of a youthful Hanlan was taken in 1876, and Bruce was quick to …
  4. Steve MacKinnon, Karen Teeple, Michele Dale (2010). "Toronto's Visual Legacy: Official City Photography from 1856 to the Present". James Lorimer & Company. p. 45. ISBN 9781552774373. Archived from the original on 2018-10-10. Retrieved 2018-10-05.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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