Royal Commonwealth Society : Bow River Horse Ranch, Cochrane, Alberta

Notman, William (1826-1891)

Royal Commonwealth Society

<p style='text-align: justify;'>William Notman (1826-1891) was born in Paisley, Scotland, and joined his family’s woollen cloth business, but emigrated to Montreal after its failure. He then worked for a wholesale dry goods firm. Notman had learned photography in Scotland and founded a studio in late 1856. His photographs of the construction of Montreal’s Victoria Bridge in 1858 gained great fame, cemented by two presentation albums commissioned from the Canadian government for the Prince of Wales’s visit in 1860. Notman’s growing success allowed him to hire photographers and open branch studios, twenty of which were in operation during the 1880s. Artistic talent, technical skill, innovation and sound business sense made him one of nineteenth-century Canada’s great photographers. Notman produced portraits of notable individuals, families, clubs and societies, and extensively photographed the country’s diverse geography, peoples, trade, transportation, agriculture and industries.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'> A view from a hillside showing ranch buildings with farmland beyond and the Bow River at the right of the picture.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>See Janus record <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp?id=EAD%2FGBR%2F0115%2FY3062C%2F5'>here</a></p>