Name/Title
Consolation Lake with Mount Quadra, AlbertaEntry/Object ID
2015.01.12Description
Photograph
This hand-tinted black and white photograph shows Consolation Lake, located on the border of Aberta and British Columbia near Banff National Park with a view of glacier-clad Mount Quadra.Photograph Details
Type of Photograph
Hand-tinted black and white photo on paperSubject Place
Region
Cascades and PlateauContinent
North AmericaContext
“Quadra” refers to the mountain's four pinnacles, and was named by an Arthur O. Wheeler in 1910. Banff National Park is Canada's oldest national park, established in 1885. Located in Alberta's Rocky Mountains, Banff encompasses 6,640 square km of mountainous terrain, glaciers and ice fields, coniferous forest and alpine landscapes. It is one of the most visited national parks in North America with a range of accommodations from camping to luxury hotels and various summer and winter activities, tours and attractions such as hiking, white water rafting, golfing, mountain climbing, ziplining, skiing, fishing and of course, wildlife watching.Made/Created
Artist Information
Artist
Joseph Frederick Spalding (1877-1958)Role
PhotographerDate made
n.d.Time Period
20th CenturyNotes
PHOTOGRAPHER BIOGRAPHY
Born in London, England, Joseph Spalding was a prolific Canadian commercial photographer, active around B.C. and beyond. Immigrating to Canada in 1898, he first worked as a bookkeeper in Morrissey. He subsequently established himself as a photographer in Fernie in the Elk Valley of southeastern B.C, and partnered with Robert Strathearn as Spalding and Strathearn. After his move to Vancouver in 1924, he became a sales manager with the Gowen Sutton Company Ltd. After working as a solo photographer in the 1930s and 1940s, he started a photo publishing firm, Camera Products, around 1948. He reportedly last worked in photography in 1957.
For some two decades Spalding worked from his Fernie studio and documented local history and events where his photos were used extensively to promote the town, such as in the Fernie Free Press souvenir editions. The town of Fernie was young, founded in 1898 and incorporated in 1904, but it was experiencing rapid economic growth as a result of the discovery of coal seams in the Elk Valley, which subsequently brought in both the railway and the logging industry. Spalding, who advertised himself as an ‘Artistic Photographer’ showed Fernie as a boom town surrounded by beautiful mountain scenery. Many of his images were used as postcards, allowing his photographs to reach out across Canada and perhaps further.
Spalding also found professional success with tourist associations and traveled in Canada, the United States and Mexico. He published a number of illustrated works while in Fernie. Enamoured of automobile tourism, he also published an Official Automobile Road Guide for British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan.Inscription/Signature/Marks
Type
Inscription, SignatureTranscription
In pencil, title (lower left) and artist signature (lower right) on matDimensions
Dimension Description
Visible imageHeight
17.1 cmWidth
24.1 cmAcquisition
Acquisition Method
PurchaseDate
2014Relationships
Related Entries
Notes
By Joseph Frederick Spalding:
2014.07.08 Mount Rundle, Banff (Attrib.)
2015.01.04 Pyramid Mt. Jasper Park, Alta.
2015.01.12 Consolation Lake Mt. Quadra, Alta.
