Portrait of Sir William Van Horne (1843-1915), President of the Canadian Pacific Railway

Portrait of Sir William Van Horne (1843-1915), President of the Canadian Pacific Railway, 2015. Photographic reproduction from the 1909 b/w photograph by Harold Mortimer-Lamb, RPS (1872-1970). Royal B.C. Museum and Archives

Portrait of Sir William Van Horne (1843-1915), President of the Canadian Pacific Railway, 2015. Photographic reproduction from the 1909 b/w photograph by Harold Mortimer-Lamb, RPS (1872-1970). Royal B.C. Museum and Archives

Name/Title

Portrait of Sir William Van Horne (1843-1915), President of the Canadian Pacific Railway

Entry/Object ID

2015.04.07

Description

Photograph Photographic reproduction (2015) from the 1909 b/w photograph by Harold Mortimer-Lamb. This black and white Pictorial-style image shows Sir William Cornelius Van Horne, an American-born Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) official, who oversaw the completion of construction of Canada’s first transcontinental railroad in 1885 in a record-breaking five years, half the projected time. This is a head and shoulders 3/4 view, and he is formally dressed in a dark suit, tie and white shirt. He has a penetrating gaze with a greying moustache and beard.

Photograph Details

Type of Photograph

Reproduction, black and white photo on paper

Subject Place

Region

Northeast

Continent

North America

Context

Van Horne insisted that the CPR “was built for the purpose of making money for the shareholders,” and was not a nation-building exercise; however, the completion of the railway is recognized as a pivotal moment when Canadian national unity was realized. In 1888, he was named president of the CPR and later he became Chairman of the Board. Van Horne was knowledgeable in nearly every element of the railway industry, and considered the railway to be an integrated communications and transportation system. Thus, he convinced his directors and the shareholders to create a telegraph service and an express freight delivery service to complement the railway service. Van Horne also presided over the expansion of the CPR into the luxury hotel business in the 1890s. Known for his famous quote, “If you can’t export the scenery, we’ll import the tourists”, Van Horne realized that he could bring people to and across Canada using the railway, and he ordered the construction of world-class lodges and resorts along the railway route such as Château Lake Louise in Alberta and Québec City's Château Frontenac Hotel and many more. A wealthy man, he was a prominent member of the syndicate that created the Cuba Railroad Company in 1900. And he served as a governor of McGill University from 1895 to 1915. Van Horne was a multi-talented man, a man of vision and fierce energy, associated with much of Canadian business and financial life at the time. He was also an amateur geologist, gourmet, violinist, and marathon poker player, also known as a philanthropist, art collector, and artist in his own right. Van Horne was ultimately awarded a knighthood for his many achievements. _________________________ Pictorialism was an international style and the predominant aesthetic movement in photography during the later 19th and early 20th century, and beyond into the 1940s in some areas. It began in response to the advent of the amateur Kodak camera in 1888 and claims that a photograph was easily taken, simply a record of reality, and it later transformed into a movement to advance the status and principals of photography as a true art form. Pictorialists believed that photography should be understood as a means of personal expression and creativity equal to other fine arts like painting and printmaking. Pictorialism had its roots in England with the establishment in 1892 of the Linked Ring Brotherhood by Henry Peach Robinson (1830-1901), George Davison (1854-1930) and Henry Van Der Weyde (1838-1924). This invitation-only British pictorialist group seceded from the Royal Photographic Society. And similar groups were formed in Paris, Berlin, Hamburg and Brussels. In 1902 Alfred Stieglitz (1864-1946) formed the American Pictorialist photographers group, the Photo Secession movement, with Alvin Langdon Coburn (1882-1966), Frederick Holland Day (1864-1933), Frank Eugene (1865-1936), Gertrude Käsebier (1852-1934), Edward Steichen (1879-1973) and Clarence White (1871-1925). In 1916 Coburn, Käsebier, White and others formed an organization called the Pictorial Photographers of America (PPA) to continue promotion of the pictorial style. A year later Stieglitz formally dissolved the defunct Photo Secession group. Pictorial photographers were dedicated to conveying an emotion, thought or sentiment through their careful choice of subject matter, composition, tonal balance and technique. There is no standard definition of 'pictorialism', but overall it refers to a style in which the photographer has "created" rather than just accurately "recorded" an image. Typically, such photos have a soft focus, and may be printed in colours such as warm brown or deeper blue, and may have visible surface treatments that were created in the darkroom.

Made/Created

Artist Information

Artist

Harold Mortimer-Lamb, RPS (1872-1970). Former UCBC Member Artist.

Role

Artist

Artist

Royal B.C. Museum and Archives

Role

Printmaker

Date made

2015

Time Period

20th Century, 21st Century

Notes

PHOTOGRAPHER BIOGRAPHY Born in Surrey, England, Harold Mortimer-Lamb was, in the early 20th century, the leading artistic photographer in Canada, a proponent of Pictorial photography that focused on figure studies, portraits, genre and landscape views. He was also a successful mining engineer, journalist, art critic and artist perhaps best known for his early championing of the Canadian Modernist Group of Seven in the 1920s. In addition, he is more recently recognized for his influence on, and support of, the development of the arts in both Victoria and Vancouver, and beyond. Mortimer-Lamb came to Canada in 1889, settling in first in B.C., arriving in Victoria in 1895 to become secretary of the British Columbia Mining Institute. Most of Mortimer-Lamb’s professional life was in the mining industry of Canada. However, he developed a keen interest in photography, especially soft-focus images, and helped bring about the first exhibition of ‘photography as art’ in the province. His subjects included his family as well as many notables such as B.C. Premier Richard McBride, writer Clive Phillipps-Wolley and artists such as Sophie Pemberton (1869-1959). Mortimer-Lamb left Victoria in 1905, heading to Montreal, where he came to know many leading artists of the day including William Brymner (1855-1925), Laura Muntz Lyall (1860-1930) and later, members of the Group of Seven, in particular A.Y. Jackson (1882-1974), whose work he first noted in print in 1911. He was a charter member of the Arts Club of Montreal, contributed art criticism to The Montreal Star and became the Canadian correspondent for the leading art journal, “The Studio“. In 1920, he and his family including his wife, Kate, five children and housekeeper (pregnant with Mortimer-Lamb’s child) returned to Burnaby in B.C. where Molly was soon born, later to become the famed New Brunswick artist, writer and teacher, Molly Lamb Boback (1920-2014). The housekeeper Mary Williams stayed with the Mortimer-Lamb family for 23 years. And in 1942, after the death of his first wife, Mortimer-Lamb married Vera Weatherbie (1909-1977), also an artist, and a muse of Frederick Varley's. In 1928, after his move back to B.C., Mortimer-Lamb, with fellow photographer John Vanderpant (1884-1939), opened the Vanderpant Galleries on Robson Street in Vancouver where arts groups met and artists were showcased including members of the Group of Seven. As in Montreal, Mortimer-Lamb was fully engaged in the arts community – he was a neighbour of Lawren Harris (1885-1970), a patron of Frederick Varley (1881-1969) and was also an early advocate of Emily Carr (1871-1945). He helped to found the Vancouver School of Art in 1925 and the Vancouver Art Gallery in 1931. After Mortimer-Lamb retired in 1941 he began to paint, his works were exhibited in Montreal and Vancouver. His photographic work was widely exhibited in Canada, New York and London, and he was eventually elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society (RPS). His photographs are held in many public collections, such as the RPS, the University of British Columbia and the National Gallery of Canada. The Royal BC Archives and Museum holds Mortimer-Lamb’s letters, published notices and over 260 photographs. For many years, Mortimer-Lamb fostered a keen interest in the arts overall, frequently lecturing and contributing articles to journals and newspapers. In 1954, Mortimer-Lamb started to give works from his extensive art collection to the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, and on his and later Vera’s death, they left the contents of their estate to the Victoria gallery including works of art, photographs, his papers and a large financial donation for the purchase of art. This donation was made on the condition that a modern extension to the old building would be built. The new gallery wing opened in 1957. The Vancouver Art Gallery and the Vancouver Museum were also the beneficiaries of Mortimer-Lamb and Vera’s generosity. Mortimer-Lamb died in Burnaby at age 99. For further information see - Robert Amos, “Harold Mortimer-Lamb: the art lover” (Victoria, B.C.: TouchWood Editions, 2013), available in the UCBC Library.

Dimensions

Dimension Description

Support

Height

15.2 cm

Width

11.4 cm

Acquisition

Acquisition Method

Gift

Date

2015

Notes

Image PH 983.1.183 courtesy of Royal B.C. Museum and Archives.

Relationships

Related Entries

Notes

Reproduction photos after photographs by Harold Mortimer-Lamb: 2015.04.01 Boy in Lace Collar 2015.04.02 Dolly with Flower in her Hair 2015.04.04 Portrait of Laura Adeline Muntz Lyall 2015.04.05 Portrait of Sir Richard McBride 2015.04.06 Portrait of Sir Clive Phillipps-Wolley 2015.04.07 Portrait of Sir William Van Horne 2015.04.08 Portrait of Samuel Maclure 2015.04.09 Portrait of Lady Grace Julia Parker Drummond (Mrs. George A. ) 2015.04.10 Portrait of James Jervis Blomfield 2015.04.11 Woodland Scene 2015.04.12 Boats at Dock 2015.04.16 Two Sisters (Daughters of Sir and Lady George Drummond) 2015.04.17 Vera with Glass Globe 2015.04.18 Portrait of Fred Varley 2015.04.19 Dolly at a Tea Party 2015.04.20 Vera Mending in the Doorway 2015.04.21 Woman with Shawl and Blossoms 2023.04.03 Portrait of Lawren Stewart Harris 2023.04.06 Portrait of Samuel Maclure 2024.12.06 Kicking Horse Pass, B.C. by R.H. Harris