Hannah Maynard

Hannah Maynard (Bude, 1834 – Victoria, 1918) (née Hatherly) was a Canadian photographer best known for her portrait work and experimental photography involving photomontage and multiple exposures. Her studio also functioned as site of creative exploration, where she engaged with new photographic techniques and technologies as they emerged. Many of her photographs are self-portraits, or include her family as subjects. Over the course of nearly five decades, her studio documented a rapidly growing Victoria, producing images that ranged from formal portraits to inventive staged compositions. In 1858, Richard joined the exodus of gold-seekers on the Fraser River in British Columbia, and his venture appears to have been profitable. Profits from Richard Maynard's work in the goldfields helped provide the capital needed to establish their new enterprises in the city.

In the ensuing years, Hannah and Richard had contrasting photographic specialties. Hannah was best known for her portrait work and at the same time managed darkroom affairs and studio promotion, while Richard focused almost exclusively on outdoor photography. From 1874 onwards, the couple operated their photographic studio and shoe store in one building. The steady flow of people moving through Victoria during the gold rush era created a constant demand for portraiture to commemorate journeys and milestones, especially surrounding the nearby goldfields. Hannah also made a solo trip to the Queen Charlotte Islands sometime in the same decade. These small photographic calling cards were widely exchanged and helped build her reputation among a broad clientele. Her backgrounds were often highly ornamental, using painted backgrounds and elaborate domestic interiors and props. She began to incorporate the montages of previous years in symbolist patterns, resulting in compositions that included up to 22,000 individual photographs. Her Gems of 1885 was published and praised by the St. Louis and Canadian Photographer in 1886, bringing Maynard a measure of recognition throughout North America.

Beginning in 1883 Maynard was struck by personal tragedy, with the death of her 16-year-old daughter Lillian of typhoid fever, followed in later years by another daughter Emma and daughter-in-law Adelaide, and some of her photographs began to take on the aspect of a memorial to the departed. It was also in this period that she took an interest in seances and Spiritualism. She began in the 1880s to create a type of photograph described by her as "Living Statuary" or "Statuary from Life", the sitter often appearing as a bust on a pedestal. Her experimentation developed further into the realm of multiple exposure, and some photographs show as many as four or five likenesses of Maynard, often engaged in different tasks, or in one notable image, holding a single garland of flowers. She also often included members of her close family in these photographs, such as in Hannah Maynard and her grandson, Maynard McDonald, in a tableau vivant composite photo, c.1893. Another difficult technique that Maynard pursued was that of bas-relief, which involved the embossing of a photograph. Around 1897, Maynard discontinued her investigations of trick photography.

Later years and legacy

Between 1897 and 1902, while continuing her studio portraiture, Maynard was the official photographer of the Victoria Police Department, producing mug shots as required as well as portraits of officers. Throughout her career, the studio remained both a commercial enterprise and a space for sustained artistic experimentation. Lazebnik also previously made a short film about Maynard, The Multiple Selves of Hannah Maynard, in 2005.

In 2015, her work was included in The Artist Herself: Self-Portraits by Canadian Historical Artists, an exhibition co-curated by Alicia Boutilier and Tobi Bruce who also co-edited the book/catalogue.

Gallery