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The Man and the Studio
Stanley G. Triggs
The Bleury Street studio
When Notman opened his studio at 11, Bleury Street, he had chosen an advantageous location. Being central it was easy to get to, whether the customers came on foot (as most did) or by carriage: if by the latter, the broad but uncongested streets offered plenty of room for the carriage to stand while the owner was in the studio. The commercial and retail centre of Montreal along St. James and Notre Dame Streets was just two blocks away. Along these two major arteries stood impressive edifices symbolizing wealth and influence, such as banks, trust companies and insurance buildings. The streets were lined with shops of all varieties and populated with pedestrians buying groceries, fruits and vegetables, dresses, coats, top hats and jewelry, books, guns and fishing rods. There were restaurants and taverns serving meals and drinks, and sidewalk vendors selling ice cream, cool drinks and quick snacks. The district was the heart of commercial and social activity in Montreal.
Notman's enterprise itself was first set up in a small red-brick house with a studio annex behind. This studio was so small that occasionally when the camera was moved back to frame a group of people, the cast iron stove for heating the room appeared at the edge of the picture. But although restricted as to work space and storage space, Notman, even at that early period, had assembled a variety of backgrounds and props to vary the look of each portrait. There was no room for expansion in that location. When the annex burned down in July 1858 he replaced it with a building no larger than the original, but two years later in the spring of 1860 he expanded into the two large and quite new greystone houses next door. This became the headquarters of the extensive photographic company he was soon to develop, and remained so until after his death. As a showpiece, the studio had no equal in Montreal and few in other countries.
Visitors walked beneath the Grecian-style portico bearing the title "Photographer to the Queen" and through the front door into a reception room seventy-five feet in length and thirty-five feet wide, taking up almost the entire depth of the house. If the size of the room alone was not sufficient to impress the visitor, the sight of dozens of large coloured photographs and paintings matted in gold or velvet and surrounded by ornately carved and gilded frames glowing in the soft light from the windows must have been breathtaking.
To further inform the visitor and add to the stunning effect, showcases and tables displayed a variety of viewing instruments in mahogany and rosewood or glistening brass. Samples of the daily production of the studio stood on shelves and counters. A large counter to the right enclosed an office space where the receptionist greeted the visitor and dispensed the finished orders of photographs. On the same floor, continuing through the reception rooms to the back of the building, rooms were set apart for colouring and copying. A contemporary visitor describes other rooms of the studio.
In the late 1860s Notman published a booklet called Photography: things you ought to know.1 Designed as a handout to customers, it is full of advice on what to do in order to help the photographer make a good portrait. He talks about making an appointment, feeling at ease at the moment of posing, assuming a natural expression, and so on. Particularly helpful is the advice on what to wear.
The restriction on certain colours, particularly in wide areas such as women's dresses, was necessary because of the limitations of the slow emulsions of the time. Light colours would become overexposed on the negative and therefore difficult or impossible to print. Red, on the other hand, would come out much darker than its true colour because the emulsion was insensitive to red. Thus in the finished print a red uniform might look black and freckles might be unnaturally pronounced. To tone down a wruddy complection Notman offered a makeup service. "The temporary use of some white powder for a red countenance, or of some cosmetic to darken light eyebrows, moustache, or beard will be found useful. These will be supplied if asked for and assistance given to apply them if necessary."2 One of Notman's staff was available to assist the female patrons with hair styling and change of costume. Presumably she doubled as a makeup artist as well.
1A copy of the booklet is found in the Notman Photographic Archives, McCord Museum of Canadian History.
2Ibid.