Presentation by Richard Jefferson 25th March 2014

Tuesday 25th March 2014
The Atrium, Spenser Avenue, North Walsham NR28 9HZ
At 7.30pm

‘A Victorian Gentleman’s North Norfolk’
WJJ Bolding and his place in early photography
by Richard Jefferson

This was a very successful evening to which the public were invited to join us and which raised the sum of £90 from admissions and raffle plus the sale of 3 books - a grand sum of £165 to the Big C Charity in Norwich

Through the lens of a Master
A review by Sue Badger

There is little doubt that William Johnson Jennis Bolding is an important addition to the canon of early Victorian photographic portraiture: some of his images, taken in the early 1850’s, are outstanding, but since his collection did not rise to public prominence until 1975, his importance in both style and content has not been sufficiently acknowledged until now.
The publication of Richard Jefferson’s remarkable book ‘A Victorian Gentleman's North Norfolk: WJJ Bolding and his place in early photography’ attempts to redress this omission. In a detailed and fascinating presentation, given to North Walsham Photographic Group on Tuesday evening, Jefferson elucidated on two major aspects.
Firstly, the technical procedure employed by Bolding, following the breakthrough of William Henry Fox Talbot in 1840, who developed the process of using light sensitive paper and inventing the negative.
Secondly, the quality of the portraiture: the photographs of Bolding’s estate workers and village people of Weybourne were described by the Arts Council of Great Britain 1975 Exhibition Catalogue as being “amongst the most powerful portraits in the history of photography.”
With photography usually considered to be the domain of the wealthier classes, Bolding held a unique position in being landowner and farmer and having immediate access to both labourers and traders on an everyday basis. Furthermore, the numerous photographs of his 11 nieces and nephews allowed him to display his powers of photographic perspective of balance, form and style.

Although naturally diffident and self-effacing, Richard Jefferson’s passion and determination to have his late wife’s Great Great Uncle’s vast body of work recognised for the valuable contribution to early photography, shines through. He has enlisted family members from far afield to search for Bolding’s work, be it photographs, paintings or etchings. The collection presented in this book is a combination of biography, social observation and technical elucidation.

Copies of the book are available from Big C, 10a Castle Meadow, Norwich, telephone 01603 619900. All proceeds from the books sold will be donated to the cancer charity, The Big C.