George Barker (photographer)

Barker was born in London, Canada West in 1844.{{cite book|author1=Martha A. Sandweiss|author2=Alan Trachtenberg|author3=Amon Carter Museum of Western Art|title=Photography in nineteenth-century America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R0RYAAAAMAAJ|year=1991|publisher=Amon Carter Museum|isbn=978-0-8109-3659-1}} He first studied landscape painting,{{Cite web|url=https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.16462.html|title = Artist Info}} switching to photography following a financial setback. He began his photography training with the Western-Canadian photographer James Egan.{{cite book|author=Douglas Heil|title=The Art of Stereography: Rediscovering Vintage Three-Dimensional Images|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X74ZDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA262|date=19 January 2017|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-1-4766-2724-3|pages=262–}} At the age of 18, he had opened his own studio in London.

In July 1862, he made his first trip to Niagara Falls, New York, where he found a job working for Platt D. Babbitt.{{cite book|author1=Samuel T. Wiley|author2=Winfield Scott Garner|title=Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Niagara County, New York|url=https://archive.org/details/biographicalport00garn_0|year=1892|publisher=Gresham Publishing Company|pages=[https://archive.org/details/biographicalport00garn_0/page/n189 180]–}}{{cite book|editor=Hannavy, John|title=Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PJ8DHBay4_EC&pg=PA113|accessdate=4 January 2013|volume=1|date=2007-10-15|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=9780415972352|pages=113–14}} By the late 1860s, he had studios in both London and Niagara Falls, with the Niagara studio called Barker's Stereoscopic View Manufactory and Photograph Rooms,{{cite web|url=http://niagarafallsreporter.com/kostoff10.13.09.html|title=Niagara Falls Reporter Local History|website=niagarafallsreporter.com}} and had become known nationwide for his large-format (up to {{convert|18|×|20|in|cm|abbr=on}}) and stereographic prints of the falls.{{cite book|last1=Eisenstadt|first1=Peter R.|last2=Moss|first2=Laura-Eve|title=The Encyclopedia Of New York State|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tmHEm5ohoCUC&pg=PA1201|accessdate=4 January 2013|date=2005-06-01|publisher=Syracuse University Press|isbn=9780815608080|page=1201}} In 1866, he won a gold medal for landscape photography at the convention for the Photographers Association of America, held in Saint Louis.

Barker's Niagara studio was destroyed by fire on February 7, 1870,{{cite book|title=Stereo World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-bM4AQAAIAAJ|year=1990|publisher=National Stereoscopic Association}} but his negatives survived.

Barker was one of the earliest photographers to visit the state of Florida. At the time, photography in Florida was challenging, as much of the state remained undeveloped, which meant photographers needed to carry their bulky equipment through the state's wetlands and subtropical jungles, as well as deal with delicate film in hot and humid conditions. Barker spent nearly four years (on and off), from 1886 to 1890, documenting much of northern and central Florida.{{cite book|last=Hunt|first=Bruce|title=Florida Then & Now|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PGn9XDXQ8f4C&pg=PA4|accessdate=4 January 2013|date=2007-09-15|publisher=Big Earth Publishing|isbn=9781565795860|page=4}}

In addition to his well-known landscape photographs, Barker traveled the United States, documenting natural disasters such as the Louisville Tornado of 1890[https://nyx.uky.edu/fa/findingaid/?id=xt7v6w969x17 Finding aid]uky.edu {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181121120533/https://nyx.uky.edu/fa/findingaid/?id=xt7v6w969x17 |date=2018-11-21 }} and the 1889 Johnstown flood.

When he died in 1894 of Bright's disease,{{cite book|title=Photographic Times and American Photographer|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZSdLAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA375|year=1894|publisher=Scovill Manufacturing Company|pages=375–}} he was described as "the eminent photographer of Niagara Falls".

Upon his death, his works were acquired by Underwood & Underwood of Washington, D.C.

Additional works are included in the permanent collections of:

• the Library of Congress,{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/pictures/related/?va=exact&sp=5&q=Barker,+George,+1844-1894&fi=author&sg=true&op=EQUAL|title=Search Results: "Barker, George, 1844-1894"|website=Library of Congress}}
• The J Paul Getty Museum, and{{cite web|url=http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/artists/1852/george-barker-american-1844-1894/|title=George Barker (American, 1844 - 1894) (Getty Museum)|website=The J. Paul Getty in Los Angeles}}
• the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,{{Cite web|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/290469|title=George Barker | Niagara Falls|website=The Metropolitan Museum of Art|accessdate=9 November 2023}}
• the National Galleries of Scotland,{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/artists/george-barker|title = George Barker}}
• the Art Institute of Chicago,{{Cite web|url=https://www.artic.edu/artworks/59762/sunset-horseshoe-fall-niagara|title=Sunset, Horseshoe Fall - Niagara}}
• the Art Gallery of Ontario,{{Cite web|url=http://www.ago.net/george-barker-niagara-falls|title = George Barker, Niagara Falls | AGO Art Gallery of Ontario}}
• the National Gallery of Art,
• the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and {{cite web|url=https://www.mfah.org/art/search?culture=Zen%C3%BA+(Sin%C3%BA)%7CCanadian&artist=George+Barker|title=Search the Collection - The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston|website=www.mfah.org}}
• the Smithsonian American Art Museum.{{cite web|url=https://americanart.si.edu/artist/george-barker-6660|title=George Barker|website=Smithsonian American Art Museum}}

File:George Barker, Cave of the Winds cph.3g08172.jpg|Cave of the Winds

File:Silver Springs, Florida, in moonlight, 1887 cph.3c32843.jpg|Silver Springs, Florida

File:George Barker, Wayside scene, Stony Creek, Virginia cph.3g02321.jpg|Mule-drawn wagon in Stony Creek, Virginia

{{reflist}}

• {{Commons category-inline|George Barker}}
• {{find a Grave|138277473}}

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Category:1844 births

Category:1894 deaths

Category:Artists from London, Ontario

Category:Photographers from New York (state)

Category:Niagara Falls

Category:Canadian emigrants to the United States