Month: April 2007

State Library of Tasmania’s  “Unknown”

April 16, 2007

This stereograph is listed at the State Library of Tasmania as unattributed – “Creator: Unknown” with the title “House in Newtown”. It is dated to 1870, although the majority of Thomas J. Nevin’s early stereographs were produced from his New Town studio in the mid to late 1860s. By 1868 he was principally operating from his city studio at 140 Elizabeth St. Hobart, although he maintained the New Town studio concurrently with his civil service during the years 1876-1880 at the Hobart Town Hall and police work in the courts until the birth of his last child in 1888. … More State Library of Tasmania’s  “Unknown”

Thomas and Elizabeth Nevin wedding, Hobart July 1871

Thomas & Elizabeth Nevin’s Wedding Photograph 1871

April 13, 2007

This photograph was taken at Thomas Nevin’s studio, The City Photographic Establishment, 140 Elizabeth St. Hobart Town, possibly by his younger brother Jack (Constable John Nevin or W. J. Nevin). The same studio decor – the lozenge-patterned carpet and floral-patterned drape – appears in several extant studio portraits by Thomas Nevin of family members and private clientele up to the mid-1870s. This is an albumen print on a buff carte-de-visite mount. Someone created a doodling in ink or biro in the lower left-hand corner of the image on the carpet, possibly tracing a photochemical stain. There is no studio stamp on the verso, indicating the image was taken by a member within the family, for family viewing only. … More Thomas & Elizabeth Nevin’s Wedding Photograph 1871

Tasmanian Newspapers: The Mercury & STILWELL Index

April 11, 2007

Researchers are indebted to the late G.T. Stilwell for his creation of the Stilwell Index during his service at the State Library of Tasmania. G.T. Stilwell also published a short biography of Thomas Nevin with J. S. Kerr outlining the Town Hall dismissal and the misattribution by Chris Long of Nevin’s convict portraiture to A.H. Boyd in The Dictionary of Australian Artists: painters, sketchers, photographers and engravers to 1870 , edited by Joan Kerr. (Melbourne: Oxford University Press 1992). … More Tasmanian Newspapers: The Mercury & STILWELL Index

Elizabeth Rachel Day, photo by Nevin & Smith, Hobart 1868

Nevin & Smith studio Elizabeth St. Hobart 1867-1868

April 9, 2007

Robert Smith and Thomas J. Nevin established the firm of Nevin & Smith soon after Nevin acquired the stock, studio and glass house of Alfred Bock at 140 Elizabeth St. Hobart Town in 1865 on Bock’s imminent departure from Tasmania. The partnership was brief, lasting less than two years. It was dissolved by Thomas Nevin’s family solicitor, the Hon. W. R. Giblin, in February 1868. Two studio stamps and one label have survived from their brief partnership. The first stamp featuring the Prince of Wales’ blazon of three feathers and a coronet, banded with the German “ICH DIEN” (I Serve) dates from the visit of Prince Alfred Ernest Albert, the Duke of Edinburgh, second son of Queen Victoria, in 1868 on the Royal yacht, H.M.S. Galatea

These two children were probably photographed for an album of forty-eight photographic prints depicting the children of Tasmania which was gifted to Prince Alfred at his final reception on 18th January 1868 before returning to NSW where he was to survive an assassination attempt weeks later (at Clontarf, 12th March 1868). According to Jack Cato (1977:58), a group of Tasmanian photographers was invited to contribute to the Children’s Album … … More Nevin & Smith studio Elizabeth St. Hobart 1867-1868

The New Town studio stereographs

April 9, 2007

The New Town stereographs include views of farms, schools, churches, houses, and mines at nearby Kangaroo Valley where the Nevin family resided, and portraits of groups, including visitors to the Lady Franklin Museum, Nevin family members and friends. The collection of Nevin’s stereographs held at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery mostly date from 1868 to the early 1870s. … More The New Town studio stereographs