Photography Appreciation
Born on June 1, 1822, Clementina Maude, Viscountess Hawarden, was best known as a pioneering and prolific amateur photographer who captured over 800 photographs of her daughters at her home in South Kensington, London.
Clementina's father was Admiral Charles Elphinstone Fleeming who was best known for his role in the Venezuelan and Colombian wars of liberation, in the early 1800s. Her mother, Catalina Paulina Alessandro, a Spanish woman called an 'exotic beauty.'
Clementina married Cornwallis Maude, 4th Viscount Hawarden, an Irish Conservative politician. She had eight daughters and two boys.
In her 30s, she set up a studio at her home in South Kensington. She took many characteristic portraits of her daughters Isabella Grace, Clementina, and Florence Elizabeth. Her technique was groundbreaking for the time as she used mirrors to create 'body doubles' and natural sunlight to light her subjects.
At the age of 41, the Viscountess Hawarden held her first exhibition at the Photographic Society of London on January 1863. She was elected a member of the Society the following March, then recognized for her artistic excellence with a silver medal; although, she passed away due to pneumonia before collecting the prize.
Sources:
Wikipedia
https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co204482/clementina-and-isabella-hawarden-photograph
https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/lady-clementina-hawarden-an-introduction
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