Frederick Frith

For the Scottish officer in the British Army, see Frederick John Cokayne Frith.

Frederick Frith
Born	1819 United Kingdom
Died	1871 Melbourne
Nationality	English
Occupation	Photographer And Painter
Years active	1853-1871
Spouse	Emma Golding
Parent	John Frith(Father) Letitia née Gardiner(Mother)
Relatives	Henry Frith (Brother)

Frederick Frith (1819-1871) was an English painter and photographer. He began his career in England but later moved to Australia where he lived in Hobart and Melbourne.

Early career

Frederick Frith was born in the United Kingdom. He was from an English family consisting of painters and silhouettists. He was the son of John Frith and Letitia née Gardiner, his brother was Henry Frith and he was married to Emma Golding. Before moving to Melbourne in 1855, he studied and practiced painting in London, Brighton, Ireland and Scotland. In 1853 he was asked to showcase his artworks including Death of a Stag. In 1855 he moved and began work as a painter in Melbourne, Australia, then moved to Hobart later that year. He exhibited his artwork in Melbourne in 1854 which consisted mainly of his watercolour and oil paintings.

Partnership with John Mathieson Sharp

In 1855 while he was exhibiting his artwork, he met John Mathieson Sharp. They later became partners and worked in a studio which Sharp had just bought. They named the studio the Chromatype Gallery. "Chroma" is the Greek word for colour, and referred to his method of overpainting salted paper prints with oil, watercolour and/or pastel. Only a few dozen of their Chromatype artworks remain, the fact they stayed intact after all these years was seen as a demonstration of their vitality in paper photography. This process was similar to works often referred to as a Photo-crayotype.

Panorama

Sharp and Frith produced the first paper panorama taken in Australia; a five-part, near-metre long panoramic view of Hobart, using the wet-plate process. Copies were advertised for sale in the 18^th January 1856 edition of the Tasmania Daily News. This panorama was seen as the first proper panorama and what started the trades of albums and prints that they sold to the community.

Civil law suit

In 1855 Frith brought a civil suit against a Hobart Town merchant, Samuel Moses. Frith painted him and his family but Samuel refused to pay him due to the fact they were overpriced and lacked effort and passion that he believed Frith should have shown. Although true that his paintings weren't at their best, Conway Hart and Alfred Bock brought forth that Frith's paintings were defective in colour and composition which was considered not of the standard of a trained artist. In the end Frith won the case and won compensation along with the cost for damages.

Partnership with Henry Frith

In 1856, the partnership between Frith and Sharp came to an end. Sharp continued making chromatypes and stereographs in his studio in Hobart. After Frith began his own studio, he did less work on paintings focusing more on photography and worked on making large format views. A year later Frith's brother, Henry joined his business and was put in charge of the travelling for the studio. Later in 1858, Frith presented two panoramas both taken in Hobart. The two photos were taken at the Domain and St Paul's Church. In 1858 the Frith brothers opened a second studio located at Launceston to further his career and produce more artworks. Although his artworks were very popular, they were quite over priced which led to more court cases. He once again showcased his Death of a Stag piece in the Hobart Town Art Treasures Exhibition which earned him more profit and proved it was one of his most famous pieces.

To achieve this double portrait, Frith used a masking plate holder between two exposures to capture the image.

Double portrait

One of Frith's most well-known artworks was a double portrait, produced c.1866 which showcased his photographic skills which appeared to be ahead of their time in regards to the lack of technology available in that era (as seen in the image on the right). To accomplish this he could have used either opaque screen between two exposures or a masking plate holder. The way he pulled this technique off was by removing the lens cap of his camera to create a make-believe photograph. Frith's camera didn't have a shutter because the wet plate process that was used at the time required an exposure of several seconds.

Death

Frederick Frith died in 1871. He will be remembered for his unique style of achieving shots that seemed very difficult to most other photographers. Although his life was short lived, he certainly left behind an amazing series of images that will be remembered for many years to come. Throughout his career Frith seemed more interested in painting, especially when he was working with his former partner John Sharp - Sharp was known as the photographer, Frith the painter. By using photography and painting, many of his portrait photographs looked like watercolour paintings.

External links

Works by Frederick Frith | Art Gallery of NSW

Dr. Edward Swarbreck Hall, 1858 / photographed by Fred Frith | Collection - State Library of NSW

Double photographic portrait of Frederick Frith’s assistant / photographed by Frederick Frith, [ca. 1866] | Collection - State Library of NSW