Edy Brothers
Portrait of Walt Whitman, 1880
Albumen print
Image 3 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches; sheet 6 x 9 inches
This handsome portrait is a cropped version of one of seven taken in the summer of 1880 by the Edy Brothers, a London, Ontario-based photo firm, when Whitman was in...
This handsome portrait is a cropped version of one of seven taken in the summer of 1880 by the Edy Brothers, a London, Ontario-based photo firm, when Whitman was in Canada to visit his close friend Dr. Richard Maurice Bucke.
According to the Whitman archive, Bucke had previously sent Whitman a portrait of himself taken by the Edy Brothers, and he was impressed by the work, declaring, "this is taken by some little man with no reputation at all. It seems to me these little fellows beat our city men: some of the strokes of these out-of-the-way fellows are masterly. . . . The city photographers like things toned down, polished, in the mode." The poet was seemingly unaware that the Edy Brothers, James Newbury and William Daniel, were not exactly artists “with no reputation at all,” as their work had been widely recognized and praised throughout Canada and the United States.
According to the Whitman archive, Bucke had previously sent Whitman a portrait of himself taken by the Edy Brothers, and he was impressed by the work, declaring, "this is taken by some little man with no reputation at all. It seems to me these little fellows beat our city men: some of the strokes of these out-of-the-way fellows are masterly. . . . The city photographers like things toned down, polished, in the mode." The poet was seemingly unaware that the Edy Brothers, James Newbury and William Daniel, were not exactly artists “with no reputation at all,” as their work had been widely recognized and praised throughout Canada and the United States.