Template:Short description Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox person
Francis Meadow (Frank) Sutcliffe (6 October 1853 – 31 May 1941)<ref name="ODNB">Template:Cite ODNB</ref> was an English pioneering photographic artist whose work presented an enduring record of life in the seaside town of Whitby, England, and surrounding areas, in the late Victorian era and early 20th century. His documentation of the Victorian and Edwardian periods in Whitby led him to be labelled as the "pictorial Boswell of Whitby.Template:Sfn
Early lifeEdit
He was born in Headingley, Leeds, to the painter Thomas Sutcliffe and Sarah Lorentia Button.<ref name="ODNB"/> Frank was the eldest of eight children, and as a child, he slept in his father's studio.Template:Sfn He had an elementary education at a dame school before moving into the new technology of photography. His father moved the family to Whitby in 1870 with the hope of commissions, but he died a year later when Francis was 18, leaving him as head of the family.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
CareerEdit
He made a living as a portrait photographer, working first in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, and then for the rest of his life in Whitby, living in Broomfield Terrace in Whitby before moving to Sleights, Yorkshire. His father had brought him into contact with prominent figures in the world of art such as John Ruskin, and he resented having to prostitute his art taking photographs of holiday-makers.Template:Sfn His business in Skinner Street, a converted jet grinding and polishing works,Template:Sfn rooted him to Whitby and the Eskdale valley but, by photographing the ordinary people that he knew well, he built up a most complete and revealing picture of a late Victorian town, and the people who lived and worked there.Template:Sfn
His most famous photograph was taken in 1886; Water Rats caused a little comment at the time as it featured naked children playing in a boat,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> but the image is not erotic. Sutcliffe was using the conventions of the academic nude to show how photography can approach art. He was, however, excommunicated by his local clergy for displaying it, as they thought it would 'corrupt' the opposite sex.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Edward VII (then the Prince of Wales) later purchased a copy of the picture.
He was a prolific writer on photographic subjects, contributed to several periodicals, and wrote a regular column in the Yorkshire Weekly Post. His work is in the collection of the Whitby Literary and Philosophical Society and in other national collections.
Sutcliffe was a founder member of the Linked Ring Brotherhood (a society that existed to promote photography as an art form),<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society in 1941.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
At the age of 70, he became the curator of the Whitby Gallery and Museum, he held this post until his death in 1941 at the age of 87.
Personal lifeEdit
He married Eliza Weatherill Duck,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> the daughter of a local bootmaker, on 1 January 1875 and had a son and four daughters at his home at High Stakesby Cottages, Ruswarp parish, Whitby. He died at his house Hvid(e)t Huus, Carr Lane, Briggswath, Sleights, aged 87,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> on 31 May 1941Template:Sfn and was buried in Aislaby churchyard.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
GalleryEdit
- Sutcliff27.jpg
Portrait of Polly Swallow, 1889
- Sutcliffe21.jpg
Girl on the shore, 1889
- Sutcliffe, Frank Meadow (5226243308).jpg
Three happy boys, 1889
- Sutcliff30.jpg
Fisher girl, 1890
- Sutcliffe10.jpg
Whitby, 1890
- Francis Sutcliffe - Three Naked Boys Around a Coble.jpg
Three Naked Boys Around a Coble, 1880s
- Sutcliff36.jpg
Whitby winter
- Sutcliffe14.jpg
Whitby, 1890
- Sutcliff41.jpg
Farmers Whitby / Dinner Time, c. 1889-91
- Sutcliffe11.jpg
Whitby, 1890
- Sutcliff38.jpg
Farmer people Whitby
- Waterrats by Francis Sutcliffe 2.jpg
Waterrats, (Sea Urchins), 1886
- Sutcliff24.jpg
Women, c.1890
- Sutcliff23.jpg
Women, c.1890
- Sutcliff35.jpg
Fisher people, c. 1898
ReferencesEdit
SourcesEdit
External linksEdit
- Sutcliffe Gallery
- National Museum of Photography, Film & Television gallery of his works 300+ photographs
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