Work of Tyneside photo artist goes to auction
London gets a taste of the Tyne. Tony Henderson reports.
Born on Tyneside in 1856, Lyddell Sawyer went on to play a key role in transforming photography into an art form.
Now five of his pictures taken around 1900 will be sold in London tomorrow (March 31) with an estimate of £300-£500.
One of the images at the Chiswick Auctions sale is captioned The Smoky Tyne and shows the river at the height of industrialisation.
By the age of 16, Lyddell , born in North Shields, was running his father’s photographic studio in Barras Bridge in Newcastle.
He went on to win 52 medals and prizes for his art photography and exhibited nearly 100 examples of his work at the Royal Photographic Society.
His work now features in the National Portrait Gallery in London and includes a study of a young Winston Churchill.
His father, Edward, was both photographer and painter. Edward painted from life the familiar portrait of John Clayton, Newcastle lawyer, town clerk, Northumberland landowner and saviour of tracts of central Hadrian’s Wall
In 1885 Lyddell set up his own business in Newcastle and was joined by his two brothers. Ten years later he opened a portrait studio on Regent Street, London
His studio was the first in the North East to use electric flood lights, made locally to his own design.
He was also a founder member of The Linked Ring, the first art photography organisation.
In addition, he wrote plays and among his inventions for which he applied for patents was the synching of titles in silent movies.
Family members helped Lyddell open a studio in Fawcett Street in Sunderland, in addition to the Newcastle business.
His uncle had a studio in North Shields, where Lyddell photographed one of his finest works - Waiting for the Boats.
It portrays a group, mainly of women, waiting for the returning fishing boats. He used a concealed light to add atmosphere to some of his studies, most notably that of two boys titled The Boat Builders, which features in the London sale.
Lyddell himself said: “I was born into photography, nursed in it, and have been continually soaked in it ever since. Father, brother, uncles, cousins - all were photographers.”
In 2017 Geoff Lowe, who worked as a senior lecturer in fine art at Newcastle Polytechnic, wrote the book Don’t Look at the Camera: Lydell Sawyer, photographer .
He described Lyddell as “certainly the most important photographer that the North East has ever produced. He was an artist using a camera.”
Lyddell died in 1927, aged 71.
The Lyddell images in the sale, in addition to The Smoky Tyne and The Boat Builders, are Light, More Light; The Toper and The Duet.
Any one interested in a copy of Geoff Lowe’s book mentioned in the Article let me know (I am his Daughter)
And once shipping is sorted, they will be available to see in person at the Great North Decorative Fair in Gosforth at the end of April