Edwardian Portraits
This collection of Edwardian Portraits was made from a number of glass plate negatives that were found under the floorboards of a house in Whitley Bay. It is thought that they are by a photographer called John Lawson.
The majority are of women and it is probable that these were taken as mementos for sweethearts at the front during the First World War. There are also a number of photographs of children. What makes them remarkable is the general lack of studio props and backdrops which were so prevalent in portraiture at that time, and which gives the pictures a stark beauty of their own.
After a news article was published when the images were discovered, Amber received a letter from a woman whose portrait was taken in 1910 and again in 1935. She wrote that the Photographer was John Lawson Adamson of the Whitley Art Studio, 50 Whitley Road.
