James Adolphus Pugh (July 3, 1833 – January 22, 1887) was an American photographer, based in

Macon, Georgia Macon ( ), officially Macon–Bibb County, is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia. Situated near the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is located southeast of Atlanta and lies near the geographic center of the state of Geo ...

, at the time of the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. Pugh trained with and eventually took over the studio of R. L. Wood. His studio specialized in providing photographs of soldiers going to war. His studio was called Pugh's Photograph and Fine Art Gallery and printed ambrotype, tintype and daguerreotype photographs. Pugh sailed to Europe in 1867 in order to attend the International Exposition and wrote a book about his European travels. In it, he spoke of how he " eldit to be a duty every man owes to his family, to have both his and their likenesses taken at least once a year." His studio featured sinks with running water to make sure his prints had as much of the salts washed off of them as possible. In addition, he featured scenery backdrops painted by artists in New York City and an art gallery of photographs and paintings in his studio. Later in his career Pugh took up painting himself, creating life sized portraits of people from ambrotypes he'd taken of them. In 1873, he won Best Photograph, Best Photograph in Oil, Best Photograph in Pastel, and Best Collection of Photographs at the Georgia State Fair.

Personal life

Pugh was born in 1833, one of twelve children of Jesse and Nancy Reece Pugh. His brother David worked with him at his business.

References

External links

Leaves of a Wanderer
(PDF) by J. A. Pugh at the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pugh, J. A. 1833 births 1887 deaths 19th-century American photographers People from Macon, Georgia