Josiah Johnson Hawes (1808–1901) was a photographer in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
. He and
Albert Southworth established the photography studio of
Southworth & Hawes
Southworth & Hawes was an early photographic firm in Boston, 1843–1863. Its partners, Albert Sands Southworth (1811–1894) and Josiah Johnson Hawes (1808–1901), have been hailed as the first great American masters of photography, whose work ...
, which produced numerous portraits of exceptional quality in the 1840s–1860s.
Biography
J.J. Hawes was born in
Wayland, Massachusetts
Wayland is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The town was founded in 1638, and incorporated in 1780 and was originally part of neighboring Sudbury (incorporated 1639). As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was ...
in 1808. He began his career as a portrait painter. He then studied photography in Boston with Francis Fauvel-Gouraud.
In 1843 Hawes and Southworth formed the partnership of Southworth & Hawes, with studios on
Tremont Row, in Boston's
Scollay Square
300px, Scollay Square, Boston, 19th century (after September 1880)
350px, Scollay Square, Decoration Day, 19th century (after September 1880)
Scollay Square (c. 1838–1962) was a vibrant city square in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It was na ...
. The studio produced
daguerreotype portraits of many notables, including
Lemuel Shaw,
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include " Paul Revere's Ride", '' The Song of Hiawatha'', and ''Evangeline''. He was the first American to completely tran ...
,
Daniel Webster
Daniel Webster (January 18, 1782 – October 24, 1852) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented New Hampshire and Massachusetts in the U.S. Congress and served as the U.S. Secretary of State under Presidents William Henry Harrison ...
, and others. The studio rooms overlooked "a fine orchard, belonging to the
Gardiner Greene
Gardiner Greene (1753–1832) was a cotton planter and merchant from Boston, Massachusetts who conducted business from his plantation, Greenfield, in Demerara ( Guyana) in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Socially prominent in the town of B ...
estate. From these windows, facing Scollay Sq., we looked on the
church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* C ...
and gardens of
Brattle Street"
In 1849 Hawes married Nancy Stiles Southworth (Albert’s sister). They had three children: Alice, Marion and Edward.
After the partnership with Southworth dissolved in 1863, Hawes continued as a photographer on Tremont Row for several decades, through the 1890s. In his later years he was known as the "oldest working photographer in this country."
[Boston Transcript, 1898.]
Image gallery
File:Demonstration surgical use of ether 1847 daguerreotype.jpeg, ''Demonstration of the Surgical Use of Ether'', 1847
Image:Young girl with portrait of George Washington (05).jpg, Young girl with portrait of George Washington, c. 1850
Image:OWHolmesSr JJHawes.png, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. (; August 29, 1809 – October 7, 1894) was an American physician, poet, and polymath based in Boston. Grouped among the fireside poets, he was acclaimed by his peers as one of the best writers of the day. His most fa ...
, c. 1850-1856
Image:Lajos Kossuth.png, Lajos Kossuth, 1851
Image:UnidentifiedWoman ca1852 Southworth Hawes 18522677480343.jpg, Unidentified woman, by Southworth & Hawes, c. 1852
Image:Marion and JJHawes ca1852.png, Portrait of J.J. Hawes and his daughter Marion, by Southworth & Hawes, c. 1852
Image:1855 BrattleSt AbbottLawrenceFuneral Boston Southworth Hawes MFABoston.png, View of Brattle St., 1855
Image:1870s Snow BostonCommon JJHawes MFABoston.jpg, Boston Common
The Boston Common (also known as the Common) is a public park in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest city park in the United States. Boston Common consists of of land bounded by Tremont Street (139 Tremont St.), Park Street, Beac ...
, c. 1875
Image:RobertBrowning JJHawes.png, Portrait of Robert Browning, c. 1860s-1880s
Image:General view of Boston, by J. J. Hawes.jpg, View of Boston, c. 1860s-1880s
Image:DanielWebster byJJHawes MFABoston.jpeg, Daniel Webster, c. 1883
Image:LemuelShaw ca1883 byJJHawes MFABoston.jpeg, Lemuel Shaw, c. 1883
Image:SelfPortrait ca1890 byJJHawes MFABoston.jpeg, Self-portrait, c. 1890
Image:SelfPortrait2 ca1890 byJJHawes MFABoston.jpeg, Self-portrait, c. 1890
Image:SelfPortrait ca1895 byJJHawes MFABoston.jpeg, Self-portrait, c. 1895
References
Further reading
* Treasures in Pictures; Many Famous Photographs Made by the Veteran Josiah Johnson Hawes. Boston Daily Globe, Feb 21, 1898. p. 9.
* Josiah Johnson Hawes, dies in his ninety-fourth year. Boston Transcript, Aug.9, 1901.
* Oldest Photographer Dead; He Was Josiah Johnson Hawes, Friend of Dickens, Rufus Choate, and Gen. Benjamin F. Butler. New York Times, Aug 10, 1901. p. 7.
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External links
* WorldCat
Hawes, Josiah Johnson 1808-1901Boston Public Libraryon Flickr. Josiah Johnson Hawes Photographs
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston works by J.J. Hawes
Boston Athenaeum works by J.J. Hawes.
George Eastman House, on Flickr works by Southworth & Hawes
2005 exhibition of Southworth & Hawes
works by J.J. Hawes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hawes, Josiah
Commercial photographers
Pioneers of photography
1808 births
1901 deaths
Artists from Boston
Phillips Academy alumni
19th century in Boston
19th-century American photographers