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Last Modified: 8 July 2010
Photographers
Chapman-Taylor, James 1878-1958
| James Walter Chapman-Taylor was born in London, England, on 24 June 1878
to parents Theodore Chapman-Taylor and his wife, Ada Thomas. Theodore
had been an agricultural graduate and quantity surveyor and Ada a
teacher, linguist and journalist. The family immigrated to New Zealand
in 1880 where they purchased land near Stratford in Taranaki. James
Chapman-Taylor became apprenticed to a builder and later studied
architecture. During trips to England he was strongly influenced by the
English arts and crafts movement. Although best known for his domestic architecture, Chapman-Taylor also made a significant contribution to photography in New Zealand. He belonged first to the Auckland Camera Club and experimented with different styles and subjects. He won several photographic competitions for his landscape and outdoor images. Some of his work appeared in articles he wrote for photography magazines. Egmont and the children of the mountain mist by Herbert Mace, published in 1931, included seventeen Chapman-Taylor photographic plates which demonstrate his skill as a photographer. Chapman-Taylor lived successively in two houses he built for his family at Silverstream, the first being "Sunshine" (1911 to 1918) and the second "I-Breasil" from 1937 until his death in 1958. By 1940 he was working as a professional photographer from his home. He took on a variety of commissions but specialized mainly in family portraits taken in his client's own homes. He also continued his interest in landscapes and bush scenes. Upper Hutt was the focus of Chapman-Taylor's later work and the Library has some good examples of his work. James Chapman-Taylor photographs on Archives Database |
