George Davison (19 September 1854 – 26 December 1930) was an English photographer, a proponent of impressionistic photography, a co-founder of theLinked Ring Brotherhood of British artists and a managing director of Kodak UK. He was also a millionaire, thanks to an early investment inEastman Kodak.
Even George Davison was born inLowestoft, into the poor family of a shipyard carpenter. He received a good education, and gained employment as a civil servant atSomerset House, London in 1874.[1]
He began to make photographs in 1885, and he joined theCamera Club photography society around that time. He took part in aRoyal Photographic Society exhibition the next year, and became a member. He was influenced by naturalistic photographers in the early phase of his work, especiallyPeter Henry Emerson.[2]
However, Davison experimented with techniques and processes, and soon turned away from naturalistic photography. He started to use apinhole camera as one of the firstpictorialistic photographers.[3] He made a picture calledThe Onion Field (originally namedAn Old Farmstead) in 1890, without sharp outlines on a rough paper, giving the effect of painting. It is considered as the firstimpressionistic photograph.[4][5] Nevertheless, Davison's photographs became a subject of polemics and controversy in the Royal Photographic Society. He decided to leave the society and to establish a new organisation, theLinked Ring Brotherhood, together with other followers in 1892.[3]
George Eastman offered Davison a directorship of the Eastman Photographic Materials Company in London in 1889. It was the start of a long-term connection between Davison, Eastman andKodak. He left his civil service position in 1897, and became an assistant manager in Eastman Photographic Materials. His first task was to organize a major competition and exhibition of amateur photography in London. The exhibition was successful, receiving more than 25,000 visitors during three weeks.[3]
Davison became a deputy director of Kodak in 1898, and the director two years later. He took photographs and held exhibitions till 1911, even though he was busy working for the company.[3]
Davison was interested in social reforms which linked him in contacts with anarchists. Therefore, Eastman asked him to resign his director position in 1908. Davison continued to be a member of board till 1912, when he left the Kodak company. He moved toHarlech, northWales, and later, for health reasons, toAntibes, southern France, where he died in 1930.[3]
He married twice, his second wife being Florence ("Joan") Anne Austin-Jones (c.1897–1955). Following his death, she married the photographerMalcolm Arbuthnot.[6]
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