The young Mr. Reynolds, posed in fancy dress - a mishmash of authentic Indigenous clothing and accessories culled from sources across North America - and taking on a fabricated persona abetted by an equally fabricated - and intentionally unpronounceable - "Indian" name, seems likely to have been a certain Henry Reynolds, a member of a wealthy family, prominent in Montreal society.
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| The gentleman posing with Reynolds is unidentified. |
Ignorant of the context, these images are arrestingly beautiful: the handsome young man, posed languidly in his "exotic" finery. But once the fraudulence is known, everything changes, and the masquerade becomes, to a modern audience, something along the lines of "blackface." The spectacle of people dressing up as "Indians" - apparently a very popular costume party choice for upper-class Canadian and American ladies and gentleman of the day - while the subjugation and genocide of Native peoples raged in both countries, is difficult to stomach.
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William Notman (8 March 1826, Paisley – 25 November 1891, Montreal), Canadian photographer and businessman. Born in Scotland, at the age of thirty he moved to Montreal. An amateur photographer, he quickly established a flourishing professional photography studio on Bleury Street, a location close to Montreal's central commercial district. His first important commission was for the documentation of the construction of the Victoria Bridge across the St. Lawrence River, the opening of which was attended by the Prince of Wales in 1860. The first Canadian photographer with an international reputation, his status and business grew over the next three decades, and he established branches throughout Canada and the United States, meanwhile winning medals at exhibitions in Montreal, London, Paris, and Australia. When he died suddenly after a brief bout of pneumonia at the age of sixty-five, management of his studio was left to his sons. The studio collection - some two hundred thousand negatives, forty-three index books, two hundred picture books, and assorted memorabilia - now reside with the McCord Museum of Canadian History.
The nostalgia craze for the Old West and the True Americans was so popular at the time. By True Americans I mean Native Americans, as they are the True Americans. Just as Americans had fancy dress parties dressed as Cowboys and Indians, in Europe they had fancy dress parties of Medieval royalty. Nonetheless, I don't think Mr Reynolds would hold up well in the conditions True Americans faced on the reservations. Let's just say the flower would wilt. Kudos to Mr Notman's family for preserving and donating his studio collection. -Rj/IE
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