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his best work appeared as book illustrations, such as
his drawings for Charles Kingsley’s The Water Babies
(1885). Sambourne was also an enthusiastic and prolifi c
photographer, relying heavily on photographs to sup-
port his draughtsmanship and building up a reference
collection of around 30,000 images.
Sambourne fi rst took up photography in the early
1880s, attracted like many others by the increased ease
and convenience offered by the recently introduced
gelatin dry plates. However, unlike the vast majority
of these new amateur photographers, Sambourne’s
motivation for becoming a photographer was primarily
pragmatic and utilitarian rather than recreational. Over
the years, Sambourne had amassed a huge collection
of commercial photographs and magazine cuttings to
use as visual references for his drawings. However,
the tight deadlines he had to work to meant that it was
often impossible for him to fi nd commercially produced
images which exactly matched his needs. Photography
provided Sambourne with the perfect means of obtain-
ing precisely the image he required, exactly when he
needed it. Many artists, of course, have made extensive
use of photographs, but most were reluctant to admit
the debt that they owed to photography. Sambourne, to
his credit, was refreshingly candid and open about his
working methods. In two interviews he gave in 1893
he explained: ‘I do not agree with those artists who
codemn the aid of photography altogether. On the con-
trary, I consider it a very useful and valuable adjunct to
art.’ and, more revealingly, ‘You see, I don’t believe in
drawing out of my head, as people call it. I go to Nature
herself, and that must be better art than working from
mere recollection—at least, that is my opinion. I’m
always on the look-out for people, objects and scenery
to photograph...’ Soon, rather than being merely a ‘valu-
able adjunct,’ photography became an indispensable
tool which came to dominate his working practice.
Indeed, a fellow Punch cartoonist, Harry Furniss, later
described Sambourne as ‘a slave of the camera and mere
copyist’—a charge which Sambourne fi ercely refuted.
Even a superfi cial study of Sambourne’s photographs
and cartoons, however, reveals just how dependent on
photography he became.
At his home in Stafford Terrace, Kensington, London,
Sambourne photographed himself, members of his fam-
ily, friends and servants in poses and attitudes refl ecting
the requirements of his weekly cartoon for Punch. He
also made frequent use of a huge variety of props and
costumes. The resulting negatives were processed by
Sambourne in his home darkroom which he converted
from a bathroom and contact printed to produce cyano-
types or platinum prints. These prints were then traced
to form the outline of the cartoon. Indeed, many of
Sambourne’s drawings are direct transcriptions of his
photographs down to the smallest detail.
In 1893 Sambourne joined the Camera Club—a
sign of his growing interest in photography that now
transcended his work-related activities. The Camera
Club had recently moved to new well-appointed prem-
ises on Charing Cross Road and Sambourne made full
use of the facilities offered, attending meetings and
lectures and using the darkrooms and studio. Many
of his photographs taken at the Camera Club refl ect
Sambourne’s main area of photographic interest—the
female nude. Whilst some of these studies were genu-
ine aides-memoire for his drawings, the sheer volume
of nude photographs, combined with the nature of
the poses implies that their motivation was primarily
private rather than professional. They can be viewed
as both artistic and erotic with many transcending the
boundary into the fetishistic and mildly pornographic.
For his nude photography Sambourne used professional
models and usually worked at the Camera Club. On rare
occasions, however, he would invite the models into his
home—making sure that his wife was safely out of the
way, staying at the family house in Ramsgate.
In 1905 the Camera Club closed temporarily. This
coincided with a change in direction for Sambourne’s
photography. Whilst continuing to photograph nudes
as well as the tableaux which formed the basis of his
work for Punch, he now began to devote time to explor-
ing the possibilities of the snapshot. He had bought his
fi rst hand camera in 1892 and relished its potential for
‘candid’ photography. Sambourne’s favourite subjects
were schoolgirls that he photographed in the streets of
Kensington, using a detective camera disguised as a
pair of binoculars that took a photograph at right angles
to the direction in which it appeared to be pointed.
Despite the unpleasant connotations clearly implicit in
these photographs, there is no denying their freshness,
vitality and spontaneity and they represent some of his
most interesting work.
It is, perhaps, signifi cant that this, the last expression
of Sambourne’s continuing and at times all-consuming
enthusiasm for photography, should also embody an
element of subterfuge and secrecy. In his photography,
as with so many aspects of his personal life, Sambourne
seemed able to keep the various strands of his public
and private persona detached and separate. He remained
a public fi gure with very private passions—a man of
contrasts and contradictions, a man who despite the
huge amount of time and energy he devoted to it, could
still reply, when asked if he was fond of photography:
‘No, I can’t honestly say that I am.’
Sambourne died in 1910. His house is Stafford Ter-
race is preserved and is open to the public as a unique