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joined the Camera Club when it opened in November
that year, becoming honorary secretary the following
year. He fi rst exhibited his work in 1886, showing six
pictures in the Photographic Society of Great Britain
Exhibition. He became a member of the society in
November 1886.
An advocate of Naturalistic photography and selec-
tive focusing, Davison initially espoused the ideas of P
H. Emerson. However, their relationship soon deterio-
rated into a series of bitter exchanges published in the
photographic press.
Davison experimented widely with different tech-
niques and processes in his efforts to achieve the impres-
sionistic effect which he desired in his work. He was
one of the fi rst to use a pin-hole camera for pictorial
photography. In 1890, one of his pin-hole photographs,
An Old Farmstead (later retitled The Onion Field) was
awarded a medal at the Photographic Society of Great
Britain’s annual exhibition. A prime example of the
‘fuzzy’ school of photography, this picture provoked
considerable comment and discussion.
The following year, Davison found himself at the
centre of a controversy which blew up surrounding his
late submission of entries for that year’s Photographic
Society exhibition. Through a combination of misun-
derstandings, personal rivalries, petty bureaucracy and
infl exibility, this minor incident escalated into a situa-
tion where Davison, together with a number of other
prominent members of the society, including the vice-
president H. P. Robinson, resigned their membership.
In 1892 this secessionist group formed an association
called The Linked Ring and established an annual Pho-
tographic Salon, the fi rst of which was held in October
- Each ‘Link’ was given a name—Davison being
known as ‘Deputy High Executioner’ because of his
shared responsibility with Robinson for ‘hanging’ ex-
hibitions. Within a couple of years, the Photographic
Salon had established itself as one of the most important
events in the photographic calendar and presented a
serious challenge to the primacy of the Photographic
Society exhibition.
In 1889, George Eastman had invited Davison to
become a director of the newly-established London
branch of the Eastman Photographic Materials Com-
pany. Davison bought twenty-fi ve shares at £10 each,
using money borrowed from a friend—an investment
which was to prove extremely profi table. This was the
beginning of Davison’s long association with George
Eastman and Kodak. In 1897, he left his, now senior,
position at the Audit Offi ce to become assistant manger
of the Eastman Photographic Materials Company. One
of his fi rst tasks was to organise a major competition
and exhibition of amateur photography. The exhibition,
presented at the New Gallery, Regent Street, London,
was a spectacular success and was visited by more
than 25,000 people during its three-week run. Davison
gave free Kodak cameras and fi lm to his photographer
friends in return for permission to use their pictures
for advertising purposes. These included, Paul Martin,
Eustace Calland, James Craig Annan and, most pro-
lifi cally, Frank Meadow Sutcliffe. In 1898, Davison
became deputy managing director of Kodak Limited,
as it had then become. With an annual salary of £1,000
and owning thousands of shares in the company, he
was now an extremely wealthy man. The sudden death
of the managing director, George Dickman, resulted in
Davison taking over the post in March 1900.
Despite his growing corporate responsibilities, Davi-
son continued to photograph and to exhibit his work. In
1898 he showed gum-bichromate prints for the fi rst time
and the following year he started what was to become an
annual custom of sending photogravure reproductions
of his photographs to his friends as New Year’s gifts.
Inevitably, however, his output declined. In 1908, for the
fi rst time, the Photographic Salon contained none of his
work. By this time, The Linked Ring had lost its origi-
nal impetus and sense of unity. In 1910, it was agreed
that no exhibition would be held, effectively marking
the end of The Linked Ring. A group led by Davison
formed the London Secession which held a single ex-
hibition in May 1911. Davison exhibited a single print,
of Harlech Castle. It was to be his last contribution to
a photographic exhibition. By this time, Davison was
preoccupied with other matters.
Undoubtedly stemming from his humble origins,
Davison had a life-long interest in social reform. Al-
though more of a committed Christian Socialist than an
anarchist in the Marxist sense, he had been associated
with anarchist organisations for several years. In 1908,
George Eastman, considering him to be unsuited to the
cut and thrust of commerce, asked Davison to resign
as managing director of Kodak Ltd. Davison remained
on the board of the company for a few years but his
political activities had made his position untenable in
Eastman’s eyes. In 1912 he was forced to resign his
directorship, ending twenty-four years of association
with the company.
Davison moved to Harlech, North Wales, where his
splendid house became a focus for artistic and politi-
cal gatherings. As his health declined in the 1920s, he
spent more time at his home near Antibes in the south
of France, where he died in December, 1930.
Colin Harding
See also: The Linked Ring; Emerson, Peter Henry;
Naturalistic Photography; and Pictorialism.Further Reading
Coe, Brian, George Davison: Impressionist and Anarchist in Mike
Weaver, British Photography in the Nineteenth Century: The
Fine Art Tradition, Cambridge University Press, 1989.