Photojournalist who documented Canada in the 1950s and 1960s.
Rosemary Gilliat ((1919-08-22)22 August 1919 – (2004-12-10)10 December 2004) was an English photojournalist who traveled across Canada, documenting people and events for publications such as Weekend magazine and the National Film Board of Canada.
Biography
Early life and photographic training
Rosemary Gilliat was raised by her father on his tea plantation in Ceylon. She was educated in Geneva, Switzerland under the supervision of her grandmother and later, at age 16, in Germany.[1] Although she had an interest in photography since receiving her first camera, a Brownie, at age 8, it was while in Germany, in 1936–1937, that she secured her first work as a photographer, selling her images for book illustrations.[1] In 1938, she moved to London, England to live with her brother and was able to secure further photographic work, supplying images for various press agencies until being sent out of the city due to bombing in 1940.[1] After the Second World War, she continued working as a photographer in London and further developed her skills, with training in fashion and commercial photography from English photographer Bill Brandt. Her work appeared in magazines such as the Sunday Observer, and provided illustrations for history and architectural books.[2]
In 1952, Gilliat emigrated to Canada and settled in Ottawa.[1] This was considered an unusual choice at the time, particularly for a single woman.[3] In 1963, she married Mike Eaton, a hydrographer, and they moved to Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia in 1965.[3]
Though Gilliat is largely known for her photojournalism, she has produced notable other works created through her personal life or social network.[3] In Photography in Canada, 1839 - 1989: An Illustrated History, historians Sarah Bassnett and Sarah Parsons identify a number of 'remarkable' photographs taking during a cross-country camping trip in 1954.[3] Bassnett and Parsons note that these works came from a desire to protect family and community histories, rather than a to obtain success as a career artist.[3]
Gilliat's photographic career was curtailed by ill-health in 1963, when she developed a problem with her inner-ear.
Monk, Lorraine. The Female Eye / Coup d'oeil feminine. (Ottawa: National Film Board, Still Photography Division, 1975).
Payne, Carol. A Canadian Document / Un document Canadien (Ottawa: Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, 1999).
Payne, Carol. The Official Picture: The National Film Board of Canada's Still Photography Division and the Image of Canada (Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2013). ISBN978-0773541450
Eaton, Rosemary. "Hunting Pressures on Nova Scotia's Large Mammals" Nature Canada 4:23 (July–September 1975).
