photographer, was one of the Anson Brothers photographic firm in Hobart with Henry Joseph Anson (1854-1890) and Richard Edwin Anson (1851-?). In a court case heard on 10 July 1877 Joshua Anson was indicted for theft of photographic goods from his employer, H.H. Baily of Hobart. He had been Baily’s apprentice since 1872. Found guilty, he was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment. He was apparently out of gaol by the end of 1878 when the Anson Brothers set themselves up in Samuel Clifford 's former studio and continued the landscape photographic work established by Clifford. Joshua Anson was certainly back in the profession by 19 July 1879, when the Tasmanian (p.11)reported that he had recently produced a series of 26 photographic views, including Cataract Gorge etc.
Anson Brothers exhibited in the 1880 Melbourne International Exhibition: Tasmania – Class 12 – Photographic Proofs and Apparatus – Anson Brothers, Hobart – no.29 Framed photographs – Scenery and portraits. They won a silver medal at the 1883-84 Calcutta International Exhibition and another at the 1888-89 Melbourne Centennial International Exhibition, when they exhibited in the Tasmanian Court (Class 12 Photographic proofs and apparatus) cat. no. 43 – photography ( Official Record p. 566). They also won a silver medal in Paris in 1889. Their photographs of Tasmania from an album held Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts inscribed 'Mrs A. Bennett, Sydney, NSW’ are: Silver Falls, Fern Tree Gully, Tasmania ; Hobart from the Glebe ; Hobart from the Bay ; Government House, Hobart . Anson Brothers produced large format photographs up to 15 ins by 22 ins. J. W. Beattie , who was employed in Anson Brothers’ studio, bought them out in 1891.
- Writers:
- Staff Writer
- Date written:
- 1999
- Last updated:
- 2011
