Philip James Marchant b. 18 December 1846

  • Artist (Photographer)
Philip Marchant was a colonial photographer in South Australia. Skilled in various photographic processes, he produced a double portrait of himself while showing no signs of how he did it, in order to advertise his business which claimed to take portraits of squirming infants in one second.
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professional photographer, eldest son of John Adams Marchant (1820-1906), a miller and baker, and Thomazine née Board, was born on 18 December 1846 at Beer, Devon. He arrived with his parents in the Harwick in 1861 and began his photographic career in Weymouth Street, Adelaide, South Australia, in 1864, aged seventeen. Although ostensibly in partnership with his father at first, John Marchant appears to have taken no active part in the studio. Philip produced a very clever double self-portrait in about 1865 in which, still looking extremely youthful and wearing two different outfits, he presents himself as both photographer and client. As was noted at the time, no line of separation indicating the two negatives used is visible. In 1869 he was advertising carte-de-visite portraits at 12s a dozen, as well as moderate charges for photographs of 'Private & Public Buildings, Views &c.’

According to R.J. Noye, Marchant was probably Australia’s first commercial dry-plate manufacturer. He enjoyed considerable commercial success with the 'Adelaide Instantaneous Dry-Plate’ he began marketing about 1881. George Freeman of the Melbourne Photographic Company, Rundle Street, gave Marchant’s dry-plates a testimonial in the Evening Journal of August 1881 and they were well established by 1882 when Marchant was advertising them on the back of his photographic mounts, together with the boast that he took babies’ portraits in 'ONE SECOND’.

Marchant’s Adelaide studio remained at Weymouth Street until 1882, then he moved to Gawler. He lived in a luxurious residence at Mars Hill, above the town, and continued to take dry-plate photographs. In 1887-97 he worked at Latrobe, Tasmania, after which he returned to Gawler. He had married Mary Bowering in Adelaide on 1 January 1869; they had eight surviving children. After his death on 7 August 1910 the Marchant photographic business continued through his eldest surviving son, Samuel Bowering Marchant, up to the present-day Adelaide firm. From the late 1870s, Philip’s brother Edwin was also practising as a photographer in South Australia.

Writers:
Staff Writer
Date written:
1992
Last updated:
2011

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Sources
  • The Dictionary of Australian Artists: painters, sketchers, photographers and engravers to 1870
  • Photohistory of SA, Art Gallery of South Australia
  • The Dictionary of Australian Artists: painters, sketchers, photographers and engravers to 1870
Date modified Feb. 14, 2013, 12:27 p.m. Feb. 14, 2013, 12:24 p.m.
References [<ExternalResource: Davies, Alan & Stanbury, Peter (1985), 'The Mechanical Eye in Australia: Photography 1841-1900', Oxford University Press, Melbourne, Vic.>, <ExternalResource: Noye, R. J. (1968), 'Early South Australian Photography: The R.J. Noye Collection', Adelaide, SA.>, <ExternalResource: Statton, J. (1986), 'Biographical Index of South Australians 1836-1885', Adelaide, SA.>, <ExternalResource: (1869), South Australian Almanac and Directory.>, <ExternalResource: Noye, R.J. (2007) ‘Dictionary of South Australian Photography 1845-1915’, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide. CD-ROM.>, <ExternalResource: Photohistory SA Archived Website>, <ExternalResource: Robinson, Julie and Zagala, Maria (2007), 'A Century in Focus: South Australian Photography 1840s to 1940s', Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide.>] [<ExternalResource: Davies, Alan & Stanbury, Peter (1985), 'The Mechanical Eye in Australia: Photography 1841-1900', Oxford University Press, Melbourne, Vic.>, <ExternalResource: Noye, R. J. (1968), 'Early South Australian Photography: The R.J. Noye Collection', Adelaide, SA.>, <ExternalResource: Statton, J. (1986), 'Biographical Index of South Australians 1836-1885', Adelaide, SA.>, <ExternalResource: (1869), South Australian Almanac and Directory.>]
See alsos [<ExternalResource: 'IMAGE: Philip James Marchant, Double Self Portrait 1865, albumen silver carte-de-viste photograph, R.J. Noye Colllection.'.>, <ExternalResource: Art Gallery of South Australia>] [<ExternalResource: 'IMAGE: Philip James Marchant, Double Self Portrait 1865, albumen silver carte-de-viste photograph, R.J. Noye Colllection.'.>]