E. A. Hornel: From Camera to Canvas

E. A. Hornel (1864-1933) was a Scottish painter associated with the Glasgow School of artists and designers. From 1900, he lived and worked at Broughton House in Kirkcudbright (now cared for by the National Trust for Scotland), creating hugely expressive paintings of young women and girls, set in colourful landscapes.

The medium of photography was crucial in helping Hornel develop this successful painting style. This book explores how photography - particularly Japanese photography - helped Hornel establish the style upon which he built his fortune. Hornel visited Japan for the first time in 1893-94 where he collected numerous photographic prints. He used these prints to compose paintings that sold well on his return to Glasgow, laying the foundations for a way of working he followed for the rest of his life.

As well as examining how photography shaped the way Hornel painted, the contributors to this book dig deeper into the attitudes exposed by Hornel's photographic collection and his resulting paintings, revealing the colonial viewpoint, cultural appropriation and objectification of women inherent in much of Hornel's work.