After Notman: Montreal Views a Century Apart

Bruce Grainger is head of the Public Services Department, Macdonald
Library, McGill University.

This book of “rephotography”—that is, the art of photographing the
exact same site at a later time period—is based on rephotographing
over 30 photographs from the Notman Photographic Archives at
Montreal’s McCord Museum. Maciejewski describes his painstaking
efforts to duplicate the same site, same frame, same position, same
angle, same lighting, and so on as in the original archival photograph.
His photographs show such modern differences as changes in clothing,
horse-drawn versus modern vehicles, alterations in structures, and the
construction of new buildings that in some cases obscure nearly the
entire view of the original photographs.

Most of the sites chosen are Montreal landmarks such as Notre Dame
Basilica, Mount Royal, McGill University, public squares, and the
waterfront, but a few elegant interior scenes are also included.
Maciejewski’s “Notes on the Plates” are interesting and reflect
his passion to duplicate the original photograph exactly (in this he has
succeeded admirably). In “Finding the Right Vantage Point,” he
illustrates the method used to find the precise place used by the
original photographer. All text is in both English and French.

In addition to the photographer’s introduction describing his
approach to the project, there are informative essays by Nora Hague and
Martha Langford. Langford discusses rephotography as evidenced in this
book as well as an earlier American project that duplicated
topographical photographs from the 19th-century American West. Hague,
archivist at the Notman Photographic Archives, provides an interesting
account of the career of William Notman, the later history of his
company, and the establishment of the archives at the McCord Museum. The
photographs in this book are a pleasure to view and will stimulate the
viewer to contemplate the changes in urban development that have
occurred in the past century, not only in Montreal but in the country as
a whole.