John Athill Frith (1835-1907) was one of Bermuda?s first professional black photographers. He was hugely talented and inventive, yet, most Bermudians have never heard of him.

The Bermuda National Gallery (BNG) hopes to rectify this with its first exhibition of Mr. Frith?s work opening on October 1.

?This exhibition, comprised of original and reproduction prints from the Bermuda Archives and private collections, provides a unique historical record of the Island and its people in the late 19th century as well as an insight into the techniques of a Bermudian photographic pioneer,? said BNG director Laura Gorham.

For most Bermudian merchants in the late 1860s and 1870s photography was only a money-making side business.

For Mr. Frith photography was a passion and a calling.

?Frith was the only black photographer working in Bermuda in the 19th century, that we know of, and for most of his career he was the only photographer in St. George?s,? said BNG curator David Mitchell. ?By the turn of the century though, there were three other photographers working in St. George?s. Unlike other photographers working on the Island, Frith never diversified into selling dry goods, only selling frames.?

Many of the photos in the exhibition are taken from a private album of tintypes. Unfortunately, many of the pictures in the album are unnamed.

?There are all sorts of people in the album, both black and white,? said Mr. Mitchell. ?We don?t know where the album came from. It is a mix of people which I find fascinating for this time period.?

Some of Frith?s photographs also document important events in Bermuda?s history including the opening of the Causeway in St. George?s and Princess Louise? visit to Bermuda.

Details of Mr. Frith?s background are sketchy. He was probably named after James Athill, who was a prominent black ship builder.

?Mr. Athill had a big ship building business on Penno?s Wharf in St. George?s,? said Mr. Mitchell. ?He employed people and he owned slaves. He was probably a friend of Thomas, John?s father.?

Mr. Frith?s studio in St. George?s was probably purchased for him by his father, who was a successful cabinet maker. Although Thomas Frith couldn?t read or write, he owned several properties in St. George?s. John Frith, himself owned, possibly, five houses one on Wellington Road, St. George?s called Cuba Lodge.

In 1870, John Frith married Laura V. Bruce of Washington D.C. There are no known children from the union. So far, no photos of Mr. Frith himself or his wife have been found.

?We get a hazy picture of the man,? said Mr. Mitchell. ?We want to know where he trained, what he looked like, was he in Cuba passing as white. When he was in Cuba there was still slavery. Slavery wasn?t abolished until the 1880s in Cuba. What was he doing there? He advertised himself as having ?Spanish Royal Privilege? which means that he was recognised as a competent professional within the Spanish Main.?

The Bermuda National Gallery is hoping that the exhibition will help to shed new light on Mr. Frith?s life and work, and possibly bring more examples of his photography to light.

?In ten years time when this exhibition is repeated hopefully we can answer some of the questions we have,? said Mr. Mitchell. ?Currently, there are 37 Frith images and three are in private collections.?

What does emerge from Mr. Frith?s work is a rare glimpse of Bermudian life after emancipation.

?This story goes from just before emancipation right into the 20th century,? said Mr. Mitchell. ?It is when Bermuda?s development of its tourism industry takes place. We have a picture of black and white businessmen working alongside each other. This happened much more in St. George?s than in Hamilton.

?There was also this promise of what emancipation should be. It was a promise that was never fulfilled. It was a promise that was eroded, and eventually taken away.?

One of the first records of Mr. Frith?s studio was an advertisement that appeared in in January, 1866. The offerings of Frith?s new photography salon included, among other things, tintypes for lockets and the hugely popular carte de visites, small visiting card portraits usually around 4 X 2 in size.

?The process, patented by a French photographer, Andre Disderi in 1854 involved taking a number of photographs, usually eight on one plate which greatly reduced production costs,? said Mr. Mitchell. ?The low cost had set off a craze for the cards and some European photographers were reportedly making $50,000 a year producing carte de visites, an unheard fortune at the time.

?Frith charged ten shillings for half a dozen cards, a price 40 percent above current British prices at the time, reflecting the cost of importing his materials as well as a healthy profit margin.?

Some of Mr. Frith?s photographs have a stamp on the back bearing his name and an address in Jamaica. The St. George?s studio seems tacked onto the bottom of the stamp on the back of some photographs.

?It implies that he had established a studio in Jamaica before returning to Bermuda in 1866,? said Mr. Mitchell. ?It may have even been possible that he ran both studios simultaneously.?

Mr. Frith was a great experimenter and entered several photo competitions in the United States.

?Late in his career Frith invented a method of taking photographs by moonlight, and created some of his most beautiful work by this method,? said Mr. Mitchell. ?The artist Edward James, who produced a series of night paintings, may have influenced him to attempt this process.?

How Mr. Frith took photographs by moonlight with equipment from his era is still a mystery.

?Frith also mentions ?double cards of the same person in two positions at the same picture? but there are no known surviving examples of his, of this type of carte de visite,? said Mr. Mitchell.

?By experimenting with different forms of photography, Frith was on the cutting edge of what was then a relatively new technology,? said Ms Gorham. ?We would like to thank Karla Hayward and the Bermuda Archives for providing many of the Frith images on display.

?We are especially grateful for the support of our sponsor, the Bank of Bermuda Foundation, which has enabled us to present a series of exhibitions that we believe will appeal to the whole community.?

Mr. Mitchell will give a lunch-time lecture about Mr. Frith on October 5 starting at 12.30 p.m. Admission is free. On October 13, the new season of PartnerRe Lectures begins with a lecture on Early Photography by Dr. Anne McCauley, who is the David H. McAlpin Professor of the History of Photography and Modern Art at Princeton University. Tickets for the 6 p.m. lecture are $15 ($5 for members).

The Frith exhibition continues until January 6 is sponsored by the Bank of Bermuda Foundation and is part of Bermuda?s Quincentennial celebrations.