Lewis Carroll

b. 1832 — d. 1898

Lewis Carroll (Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) British, 1832-1898 Known primarily as the author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1872), the enigmatic Lewis Carroll was also a mathematician, poet, novelist, and photographer. A lifelong teacher and writer of children's books, it is perhaps no surprise to find the photography of children his principal focus. Born in Daresbury, Cheshire, and educated at Rugby and Oxford, Carroll lectured in mathematics for 25 years at the prestigious Christ Church College at Oxford. His best known photographic subject is probably the daughter of the dean of Christ Church, Alice Liddell, his model for the heroine of the Alice adventures. Carroll's photographic activity took place largely from 1856-80. At his death he left some 3,000 negatives, among them portraits and tableaux of children, along with portraits of various members of his cultured circle: Lord Tennyson, Ellen Terry, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and Michael Faraday. Carroll's fine images of children are noted for their exceptional combination of innocence and revelation, leaving many viewers guessing even to the present day as to his ultimate motives and intentions. T.W.F.