More and more of Anne Arundel county’s Colonial and early Federal homes are being restored, as evidenced by A. Aubrey Bodine's 1953 photograph "Cornhill Street in Annapolis." The image captures four houses that were originally the same height, with the house on the left having undergone a roof raising around 1900. This photograph is part of Bodine's extensive body of work documenting Maryland's landscapes and architecture.
Bodine, regarded as one of the finest pictorialists of the twentieth century, began his photographic career in 1923 covering stories for the Baltimore Sunday Sun. He traveled throughout Maryland, creating documentary pictures of occupations and activities, often with artistic design and lighting effects that exceeded typical newspaper standards. His work was exhibited in prestigious shows and museums, earning top honors in national and international salon competitions.
Bodine believed photography could be a creative discipline and studied art principles at the Maryland Institute College of Art. He experimented with tools, composing pictures in the viewfinder and manipulating negatives with dyes, intensifiers, pencil markings, and scraping to achieve desired effects. He added clouds photographically and made other elaborate manipulations. His rationale was that, like a painter, he selected features suiting his sense of mood, proportion, and design. He did not take a picture; he made a picture.
For more information about Bodine, a full biography by Harold A. Williams is available at www.aaubreybodine.com. The website also offers more than 6,000 photographs spanning Bodine's 47-year career, which can be viewed and ordered as reprints and note cards. The image "Cornhill Street in Annapolis (1953)" can be ordered by entering image ID# 48-539 on the website.
This photograph not only documents a specific moment in Annapolis history but also highlights the broader trend of preserving Colonial and early Federal architecture. Bodine's meticulous craftsmanship and artistic vision ensure that these images remain valuable records of Maryland's heritage, inspiring continued interest in restoration efforts.
