Searching for Intimacies beyond the Notman Photographs: The Case of Amy Redpath Roddick

Type of resource
Authors/collaborators
Title
Searching for Intimacies beyond the Notman Photographs: The Case of Amy Redpath Roddick
Abstract
The authors offer "an intimate biography" of one of Montreal photographer William Notman's (1826-1891) frequent subjects: Amy Redpath Roddick (1868-1954). The authors’ claim that "Amy's life at 1065 Sherbrooke Street was both decadent and full of turmoil." She lived in one of the Square Mile's beautiful mansions yet navigated the complicated daily struggles that resulted from her father's early death, her mother's failing health, and the eventual murder-suicide of her mother and younger brother at their home in 1901. By adopting a case study approach to Amy Redpath Roddick, the authors consider how birth order, gender, sexuality, health and death shaped life for one of the Square Miles' central families, and argue that Amy employed deliberate strategies to project a trouble-free image to the "outside world" (photographed by Notman) while confining the intensity of the family's emotions within the intimate home space, thereby protecting the family from public exposure.
Book Title
Montreal’s Square Mile: The Making and Transformation of a Colonial Metropole
Place
Toronto, ON
Publisher
University of Toronto Press
Date
2024
Pages
179-215
Language
en
ISBN
978-1-4875-2569-9
Citation
Kirkland, Elizabeth, and Mary Anne Poutanen. “Searching for Intimacies beyond the Notman Photographs: The Case of Amy Redpath Roddick.” In Montreal’s Square Mile: The Making and Transformation of a Colonial Metropole, edited by Dimitry Anastakis and Don Nerbas, 179–215. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press, 2024.
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