Two Brothers Goulart: Photography In New Bedford And The Azores

Also included in the exhibit will be information and objects from the museum's collection, which portray the long-standing relations between the Azores and the City of New Bedford.

The two brothers Goulart, Manuel and Jose, were born in the village of Flamengos on the island of Fayal. They were the sons of Manuel Silveira Goulart Cardoso, a contractor, and Clara Emilia da Silva, a baker.

Their lives, their careers, and their photographic works were intertwined, although for most of their professional lives, the brothers were separated physically by the Atlantic Ocean. Their families have preserved memories of kind, gentle men. Fortunately, the families of both men retained not only their memories of these men, but also a considerable body of their photographic works.

Through the generosity of the family of Dr Joseph Goulart, Manuel's only child, the photographic legacy of Manuel Goulart is preserved in the collection of the Old Dartmouth Historical Society-New Bedford Whaling Museum. In Horta, Fayal, Augusto Goulart Sequeira resides in the home and studio of his grandfather, Jose Goulart, and preserves his entire collection, a portion of which he had shared for this exhibit.

Manuel Goulart was born February 13, 1866, the first of four sons. In his reminiscences, which he wrote in 1943 at the insistence of his son, the dentist Dr Joseph Goulart, Manuel recalled that his curiosity about photography went back to the age of nine.

A visit to the photographer, to take a picture for his aunt in New Bedford, convinced him that the photographer "worked magic in league with the devil with his black box, speaking words of secrecy into it to create the image." Years later, he realized the magic words were the photographer's counting the time of the exposure.

His curiosity fostered photographic experiments with whatever materials were at hand, including a lens from a sea captain's telescope. Soon he had fashioned for himself his first camera, proving to himself that it was not the whispered words and invocations of the evil spirits that made photographs, but chemicals and chemical processes.

Manuel built a "laboratory," or darkroom, in the ground floor of the family home, and soon was joined on these experiments by his younger brother Jose. Later Manuel recalled that his brother teased him that the darkroom had formerly housed another important personage: the family donkey.

Manuel's first photographic studio was a shed built in the yard of the family home, constructed of second-hand lumber and glass doors left from his father's construction business. His good friend, Jose Martins da Cunha, painted a detailed brightly-colored backdrop of scenery for the studio. The backdrop was the pride and joy of the artist, although he noted that for photographic purposes, it would have been better painted in shades of gray, because the colors did not transfer well to black and white photography.

After finishing his schooling, Manuel worked for his father as a builder, learning a skill which he would continue to use throughout his lifetime. His brother Jose also worked for his father after finishing his education, following the family practice enforced by their mother.

Each child worked to support the expenses of educating the next younger child, assuring each child could complete his schooling. While working for his father, Manuel continued his experiments with photography. When commercially prepared dry-plates became available, about the year 1885, Manuel obtained some from Lisbon. For the first time, he made photographs which satisfied his ambitions, and so determined to make photography his future profession.

In 1889, Manuel set sail for New Bedford on the Moses B. Tower with his childhood friend, Martins da Cunha. His intention was to learn photography, and to return to his homeland to practice the profession. In New Bedford, Manuel accepted a position utilizing his skill as a woodworker, making frames at Charles Taber and Company, while he learned English.

At the end of two years in New Bedford, Manuel traveled North to Boston and presented himself to a fellow countryman, Antonio Maciel, who found him a position in the studio of Henry Barrett in nearby Cambridge. There he stayed for three or four months, learning the business of photography. Upon returning to New Bedford, Manuel Goulart established his own studio at 109 South Sixth Street, with the assistance of credit arranged by Maciel. The photographic studio was moved across the street to 110 in 1905 after Manuel completed the house he built there for his family, utilizing the construction skills he developed working for his father.

In 1895, Manuel returned to the Azores for the first time, leaving his New Bedford studio in the care of his friend Martins da Cunha. Goulart went equipped with a stereo camera and plates, intending to make a collection of pictures of the homeland which could be sold to Portuguese people wherever they resided.

Four years younger than Manuel, Jose was, by the time of Manuel's return, employed by his father and actively pursuing his interests in music. A clarinet player with the Filomonica Artista Flamenquense, Jose was also a founder, in 1892, and a member of the orchestra "Joao de Deus," made up of Azoreans and employees of the Western Union Telegraph.

Traveling with his brother on the photographic excursion through the islands, Jose renewed his interest in the art of photography. Although his travels with his brother were interrupted in Sao Jorge, Jose again became interested in the possibility of photography as a career. The next year he traveled to New Bedford, where he remained for nearly a year, to study the art of photography with his brother Manuel.

In 1900, Jose opened his own photography shop at No. 3 Rua de S. Paulo in the city of Horta. Two years later, he purchased, and moved his studio, to the house at No. 9 on the street now called Comendador Ernesto Rebelo.

Upon his marriage to Helena Cordeiro later that year, he moved his residence there as well; it is the house in which his grandson lives today. In 1906, he adopted the name "Galeria Fotografica" in partnership with Jose Luis de Lemos, a friend and artist, a relationship similar to that of his brother, Manuel, and his friend Martins da Cunha. Jose specialized in the fine portrait photography, while also taking industrial images and recording the buildings and scenery of the countryside.

Each man lived a full life; Manuel died at the age of 80 in 1946, and Jose died at the age of 85 in 1955. Both photographers succeeded throughout their lives in capturing in pictures the beauty of their native land and in developing the art of portrait photography.

The pictures which are included in the exhibit represent a sampling of the works of both photographers. The images are gathered from a variety of sources: the collection of the Old Dartmouth Historical Society-New Bedford Whaling Museum, members of the Goulart family, and from private photograph collectors. The business of both men was principally portrait photography.

The family of Manuel Goulart preserved material of a personal nature as well as a selection of his scenic photography; there is no indication that he took industrial photography, either in the family collection or in that of the Old Dartmouth Historical Society. A large portion of his business appears to have been making and merchandising of the stereo cards produced from his Azorean trip in 1895, "Views and Costumes of the Azores, Madeira and Portugal."

The family of Jose Goulart preserved his entire studio and its contents: portrait photography, industrial photography of the sort used for advertising, and scenic views, perhaps sold to visitors to the islands. The selection here and in the exhibit is drawn from the general sampling sent to this country by his grandson.

The styles of the two men are similar, as are their subjects. Pictures attributed to Jose are fairly certain, for they are printed from negatives taken from his studio. Pictures attributed to Manuel are less certain because there is evidence in Manuel's collection that he received pictures from his brother Jose. When pictures are taken from the series of stereo cards copyrighted by Manuel Goulart in 1897 or appear to be images from that collection identified in his catalogue of views, they are ascribed to Manuel.

When the photographer is uncertain, but the photograph comes from the collection of Manuel's family, they are designated "From the Collection of" although they may, in fact, have been taken by Manuel.

Taken together, the works of the two brothers Goulart represent a view of turn-of-the-century photography which reflects the growing interest in fine portrait photography, and in photography of scenic views. More significantly, their photography is evidence of the use of the art in a new way particular to emigrant communities -- as a means of keeping alive the spirit and image of the homeland.

The pictures also served as a means of communicating change in the physical environment and in social networks. Today these same pictures, presented here, have renewed the ties between New Bedford and the Azores, while providing documentation for historians of a time past and a place changed.

All labels in this exhibit will be written in English and in Portuguese.

The Old Dartmouth Historical Society-New Bedford Whaling Museum, at 18 Johnny Cake Hill, is open daily 9 am to 5 pm. Admission is $4.50.