Edward Irving McPhail

Edward Irving McPhail, who was born in Toronto, Ontario in 1854, moved to Buffalo with his parents in 1892. His education included public and private schools in Rochester, including the Satterlee Collegiate Institute and two years at the University of Rochester, graduating in the class of 1880. He became a member of the Buffalo Camera Club in 1906, served as president in 1914, 1917, and 1918. He was associated in the Camera Club with Charles L. Peck (b. 1875). They became part of the Photo-Pictorialist movement elevating photography to an artform in the early 20th century. McPhail exhibited in "Annual Salons" of the Buffalo Camera Club held at the Albright Art Gallery in Buffalo, as well as exhibitions in Los Angeles, California; Portland, Maine; and London, England. Nocturne, featuring a woman playing the piano by candlelight, was exhibited in salons in "Buffalo, San Francisco, Portland, Bradford, and London, England...and published on [the] cover of Buffalo Arts Journal, May, 1925" issue--according to The Buffalo Artists' Register published in 1926; it is illustrated on page 250.