Buncombe County Special Collections
  • Home
  • About
    • About Us
    • About The Collection
    • Plan A Visit
  • HeardTell Blog
  • Search Our Collections
  • Resources for Researchers
  • Community-Based Archives
    • View Archives
    • Oral History Resources
    • Black AVL History Project
  • Become a Friend
    • Become a Friend
    • Board of Directors
  • Events
  • Contact
© 2021 Buncombe County Special Collections. All rights reserved.
Friday, December 20, 2013 / Published in Photograph Collection

Christmas Greetings, circa 1940, from Ignatius Brock

The staff of the NC Room offers you “best wishes for the season” in the words of Asheville personality

Ignatius Watsworth Brock (1866-1950), nationally known photographer and artist.

Old Earth its cycles still repeating

Brings us Christmas every year

Now to you we send a greeting

For the festive season here

With best wishes for the season,

We despatch this simple card,

And with yet a further reason

To convey our high regard.

Image

“N. Brock” worked steadily for almost fifty years as both a photographer and a painter. His first love was painting, but portraits were his bread and butter, and he won many prizes in photographic exhibits in this country and abroad.  His studio at the corner of Patton and Ashland Avenues was one of the most elaborate in Western North Carolina and considered ultra modern for the time.

Mrs. Bayard Wooten, one of North Carolina’s outstanding authorities on photography, once said of Brock, “He is the most talented artist that I have ever had the privilege of knowing, equally at home with paints or a camera. I consider that I personally owe him a greater debt than anyone who has influenced my life; his beautiful landscapes showed me what could be done pictorially with a camera. I consider N. Brock to be one of the great photographers of America. “

One of Brock’s prize winning portraits was this study of sixteen-year-old Miss Mary Mitchell Westall.

L947-11

“From the studio of N Brock, Asheville, NC.”

Mrs. Catherine O’Shea, daughter of the subject, tells us that this portrait won a prize for Brock’s Studio in a competition in Paris, France. Miss Westall was the daughter of a first cousin of Thomas Wolfe.

Posted by Betsy Murray

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Email
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...
Tagged under: Bayard Wooten, Christmas Wishes, Ignatius Watsworth Brock, Mary Mitchell Westall, Photographers, Portrait Photography

What you can read next

Buncombe County Literacy
There’s Nothing Like a Picnic
EVENT: “Made with the Simplest of Tools–Appalachian Rustic Style”

2 Comments to “ Christmas Greetings, circa 1940, from Ignatius Brock”

  1. Peggy Gardner says :Reply
    December 20, 2013 at 12:45 pm

    Thank you for this wonderful message, from my favorite photographer!

    Peggy

    Loading...
  2. Joanne Mauldin says :Reply
    December 20, 2013 at 1:31 pm

    Brock photographed Thomas Wolfe as a child.
    Brock is buried in West Cemetery in Weaverville.
    Wonderful photo of Mary Mitchell Westall. One smart woman.
    Thanks for this post!

    Loading...

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Search Our Site

Categories

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 4,490 other subscribers
TOP
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: