S. P. Andrew

Stanley Polkington Andrew (1879 - 1964) was regarded as one of New Zealand’s finest 'society' portrait photographers of the first half of the 20^th Century. He emigrated to New Zealand in 1901 from the town of Sherborne in Dorset with the intention of becoming a sheep farmer. However, those plans were abandoned soon after arrival when he discovered that Auckland’s premier studio photographer, William Bartlett, was advertising for an assistant. Andrew had previously worked in his brother’s photographic studio in Oxfordshire and he decided to take the opportunity to continue in the craft rather than face the uncertainties of farming.

After a visit back to the UK in 1905, Andrew went into partnership with his former employer, then moved to Wellington to open the Bartlett & Andrew studio at 10 Willis Street. Andrew managed the Wellington branch of the firm while William Bartlett remained in Auckland. In 1922 Andrew bought out his business partner and operated under his own name (always given professionally as S. P. Andrew) until his retirement in the mid-1950s. During that time he captured generations of Wellington families, politicians, lawyers, writers and artists as well as visiting dignitaries and royalty. His portraits were characterised by the use of special lenses which introduced a deliberate soft 'aberration' which gave the subject a flatteringly near-perfect complexion, extra-wide apartures giving a very narrow depth of field and printing on selenium & gold-toned paper. Following his retirement, Andrew remained living at his home in Khandallah until his death in September 1964 at the age of 85.

In 1936, the photographer gifted this set of portrait photographs of notable New Zealanders (most of whom had a literary connection) to the Wellington Central Public Library. At the time the library was located on the corner of Victoria, Wakefield and Mercer streets (today the site of the curved pink-coloured WCC administration building).  They were placed on public exhibition for a short period before being stored within the library's collections of photographs and manuscripts.