Renwick’s Portrait Studio was owned and operated by Archibald Albert “Archie” Renwick (1909–1984). He moved to Nelson in the late 1920s and graduated from Nelson High School. In his youth, Renwick worked at Renwick’s Transfer and Taxi on Vernon Street. In the 1930s, he started a grocery business called Renwick and Romano. He left Nelson in the early 1940s and graduated from a photography school in Chicago in 1942.
After obtaining his training, he returned to Nelson and opened Renwick’s Portrait Studio on 316 Baker Street. The studio moved to 577 Ward in 1958 and remained at this location until the business closed in 1984.
As a business that was active for more than forty years, Renwick’s Portrait Studio photographed thousands of Nelson residents. In addition to earning the confidence of the Kootenay Doukhobor community, the studio also photographed such notable residents as the Bishop of Nelson, Martin Michael Johnson (1899-1975), and Mayor Louis Maglio (1917-2007). Many of Renwick’s wedding photographs, in particular, were published in the Nelson Daily News.
Renwick’s Portrait Studio Collection was donated to Touchstones Nelson Museum of Art and History Archives on May 22, 1992. These photos are part of his work that Renwick took Nelson residents’ portraits at Renwick’s Portrait Studio during the 1970s.
A group portrait of an unspecified women’s bowling team from Nelson, May 1970
Doukhobor wedding portrait of John Kooznetsoff and Christine Posnikoff. The couple are both holding a bouquet of pink-and-cream flowers, April 25, 1970
Portrait of Leonard Maida. She is wearing a short white dress, white veil, and white gloves, holding a book and prayer beads, June 12, 1970
Wedding portrait of Edward Strelive and Marlene Verigen, September 5, 1970
Wedding portrait of Mr. Couch and Mrs Raymond. The married couple are flanked by the best man (to the left) and the maid of honor (to the right), November 28, 1970
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