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Modern Life and Times

Bayliss’s photographs of modern life were inextricably bound up with a belief in progress. This is manifest in numerous ways, including his documentation of a well-organised modern hospital and the fantastical images of Lawrence Hargrave’s pioneering experiments with flight. In 1894, Hargrave linked together four of his box kites, as depicted by Bayliss, and successfully flew a short distance, thus demonstrating that building a safe and stable flying machine was possible.

These photographs of modern citizens at work and at leisure were among the last taken by Bayliss before his sudden death at the age of 47.

Modern Life and Times