Thomas A. Gray
# Thomas A. Gray

Thomas Anchestille Gray (born in Christiansted, Saint Croix, Danish West Indies [now US Virgin Islands]) 9 Nov 1828-Caracas, Venezuela, 1881) fue un reconocido fotógrafo en: the Danish West Indies (now US Virgin Islands); New York City, NY; Springfield, Massachusetts; New Orleans, Louisiana; Curacao; and, in the final year(s) before his death, Caracas, Venezuela. A collection of his photographs are held by the New York Public Library Schomburg Collection and one by the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D. C. Gray was a principal operator in the New York gallery of Mathew Brady, known for his photographs of the American Civil War. Tomó las fotografías de Humberto Briceño, colección Carlos Eduardo Misle.

## Vida y obras

Gray was reared on the island of Saint Croix. (His middle name, by which he was known, is an Anglicization of the Norman-French Anquetil. From the Doomsday book onward, the name Anquetil Gray is prominent in the British governing class.) As a child, Gray traveled far from his native tropics to be educated, from age 12 to 15, at the rigorous and prestigious Soro Academy in Denmark. Thus began his traveling life. In the St. Croix census of 1846, his occupation is recorded as "overseer, but has no position at present." In Dec. of 1849, at 22, he was identified as a West Indian planter on the ship's list upon his arrival from St. Croix into the Port of New York. On 25 Sept 1852, in St. Croix, at 23, he married his first wife, Mary Jane Woods, a fellow Crucian. The next year, the first of their four daughters was born. A son died in infancy. By 1855, Gray was living in Frederiksted, Saint Croix, Danish West Indies; the census recorded his occupation as merchant.

Fue maestro de fotografía de Pedro Ignacio Manrique, con quien se asoció. En su taller con Manrique salieron tarjetas de gabinete como el retrato de Tomasa Negretti y Eloísa Ramírez (colección María Fernanda Palacios). En Caracas fue donde se anunció como “fotógrafo cosmopolitano” y usó copias en papel a partir de negativos. Se casó con María C. Hernández. Antes de su muerte en Caracas, a los 52 años de edad, planeaba abrir en Chicago un taller fotográfico con Manrique.

