Overview
F Lennard (Len) Casbolt was a stalwart of the Christchurch Photographic Society, helping to revive it in 1923 and serving as president for 31 years. His work was exhibited internationally, especially from the 1930s to the 1960s, and he remained active in photography into the 1980s. In 1971 he was awarded the title of Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society.
Casbolt tended to work in the style known as pictorialism, which often involved significant handworking of prints. This is evident in the different versions of some of his prints held by Te Papa. The acquisition in 2009 of Casbolt's work also included 281 original negatives, potentially allowing a study of the interpretations he made when printing his negatives.