Art by Auguste Rodin 1916 Boston Small Maynard White

American photographer (1852–1934)

Gertrude Käsebier
Portrait by Adolf de Meyer, c.  1900
Born	Gertrude Stanton (1852-05-eighteen)May 18, 1852 Des Moines, Iowa, U.S.
Died	Oct 12, 1934(1934-x-12) (aged 82) New York City, New York, U.S.
Signature

Gertrude Käsebier (née Stanton; May 18, 1852 – October 12, 1934) was an American photographer. She was known for her images of maternity, her portraits of Native Americans, and her promotion of photography as a career for women.

Biography [edit]

Early life (1852–1873) [edit]

Käsebier was born Gertrude Stanton on May 18, 1852, in Fort Des Moines (now Des Moines, Iowa). Her mother was Muncy Boone Stanton and her father was John Westward. Stanton. He transported a saw mill to Gilt, Colorado, at the start of the State highway's Peak Golden Rush of 1859, and he prospered from the building blast that followed. In 1860, 8-twelvemonth-quondam Stanton traveled with her mother and younger brother to join her male parent in Colorado. That aforementioned yr, her begetter was elected the first mayor of Golden, which was and so the capital of the Colorado Territory.^[ane]

Her begetter died all of a sudden in 1864 and later on the family unit moved to Brooklyn, New York, where her mother, Muncy Boone Stanton, opened a boarding house to support the family.^[two] From 1866 to 1870, Stanton lived in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, with her maternal grandmother and she attended the Bethlehem Female Seminary (later called Moravian College). Little else is known about her early years.

Becoming a photographer (1874–1897) [edit]

Portrait of the Lensman,
a manipulated self-portrait past Gertrude Käsebier

On her twenty-second altogether, in 1874, she married twenty-eight-yr-sometime Eduard Käsebier, a financially comfortable and socially well-placed man of affairs in Brooklyn.^[1] The couple soon had three children, Frederick William (1875–1935), Gertrude Elizabeth (1878–?), and Hermine Mathilde (1880–?). In 1884, they moved to a farm in New Durham, New Jersey, for a healthier environment in which to raise their children.

Käsebier after wrote that she was miserable throughout almost of her marriage. She said, "If my husband has gone to Heaven, I want to go to Hell. He was terrible... Goose egg was ever good plenty for him."^[i] At that time, divorce was considered scandalous, and the two remained married while living dissever lives after 1880. This unhappy situation afterwards served as an inspiration for one of her almost strikingly titled photographs – two constrained oxen, titled Yoked and Muzzled – Matrimony (c. 1915).

In spite of their differences, her married man supported her financially when she began to attend art school at the historic period of 37, a fourth dimension when nigh women of her mean solar day were well-settled in their social positions. Käsebier never indicated what motivated her to study art, but she devoted herself to it wholeheartedly. Over the objections of her husband, in 1889, she moved the family dorsum to Brooklyn to attend the newly established Pratt Institute of Art and Design full-time. I of her teachers at that place was Arthur Wesley Dow, a highly influential artist and art educator. He later helped promote her career by writing about her work and by introducing her to other photographers and patrons.

While at Pratt, Käsebier learned about the theories of Friedrich Fröbel, a nineteenth-century scholar whose ideas about learning, play, and pedagogy led to the evolution of the first kindergarten. His concepts almost the importance of maternity in child development profoundly influenced Käsebier, and many of her after photographs emphasized the bond betwixt mother and child.^[ane] She was too influenced by the Arts and crafts motion.^[3]

She formally studied drawing and painting, but she quickly became obsessed with photography. Like many art students of that time, Käsebier decided to travel to Europe to further her educational activity. She began 1894 by spending several weeks studying the chemistry of photography in Germany, where she also was able to leave her daughters with in-laws in Wiesbaden. She spent the rest of the year in France, studying with American painter Frank DuMond.^[1]

In 1895, she returned to Brooklyn. In office because her hubby had become quite ill and her family unit's finances were strained, she determined to become a professional photographer. A year later, she became an assistant to Brooklyn portrait lensman Samuel H. Lifshey, where she learned how to run a studio and aggrandize her knowledge of printing techniques. Conspicuously, notwithstanding, by this fourth dimension, she already had an extensive mastery of photography. Only one year later, she exhibited 150 photographs at the Boston Photographic camera Club, an enormous number for an individual artist at that time. These same photographs were shown in February 1897 at the Pratt Institute.^[ane]

The success of these shows led to another at the Photographic Social club of Philadelphia in 1897. She also lectured on her work there and encouraged other women to have up photography as a career, saying, "I earnestly advise women of artistic tastes to railroad train for the unworked field of modern photography. Information technology seems to be especially adapted to them, and the few who have entered information technology are meeting a gratifying and profitable success."^[1]

Gertrude Käsebier and the Sioux [edit]

In 1898, Käsebier watched Buffalo Beak'south Wild West troupe parade past her 5th Artery studio in New York Metropolis, toward Madison Foursquare Garden. Her memories of affection and respect for the Lakota people inspired her to send a letter to William "Buffalo Neb" Cody requesting permission to photograph the members of the Sioux tribe traveling with the evidence in her studio.^[4] Cody and Käsebier were similar in their abiding respect for Native American culture and maintained friendships with the Sioux. Cody apace approved Käsebier's request and she began her projection on Sunday morning, April 14, 1898. Käsebier'due south project was purely artistic and her images were not made for commercial purposes. They never were used in Buffalo Bill's Wild Due west programme booklets or promotional posters.^[five] Käsebier took classic photographs of the Sioux while they were relaxed. Chief Atomic number 26 Tail and Chief Flying Hawk were amid Käsebier's almost challenging and revealing portraits.^[6] Käsebier's photographs are preserved at the National Museum of American History's Photographic History Drove at the Smithsonian Institution.^[seven]

Käsebier's session with Iron Tail was her only recorded story: "Preparing for their visit to Käsebier's photography studio, the Sioux at Buffalo Neb's Wild West Camp met to distribute their finest clothing and accessories to those chosen to be photographed."^[8] Käsebier admired their efforts, but desired to, in her own words, photo a "existent raw Indian, the kind I used to see when I was a child", referring to her early years in Colorado and on the Nifty Plains. Käsebier selected one Indian, Iron Tail, to arroyo for a photo without regalia. "He did not object. The resulting photo was exactly what Käsebier had envisioned: a relaxed, intimate, quiet, and cute portrait of the human, devoid of decoration and finery, presenting himself to her and the camera without barriers." Several days later, Chief Fe Tail was given the photograph and he immediately tore information technology up, stating that it was too dark.^[9] Käsebier photographed him once more, this fourth dimension in his full regalia. Fe Tail was an international celebrity. He appeared with his fine regalia equally the atomic number 82 with Buffalo Bill at the Artery des Champs-Élysées in Paris, French republic, and the Colosseum of Rome. Iron Tail was a superb showman and disliked the photograph of him relaxed, simply Käsebier chose it as the frontispiece for an article in the 1901 Everybody'south Magazine. Käsebier believed all the portraits were a "revelation of Indian grapheme", showing the strength and private character of the Native Americans in "new phases for the Sioux".^[10]

In her photograph of Chief Flying Militarist, his glare is the near startling epitome among those portraits past Käsebier, quite opposite to the others who were shown as relaxed, smiling, or making a "noble pose". Flight Hawk was a combatant in well-nigh all of the fights with United states of america troops during the Smashing Sioux State of war of 1876. He fought along with his cousin Crazy Horse and his brothers, Kick Acquit and Black Fox 2, in the Battle of the Little Large Horn in 1876. He was present at the death of Crazy Equus caballus in 1877 and the Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890.^[11] In 1898, when the portrait was taken, Flying Hawk was new to show business and he was unable to hide his anger and frustration about having to imitate battle scenes from the Neat Plains Wars for Buffalo Pecker's Wild W in gild to escape the constraints and poverty of the Indian reservation. Soon, Flying Hawk learned to appreciate the benefits of a Show Indian with Buffalo Neb's Wild Westward. Flying Hawk regularly circulated show grounds in total regalia and sold his "cast card" flick postcards for a penny to promote the bear witness and to supplement his meager income. After the death of Atomic number 26 Tail on May 28, 1916, Flying Militarist was chosen as his successor by all of the braves of Buffalo Neb's Wild W and he led the gala processions as the head Main of the Indians.^[12]

Summit of her career (1898–1909) [edit]

Over the adjacent decade, she took dozens of photographs of the Indians in the prove. Some of those photographs go her nearly famous images.

Dissimilar Edward Curtis, a photographer who was her contemporary, Käsebier focused more on the expression and individuality of the person than their costumes and community. While Curtis is known to take added elements to his photographs to emphasize his personal vision, Käsebier did the contrary, sometimes removing genuine ceremonial articles from a sitter to concentrate on the face or stature of the person.^[one]

In July 1899, Alfred Stieglitz published five of Käsebier's photographs in Photographic camera Notes, declaring her "across dispute, the leading artistic portrait photographer of the mean solar day".^[thirteen] Her rapid rise to fame was noted past lensman and critic Joseph Keiley, who wrote "a year ago Käsebier's proper noun was practically unknown in the photographic world... Today that names stands first and unrivaled...".^[14] That aforementioned year her print of "The Manger" sold for $100, the most e'er paid for a photograph at that time.^[15]

In 1900, Käsebier connected to gather accolades and professional person praise. In the itemize for the Newark (Ohio) Photography Salon, she was chosen "the foremost professional lensman in the United states".^[15] In recognition of her artistic accomplishments and her stature, later that year, Käsebier was one of the beginning ii women elected to United kingdom'south Linked Band (the other was British pictorialist Carine Cadby).

The next twelvemonth, Charles H. Caffin published his landmark book Photography as a Fine Art and devoted an entire chapter to the piece of work of Käsebier ("Gertrude Käsebier and the Artistic Commercial Portrait").^[16] Due to demand for her artistic opinions in Europe, Käsebier spent most of the year in Uk and France visiting with F. Kingdom of the netherlands Solar day and Edward Steichen.

In 1902, Stieglitz included Käsebier as a founding member of the Photo-Secession. The following twelvemonth, Stieglitz published six of her images in the first outcome of Camera Piece of work. They were accompanies by highly complementary articles by Charles Caffin and Frances Benjamin Johnston.^[17] In 1905 half dozen more of her images were published in Camera Work, and the following twelvemonth, Stieglitz presented an exhibition of Käsebier photographs (along with those of Clarence H. White) at his Lilliputian Galleries of the Photo-Secession.

The strain of balancing her professional person life with her personal ane began to take a toll on Käsebier at this time. The stress was exacerbated by her husband's decision to move to Oceanside, Long Island, which had the effect of distancing her from the New York artistic center. In response, she returned to Europe where, through connections provided by Steichen, she was able to photo the reclusive Auguste Rodin.

When Käsebier returned to New York an unexpected disharmonize with Stieglitz developed. Käsebier'due south stiff involvement in the commercial side of photography, driven past her demand to support her husband and family, was directly at odds with Stieglitz'due south idealistic and antimaterialistic nature. The more Käsebier enjoyed commercial success, the more Stieglitz felt she was going against what he felt a true artist should emulate.^[1] In May 1906, Käsebier joined the Professional Photographers of New York, a newly formed organization that Stieglitz saw as standing for everything he disliked: commercialism and the selling of photographs commercially rather than for love of the art. After this, he began distancing himself from Käsebier. Their relationship never regained its previous condition of common creative admiration.

Professional independence (1910–1934) [edit]

Eduard Käsebier died in 1910, finally leaving his married woman costless to pursue her interests equally she saw fit. She connected to follow a split course from that of Stieglitz and helped to constitute the Women'south Professional person Photographers Clan of America. In turn, Stieglitz began to publicly speak confronting her contemporary work, although he nonetheless thought enough of her earlier images to include 22 of them in the landmark exhibition of pictorialists at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery after that year.

The next year, Käsebier was shocked past a highly critical attack made by her onetime gentleman, Joseph T. Keiley, that was published in Stieglitz'due south Camera Work. Why Keiley all of a sudden inverse his stance of her is unknown, but Käsebier suspected that Stieglitz had put him up to it.^[1]

Office of Käsebier'south alienation from Stieglitz was due to his stubborn resistance to the thought of gaining financial success from creative photography. If he felt a buyer truly appreciated the fine art, he often sold original prints by Käsebier and others at far less than their market value and, when he did sell prints, he took many months before paying the photographer of the piece of work. Later on several years of protesting these practices, in 1912, Käsebier became the beginning member to resign from the Photograph-Secession.

In 1916, Käsebier helped Clarence H. White found the group Pictorial Photographers of America,^[18] which was seen by Stieglitz equally a straight claiming to his artistic leadership. By this time, nevertheless, Stieglitz's tactics had offended many of his quondam friends, including White and Robert Demachy, and a year later, he was forced to disband the Photograph-Secession.

During this time, many young women starting out in photography sought out Käsebier, both for her photographic artistry and for inspiration as an contained woman. Amongst those who were inspired past Käsebier and who went on to have successful careers of their own were Clara Sipprell, Consuelo Kanaga, Laura Gilpin, Florence Maynard, and Imogen Cunningham.

Throughout the late 1910s and most of the 1920s, Käsebier continued to expand her portrait business, taking photographs of many important people of the time, including Robert Henri, John Sloan, William Glackens, Arthur B. Davies, Mabel Dodge, and Stanford White. In 1924, her daughter, Hermine Turner, joined her in her portrait business.

In 1929, Käsebier gave upward photography altogether and liquidated the contents of her studio. That aforementioned yr, she was given a major solo exhibition at the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences.

Käsebier died on October 12, 1934, at the dwelling of her daughter, Hermine Turner.

A major drove of her work is held by the University of Delaware.^[xix]

Gallery [edit]

• 

  Yoked and Muzzled Marriage, c. 1915

• 

  Dorothy, c. 1900

• 

  Indian Principal, c. 1901

• 

  The Manger, c. 1899

• 

  The Red Homo, 1903

References [edit]

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f thousand h i j} Barbara 50. Michaels (1992). Gertrude Käsebier, The Photographer and Her Photographs. NY: Abrams. pp. 13–14, 26, 28–xxx, 42, 44, 46–threescore.
2. ^ Bronwyn A. Due east. Griffith (2001). Ambassadors of Progress: American Women Photographers in Paris, 1900–1901. Hanover: Academy Press of New England. pp. 157–158.
3. ^ Weston J. Naef (2004), Photographers of Genius at the Getty, Getty Publications, p. 76.
4. ^ Delaney, "Buffalo Bill'due south Wild West Warriors: A Photographic History by Gertrude Käsebier", Smithsonian National Museum of American History (2007), at p. 13.
5. ^ Delaney, "Buffalo Beak'southward Wild Due west Warriors: A Photographic History by Gertrude Käsebier", Smithsonian National Museum of American History (2007).
6. ^ "Käsebier seated the Indians i by one in her posing chair, and treated the Sioux performers as friends. While on the road with Buffalo Bill's Wild W, they were treated like celebrities." Delaney, "Buffalo Bill's Wild West Warriors: A Photographic History by Gertrude Käsebier", Smithsonian National Museum of American History (2007), at p. 16.
7. ^ Delaney, "Buffalo Beak'south Wild Due west Warriors: A Photographic History past Gertrude Käsebier", Smithsonian National Museum of American History (2007), cover folio.
8. ^ Delaney, "Buffalo Beak'due south Wild West Warriors: A Photographic History by Gertrude Käsebier", Smithsonian National Museum of American History (2007), at p. 16.
9. ^ Delaney, 2007 p. 16
10. ^ Delaney, "Buffalo Nib'south Wild West Warriors: A Photographic History past Gertrude Käsebier", Smithsonian National Museum of American History (2007), p. 17.
11. ^ Grand.I. McCreight, "Firewater and Forked Tongues: A Sioux Chief Interprets U.S. History", (1947), p. 123-124, 131-139.
12. ^ Chief Flying Hawk replaces Chief Iron Tail who was stricken and died a fortnight ago. He was chosen by all of the braves yesterday. Boston Globe, June 12, 1916.
13. ^ Alfred Stieglitz (July 1899). "Our Illustrations". Camera Notes. iii (1): 24.
14. ^ Joseph T. Keily (January 1899). "The Philadelphia Salon: Its Origin and Influence". Camera Notes. 1 (3): 126.
15. ^ ^{a b} Weston Naef (1978). The Collection of Alfred Stieglitz: L Pioneers of Modern Photography. NY: Metropolitan Museum of Fine art. pp. 387–88.
16. ^ Charles H. Caffin (1901). Photography as a Fine Art. NY. pp. 51–81.
17. ^ Jonathan Green (1973). Camera Work: A Critical Album. NY: Aperture. p. 338. ISBN9780912334479. OCLC 263320288.
18. ^ Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. "Pictorialism in America". Retrieved October three, 2008.
19. ^ Hall, Michael West. "The Gertrude Kasebier Collection." Messenger iii no. i (Autumn 1993): folio 4.

Further reading [edit]

• Tomlinson, Janis A. (2013). Stephen Petersen (ed.). Gertrude Käsebier, the complexity of lite and shade : photographs and papers of Gertrude Käsebier in the Academy of Delaware Collections. [Newark, Del.]: University of Delaware. ISBN9780615735450.
• Delaney, Michelle. Buffalo Neb's Wild W Warriors: A Photographic History by Gertrude Käsebier. Smithsonian, 2007. ISBN 0061129771.

External links [edit]

• Paul Cava Fine art Photographs, Gertrude Kasebier
• Lee Gallery
• Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
• Early photographs taken past Gertrude in 1894, while visiting Normandy France, alongside her article 'Peasant life in Normandy' with cocky portrait.
• Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Reading Room resources folio

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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gertrude_K%C3%A4sebier

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