Today we have something a little different: an artistic “portrait” of the 5 members (photographers all) of the jury for 1899 Philadelphia [Photography] Salon. The jury selected the entries to be exhibited in the 1899 Philadelphia Salon’s exhibition of artistic photographs. 2 of the jurors were women!
Left to right, the people are the photographers Clarence H. White, Gertrude Käsebier, Henry Troth, F. Holland Day, and Frances Benjamin Johnston.
The photographer who took this photo was Eva Watson Schütze, who was well known in her own lifetime for her artistic photographs.
Note: I have talked a little bit about Getrude Käsebier before here on Photographs, PIstols & Parasols. Oddly, although I have given several lectures about both Mrs. Käsbier and Frances Benjamin Johnson, I just realized that I’ve never talked much about Ms. Johnston here here on Photographs, Pistols and Parasols. [although I did share one of her photos here].
In some sense Ms. Johnson (and Mrs. Käsebier, too, for that matter) have been written about “too much” by others; what I mean is, that usually on Photographs, Pistols & Parasols I focus on sharing stories of early woman photographers than have been almost completely forgotten and overlooked by the history books, and I am happy to see that the accomplishments of Gertrude Käsebier and Frances Benjamin Johnston are finally being more broadly acknowledged these days.
Ms. Johnston, though, deserves more of a place here on Photographs, Pistols & Parasols some day. She was a very, very successful early woman photographer, a woman whose business model for making money from photography in the late 19th and early 20th centuries ran the gamut from studio work to newspaper work to books and other special projects to lectures on architecture using her own magic lantern slides. Until I get around to writing up more about her someday, you can read her a bit about her here.
Interestingly, unlike the other members of the 1899 jury, Ms. Johnston was not that well-known for her Pictorialist or any other type of artistic photographic work. Her inclusion on the jury was apparently a little controversial as a result, at least back in 1899.
In any case, I hope you enjoy the fun artistic portrait of 5 jurors of an artistic photograph exhibition in 1899.
