Friday, February 18, 2022 – CONE OF THE FEW WOMEN PHOTOGRAPHERS IN EARLY 1900′ S NEW YORK

By admin

FRIDAY,  FEBRUARY 18, 2022



The  601st Edition

ZAIDA BEN YUSUF

NEW YORK PORTRAIT


PHOTOGRAPHER

FROM THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

Zaida Ben-Yusuf (1869-1933) was a leader in the art of photographic portraiture in turn-of-the-century New York. She operated – for ten years beginning in 1897 – arguably the most fashionable portrait studio on Fifth Avenue, while at the same time contributing work to numerous publications and the period’s most important photography exhibitions. As a testament to her renown, she served as a spokesperson for the Eastman Kodak Company and was regularly profiled in newspapers and magazines. Yet the memory of her achievement as a photographer has largely vanished.

Born in London, Ben-Yusuf settled in New York in 1895. There she took up photography, first as a hobby and then two years later as a profession. Rather than falling back on traditional portrait conventions – painted backdrops and contrived poses – she sought inspiration from the leading artists andpictorial photographers of the period. Despite her young age and her recent arrival in America, she attracted to her studio many of the era’s most prominent artistic, literary, theatrical, and political figures. Seen together, these individuals represent a remarkable cross-section of a place that was rapidly becoming America’s first modern city. Yet, like many professional women, she encountered personal and economic difficulties that ultimately compelled her to abandon photography. Although she later pursued with equal ambition a career in the fashion trade, it is her photographic work – and the men and women she portrayed – that we aim to recover in this exhibition.

Everett Shinn 1876-1953

Born Woodstown, New Jersey

Everett Shinn drew inspiration from the extraordinary energy and tensions of New York. In his paintings and pastels, the streets, city parks, and theaters of the bulging metropolis teem with activity. In these works the literal movement of people serves as a metaphor for the larger transformations occurring there. Ben-Yusuf’s portrait of Shinn pictures the artist in his mid-twenties, during the period when he was first emerging as an important figure in the art world. Having begun his career as a newspaper illustrator in Philadelphia, Shinn thrived in his new home. While he enjoyed a lengthy career, he is perhaps best remembered as one of “The Eight,” a group of artists who in 1908 united to stage an exhibition meant to protest the conservative policies of the National Academy of Design.

Platinum print, c. 1901
ARTnews Collection

The New Woman

• Ben-Yusuf was the epitome of the “New Woman” – a class of predominantly younger women who at the century’s end sought to challenge prevailing gender norms. It was not simply her bohemian appearance; what differentiated Ben-Yusuf from the majority of women during this period was her desire for an independent life within the public arena. As a single woman who needed to earn an income, she embraced portrait photography as a career. This work opened up a host of opportunities – to write, to travel, to meet new people. Yet the growing
• independence of women also elicited criticism at times and led figures like Ben-Yusuf to scrutinize their own sense of identity. The photographs in this first section are less representative of the commercial portraiture that sustained her financially. Instead, they speak to her artistic ambitions and her experiences as a “New Woman.”

Roosevelt Men

• No other figure towered over American life at the turn-of-the-century as Theodore Roosevelt did. Even before he assumed the presidency following William McKinley’s assassination in 1901, Roosevelt was widely regarded as a national hero. Once in the White House, he proved exceptionally energetic, fighting to break up corporate trusts, leading the effort to build the Panama Canal, and pushing efforts to conserve America’s natural resources. Each of the figures in this section was a fervent supporter of Roosevelt. In addition to sharing his political vision, they also admired the public persona he projected, in particular his belief
• in the so-called “strenuous life” and his assertion of American strength – a belief characterized by his favorite proverb, “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” Ben-Yusuf photographed Roosevelt during his tenure as governor, and many other figures whose careers intersected with America’s twenty-sixth president.

Daniel Chester French 1850-1931

Born Exeter, New Hampshire

Daniel Chester French’s career as a sculptor coincided with an unprecedented rise in the construction of public buildings and civic spaces in America. A demand for public art accompanied this boom, and French built a prestigious career fulfilling this need. His popularity stemmed in part from the fact that much of his work was a throwback to a familiar nineteenth-century decorative aesthetic. Yet, French can also be seen as a transitional figure between the beaux arts movement and modern sculpture’s increasing realism. Whereas he preferred idealized allegorical figures early in his career, his later work – most especially his moving statue of Abraham Lincoln for Washington’s Lincoln Memorial – gestures toward an emergent modernism. Taken alone, French’s Lincoln would secure his reputation as a great sculptor, but taken as the capstone of his prolific career, it illuminates French’s larger influence in shaping public space at the dawn of the new century.

Platinum print, 1901
ARTnews Collection

Portrait of Miss S.  Ben-Yusuf reveals neither the name of this young woman, nor the character she assumes, although her unusual outfit suggests that she possibly enacts the role of a character from a work of art, literature, or theater. Her provocative costume signals her association with New York’s bohemian set. Wearing a low-cut lace dress and a high-collared cloak, she stands apart for her choice in fashion. During this period there arose a small, yet increasingly visible set that preferred “artistic dress.” Equating restrictive clothing with limits on one’s freedom, these women embraced dress reform as one part of their larger campaign for equality. Self-consciously flamboyant, the outfit that Miss S. wears is in part an outgrowth of the changes in the world of women’s fashion and is symptomatic of the enhanced freedoms – professional, political, and sexual – that many women sought during this period.Platinum print, c. 1899 National Museum of American History, Behring Center, Smithsonian Institution

Augustin Daly 1838-1899Born Plymouth, North Carolina  Having produced his first play when he was only seventeen, Daly spent his entire adult life in the world of the theater. While others preceded him in establishing New York as a venue for reputable drama, Daly was influential not only in elevating standards for theatrical production, but also in reshaping important elements associated with it. His innovative work as a director – in rethinking methods of acting and in reimagining stage scenery and lighting – helped make American theater modern. Daly’s commitment to more naturalistic performances amidst realistic settings represented a sea change in American drama. While Daly recruited theatrical stars to appear from time to time, he relied most often on his own stock company. Figures like John Drew and Ada Rehan became household names under his direction. Ben-Yusuf admired Daly, describing him in a later essay as “one of the most interesting men I have known.”Platinum print, 1898 Portrait Photograph Series, Harvard Theater Collection, Houghton Library

Elbert Hubbard 1856-1915

Born Bloomington, Illinois

Elbert Hubbard purchased the struggling Roycroft Printing Shop in East Aurora, New York, in 1895 and built it into one of the centers of the arts and crafts movement in America. Modeling his enterprise after William Morris’s Kelmscott Press in England, he attracted craftsmen by paying them well and leaving them alone to pursue their ideas. Workers were never admonished for wasting money. The Fra, as Hubbard was called by his followers, saw wasting time as the greater sin. Under his direction, the Roycroft Press became a leader in the publication of small designer books and specialty magazines. Hubbard was also an influential author, and his essays about art and labor made him a national celebrity. Ben-Yusuf photographed him in New York at the outset of a lecture tour being orchestrated by James Burton Pond.

Platinum print, c. 1900
Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

THE ALFRED STEIGLITZ CONNECTION

From the NPR :
1898-1900

On October 21, ZBY writes Alfred Stieglitz regarding his invitation to reproduce an example of her portraiture in Camera Notes. About her photography, she explains that she is “very much in earnest about it all.” Stieglitz publishes her work in Camera Notes the following April, and again in July.

The New York Daily Tribune publishes on November 7 an article about ZBY and mentions that her studio opened “only six months ago.” The article describes the elaborate decorations that adorn the space, as well as her work creating advertising posters. Leslie’s Weekly publishes a separate profile about her on December 30.

1901

ZBY exhibits four photographs from May 2 through November 9 in a display juried by Alfred Stieglitz at the Glasgow International Exhibition in Scotland. ZBY photographs former President Grover Cleveland during a fishing excursion on Hop Brook, near Tyringham, Massachusetts. ZBY publishes “Celebrities Under the Camera” in the June 1 issue of the Saturday Evening Post. In this essay ZBY describes many of her encounters with subjects she has photographed. In the September issue of Metropolitan Magazine, ZBY publishes “The New Photography – What It Has Done and Is Doing for Modern Portraiture.” She discusses her commitment to “a middle way,” between the radicalism of certain fine art photographers and the prosaism of most commercial photographers. ZBY is profiled as one of the “foremost women photographers in America” in the November issue of Ladies Home Journal. At the Fourth Philadelphia Photographic Salon, held from November 18 through December 14 at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, ZBY exhibits ten photographs. Alfred Stieglitz leads a boycott of this salon when he loses the authority to develop the exhibition to his liking. Beginning on November 23, ZBY publishes the first of six illustrated articles for the Saturday Evening Post on the topic, “Advanced Photography for Amateurs.”

1902

Stieglitz organizes “American Pictorial Photography” at New York’s National Arts Club. The exhibition runs from March 5 through March 22. Considered the inaugural exhibition of the “Photo-Secession,” it includes the work of thirty-two photographers whom Stieglitz felt aspired to a higher purpose. ZBY does not participate. The June 27 issue of the New York Times includes ZBY in a list of debtors. She owes $119 to Henrietta Prades, and is ordered by a local judge to make payment. ZBY exhibits two photographs at the Tenth Photographic Salon of the Linked Ring in London between September 19 and November 1.

1903		Stieglitz publishes the first issue of his new journal Camera Work in January. ZBY travels by steamship to Japan, arriving in Yokohama in April. She tours Kobe and Nagasaki before continuing on to Hong Kong for a brief sojourn. Returning to Japan, she rents a house for the summer in Kyoto, with the stated purpose of living “in native fashion.” She travels to Tokyo and Nikko during her stay, and returns to New York in the fall.
1904		ZBY publishes the first of four illustrated articles, “Japan Through My Camera,” in the April 23 issue of the Saturday Evening Post. Sadakichi Hartmann mentions ZBY’s contributions to the newly formed Salon Club of America in the July issue of the American Amateur Photographer. Sponsored by the Salon Club of America, the First American Photographic Salon opens in New York in December. ZBY is listed in the catalogue as a member, though she does not submit any work.
1905		On January 12 the New York Times includes ZBY again in a list of debtors. ZBY’s essay, “A Kyoto Memory,” is published in the February issue of the Booklovers Magazine. That same month, Leslie’s Monthly Magazine publishes ZBY’s illustrated article, “Women of Japan.” In September Anna Ben-Yusuf begins teaching at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. She is an instructor of millinery in the Department of Domestic Arts. Beginning October 14 American Art News publishes a weekly profile of an American artist with an accompanying portrait by ZBY. This arrangement lasts seven weeks. ZBY delivers on November 23 an illustrated lecture, “Japanese Homes,” at Pratt’s Assembly Hall. Alfred Stieglitz’s inaugural exhibition at the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession at 291 Fifth Avenue opens on November 24. One hundred photographs by thirty-nine photographers are featured. ZBY does not participate.
1906		ZBY publishes twenty architectural photographs to accompany Katharine Budd’s article, “Japanese Houses,” in the January issue of the Architectural Record. The February issue features ZBY’s article on Japanese architecture, “The Period of Daikan.” In March ZBY serves as a member of the national preliminary jury for the Second American Photographic Salon held at the Art Institute of Chicago. However, she does not contribute work. Photo Era publishes in September three photographs by ZBY from her visit to the Mediterranean island of Capri. The accompanying article suggests that she “passed considerable time there not long ago, exploring its mountains, rocks, and grottoes.” In October ZBY exhibits one portrait at the Third Annual Exhibition of Photographs at the Worcester Art Museum in Massachusetts.

FRIDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY
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THURSDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY

Hotel Shelton
Designed by Arthur Loomis Harmon, who would be involved in the design of the Empire State Building a few years later, the Hotel Shelton was an immediate sensation. In 1925, the artist Georgia O’Keeffe and her husband, Alfred Stieglitz, moved into the hotel and lived there for twelve years.Oct 28, 2020

Text by Judith Berdy
Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS
Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website
Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff

All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island
Historical Society unless otherwise indicated:

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

Text by Judith Berdy
Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS
Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website
Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff

All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated

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