Gertrude Kasebier: The Complexity of Light and Shade

Gertrude Kasebier was both an artistic and a professional pioneer. In 1899, Alfred Stieglitz called her "beyond dispute the leading portrait photographer in the country," and he made her a founding member of his Photo-Secession movement, featuring her work prominently in his publications and exhibit [...]
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Gertrude Kasebier was both an artistic and a professional pioneer. In 1899, Alfred Stieglitz called her "beyond dispute the leading portrait photographer in the country," and he made her a founding member of his Photo-Secession movement, featuring her work prominently in his publications and exhibitions. A prestigious and successful portraitist, Kasebier photographed many of the major cultural figures of her day and was one of the first important magazine photographers. As a professional woman she boldly laid the path for many who followed. But perhaps her greatest achievement lay in her adventurous use of photography as an expressive medium to depict states of being and emotional relationships. To this end she experimented freely with different photographic techniques, leaving behind a body of work both vast and diverse. This catalogue for an exhibition held at the University of Delaware draws on the extensive collection of her photographs and papers at the university, bringing together a range of specialists to re-examine her work as a whole for the first time in two decades. In the essays, her work is explored in relation to the artistic and commercial trends in photography in the early 20th century; her printing techniques are analyzed using the newest techniques of photographic conservation; and her career is situated in relation to the modern trans-Atlantic figure of the New Woman. The catalogue features many previously unpublished photographs, as well as newly published texts by Kasebier drawn from the Special Collections holdings of the University of Delaware Library. This book offers a long overdue contribution to the study of this important photographer viewed within her cultural context. Includes 95 images of Kasebier's work.