Chapter 1

Pictorial Photography in America 1921

Pictorial Photographers of America

New York

1921

_Editorial Board_ CLARENCE H. WHITE HENRY HOYT MOORE DWIGHT A. DAVIS JOHN PAUL EDWARDS

_Committee on Publication_ HENRY HOYT MOORE WALTER L. EHRICH RAY GREENLEAF JOHN A. TENNANT

ILLUSTRATIONS

THE HAMPTON SINGER _By _DOROTHY ABBOTT, _New York City_ THE ARCH OF JEWELS, NEW YORK CITY _By _WILLIAM A. ALCOCK, _New York City_ WILLOW VALLEY _By _CHARLES K. ARCHER, _Pittsburgh, Pa._ PRAYERS OF BUDDHA _By _F. BAUER, _San Francisco, Cal._ THE SWANS _By _JESSE TARBOX BEALS, _New York City_ ABOVE THE CLOUDS _By _CLARK BLICKENSDERFER, _Denver, Colo._ GRAMERCY PARK _By _MARY F. BOYD, _Chambersburg, Pa._ HILL TOP—WINTER _By _GEORGE BUTLER, _Worcester, Mass._ WEISSTHURM—ROTENBURG O. TAUBER _By _A. D. CHAFFEE, _New York City_ CABLES _By _ARTHUR D. CHAPMAN, _West Hoboken, N.J._ BOOKPLATE _By _ALFRED COHN, _Brooklyn, N.Y._ THE BUGLE CALL _By _DWIGHT A. DAVIS, _Worcester, Mass._ THE BRIDGE _By _JOHN PAUL EDWARDS, _Sacramento, California_ MY FATHER _By _VERNON E. DUROE, _Brooklyn, N.Y._ MAIDS O’ THE MIST _By _MR. AND MRS. J. D. DREW, _Montclair, N.J._ AFTERNOON TEA _By _ELEANOR C. ERVING, _Albany, N.Y._ SUMMER PORTRAIT _By _LAURA GILPIN, _Colorado Springs, Colo._ SUNLIGHT—TAOS _By _FORMAN HANNA, _Globe, Arizona_ DICK’S STALL _By _G. W. HARTING, _New York City_ BETH-EL _By _EDWARD HEIM, _New York City_ THE TOILERS _By _EUGENE P. HENRY, _Brooklyn, N.Y._ ARCHES OF THE MUNICIPAL BUILDING _By _ATOINETTE B. HERVEY, _New York City_ MORNING—PLYMOUTH _By _LILLIAN M. HOBART, _Northborough, Mass._ LAST OF THE SQUARE RIGGERS _By _G. BUELL AND HEBE HOLLISTER, _Corning, N.Y._ WAR VETERANS _By _MILLIE HOOPS, _New York City_ STILL LIFE _By _D. S. HORNE, _Princeton, N.J._ THE SUNSHINE OF JOHNNIE’S SMILE _By _ROBERTA HOSTETLER, _Davenport, Iowa_ SUN DRYING _By _H. A. HUSSEY, _Berkeley, Cal._ PORTRAIT _By _DORIS U. JAEGER, _New York City_ THE PIPES OF PAN _By _MYERS R. JONES, _Brooklyn, N.Y._ IN AN ITALIAN VILLAGE _By _H. A. LATIMER, _Boston, Mass._ CROW’S NEST RESTAURANT _By _SOPHIE L. LAUFFER, _Brooklyn, N.Y._ THE QUARRY _By _GEORGE P. LESTER, _Bloomfield, N. J._ DETAIL OF CALIFORNIA BUILDING _By _FLORENCE BURTON LIVINGSTON, _Mohegan Lake, N.Y._ SUNBEAMS _By _BEN J. LUBSCHEZ, _New York City_ ALONG THE CANAL _By _WILLIAM ELBERT MACNAUGHTON, _Brooklyn, N.Y._ SPRING _By _HOLMES I. METTEE, Arlington, Md. SYMPATHY _By _HERVEY W. MINNS, _Kenmore, Ohio_ THE MEADOW _By _ROBERT B. MONTGOMERY, _Brooklyn, N.Y._ THE RAILWAY STATION _By _HENRY HOYT MOORE, _Brooklyn, N.Y._ CULTIVATING _By _L. POKRAS, _Brooklyn, N. Y._ PORTRAIT—MISS F. _By _ARTHUR RACICOT, _Quantico, Va._ TO THE UNKNOWN SHORE _By _LAWRENCE C. RANDALL, _Columbus, Ohio_ THE EAST RIVER _By _D. J. RUZICKA, _New York City_ CLOSING OF AN AUTUMN DAY _By _J. G. SARVENT, _Kansas City, Mo._ THE VANISHING ROAD _By _OTTO C. SHULTE, _San Francisco, Cal._ THE HOUR OF TWILIGHT _By _WILLIAM GORDON SHIELDS, _New York City_ A SONG _By _GUY SPENCER, _New York City_ OPEN-AIR PULPIT, GRACE CHURCH _By _ELIZABETH G. STOLTZ, _Marion, Ohio_ L’ENTRE’ACTE _By _MANKICHI SUGIMOTO, _New York City_ FARMYARD _By _GEORGE P. SWAIN, _East Orange, N.J._ CARLOTTA _By _LACY VAN WAGENEN, _Orange, N.J._ MRS. PICKFORD _By _MABEL WATSON, _Pasadena, California_ THE LITTLE ART SHOP—WOODSTOCK _By _ANTHONY J. WEIS, _New York City_ THE DANCE _By _DELIGHT WESTON, _Blue Hill, Maine_ SISTERS _By _CLARENCE H. WHITE, _New York City_ SAND DUNE _By _MILDRED RUTH WILSON, _Flushing, Long Island_ Advertisement: Pinkham and Smith Company Advertisement: Eastman Kodak Company Advertisement: Ansco Company Advertisement: Ica-Contessa Advertisements: Kalogen; Willis and Clements Advertisements: Japan Paper Company; George Murphy, Inc. Advertisements: Fred’k W. Keasbey, Abe Cohen’s Exchange Advertisements: Wollensack Optical Company; Willoughby’s

CONTENTS

PAINTING WITH LIGHT THE YEAR’S PROGRESS HOW WE MAKE OUR PHOTOGRAPHS

PAINTING WITH LIGHT

_By _ARTHUR WESLEY DOW _Professor of Fine Arts in Teachers College, Columbia University_

The painter need not always paint with brushes, he can paint with light itself. Modern photography has brought light under control and made it as truly art-material as pigment or clay. The old etchers turned chemical action to the service of Art. The modern photographer does the same, using the mysterious forces of nature as agents in making his thoughts visible. It’s a long story of effort and experiment since someone observed that an inverted landscape on the wall of a darkened room was painted by light coming through a hole in a shutter. The shutter and the dark room are still acting, but now we can hold the fleeting vision. While we rejoice in the triumph of Science it is the triumph of Art that concerns us most. The photographer has demonstrated that his work need not be mechanical imitation. He can control the quality of his lines, the spacing of his masses, the depth of his tones and the harmony of his gradations. He can eliminate detail, keeping only the significant. More than this, he can reveal the secrets of personality. What is this but Art?

Just here we must remember that neither light, nor chemicals, nor camera, nor nature tell us anything of Art—that Art is not the child of Knowledge or Science or Nature, but is born of trained Appreciation in the soul of man. He that would paint with light must be first of all a Designer. His chief concern will be to find and use his own powers of choice and appreciation. He will need the studio more than the laboratory.

“What is Design?” Ask Korin, Hiroshige, Giotto, Rembrandt, Titian; ask the master-photographers who can build harmonies of line and space and texture. But the secret is not revealed by asking, only by DOING.

THE YEAR’S PROGRESS

_By _CLARENCE H. WHITE

_An Interview with Henry Hoyt Moore_

“What notable events, Mr. White, have occurred in the photographic world during the year 1920?”

“Perhaps no outstanding event, either on the art side or the scientific aspect of photography, has marked the year. A steady progress, however, in the direction of a better appreciation of photographic art is apparent. This is seen, for one thing, in the numerous exhibitions that have been held. Confining our attention to American exhibitions, I would remark that instead of, as in former years, having one big exhibition in Baltimore or Philadelphia or some other city, there are now active centers all over the country—there is a regularly established international salon in Los Angeles, and the well-known Pittsburgh Salon, and regularly established exhibitions in Portland and Toronto. There are groups of enthusiastic workers in all these centers. There are also exhibitions of photographic art regularly held in many of the museums of the country.”

AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHERS SET THE PACE

“I once heard a well-known photographic worker say, ‘If you have any doubt as to the pictorial quality of a photograph, send it to the London Salon and their judgment will decide for you.’ Is this still true?”

“I still feel that the American photographers set the pace, and in this connection I would like to read you this letter from the Secretary of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain as indicating the appreciation in England of American pictorial work:

35 Russell Square, London, September, 1920.

I am happy to say that we have received from the United States and Canada a collection of pictorial photographs of such outstanding interest that the task of discrimination became one of great difficulty.

Those selected by the judges have been placed in the exhibition, but the Council of the Society feel that it would be most unfortunate if the collection generally could not be viewed by the English public, and it is proposed that the bulk of the American and Canadian pictures, including those shown at the Annual Exhibition, should form one of our house exhibitions and be open to the public during the last part of January and the beginning of February, 1921.

J. MCINTOSH, _Secretary_

THE SOFT FOCUS LENS

“What changes in the past twenty years, Mr. White, would you say have been most noticeable in photographic work?”

“Well, I would say the most noticeable is what we call the use of the soft focus lens. Secondly, I would say another noticeable change is the better general quality of photographic work. I feel that the photographers of today have a better idea of picture construction.”

“Would you say that one of the changes in the past twenty years is in the spreading of a knowledge of pictorial photography throughout the country?”

“Very definitely so. The interest in pictorial photography twenty years ago was confined to a small group. There are now groups in various centers as large as the national group of the early days.”

NO ONE LENS IS SUFFICIENT

“Getting down to a practical question for a moment, Mr. White, do you recommend a soft focus lens for small cameras, the work to be enlarged with a sharp lens, or do you recommend the reverse process?”

“I still keep to my original statement that I made two or three years ago that I do not believe that any one lens will serve all purposes. I sometimes feel that an anastigmat lens is best and sometimes that a soft focus lens is best for some particular work, and sometimes I feel that if I could get only one I would prefer an anastigmat to a soft focus.”

SOFTNESS DESIRABLE, NOT FUZZINESS

“Is there a tendency, as shown in the work seen in the magazines, the exhibitions, and the photographs selected for the present _Annual_, to get rid of fuzziness and substitute a rational degree of softness and atmospheric effect?”

“I would say that the reproductions that we see in the magazines do not in all cases represent lens work but, I fear, bad printing sometimes. There is often a good definite quality in soft focus lens work that looks very definite indeed, even more definite than a sharp lens will give. Fuzziness is bad, but not softness. The soft focus lens seems to be more popular than ever and it apparently has come to stay.”

PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY INFLUENCED BY THAT OF THE PICTORIALIST

“Has the professional photography of today been influenced, in your judgment, by the work of the pictorialists?”

“Yes, very decidedly, and the professionals confess it. The best professional photographers freely admit that they have drawn much inspiration from the pictorial workers’ ideas.”

THE POPULAR MEDIUMS

“What medium—gum, multiple gum, bromoil, platinum, bromide, chloride—is most popular today?”

“Bromide and chloride are the most popular. That this is so is probably because they are easier to use; but there are very earnest workers—some of the best—who insist on using the processes which give a greater range and greater possibilities of quality, such as bromoil, gum, and gum platinum. I would say that these processes are more popular than they used to be.”

COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY

“Has color photography made any advance during the year? Are autochromes still popular? Has any progress been made in the direction of producing color photography on paper?”

“I do not know of any special progress in this branch of the art. Color photography on paper has been worked out successfully by Mr. Ives, and I think the difficulty in obtaining materials has temporarily affected the popularity of color photography in this country.”

“Is the color process used to any extent for portraiture in the United States?”

“I do not think it is used to any great extent, but I believe that it has great possibilities and that it can be used if workers will take the necessary care and pains. I think the difficulty of getting material recently has set things back along this line.”

THE “SECRET” IS THE ARTIST

“Have the so-called pictorial photographers any ‘secrets?’ People often ask, ‘How are these effects produced?’ What is the best method of producing soft, atmospheric pictures? Can a skilled worker take an ordinary hard negative and, by suitable manipulation or the use of soft paper, produce an atmospheric print? Is the medium the secret? Will one paper or developer produce soot and whitewash effects and another a picture? Are soft effects generally produced by manipulation in developing negatives or prints?”

“I believe the quality of a picture is not due to the medium by which it was made. It depends entirely on the man who made it. I think one man can make a good print on soft paper and another a good print on hard paper. I do not think the medium makes the picture. I think the medium produces the picture to some extent, but it does not make the picture.”

HAND WORK VS. STRAIGHT PRINTS

“What are the limits of hand work that are legitimate in photography? I don’t like to use the word faking, but most people would so describe it. I mean, for instance, putting in skies, blocking out obtrusive backgrounds, sunning down high lights, retouching negatives, printing through prepared masks that entirely alter the negative, and pencil or air brush work on prints?”

“I do not have any objection to anybody using any methods that he pleases providing that the result is convincing; and I believe that practically every one of these means has been used successfully, in making pictures. On the other hand, some of the best and probably more good pictures have been produced by not using any of them—that is, by making the picture straight.”

COMMERCIAL POSSIBILITIES FOR PICTORIAL WORK

“Are there commercial possibilities at present for pictorial photographers? Has the public shown an increasing desire to buy soft focus pictures? Is there a demand on the part of magazines and newspapers for pictorial work?”

“There is a very definite demand on the part of both magazines and newspapers for soft focus pictures. In fact, sometimes the art editors, in their eagerness to get soft focus work, will buy a photograph because it is fuzzy, without regard to its quality. But the outlook for the pictorial worker in its financial possibilities is steadily improving.”

AIRPLANE PHOTOGRAPHY

“Has any pictorial work been done in connection with airplane photography? Is the apparatus for this sort of work too expensive for anything besides military or movie use?”

“At present I do not know personally of any pictorial work being done in this direction, but I have seen reproductions in newspapers of pictures from airplanes that show most interesting results. Airplane photographers as a rule do not as yet put into their work a marked pictorial quality.”

ELABORATE APPARATUS NOT ALWAYS NECESSARY

“Have any notable inventions marked the year? Is the photostat coming into use and has it any value other than commercial? Do you recommend one of the new high-priced enlarging cameras, which focus the lens automatically on any size of paper, as suitable for clubs to purchase?”

“Well, I must confess that I have only heard of it, and the price seems to be such as to discourage almost all the pictorial workers that I know. In my observation of the work that has been done by pictorialists, the very fact that in many instances they use makeshift apparatus has resulted in some of the most beautiful effects in their work. Good apparatus is of course desirable, but there are happy accidents with the other sort. It is the workman, not his tools, that counts. Get the best tools if you can afford them, but remember that you can make just as bad pictures with an expensive outfit as you can with the cheapest.”

HOW MR. WHITE JUDGES A PHOTOGRAPH

“Many persons would like to know, Mr. White, what are the criteria used by advanced workers like yourself in judging a photograph. Do you allow so many points for composition, for technique, for originality of conception, or for success in a difficult medium? Or do you say, ‘That picture pleases me, and I vote for it,’ without attempting to state in mathematical form the qualities of its success as a picture?”

“I would say that the first thing a man should do in judging pictures is to answer the appeal of the picture. I think a picture should have a message—that is, it should convey, not necessarily a story, but something of the feeling of the man who produced it. This is really a difficult question to answer. I would say, ‘That picture pleases me and I vote for it.’ That is to say, so many points for technique and so many points for pictorial quality would mean nothing to me. I would insist that a picture have an appeal, and then that it have good construction, and it should have quality. The printing medium, as I have said, doesn’t make the picture, but the man who uses it.”

MOTION PICTURES AND THE SOFT FOCUS LENS

“Probably photography’s greatest activity at present is in the motion picture field. Have soft focus lenses been used for producing screen plays and with what result?”

“Soft focus lenses are being used in motion picture photography, but I am doubtful as to their success in the way they are being used at present—a somewhat haphazard way. You are too conscious of the soft focus lens and of the anastigmatic lens. That is, one part of the picture is made with a soft focus lens and one with an anastigmatic. I believe that the soft focus lens can be used, and will be used, in such a way as to give beautiful results on the screen.”

IS PHOTOGRAPHY TO REMAIN A BLACK AND WHITE ART?

“What forecast, Mr.White, do you make of future developments in photography? Is it to remain a black and white art, or are photographs in natural colors to supersede the familiar photograph of the present day in our exhibitions and in our homes?”

“I think that the fundamental expression of photography is in black and white, and as we develop what I would call the definite photographic quality, black and white will maintain its present ascendency.”

“But don’t you expect the art to develop in different directions from what it is today and what it has been in the past?”

“I think it will develop especially in a more marked sense of picture construction.”

* * *

HOW WE MAKE OUR PHOTOGRAPHS

_Methods of Several Representative Workers in Pictorial Photography Are Given Below. Their Pictures May Be Found on the Pages Indicated_

DR. CHAFFEE TELLS HOW HE MAKES BROMOILS—WITH RESERVATIONS

_See __Weissthurm_

Rothenburg o. Tauber, today a mediaeval town surrounded by its ancient walls and towers, possesses relics of yet earlier fortifications within the present ones. One of these relics is the so-called Weissthurm, still dominating the narrow streets that lead to it and the old houses that have attached themselves to its base.

The print is a bromoil transfer upon English crayon paper from Wellington smooth ordinary (pre-war variety). The negative was made with a Goerz Dagor lens in a Lancaster reflex upon a Seed Ortho L plate. The further data which all careful workers are supposed to keep were not made and can there fore unfortunately not be furnished.

A. D. CHAFFEE.

EVADED THE STATUTE, BUT MADE A PICTURE

_See __Cables_

“Cables” is the pictorial result of several months’ study of the Brooklyn Bridge towers. When I found the composition I wanted, the rest was easy. Except for the police. To a Bridge policeman anything on a tripod is a movie camera, and that means: “Some guy’s gonna jump! Where’s he at?” I evaded, not the law, but the majesty thereof—and with an 8×10 view camera.

The light was bad. (My lens would give an optical savant brain fever; I designed it myself.) I used the rising front to the limit, and stopped down to F:11 to cover the plate. Result, under-exposure, at one-sixtieth. I developed first in Rodinal, 1:120; then finished in Rodinal 1:30. Stanley plates can endure much cruelty. The print for reproduction is made on matte Azo, soft, using strong M.-Q. developer.

ARTHUR D. CHAPMAN.

A FEW BELIEFS OF A NEGATIVE TENDENCY

_See __The Bugle Call_

I believe that the data of camera, plate, lens, exposure, paper, etc., have no essential value as aids in pictorial photography.

That pictures are made with the camera by feeling alone. The selection of the subject, the lighting, the composition, the exposure and development, and the after-treatment and selection of the printing medium, are all a matter of feeling.

That the rules of technique once learned are all practically violated in the making of the plate and in the production of a print, according as the artist feels his subject and as he wishes to reproduce that feeling.

In that way only can the individuality be attained which is the keynote of picture-making.

DWIGHT A. DAVIS.

PHOTOGRAPHING ON A RAINY DAY

_See __Maids o’ the Mist_

This picture was made with a vest pocket kodak fitted with a Goerz Dagor F 6.3. It was a rainy day and the camera user made his exposure under an umbrella. The film was enlarged to 6½×8½ on Illingworth De Luxe paper, cream-colored stock, imported from England—took about three months to get it.

MR. AND MRS. J. D. DREW.

HOW A “REMBRANDT” WAS MADE

_See __My Father_

The original negative of my father was made with 5×7 Graphic camera and a Standard Orthonon plate, using a Busch Omnar F 4.5 of ten-inch focal length, at full opening. A hazy day in the country, the ground covered with snow, a south window shaded by a veranda and my father seated in front of the window about four or five feet from it, explain the lighting. No reflector was used. Camera was moved to get the desired light. Knowing him, I caught him in a favorite chair and in a characteristic position. To subdue the detail of the door and wall behind, but to suggest the depth and atmosphere of the room and to give all the lines and modeling of the face, an enlargement was made on an 11×14 sheet of P. M. C. No. 8 Bromide paper, and this was carefully inked, using the copper sulphate, salt, bichromate bleach. The aim throughout was to get a print which should be a sympathetic record of a good strong face and one which should tell of the cheerful evening of a busy life.

All my portraits are made in ordinary living-rooms or school-rooms. I rarely use any reflector, merely shifting my camera or my subject, preferably the former. For younger subjects and especially children I prefer a lighter key. Sometimes I use a soft focus lens for a very moderate degree of diffusion.

VERNON E. DUROE.

HE THOUGHT SHE WAS CRAZY

_See __Arches of the Municipal Building_

“Arches of the Municipal Building of New York” was taken on a Standard Orthonon plate, about 9:30 A.M., with a twenty minute exposure. Instead of a lens, the photographer used a piece of black paper pierced with a pin. A wise passer-by who knew a thing or two about photography noticed the absence of the lens. “How do you think you are going to take a picture without a lens?” he asked. “With a pin-hole,” she replied. He watched her with pitying interest. “She _thinks_ she is taking a picture,” he said to another expert, tapping his head significantly.

ANTOINETTE B. HERVEY.

THE LAST OF THE SQUARE RIGGERS

_See __The Last of the Square Riggers_

How to suggest something of the stately vigor and the triumph over the mysteries of the seas of the old whaler, “Greyhound,” home from her last voyage after seventy-four years of service—her yards squared and bravely dressed for the inspection which will condemn her to be broken up—was the problem of the photographer.