“The Portland Museum of Art is proud to unveil its major summer exhibition for 2018, Clarence H. White and His World: The Art and Craft of Photography, 1895-1925. This exhibition is the first in more than 40 years to explore the work of Clarence H. White (United States, 1871–1925), inviting audiences to discover an artist who was a founding member of the Photo-Secession—a group of photographers that advocated for the medium as an art form rather than a purely documentarian tool—and who captivated generations through his sublime artistry.
Organized by the Princeton University Art Museum, Clarence H. White and His World surveys White’s career from its beginnings in 1895 in Newark, Ohio, to his death in Mexico in 1925. It provides a fresh understanding of White’s career as shaped by the aesthetic, cultural, and technological transformations of the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era, bringing this essential American artist to the attention of new generations of art enthusiasts and reclaiming his place in the American art canon.
In addition to more than 100 prints, albums, and illustrated books, Clarence H. White and His World: The Art and Craft of Photography, 1895-1925 includes paintings, prints, and drawings by artists who influenced or were influenced by Pictorial photography, as well as photographs by White’s closest friends, collaborators, and students, including Alvin L. Colburn, Gertrude Käsebier, and Alfred Stieglitz.” — Portland Museum of Art
Girl with Mirror, 1912, printed after 1917. Varnished palladium print, 25 × 19.7 cm (9 13/16 × 7 3/4 in.). George Eastman Museum, purchase
Telegraph Poles, 1900, printed after 1917. Palladium print image: 20.3 × 11 cm (8 × 4 5/16 in.). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Purchase
Portrait Study in Pink (The Pink Gown), 1896. Oil on canvas. Painting: 194.3 × 91.4 cm (76 1/2 × 36 in.). Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, J. Harwood and Louise B. Cochrane Fund for American Art and Gift of Juliana Terian Gilbert in memory of Peter G. Terian
Drops of Rain, 1902. Platinum print image: 21.1 × 16.2 cm (8 5/16 × 6 3/8 in.). Princeton University Art Museum.The Clarence H. White Collection.
Untitled [Edward and Clara Steichen on their honeymoon, Newark, Ohio], 1903, printed after 1917. Palladium print image: 24.8 × 19.7 cm (9 3/4 × 7 3/4 in.). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Clarence H. White, Jr.
The Sea [Rose Pastor Stokes, Caritas Island, Connecticut], 1909, printed after 1917. Palladium print image: 24.5 x 18.5 cm (9 5/8 x 7 5/16 in.). Princeton University Art Museum. The Clarence H. White Collection.
Untitled [Illustration for “All Aboard!,” Woman’s Home Companion, July 1925], 1925. Palladium print image: 24.5 x 19.4 cm (9 5/8 x 7 5/8 in.). Princeton University Art Museum. The Clarence H. White Collection.
Images from Princeton University Art Museum. The Clarence H. White Collection, were assembled and organized by Professor Clarence H. White Jr., and given in memory of Lewis F. White, Dr. Maynard P. White Sr., and Clarence H. White Jr., the sons of Clarence H. White Sr. and Jane Felix White.
Images courtesy Portland Museum of Art.