The Picture Book (alternate title: Instruction), 1903. Gertrude Käsebier (1852-1934). Gravure print, 15.7 x 20.7 cm. Library of Congress. Published in Camera Work X, 1905.
The study of the female form has been a reccurring theme in artworks for millenia and many museum masterpieces focus on the exploration of a woman’s body . In the late 19th century, this theme was often explored either as the study of beauty or as a representation of motherhood. The Pictorialist photographers concentrated their attention on softly focused images of elegantly dressed women that exuded a certain kind of mystery. Unfortunately, these photographs only showed the charm and stylishness of their sitters instead of the “individual[‘s] strength of character.” An affiliated theme is that of showing women and children occupied with a leisure activity or playing in a home or garden. These types of photographs interested both female and male photographers and they subsequently created images that showed romanticized versions of informal family life. (more…)
New Britain Museum of American Art 