DOI article:
Frederick H. [Henry] Evans, The London Photographic Salon for 1905
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.30578#0055
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How extraordinarily various photography can be in its effects is well
shown in contrasting No. 137 with No. 165, both subjects being a Mother
and Child in the open air in vivid sunlight. The soft pervading luminosity
of No. 137, bathed in true light, with a most completely felt composition,
contrasts most curiously with the solidity, the sculpturesque treatment of
No. 165, as strong as the other is delicate, and yet both equally true in their
rendering of the lighting. No. 159, Duse, is, alas, impossible of acceptance to
me as a portrait realization of this one woman amongst women. I know how
miraculously various she can be, for I have seen her act many times in all
the characters she has given in London ; but she was never so merely the
lachrymose invalid this version gives her out to be. No one looking at
either this or the version contributed by Baron de Meyer would at once
think, as one should of any presentation of this wonderful creature, that here
surely is one of the greatest among the great, the woman of ineffable and
most compelling charm. In studying her while acting, she has seemed to
me to offer a countless procession of perfect photographic studies; pose after
pose occurred, needing no correction or alteration to make a perfect picture,
as well as a perfect realization of the great Duse.
Of Mr. Stieglitz’s exhibit of seven pictures, No. 127, Ploughing, is a
good composition and very picturesque; but I do not fully like its color or
the treatment of the distant hills. It seems to lack aerial space. No. 120,
Spring, is a most delightfully quaint posing of a child, but here again I feel
its value minimized by a lack of planes, a lack of aerial space, of atmosphere.
Far more successful is No. 132, Going to the Post, very decorative in effect
and full of space and light. In No. 172, Horses, I incline to think that,
good and bold though it is, considering the strong sunlight it was taken in,
if we are given as much as we are of detailed modeling in the white horse,
we should have as much relatively in the black horse—at least a painter
would give more by far. No. 166, Miss S. R., is a very personal, chic study,
full of individuality ; but what a gain it would be to the naїve charm, the
espieglerie of the whole, if the obtrusive and opaque leaf masses at the top
could have been removed in the printing, a quite simple matter to such a
past-master as its maker is.
Mrs. Käsebier is much more charmingly represented than last year.
No. 133, Mother and Child, is very suave in its lines and lighting; but the
scraped lines on the foreground worry more than a little and are not fully
understandable either. No. 136, The Crystal, is full of light and charm,
delicate yet vivid to a degree. So also is No. 167, The Baron de Meyer, a most
quaint bit of phantasy, perfect in its realization of out-o’-door feeling and
light; personally I found it all but unrecognizable as a likeness, owing, I
suppose, to the white suit and unusual pose. No. 168 is a very successful
gum-study of a head under a veil, rich in opposing masses and delicate in the
veil treatment; and No. 169 and No. 173 are very welcome as showing Mrs.
Käsebier's old-time supremacy in direct portraiture, of which she is such a
past-mistress.
For sterling value and photographic accomplishment under the best
shown in contrasting No. 137 with No. 165, both subjects being a Mother
and Child in the open air in vivid sunlight. The soft pervading luminosity
of No. 137, bathed in true light, with a most completely felt composition,
contrasts most curiously with the solidity, the sculpturesque treatment of
No. 165, as strong as the other is delicate, and yet both equally true in their
rendering of the lighting. No. 159, Duse, is, alas, impossible of acceptance to
me as a portrait realization of this one woman amongst women. I know how
miraculously various she can be, for I have seen her act many times in all
the characters she has given in London ; but she was never so merely the
lachrymose invalid this version gives her out to be. No one looking at
either this or the version contributed by Baron de Meyer would at once
think, as one should of any presentation of this wonderful creature, that here
surely is one of the greatest among the great, the woman of ineffable and
most compelling charm. In studying her while acting, she has seemed to
me to offer a countless procession of perfect photographic studies; pose after
pose occurred, needing no correction or alteration to make a perfect picture,
as well as a perfect realization of the great Duse.
Of Mr. Stieglitz’s exhibit of seven pictures, No. 127, Ploughing, is a
good composition and very picturesque; but I do not fully like its color or
the treatment of the distant hills. It seems to lack aerial space. No. 120,
Spring, is a most delightfully quaint posing of a child, but here again I feel
its value minimized by a lack of planes, a lack of aerial space, of atmosphere.
Far more successful is No. 132, Going to the Post, very decorative in effect
and full of space and light. In No. 172, Horses, I incline to think that,
good and bold though it is, considering the strong sunlight it was taken in,
if we are given as much as we are of detailed modeling in the white horse,
we should have as much relatively in the black horse—at least a painter
would give more by far. No. 166, Miss S. R., is a very personal, chic study,
full of individuality ; but what a gain it would be to the naїve charm, the
espieglerie of the whole, if the obtrusive and opaque leaf masses at the top
could have been removed in the printing, a quite simple matter to such a
past-master as its maker is.
Mrs. Käsebier is much more charmingly represented than last year.
No. 133, Mother and Child, is very suave in its lines and lighting; but the
scraped lines on the foreground worry more than a little and are not fully
understandable either. No. 136, The Crystal, is full of light and charm,
delicate yet vivid to a degree. So also is No. 167, The Baron de Meyer, a most
quaint bit of phantasy, perfect in its realization of out-o’-door feeling and
light; personally I found it all but unrecognizable as a likeness, owing, I
suppose, to the white suit and unusual pose. No. 168 is a very successful
gum-study of a head under a veil, rich in opposing masses and delicate in the
veil treatment; and No. 169 and No. 173 are very welcome as showing Mrs.
Käsebier's old-time supremacy in direct portraiture, of which she is such a
past-mistress.
For sterling value and photographic accomplishment under the best
