Camera Work: A Photographic Quarterly (1908 (Heft 23))

EXHIBITION OF PRINTS BY GEORGE H. SEELEY.

H^^HE value of the Photo-Secession, both in its general upholding
£ of the higher purposes of photography and in its particular
ability to help the individual, has never been better illustrated
than in the recent exhibition of prints by George H. Seeley.
Incidentally it is very much to the latter’s advantage that his work should
be granted for nearly three weeks an exclusive showing, where it was seen by
the exceptionally intelligent clientele that the Secession has attracted to its
galleries. Yet this would be of small account, if the work itself did not
merit the indorsement which is implied in this privilege. That Mr. Seeley’s
does is very largely due to the spirit which animates the Secession. It is
keenly awake to any signs of promise; helps alike with criticism and
encouragement, and, when the results warrant it, affords the inestimable
benefit of a well-organized exhibition.
As some of us go, Mr. Seeley is still a young man; though he is no
stripling, and, for aught I know, may have been experimenting with pho-
tography for a very considerable time, before I became aware of his existence.
This was some two years ago, when a few of his prints appeared in a
members’ exhibition. In any ordinary exhibition they would have been
swamped in the general mass of material, uncongenial to themselves; or, if
observed, would probably have been voted cranky. For Mr. Seeley has a
vision of the world peculiarly his own, and, at that time, did not possess the
technical ability to express it. So much so, that one might feel a doubt as
to whether he were even sure of his own motive. In every respect the
work seemed uncertain and immature.
One of the prints represented a girl in flowing drapery, and a dog,
standing under trees, through which the sunlight filtered, dappling their
bodies with spots. It was a spotted girl and a spotted dog in a spotty
landscape; for, like the novice in plein air painting, Mr. Seeley had not
succeeded in rendering the luminosity of the light. Another print, however,
from the same negative appeared in the recent exhibition. But, though
similarly printed in platinotype, it was entirely different.
By this time the artist had acquired control over his medium. The
figures and their surroundings were in harmonious relation ; the spottiness
had been merged in a coherent composition of light and shadow, and the
callow feeling that pervaded the original print had been replaced by one of
assurance and authority.
Nor was this the result merely of an accidental success in printing.
For fifty other prints, though they differed in quality, were at one in
suggesting that at least Mr. Seeley felt certain of his own intentions and was
reasonably sure of the resources of his technique. The exhibition, in fact,
showed an amazing advance both in technical and mental grasp. The
credit for this is, of course, primarily due to himself; yet, I am sure he
would be the first to acknowledge his indebtedness to the Photo-Secession;
which at a critical point in his career neither ignored him nor plastered him