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Ema Spencer - Portrait of Clarence H. White (1871-1925) - 1980.174 - Cleveland Museum of Art
Summary
A native of Newark, Ohio, Spencer was a talented photographer who received national and international recognition for her work created in the prevailing Pictorial style. As a founder of the Newark Camera Club, she met and encouraged the young photographer Clarence White and then studied under him, assimilating his ability to render portraits with an innate gentleness. In this image, Spencer skillfully orchestrated the composition and captured the subtle effects of natural light. She looked to her teacher's early work when applying soft graphite strokes to the finished photograph for structural emphasis and tonal shading. This charming portrait celebrates the simple pleasures of unhurried living, like reading a book in a sun-filled room.
Clarence H. White (1871–1925), American photographer known for subtle portraits of women and children and also as an influential teacher of photography. White had from his early years an appetite for artistic and intellectual pursuits. After finishing high school in Newark, Ohio, he took a job as an accountant in his father’s grocery business and married in 1893. He taught himself the art of photography and photographed constantly despite his limited free time and finances; he costumed and posed family members and friends in the early dawn or evening hours, in their homes and in the open and produced elegantly posed and subtly lit images.
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