Jane Reece (photographer)
Encyclopedia
Jane Reece was a highly acclaimed American pictorial
photographer of the early 20th century. She lived most of her life in Dayton, Ohio
and was active in the local, national and international photography scenes. During her 40-year career she exhibited in more than 100 photography salons and shows around the world, receiving many awards, prizes and honors. Reece is now recognized as one of Dayton's most beloved artists.
; she never revealed, and may not have known, the exact date. Records indicate she was one of four children born to William L. Reece (1833-1879) and Mary Augsburger Ransomer (1837-1934). After her father died in 1879, her family moved to nearby Zanesville, Ohio
. Her brother Lawson took up photography there and worked in the photographic studio of Muntz and Pack. Reece also worked there briefly and was listed as an "artist" or "artist-retoucher".
Like many photographers during this period Reece began her artistic career as a painter, and she claimed she only began to photograph in earnest when a serious illness, thought to be spinal meningitis or tuberculosis
, forced her to abandon painting in 1903. While recovering from the illness at the home of relatives in Southern Pines, North Carolina
, she said took up photography at the insistence of the nurse who cared for her. However, in 1901-02 Reece was listed in the Dayton City Directory as having a "studio", and there are dozens of photographic portraits taken by her that appear to be from this period.
In December 1903 Reece returned from North Carolina and moved to Dayton, Ohio, where she acknowledged that she opened a large photographic studio. She called the studio "The Rembrandt," hoping the artistic name would help attract clients who wanted studio portraits. Her strategy worked well, for within the next year she recorded that she made more than 600 photographic silhouette portraits.
Within a few years Reece's photographic style evolved from simple portraiture to a more artistic vision. For inspiration she subscribed to Alfred Stieglitz
's important magazines Camera Notes
and Camera Work
. In 1907 she produced one of her best known images, a self-portrait known as The Poinsettia Girl. In making this image Reece might have been influenced another woman photographer, Eva Watson-Schütze
, whose photograph The Rose was published in Camera Work in 1905.
By 1909 she felt she had achieved all that she could in Dayton given what she knew, and she moved briefly to New York to study with Clarence H. White at Columbia University
. She stayed there for slightly less than four months, and later she claimed that White found her work too advanced for her to remain his student. Both White's and Reece's records and notes from that period are unclear about her actual attendance at Columbia, although she did produce a portrait of White in his studio. She is also known to have met Gertrude Käsebier
during this visit, although the extent of their connection is unclear.Regardless, Reece returned to Dayton in October of that year and opened a new portrait studio. Within a short while she had numerous clients, and for the next several years she made many commercial portraits of Dayton's finest families.
In 1911 Reece traveled to California, and while there she made a small series of photographs that both define her artistic style and her life at the time. The series, called The Soul in Bondage, interpreted the mythological story of Andromeda
who was bound to rocks by the ocean and rescued by Perseus
. Reece took the series on Catalina Island, and the model is thought to have been former Dayton resident Marie Peiza. Dominque Vasseur, former curator at the Dayton Art Institute
, said this series "symbolizes a psychological and emotional struggle of great proportion which one must assume to be autobiographical." At the time, Reece was questioning her commitment to photography and to the career she had chosen; she was experiencing financial hardships and her health had been suffering as well.
She must have resolved whatever doubts she had before going to California, for after she returned to Dayton in 1912 she expanded her artistic repertoire to include both the portrait business she had before but also an increasing number of artistic images. Among her more famous works from this period are The Veteran (1912) and Whence (1916).
In 1919 Reece returned to visit friends in Los Angeles, and while there she photographed Edward Weston
, Tina Modotti
and her common-law husband Roubaix de l'Abrie Richey. In keeping with her pictorial style, she posed both Modotti and Richey in costume and gave them "artistic" characters. A photograph of Richey posing as Christ was titled Son of Man, while one of Modotti was called Having Drowned My Glory in a Shallow Cup. The latter has become one of her best known images.
Reece, who suffered from both mental and physical ailments throughout her life, became ill while in Los Angeles and remained there until late 1920. When she finally returned to Dayton, she entered into the most prolific and artistically significant period of her career. During most of the 1920s and early 1930s she achieved both national and international acclaim for her work, receiving recognition and awards from around the world. One reason for her success was that she incorporated a variety of different styles in her work; she regularly experimented with different genres, models and subject matter. Photography historian Naomi Rosenblum
said Reece "was a scavenger of styles, finding ideas both in portraiture and for salon work in Naturalists, Symbolist, and on occasion, Cubist art". Susan Talbot-Stanaway, Director of the Zanesville (Ohio) Museum of Art, which holds about 70 of Reece's photographs, said Reece loved to create "carefully constructed little stories" in her images.
Some of her most striking photographs were created in 1922, when she overlaid negatives she took of dancer Harry Losée with stencils to create bold, geometric lighting patterns reminiscent of later work by Man Ray
. Also during this time Reece experimented with Autochome
s and short films.
Due to her increased fame in the 1920s Reece was engaged to take portraits of many artists and celebrities of the time, including Count and Countess Ilya Tolstoy
, Jan Kubelik
, Margaret Woodrow Wilson
, Herman Sachs
, Robert Frost
, Roland Hayes
and Helen Keller
. After a visit to Europe in 1923-24, she was in demand for many international exhibitions. During the three-year period from 1928 to 1930 her photographs were included in at least 65 salons and exhibitions, including major shows in New York, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, Paris, London, Prague, Amsterdam, Tokyo, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Toronto, Edinburgh, Madrid and Antwerp.
Sometime in the mid-1930s Reece's eyesight began to fail, and, coupled with the decline in the popularity of pictorialism, she began to produce less and less. In 1944, at the age of 76, she finally said she was giving up photography altogether due to "my silent ears and my dimming vision".
She continued to exhibit her works and was honored with one-person shows at the Carmel Art Institute and the Dayton Art Institute in 1947. By the 1950s, however, pictorialism had grown completely out of favor in the photography world, and Reece, finding no further use for her archives, donated over 400 photographs to the Dayton Art Institute. She lived out her last years in increasing ill health, isolation and poverty. She died in Dayton just eight days short of her 93rd birthday. Her massive collection of more than 10,000 glass plate negatives was left to Wright State University
.
Since Reece's death her work has been rediscovered, and she is now recognized for her strong artistic vision and her leadership in photography during a changing time in the medium's history. The Dayton Art Institute has held two retrospectives of her work since her death, one in 1986 and again in 1997.
Pictorialism
Pictorialism is the name given to a photographic movement in vogue from around 1885 following the widespread introduction of the dry-plate process. It reached its height in the early years of the 20th century, and declined rapidly after 1914 after the widespread emergence of Modernism...
photographer of the early 20th century. She lived most of her life in Dayton, Ohio
Dayton, Ohio
Dayton is the 6th largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, the fifth most populous county in the state. The population was 141,527 at the 2010 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 841,502 in the 2010 census...
and was active in the local, national and international photography scenes. During her 40-year career she exhibited in more than 100 photography salons and shows around the world, receiving many awards, prizes and honors. Reece is now recognized as one of Dayton's most beloved artists.
Biography
Reece was very secretive about her age and many facts about her life. At other times she appears to have embellished or exaggerated other details about her history. Much of what is known to be true about her was assembled from her studio records, letters and interviews with friends and family members. She claimed to have been born in a log cabin near West Jefferson, OhioWest Jefferson, Ohio
West Jefferson is a village in Madison County, Ohio, United States. The population was 4,331 at the 2000 census. Located along U.S. Route 40, the village has a fairly close relationship with the surrounding township, which include various out-of-corporation-limit neighborhoods West Jefferson is a...
; she never revealed, and may not have known, the exact date. Records indicate she was one of four children born to William L. Reece (1833-1879) and Mary Augsburger Ransomer (1837-1934). After her father died in 1879, her family moved to nearby Zanesville, Ohio
Zanesville, Ohio
Zanesville is a city in and the county seat of Muskingum County, Ohio, United States. The population was 25,586 at the 2000 census.Zanesville was named after Ebenezer Zane, who had constructed Zane's Trace, a pioneer road through present-day Ohio...
. Her brother Lawson took up photography there and worked in the photographic studio of Muntz and Pack. Reece also worked there briefly and was listed as an "artist" or "artist-retoucher".
Like many photographers during this period Reece began her artistic career as a painter, and she claimed she only began to photograph in earnest when a serious illness, thought to be spinal meningitis or tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
, forced her to abandon painting in 1903. While recovering from the illness at the home of relatives in Southern Pines, North Carolina
Southern Pines, North Carolina
Southern Pines is a town in Moore County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 10,918 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Southern Pines is located at ....
, she said took up photography at the insistence of the nurse who cared for her. However, in 1901-02 Reece was listed in the Dayton City Directory as having a "studio", and there are dozens of photographic portraits taken by her that appear to be from this period.
In December 1903 Reece returned from North Carolina and moved to Dayton, Ohio, where she acknowledged that she opened a large photographic studio. She called the studio "The Rembrandt," hoping the artistic name would help attract clients who wanted studio portraits. Her strategy worked well, for within the next year she recorded that she made more than 600 photographic silhouette portraits.
Within a few years Reece's photographic style evolved from simple portraiture to a more artistic vision. For inspiration she subscribed to Alfred Stieglitz
Alfred Stieglitz
Alfred Stieglitz was an American photographer and modern art promoter who was instrumental over his fifty-year career in making photography an accepted art form...
's important magazines Camera Notes
Camera Notes
Camera Notes was a photographic journal published by the Camera Club of New York from 1897 to 1903. It was edited for most of that time by photographer Alfred Stieglitz and was considered the most significant American photography journal of its time...
and Camera Work
Camera Work
Camera Work was a quarterly photographic journal published by Alfred Stieglitz from 1903 to 1917. It is known for its many high-quality photogravures by some of the most important photographers in the world and its editorial purpose to establish photography as a fine art...
. In 1907 she produced one of her best known images, a self-portrait known as The Poinsettia Girl. In making this image Reece might have been influenced another woman photographer, Eva Watson-Schütze
Eva Watson-Schütze
Eva Watson-Schütze was an American photographer and painter who was one of the founding members of the Photo-Secession.-Life:...
, whose photograph The Rose was published in Camera Work in 1905.
By 1909 she felt she had achieved all that she could in Dayton given what she knew, and she moved briefly to New York to study with Clarence H. White at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. She stayed there for slightly less than four months, and later she claimed that White found her work too advanced for her to remain his student. Both White's and Reece's records and notes from that period are unclear about her actual attendance at Columbia, although she did produce a portrait of White in his studio. She is also known to have met Gertrude Käsebier
Gertrude Käsebier
Gertrude Käsebier was one of the most influential American photographers of the early 20th century. She was known for her evocative images of motherhood, her powerful portraits of Native Americans and her promotion of photography as a career for women.-Early life :Käsebier was born Gertrude...
during this visit, although the extent of their connection is unclear.Regardless, Reece returned to Dayton in October of that year and opened a new portrait studio. Within a short while she had numerous clients, and for the next several years she made many commercial portraits of Dayton's finest families.
In 1911 Reece traveled to California, and while there she made a small series of photographs that both define her artistic style and her life at the time. The series, called The Soul in Bondage, interpreted the mythological story of Andromeda
Andromeda (mythology)
Andromeda is a princess from Greek mythology who, as divine punishment for her mother's bragging, the Boast of Cassiopeia, was chained to a rock as a sacrifice to a sea monster. She was saved from death by Perseus, her future husband. Her name is the Latinized form of the Greek Ἀνδρομέδη...
who was bound to rocks by the ocean and rescued by Perseus
Perseus
Perseus ,Perseos and Perseas are not used in English. the legendary founder of Mycenae and of the Perseid dynasty of Danaans there, was the first of the mythic heroes of Greek mythology whose exploits in defeating various archaic monsters provided the founding myths of the Twelve Olympians...
. Reece took the series on Catalina Island, and the model is thought to have been former Dayton resident Marie Peiza. Dominque Vasseur, former curator at the Dayton Art Institute
Dayton Art Institute
The Dayton Art Institute is a museum of fine arts in Dayton, Ohio, USA. The Dayton Art Institute was rated one of the top 10 best art museums in the United States for kids. The museum also ranks in the top 3% of all art museums in North America in 3 of 4 factors...
, said this series "symbolizes a psychological and emotional struggle of great proportion which one must assume to be autobiographical." At the time, Reece was questioning her commitment to photography and to the career she had chosen; she was experiencing financial hardships and her health had been suffering as well.
She must have resolved whatever doubts she had before going to California, for after she returned to Dayton in 1912 she expanded her artistic repertoire to include both the portrait business she had before but also an increasing number of artistic images. Among her more famous works from this period are The Veteran (1912) and Whence (1916).
In 1919 Reece returned to visit friends in Los Angeles, and while there she photographed Edward Weston
Edward Weston
Edward Henry Weston was a 20th century American photographer. He has been called "one of the most innovative and influential American photographers…" and "one of the masters of 20th century photography." Over the course of his forty-year career Weston photographed an increasingly expansive set of...
, Tina Modotti
Tina Modotti
Tina Modotti was an Italian photographer, model, actress, and revolutionary political activist.- Early life :Modotti was born Assunta Adelaide Luigia Modotti Mondini in Udine, Friuli, Italy...
and her common-law husband Roubaix de l'Abrie Richey. In keeping with her pictorial style, she posed both Modotti and Richey in costume and gave them "artistic" characters. A photograph of Richey posing as Christ was titled Son of Man, while one of Modotti was called Having Drowned My Glory in a Shallow Cup. The latter has become one of her best known images.
Reece, who suffered from both mental and physical ailments throughout her life, became ill while in Los Angeles and remained there until late 1920. When she finally returned to Dayton, she entered into the most prolific and artistically significant period of her career. During most of the 1920s and early 1930s she achieved both national and international acclaim for her work, receiving recognition and awards from around the world. One reason for her success was that she incorporated a variety of different styles in her work; she regularly experimented with different genres, models and subject matter. Photography historian Naomi Rosenblum
Naomi Rosenblum
Naomi Rosenblum is a historian of photography, best known for A World History of Photography and A History of Women Photographers...
said Reece "was a scavenger of styles, finding ideas both in portraiture and for salon work in Naturalists, Symbolist, and on occasion, Cubist art". Susan Talbot-Stanaway, Director of the Zanesville (Ohio) Museum of Art, which holds about 70 of Reece's photographs, said Reece loved to create "carefully constructed little stories" in her images.
Some of her most striking photographs were created in 1922, when she overlaid negatives she took of dancer Harry Losée with stencils to create bold, geometric lighting patterns reminiscent of later work by Man Ray
Man Ray
Man Ray , born Emmanuel Radnitzky, was an American artist who spent most of his career in Paris, France. Perhaps best described simply as a modernist, he was a significant contributor to both the Dada and Surrealist movements, although his ties to each were informal...
. Also during this time Reece experimented with Autochome
Autochrome Lumière
The Autochrome Lumière is an early color photography process. Patented in 1903 by the Lumière brothers in France and first marketed in 1907, it was the principal color photography process in use before the advent of subtractive color film in the mid-1930s....
s and short films.
Due to her increased fame in the 1920s Reece was engaged to take portraits of many artists and celebrities of the time, including Count and Countess Ilya Tolstoy
Ilya Tolstoy
-Early life:Ilya was born at Yasnaya Polyana and spent most of his young life there, until the family took a house in Moscow in 1881. He received his early education at home; his mother taught him to read and write, first in Russian, and later in French and English, and his father taught him...
, Jan Kubelik
Jan Kubelík
Jan Kubelík was a Czech violinist and composer.-Biography:He was born in Michle . His father, a gardener by occupation, was an amateur violinist. He taught his two sons the violin and after discovering the talent of Jan, who was aged five at the time, arranged for him to study with Karel Weber and...
, Margaret Woodrow Wilson
Margaret Woodrow Wilson
Margaret Woodrow Wilson was the daughter of President Woodrow Wilson and Ellen Louise Axson. Wilson had two sisters, Jessie W. Wilson and Eleanor R. Wilson...
, Herman Sachs
Herman Sachs
Herman Sachs was an artist and art educator, active in Germany and the United States during the first half of the 20th century.- Biography :...
, Robert Frost
Robert Frost
Robert Lee Frost was an American poet. He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech. His work frequently employed settings from rural life in New England in the early twentieth century, using them to examine complex social and...
, Roland Hayes
Roland Hayes
Roland Hayes was a lyric tenor and is considered the first African American male concert artist to receive wide international acclaim as well as at home...
and Helen Keller
Helen Keller
Helen Adams Keller was an American author, political activist, and lecturer. She was the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree....
. After a visit to Europe in 1923-24, she was in demand for many international exhibitions. During the three-year period from 1928 to 1930 her photographs were included in at least 65 salons and exhibitions, including major shows in New York, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, Paris, London, Prague, Amsterdam, Tokyo, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Toronto, Edinburgh, Madrid and Antwerp.
Sometime in the mid-1930s Reece's eyesight began to fail, and, coupled with the decline in the popularity of pictorialism, she began to produce less and less. In 1944, at the age of 76, she finally said she was giving up photography altogether due to "my silent ears and my dimming vision".
She continued to exhibit her works and was honored with one-person shows at the Carmel Art Institute and the Dayton Art Institute in 1947. By the 1950s, however, pictorialism had grown completely out of favor in the photography world, and Reece, finding no further use for her archives, donated over 400 photographs to the Dayton Art Institute. She lived out her last years in increasing ill health, isolation and poverty. She died in Dayton just eight days short of her 93rd birthday. Her massive collection of more than 10,000 glass plate negatives was left to Wright State University
Wright State University
Wright State University is a comprehensive public university with strong doctoral, research, and undergraduate programs, rated among the 260 Best National Universities listed in the annual "America's Best Colleges" rankings by U.S. News and World Report. Wright State is located in Fairborn, Ohio,...
.
Since Reece's death her work has been rediscovered, and she is now recognized for her strong artistic vision and her leadership in photography during a changing time in the medium's history. The Dayton Art Institute has held two retrospectives of her work since her death, one in 1986 and again in 1997.