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Wendi Schneider

Wendi Schneider

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Wendi Schneider is a collector of art and objects primarily from the turn of the 20th century, including Art Nouveau, Arts & Crafts, photogravures, and silver, platinum and gum prints. She began collecting old things as a child antiquing with her mother and collecting in earnest once she had her own place in New Orleans in the late 1970s.

The collection below is pulled from The_Schneider_Collection Instagram page, which was begun in 2019, currently featuring photography and books. The collection also includes china, pottery, textiles, prints, boxes, glass, lighting, furniture and frames – some of which house photographs from her collection and others which are paired with her own work in the Patina Collection.

Another gorgeous Doris Ulmann photogravure from Ro Another gorgeous Doris Ulmann photogravure from Roll, Jordan, Roll, 1923. 

“I am of course glad to have people interested in my pictures... but my great wish is that these human records shall serve some social purpose.” — Doris Ulmann

Beginning in 1929, Doris Ulmann, a graduate of the Clarence White School, undertook a project in the Gullah coastal region of South Carolina photographing former slaves and their descendants to illustrate Julia Peterkin’s Roll Jordan Roll. 

Reproduced as 90 lavish hand-pulled photogravures, Ulmann’s images and Peterkin's text generated a body of work critically acclaimed as one of the first art books to portray African Americans as people rather than stereotypes and one of the finest, most renowned photogravure-illustrated books of the twentieth century. In Ulmann’s photographs, there is an atmosphere of love that seems to envelop her subjects. Her attitude toward people was reflected in her delicate use of natural light and the soft-focus lens. She was inspired by the simplicity of the Gullahs’ lifestyle—their inner strength, in the midst of enormous difficulties, touched her deeply spiritual nature (William Clift). —photogravure.com

"Roll, Jordan, Roll", is a spiritual created by enslaved African Americans, developed from a song written by Isaac Watts in the 18th century which became well known among slaves in the United States during the 19th century. Appropriated as a coded message for escape, by the end of the American Civil War it had become known through much of the eastern United States. In the 19th century, it helped inspire blues, and it remains a staple in gospel music. — Wikipedia 

#dorisulmann #rolljordanroll #vintagephotogravures #photogravures #markkatzman #theschneidercollection #oldcemeteries #oldcemetary #oldsouthcarolina #gullahs #juliapeterkin #williamclift #softfocus #vintageafricanamerican #gullah #africanamericanhistory #blackhistory
The Asphalt Paver, 1892/93, a photogravure by Alfr The Asphalt Paver, 1892/93, a photogravure by Alfred Stieglitz from Camera Work No. 41, 1913

The image depicts an asphalt paving operation. The thick pin of a paver’s chimney anchors the image, holding together the converging diagonals of an elevated railway and a graded road. Steam and smoke billow around the wheeled apparatus, smudging the surrounding forms and obscuring the special recession. A boy, whose form nearly merges with the oven, stoops to fuel it with wood transported with the aid of a small handcart. The fuel will keep the asphalt hot and properly viscous for spreading. Behind and to the right, stands a vague vertical form. It could be a man in natty attire, rendered ghostly by having moved during the exposure, or it could be a street light. The ambiguity is unsettling. The picture mulls over the alchemy of modern life. The bare trees stand like the skeletal remains of an arboreal past, through which capital, with its iron and tire, asphalt and smoke, advances to accelerate people and property. Some trees will be spared to retain pockets of greenery, while others will be cleared to accommodate development. The contrast between the stark and erect smokestack and the obscure, stooping figure suggests the subordination of workers to industrial agency. Modernity appears as a turbulent transformation of matter, sustained by new burdens on human labor. All this transpires in an atmosphere of expenditure. The mists and fogs of the English fens have given way to the workaday vapors of the city street. 

Kelsey Robin. Photography and the Art of Chance. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press 2015
 P 15 photogravure.com

#stieglitz #alfredstieglitz #asphaltpaver #mastersofphotography #camerawork #vintagephotogravures #photogravuredotcom #cameraworkmagazine #theschneidercollection #kelseyrobin #photographyandtheartofchance #artofphotogravure #markkatzman
Wishing you a bit of magic on this prescribed day Wishing you a bit of magic on this prescribed day of gratitude, and all others. Thank you for following and commenting on my beloved treasures. 

The Crystal Gazer / The Magic Crystal, 1904, a photogravure by Gertrude Käsebier from the 1910 London edition of A.J. Anderson’s The Artistic Side of Photography, with beautiful photogravures from the Alvin Langdon Coburn studio. 

“I shall gather myself into myself again,
 I shall take my scattered selves and make them one,
Fusing them into a polished crystal ball
  Where I can see the moon and the flashing sun.

I shall sit like a sibyl, hour after hour intent,
 Watching the future come and the present go,
And the little shifting pictures of people rushing
  In restless self-importance to and fro.” — Sara Teasdale

I wonder if Sara and Gertrude ever crossed paths in NY. Sara moved there in 1916 and Gertrude was already an established portrait photographer there, opening her studio in 1897. I’ve found photographs online of Sara by Jessie Tarbox Beals and Sarony. Food for thought and research, preferable to turkey. Sara’s poem was published in 1926 in Dark of the Moon, but I haven’t yet found when it was written. 

How I would love to see a movie about the artists in NY at the turn of the 20th century, with an emphasis on photography and poetry. 

Image: @artofphotogravure (thank you Mark for your generous sharing of your expertise, appreciation, images, extras, and friendship). 

#gertrudekasebier #artofphotography #vintagephotography #vintagephotogravures #alvinlangdoncoburn #artofphotogravure #thecrystalgazer #theschneidercollection #sarateasdale #themagiccrystal
The Silver Skirt, a photogravure by Baron Adolf de The Silver Skirt, a photogravure by Baron Adolf de Meyer in A.J. Anderson’s The Artistic Side of Photography, London Edition, 1910, the Alvin Langdon Coburn Studio. 15 x 8.5 cm

Baron Adolf de Meyer spent his childhood in Paris and Germany. He exhibited photographs as an amateur photographer when he was around twenty-six years old. The following year he relocated from Dresden to London, where he was admitted to the Royal Photographic Society and the Linked Ring. 

He maintained a professional correspondence and friendship with Alfred Stieglitz; de Meyer's photographs were published in several issues of Stieglitz's publication Camera Work and he eventually joined Stieglitz's Photo-Secession. 

In 1913 de Meyer’s first photograph was published in Vogue magazine and in 1914 publisher Condé Nast hired de Meyer as Vogue magazine’s first full-time photographer, also contracting him to work for Vanity Fair.

In 1921 he left Nast to work for the William Randolph Hearst publication Harper's Bazaar in Paris, where he became the preeminent fashion photographer of the day. From early on and especially during his magazine years, de Meyer associated with and photographed the upper echelons of society.

Around 1934, a new editor with a mission to redefine the renamed Harper's Bazaar led to the end of de Meyer's illustrious career with the magazine. After travels in Europe, he relocated to Hollywood at the end of the thirties. He died in Los Angeles, remembered for his famous friends but virtually forgotten as a photographer.

The Getty has a 1910 platinum print:
The Silver Skirt
[Portrait of Mrs. Gingold, London, England] (Alternate Title)
[Portrait of a Woman] (Alternate Title) — The Getty

Image @artofphotogravure 

#barondemeyer ##adolfdemeyer #vintagephotogravures #theartisticsideofphotography #theschneidercollection #thesilverskirt #ajanderson #thegettymuseum
A Landscape – photogravure by Clarence H. White in A Landscape - photogravure by Clarence H. White in A.J. Anderson’s The Artistic Side of Photography, 1910. Another overseen by Coburn. 

“In 1895, White exhibited his first photos at the Camera Club of Fostoria, Ohio, and by 1898 he had met F.H. Day and Stieglitz. His star continued to rise, having exhibitions in 1899 at the Camera Club of NY and at the Boston Camera Club, and he also exhibited in the London Photographic Salon organised by The Linked Ring. In 1900 White was elected to membership in The Linked Ring and in 1901 White and 10 others to become “charter members” of the Photo-Secession... Due to financial constraints, he was only able to create about 8 photographs each month, either very early in the morning, after he finished work as a bookkeeper, or at the weekend. Some of his most memorable images were created at this time, before his move to NY in 1906. As Cathleen A. Branciaroli and William Inness Homer observe in “The Artistry of Clarence H. White”, “White is most significant in the history of photography because, in his early years, he redefined the nature of picture-making, creating a distinctly modern idiom for his own time…. He reduced his compositions to very simple elements of form, and by experimenting with principles of design derived largely from Whistler and Japanese prints, he created a personal style that was unique for photography.”

His “masterful reinterpretation of the possibilities of light and the photographic medium done with artistic intent” allowed him to develop this personal mythology. He learned how to visualise his subjects in his imagination, before rendering them by drawing in light. His unique prints, made in a variety of processes (platinum, gum-platinum, palladium, gum-palladium, gum, glycerin developed platinum, cyanotype and hand-coated platinum) with the same image sometimes printed using different processes, celebrate “pure photography”, a cerebral, ethereal emanation of pure light and form. Excerpts from Artblart.com

Image @artofphotogravure 

#clarencehwhite #vintagephotogravures #theartisticsideofphotography #artblart #alfredlangdoncoburn #theschneidercollection
New York Central Yard, 1903 – a luscious 1910 12 x New York Central Yard, 1903 - a luscious 1910 12 x 9.7 cm photogravure in the London edition of A.J. Anderson’s The Artistic Side of Photography. 

As mentioned previously, Coburn oversaw the production of the photogravures and they are lovely. 

“Stieglitz was a student in Germany when he bought his first camera, an 8 × 10 plate film camera that required a tripod. Despite its bulk, Stieglitz travelled throughout Europe, taking photographs of landscapes and labourers in Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. In 1892, Stieglitz bought his first hand-held camera, a Folmer and Schwing 4 × 5 plate film camera, which he used to take two of his best known images, Winter, Fifth Avenue and The Terminal.” — Wikipedia

Those images images preceded this one, which was created shortly after Stieglitz resigned as editor of Camera Notes and published the first issue of Camera Work. He later published a photogravure of this image in Camera Work No. XXXVI in 1911. 

Image courtesy of @artofphotogravure 

#alfredstieglitz #oldnewyork #vintagephoto #vintagephotogravures #theschneidercollection #theartisticsideofphotography #ajanderson #alfredlangdoncoburn #masterphotographers #photosecession #vintagetrains
Courtyard with Cat, New Orleans, 1920s by Arnold G Courtyard with Cat, New Orleans, 1920s by Arnold Genthe, 13“ x 10” silver gelatin, signed in ink recto.

“It is told that at the age of four, when I was taken by the nurse to look at my newly arrived brother Hugo, I seriously remarked, ‘I’d like a little kitten better.’ I am fond of dogs, but cats have always meant more to me, and they have been the wise and sympathetic companions of many a solitary hour.” –Arnold Genthe, As I Remember (1936)

"Genthe is remembered for his photos of San Francisco’s Chinatown, the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, and his portraits of notables. . . A self-taught photographer, he opened a portrait studio in San Francisco in the late 1890s. His clientele included Sarah Bernhardt and Jack London. In 1911 Genthe moved to NYC, where he concentrated on portraiture. All the while, he was photographing cats. Among the more than 1,000 images of Genthe’s photographs in the Library of Congress Collection in the Artstor Digital Library, there are 82 that include cats, usually accompanying women, but occasionally alone. More than half of these feature his beloved cat Buzzer (or perhaps that should be “Buzzers,” as he used that name for four cats). — ARTSTOR

“Though not all Genthe’s work is Pictorialist, his photographs of New Orleans reflected the style’s influence. Making two trips to New Orleans, Genthe intended to document the city’s Old World charm before modern life changed it forever. He quickly discovered that he was too late. While evidence of modernism was everywhere . . . Genthe did not let this deter him from making a picturesque portrayal of the city. Using the same soft-focus, pictorial style he had employed in SF, Genthe sought the old and quaint in New Orleans. When modern elements appeared in his scenes, he erased them in the darkroom. A close inspection of many of his NO photographs reveals slight shadows of signs, electric lines, and streetcar tracks that interfered with his romantic preconception of the city. His images of New Orleans did much to establish it as a “city that time forgot.” — Leslie Gale Parr, 64 Parishes 

Excerpted

#nationalcatday #arnoldgenthe #oldneworleans #vintagephotography #theschneidercollection
Following Seeley’s ‘Autumn’ from Camera Work Following Seeley’s ‘Autumn’ from Camera Work is this gorgeous Seeley photogravure - ‘A Portrait’ - in The Artistic Side of Photography by A.J. Anderson. 

“This well-received book advocating pictorial photography was published simultaneously in New York, London and Toronto. Anderson, an English author, thoroughly covered creative photography and its technical side in the text. The 12 rich, small hand-pulled photogravures were all by leading pictorialists of the time; Alvin Langdon Coburn, F. Holland Day, Baron Adolf De Meyer, Frank Eugene, Gertrude Käesebier, George H. Seeley, Edward Steichen, Alfred Stieglitz and Clarence H. White. Coburn who, characteristically etched his own plates, consulted with the publisher and oversaw the quality of all the photogravures. Demonstrating the international nature of the movement, the photographers hail from England, France, Italy, and the United States. Equally impressive is the fact that the book was published nearly simultaneously in three countries: England (Stanley Paul and Company, London, 1910), Canada (Copp, Clark Company, Toronto, 1910), and America (Dodd Mead and Company, New York, 1911). The leading monthly American Photography reviewed the book, exclaiming that “Mr. Anderson has produced in this comprehensive and clearly written exposition of pictorial photography by far the most illuminating and helpful treatise on the subject which has appeared in some years.” (July 1911, page 437). The book, in fact, was so successful that another edition was issued a few years later (1913 in New York and London, 1916 in Toronto). Retitled The ABC of Artistic Photography, perhaps to appeal to a less sophisticated audience, it was slightly smaller in scale and page count, although it covered all the same topics. Not surprisingly, the number of photogravures was also reduced, to just four.” — Christian Peterson for Mark Katzman’s Photogravure.com. 

I’m so excited to add this book to my collection. This is the London edition. The photogravures are luscious. Thank you, Mark! @artofphotogravure #theartisticsideofphotography #alvinlangdoncoburn #georgeseeley #vintagephotogravures #artofphotography #vintagephotographybooks
Autumn, a photogravure by George Henry Seeley from Autumn, a photogravure by George Henry Seeley from Camera Work No. XXIX, 1910. 

George Henry Seeley (1880–1955) was an American photographer primarily associated with the Pictorialist movement. #early20thcenturyart #pictorialistphotography #pictorialistportrait 

Seeley was born in Stockbridge, Massachusetts and attended the Massachusetts Normal Art School from 1897 to 1901, as a student in painting. He studied under Joseph DeCamp, who encouraged his interest in natural light, and became interested in photography after meeting F. Holland Day. He returned to Stockbridge in 1902, where he worked in both painting and photography. In 1904, his photographs were included in the First American Photographic Salon in New York City, where Alfred Stieglitz encountered them; Stieglitz then invited Seeley to join the Photo Secession, in which Seeley was a member from 1906 to 1910.

After leaving Stieglitz's group, Seeley continued creating in a pictorialist aesthetic while the style as a whole declined in critical praise; this, coupled with wartime shortages in raw materials needed for photography, hurt Seeley's career as a photographer. While Seeley continued exhibiting his photographs until the 1930s, little of what was shown was new material. Later in life, Seeley returned to painting, and also served as a newspaper correspondent for a Stockbridge publication. He died there in 1955. — Wikipedia 

#cameraworkphotogravure #cameraworkmagazine #georgeseeley #alfredstieglitz #pictorialism #pictorialist #vintagephotography #vintagephotogravures #photosecession #photosecessionist #theschneidercollection
Flowering Queen Anne’s Lace, 2000 – a unique pla Flowering Queen Anne’s Lace, 2000 - a unique platinum palladium print from a 4x5 analog negative by Catharina Marlowe - signed in pencil recto. 

Catharina Marlowe’s photographic career includes working as a photographer at the University of California, operating her own studio in Santa Cruz, teaching workshops, and working as a freelance photographer. Her work has been exhibited widely on the West Coast and in The Netherlands. She works primarily with large view cameras and classic photographic processes. In recent years she has been exploring printmaking using photopolymer plates. Catharina Marlowe is a member of the Printmakers-at-the-Tannery located in Santa Cruz, CA.

#centerforphotographicart #catharinamarlowe #platinumprint #palladiumprint #womeninthearts #queenanneslace #botanicals #analogphotography #theschneidercollection
Beyond the Barrier, an archival pigment print by S Beyond the Barrier, an archival pigment print by Sylvia Gardner. 9”x 7” on 8” x 10”, 1/10, signed on verso, 2022. 

Sylvia Gardner is a photographer and designer residing on the Monterey Peninsula. Her photography covers a variety of genres and processes. Among the subjects are architectural details, abandoned buildings and urban ruins, abstract patterns in nature, and nudes. She tends to work in black and white and appreciates the subtle details it reveals. Her work has been recognized by Black & White Spider Awards, Color Awards, Arts Council of Monterey County, Monterey County Fair, and Center for Photographic Art in Carmel.

#sylviagardner #centerforphotographicart #blackandwhitephotography #throughthewindow
Woman Outside Window – an archival pigment print Woman Outside Window - an archival  pigment print by Eduardo Fuji. Signed in pencil on matt board. 2010, 2022

Eduardo Fujii is a fine art photographer based in Monterey, California. At an early age he demonstrated great interest in the arts but It wasn’t until late 2006 that  he turned to photography as a form of artistic expression. Eduardo has participated in gallery exhibitions and has received awards from various magazines and photo competitions, including Israeli Art Market, B&W Magazine, Color Magazine, PX3 Prix de la Photographie, Professional Photographer Magazine, Monochrome Awards, Fine Art Photography Awards, and the International Color Awards. In 2017, Eduardo was awarded Photographer of the Year at the 12th Annual Black and White Spider Awards.

#fineartphotography #eduardofuji #womanoutsidewindow #theschneidercollection #centerforphotographicart
Nicholsmobile: The Car of Scott Nichols – gelatin Nicholsmobile: The Car of Scott Nichols - gelatin silver print, mordançage, unique by Kristy Headley. 4 in a variable edition of 5, 4” x 3” on a 5” x 7” sheet framed to 8” x 10” under museum glass. Signed in pencil on mount on verso, 2022. (1991 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera)

Kristy Belle Headley (b. Ohio, 1984) is an alternative photographer who illustrates the ecosystems of relationships and inflection points of change, exploring nostalgia, stagnation, and impermanence. She crafts dreamlike imagery using historic and experimental photographic techniques which involve hand application or manipulation of light-sensitive emulsions, including mordançage (bleach-etch), salt prints, cyanotype, and wet plate collodion.

Her professional background is in fine art photography, gallery management, and notable archival imaging operations, specializing in digitization of books, large-format works, and 3-dimensional objects. Kristy is the Director of Scott Nichols Gallery in Sonoma, California, and recruits workshop instructors at The Image Flow in San Anselmo, California. She maintains a dry studio darkroom at the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in San Francisco.

#kristyheadley #fineartphotography #gelatinsilverprints #centerforphotographicart #womeninthearts #contemporaryfineartist #theschneidercollection #mordencage #scottnicholsgallery #scottnicholscar #contemporaryfineartphotography
Girl with Mirror – a photogravure by Heinrich Kueh Girl with Mirror - a photogravure by Heinrich Kuehn (Kühn) from Camera Work No. XIII, 1906. 

Heinrich Kühn is regarded one of the forefathers of fine art photography, the movement that helped photography to establish itself as an art on its own. His photographs closely resemble impressionist paintings, with their frequent use of soft lighting and focus. Kühn was part of the pictorialist photographic movement.

Kühn mainly used the gum bichromate technique, applied in several layers, and thus allowing for previously unseen color tonalities.

In 1911, Kühn invented the Gummigravüre technique, a combination of photogravure and Gum bichromate. In 1915 he developed the Leimdruck technique, which uses Animal glue as Colloid and produces pictures similar to gum prints. He also invented the Syngraphie, a forgotten technique that uses two negatives of different sensitivity to obtain a larger tonal spectrum.

Kühn used Autochrome from its appearance in 1907;[1] his Autochromes have been called "ethereal dreams of childhood, full of vaulted sunny skies and giddy perspectives, as gloriously cathartic as they are emotionally charged". — Wikipedia 

#heinrichkuehn #heinrichkuhn #cameraworkmagazine #vintagephotogravures #vintagephotographs #vintageportraits #alfredstieglitz #gumbichromate #photogravure #masterphotographers #pictorialism #pictorialist #kuehn
Ely Cathedral: A Memory of the Normans, c. 1899 – Ely Cathedral: A Memory of the Normans, c. 1899 - a photogravure by Frederick H. Evans from Camera Work No. 4, 1903.

Frederick H. Evans British, 1853-1943. Born in Whitechapel, London, Frederick Evans was the preeminent architectural photographer of his day, known particularly for his views of British cathedrals. He was also known for portraiture, with sitters such as George Bernard Shaw and Aubrey Beardsley.

Originally a London bookseller, Evans retired in 1898 to devote himself full-time to photography. He was a passionate devotee of straight, or pure, photography. His elegant, unaltered platinum prints relied on form and light to probe the spiritual elements of architectural space and to reveal the character and nuance of the subjects of his portraits.

Evans, who exhibited his work widely, extended his aesthetic beliefs to the realm of display; he is credited with transforming British exhibition practice -- the crowded Victorian salon giving way to a venue where prints were shown singly and clearly, out of competition with one another. Alfred Stieglitz was a great admirer of Evans's work, which was published in Camera Work (1903) and shown at the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession in New York (1906). A member of the Royal Photographic Society, Evans was named an Honorary Fellow in 1925 and was elected to the Linked Ring in 1900. — T.W.F. The Cleveland Museum of Art

#frederickhevans #stieglitz #cameraworkmagazine #1903 #elycathedral #vintagephotography #mastersofphotography #theschneidercollection
The Metropolitan Tower, 1909, a photogravure from The Metropolitan Tower, 1909, a photogravure from The New York Portfolio, by Alvin Langdon Coburn, 1910. 

Unfortunately my copy of the portfolio was missing 4 photogravures so I’ve been filling them in. This is one of them, as was the Flatiron I posted recently. 

Not quite the same as a pristine portfolio but exquisite nonetheless. 

#thenewyorkportfolio #alvinlangdoncoburn #vintagephotogravures #theschneidercollection #oldnewyork #metropolitantower #mastersofphotography #vintagephotographs #vintagephotography
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