Alice Boughton facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Alice Boughton
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Boughton, around 1916
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| Born | May 14, 1866 Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
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| Died | June 21, 1943 (aged 77) Bay Shore, New York, U.S.
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| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Photographer |
| Years active | 1890–1931 |
Alice Boughton (born May 14, 1866 – died June 21, 1943) was an American photographer from the early 1900s. She was famous for her pictures of many well-known writers and actors of her time. She was also part of a special group of photographers called the Photo-Secession, led by Alfred Stieglitz. This group helped make photography a respected art form.
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Alice Boughton's Life
Alice Boughton was born in Brooklyn, New York, on May 14, 1866. Her parents were Frances Ayres and William H. Boughton, who was a lawyer. Alice studied photography and became a famous portrait photographer in New York by the early 1900s.
Photography and Social Ideas
Beyond her art, Alice was interested in social causes. She used her photography to express her own ideas. She was part of a movement where women became more confident and active. At the time, artwork made by women was sometimes seen as less important. To change this, women artists like Alice Boughton worked hard to promote women's art. They helped create the image of the "New Woman," who was educated, modern, and freer. Alice played a key role in showing this new type of woman through her photos and her own life.
From at least 1920 until she passed away, Alice Boughton lived with artist and art teacher Ida C. Haskell (1861–1932). Ida Haskell was one of Alice's teachers when Alice studied at the Pratt School. When Alice traveled to Europe in 1926, Ida went with her.
Her Photography Career
In the 1880s, Alice Boughton began studying art and photography at the Pratt School of Art and Design. There, she met another student named Gertrude Käsebier. Alice later studied with Gertrude in Paris. Gertrude also hired Alice as an assistant in her photography studio.
In 1890, Alice opened her own portrait studio on East 23rd Street in New York. She kept this studio for the next forty years. She also had another studio on Madison Avenue for a short time.
Around 1901, Alice studied art in Rome and photography in Paris. She even worked in Gertrude Käsebier’s summer studio. In 1902, she won an award at an art exhibition in Turin, Italy, for her work.
Alice Boughton became one of New York's most respected portrait photographers. But she also took pictures of landscapes and children. She photographed many places in the U.S. and Europe, including the Rockefeller family's estate, Kykuit, in Pocantico Hills, New York. Some of her most famous portraits are of people like Eugene O'Neill, Albert Pinkham Ryder, George Arliss, and Robert Louis Stevenson. Her photo of Robert Louis Stevenson even inspired a painting of him by John Singer Sargent.
Working with Alfred Stieglitz
As Alice Boughton's photography became more known, famous photographers like Alfred Stieglitz noticed her. We don't know exactly when she met Stieglitz. But he clearly admired her work by 1902. That year, he included two of her photos in the first exhibition at his gallery, the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession, in New York City.
This connection lasted for many years. In 1906, Stieglitz made Boughton a Fellow of the Photo-Secession. This group of artists wanted to create new kinds of art and move away from traditional styles. The next year, Stieglitz gave Alice and two other photographers their own exhibition at his gallery. In 1909, six of her photographs and an essay she wrote were published in Stieglitz's art magazine, Camera Work.
While Stieglitz was showing her work, Alice Boughton also received recognition from other big art shows around the world. Her photos were shown in London, Paris, Vienna, The Hague, and New York.
Later Life and Legacy
In 1931, Alice Boughton closed her studio. She got rid of thousands of her old photo prints. She then moved permanently to a home in Brookhaven, Long Island, which she shared with Ida Haskell.
Alice Boughton passed away from pneumonia on June 21, 1943.
Her photographs are now kept in many important art museums. These include the Museum of Modern Art, the British National Portrait Gallery, the George Eastman House, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Her Published Works
In 1928, a collection of her portraits was published in a book called Photographing the Famous. This book included photos of famous people like William Butler Yeats, Henry James, and Maxim Gorky.
Her work was also featured in the magazine Camera Work in 1909.
External Sources
- Guide to the Irene Tufts Mead Collection of Alice Boughton Photographs 1904 at the University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center
See also
In Spanish: Alice Boughton para niños
