Laura Gilpin facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Laura Gilpin
Born	April 22, 1891 Austin Bluffs, Colorado
Died	November 30, 1979(1979-11-30) (aged 88) Santa Fe, New Mexico
Known for	Photography
Movement	Pictorialism

Laura Gilpin (born April 22, 1891 – died November 30, 1979) was a famous American photographer.

She is best known for her pictures of Native Americans. These include the Navajo and Pueblo people. She also took many photos of the beautiful Southwestern landscapes. Laura started taking pictures when she was a child in Colorado. Later, she studied photography in New York from 1916 to 1917. After her studies, she returned to Colorado to start her career as a professional photographer.

Laura Gilpin's Early Life

Laura Gilpin was born to Frank Gilpin and Emma Miller. Her father, Frank, was a cattle rancher from Philadelphia. Her mother, Emma, grew up in big cities like St. Louis and Chicago. Emma moved to Colorado to be with her husband. But she often missed the busy city life.

Laura was born in Austin Bluffs. This town was about 65 kilometers (40 miles) from their ranch. It was the closest place to a doctor. Her mother wanted to make sure Laura was safe during her birth.

Childhood Adventures and Discoveries

Laura loved exploring the outdoors as a child. Her father encouraged her to go camping and hiking. He taught her about the plants and animals they saw. This helped her love for nature grow. This love later became a big part of her photography.

In 1902, Laura's father moved to Durango, Mexico. He went there to manage a mine. A few months later, her mother joined him. Laura and her brother stayed with their school directors, Mr. and Mrs. William Stark.

A Special Gift and New Ways of Seeing

For her twelfth birthday in 1903, Laura received a Kodak Brownie Camera. For Christmas, she got a developing tank. She used this camera all the time for several years.

The year 1904 was very important for Laura. Her mother sent her to visit her friend, Laura Perry, in St. Louis. Laura Perry was blind. It was Laura Gilpin's job to describe everything at the great Louisiana Purchase Exposition to her. They visited the fair every other day for a month. Laura later said this experience taught her to observe things in a way she never would have otherwise.

Rancho de Taos Mission, New Mexico

Laura's mother wanted her to study music. So, Laura went to boarding schools in the East. One was the New England Conservatory of Music. This was from 1904 to 1908. On her first trip East, her mother took her to New York. There, a famous photographer named Gertrude Käsebier took her portrait. Years later, when Laura decided to become a photographer, she asked Käsebier to be her teacher. They became lifelong friends.

Starting a Photography Career

Laura left school and returned to Colorado. She enjoyed exploring the outdoors. She often visited General William Jackson Palmer. He taught her about the plants and animals around their home. This helped build her passion for landscapes. These landscapes became the subject of many of her photos.

To support her interest in photography, Laura started a business. She raised turkeys at her family's ranch. Her turkey business was very successful. A Denver newspaper even wrote about it in 1913. She used the money from her turkeys to pay for trips to the East Coast. There, she improved her photography skills. She also practiced a special photography technique called autochrome at home. She photographed her chickens, turkeys, brother, and the landscape. Eventually, she sold the turkey business to focus fully on her photography.

Becoming a Professional Photographer

In 1916, Laura moved to New York to study photography. But in 1918, she became very sick with influenza. She returned to Colorado Springs. Her mother hired a nurse named Elizabeth Warham Forster, also known as "Betsy," to care for her. Laura and Betsy became close friends and companions. Laura often photographed Betsy over their fifty years together.

After Laura recovered, she opened her own photography studio in Colorado Springs. In 1924, the Pictorial Photographers of America gave Laura her first show in New York.

Evergreen Cemetery, Laura Gilpin

In 1924, Laura's mother passed away. Laura then cared for her father. He continued to move from job to job. From 1942 to 1944, Laura lived in Wichita, Kansas. She worked for the Boeing Company, photographing airplanes. She left in 1944, after her father's death. She returned to her beloved Colorado. Laura continued to work and take photos throughout the Southwest until she died in 1979. She is buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Colorado Springs. Elizabeth "Betsy" Warham Forster is buried in the same cemetery.

Learning and Growing as an Artist

Laura made her first dated autochrome in 1908. She was 17 years old. This photography method had only just become available that year. This shows how dedicated Laura was to photography early on.

In 1915, she visited the Panama–California Exposition in San Diego. She also went to the Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. She went as a companion for a friend of her mother's. At these fairs, Laura became interested in sculpture, architecture, and native cultures. She later remembered that there was not much art interest in Colorado Springs back then. She said she knew "nothing" about sculpture. Laura took many photos at these fairs. Some of them were her first to be published. Her photo of the Cloister at the San Diego Exposition won her first prize. She won a competition by American Photography magazine in May 1916.

What interested Laura about architecture and sculpture was how light played on their shapes. In 1916, Laura lived with Brenda Putnam. Brenda was a sculptor who lived, sculpted, and taught in New York City. They became lifelong friends. They supported each other's work and often talked about art. Laura studied sculpture with Brenda and often photographed her works. They stayed in touch even after Laura moved back to Colorado and New Mexico.

When Laura decided to study photography seriously, her mentor Gertrude Käsebier told her to go to the Clarence White School in New York City. She started a 28-week course in October 1916. There, she greatly improved her photography skills. She admired White very much. She called him "one of the greatest teachers I have ever known." White believed that anyone could learn to take good photos. He also did not separate "art" photography from commercial photography. At the Clarence White School, Laura learned about different photography processes. She learned about platinum printing, a method she used throughout her career.

Laura spent the summer after her first year at Clarence White School in Colorado Springs. Then she moved back to New York in the fall of 1917. Soon after, she got influenza. She could not take photos for six months. Elizabeth Forster, a nurse, cared for her. Elizabeth became her lifelong friend and companion. When Laura was well again, she started working and taking photos. She never went back to school, and her formal art studies ended.

Developing Her Unique Style

As Laura began her professional career in 1918, her parents supported her greatly. Her early photos included portraits of friends and landscapes around Colorado Springs. In 1919, Laura joined a group of artists in Colorado Springs. They were connected to the Broadmoor Art Academy. Laura made photo brochures for the school.

At this time, Laura's main work was printing platinum portraits. Local people liked these photos because they cost less than painted portraits. Laura liked to use relaxed poses and soft natural light for these portraits. She wanted to show the true spirit of the people she photographed. From 1920 to 1921, Laura studied portrait sculpture in New York with Brenda Putnam. She did this to make her portrait photographs even better.

Laura sent her still lifes and portraits to shows and competitions. But most of her success came from her western landscape photos. Her interest in the western landscape started when she was a child in Colorado Springs. It grew when she stopped in Santa Fe on her way to Mexico with her father. There, she visited the Museum of New Mexico.

In 1922, Laura took a trip to Europe. This trip later changed her work. After this trip, she started to respect and try out sharp-focused photography more. She also became interested in making photo books after seeing the work of William Blake. Her time in Europe also taught her more about art history. It helped her feel more like a western American artist. This feeling made her even more interested in the western landscape. Her work got even better when she visited the Navajo reservation in Red Rock, Arizona. Elizabeth Forster had a job there as a public health nurse.

Laura Gilpin is known as one of the greatest platinum printing photographers. Many of her platinum prints are now in museums worldwide. She said she always loved the platinum printing process. She felt it made the most beautiful images. She said it allowed for the best contrast.

For thirty years, from 1945 to 1975, her work was shown in over one hundred exhibits. Laura Gilpin's work is kept at the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona.

She stayed very active as a photographer and in the Santa Fe arts scene until she died in 1979.

Laura Gilpin's photos and writings are now kept at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas.

Awards and Recognition

Laura Gilpin received many honors and awards for her photography:

• 1929: The Library of Congress bought ten of her photographs.
• 1930: She was chosen as an Associate of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain.
• 1958: She became chairman of the Indian Arts Fund in Santa Fe.
• 1966: St. John's College honored her as a professional photographer.
• 1967: She received an award for her work in Indian Arts. She was also made an honorary life member of the School of American Research Board.
• 1969: Her book, The Enduring Navaho, won the Western Heritage Award.
• 1970:
  • She received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters Degree from the University of New Mexico.
  • She won the 1970 Headline Award from the Theta Sigma Phi Society.
  • She was given the "Hidalgo de Calificada Nobles" award for her service to New Mexico.
  • She was appointed Colonel, Aide-de-Camp, to Governor David Cargo of New Mexico.
• 1971:
  • She received a Research Grant for a photo study of Canyon de Chelly.
  • She was given the First Fine Arts Award by Industrial Photographers of the Southwest.
• 1972: She received the Brotherhood Award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews.
• 1974: She was given the First Governor's Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts in New Mexico.
• 2012: She was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame.

Exhibitions of Her Work

Laura Gilpin's photographs were shown in many exhibitions:

• 1918: Clarence H. White School, New York. She received an Honorable Mention at the Joan of Arc Statue Competition. Camera Club Galleries, New York.
• 1920: Pictorial Photographers of America Traveling Exhibition. London Salon of Photography (and touring show).
• 1924: Pictorial Photographers of America Invitational One-Man Show, New York. Baltimore Photographic Club.
• 1933: Denver Art Museum. Century of Progress Worlds Fair, Chicago.
• 1934: Library of Congress, Washington D.C. The Taylor Museum for Southwestern Studies, Colorado Springs. American Museum of Natural History Invitational One-Man Show, New York.
• 1935: Madrid International Salon, Spain. Beacon School, Wellesley, Massachusetts.
• 1956: American Museum of Natural History, New York.
• 1957: Laboratory of Anthropology, Santa Fe. George Eastman House, Rochester, New York. Stillwater, Oklahoma.
• 1966: St. John's College, Santa Fe 50th Anniversary Exhibition.
• 1968: The Rio Grand: River of the Arid Land., Museum of Albuquerque. The Enduring Navaho, Amon Carter Museum of Western Art Fort Worth, Texas.
• 1969: West Texas Museum, Texas Technological College, Lubbock. Photographs in Communication from the Reservation, Exhibition on Indian art and life, Riverside Museum, New York.
• 1970: Retrospective 1923-1968, Exhibition of Photographs of Indian Culture of the Southwest and Yucatán, Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe. Oklahoma City Art Museum.
• 1971: St. John's College, Santa Fe.
• 1973: Witkin Gallery, New York.
• 1974: Major Retrospective Exhibition honoring 70 years in photography, Fine Arts Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe, and national tour.

See also

In Spanish: Laura Gilpin para niños