Nesbit, Evelyn Eickemeyer, Jr., Rudolf

Description

Gum bichromate print, title "Evelyn Nesbit" (profile, wearing headband with coins), 1901. This print was mounted by Eickemeyer on cardboard and taped to a 12" x 17" cut-out mat. Monogram and date at lower right. Awards: Der Club Amateur Photographen in Graz, Silver Medal (one of group); Bruxelles Salon, 1903, Bronze Medal; Amateur Fotografen Fereingung, Amsterdam, Medal (one of group); Gold Medal, Louisiana Purchase Exposition, 1904 (one of group); Exposizione International di Fotografia, Genova, 1905, Silver Medal (one of group).Rudolf Eickemeyer Jr. (1862-1932) started taking photographs in 1884 while working at his father's engineering firm. In 1889, he joined the local camera club in Yonkers, New York, and began contributing articles on photographic chemistry, lighting and technique to journals like the Photographic Times. He turned professional in 1896, relying on commercial work for financial support while continuing to develop his skills as an art photographer. Eickemeyer gained critical acclaim in America and Europe for his landscape and portrait photography.Eickemeyer used a wide variety of printing processes, printing out some negatives in more than one medium. In his lectures, he pointed out that this approach to photography was important because in the hands of a photographer who “lives and understands the infinitely varied moods of nature, photography can be made to express and interpret them.” In correspondence with Dr. Olmstead at the Smithsonian, as the presentation of his gifts and bequest to the museum was being arranged, Eickemeyer wrote: “The collection illustrates the use of every important process and will, I...

Record Contributed By

National Museum of American History

Record Harvested From

Smithsonian Institution