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Stuart

ca. 1920s

American, 1862 - 1965

In 1907 Edward S. Curtis convinced Ella McBride to leave her job as a principal of an elementary school in a small Oregon town and manage his studio in Seattle. She quickly began making her own photographs. In 1923 she helped establish the Seattle Camera Club, a group of 40 photographers, many of them of Japanese descent. This group advanced the development of pictoralist photography in Seattle. In 1932 Walter B. Pitkin profiled her in "Careers After Forty," an article in the magazine Cosmopolitan. By 1940, McBride had shown her works in photography exhibitions in all major American cities and most of the European capitols. After World War II, she established the McBride and Anderson Photographic Studio, a commercial studio that flourished in the 1940s and 1950s. During this time McBride took an active role as community leader by helping to found the Seattle Chapter of the Soroptimist Society, a service organization composed of professional women.

This group of twelve photographs (98.62-98.73) show McBride's pictorialist style at its best.

chloride print

8 3/8 x 10 1/8 in. (21.3 x 25.7 cm)

Gift of Richard H. Anderson

98.68

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, "Painted with Light: Photographs by the Seattle Camera Club", June 28, 1999 - August 4, 2000

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