Interpretation
The celebrated New York studio portraitist Gertrude Käsebier captured this hydrangea-lined arcade in the Palazzo Balbo Valier, which the glamorous portrait photographer Baron Adolph de Meyer rented every summer. At this palace on the Grand Canal, he and his wife Olga entertained guests, such as Käsebier and her friend Frances Benjamin Johnston, a fellow photographer. The two women cruised the Mediterranean in 1905 and particularly enjoyed "wallowing in the charms of Venice." It is clear from this photograph, as well as others from the same trip, that Käsebier valued a soft-focus, painterly approach to photography. With Alfred Stieglitz, she helped found the Photo-Secession, which strove to establish the medium as a fine art.
Information
- Title
- Baron de Meyer's Palace, Venice
- Object Number
- x1976-327
- Maker
- Gertrude Käsebier
- Medium
- Gum bichromate print
- Dates
- 1905
- Dimensions
- 19.4 x 24.2 cm. (7 5/8 x 9 1/2 in.)
- Credit Line
- Gift of the Estate of Mina Turner
- Culture
- American
- Place made
- Europe, Italy, Venice
- Inscriptions
- Titled in graphite, verso: Baron de Meyer's Palace, Venice
- Techniques
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