JOHNSTON FRANCES BENJAMIN (1864 1952) Mrs Grover Cleveland a

Sale 2361 - Lot 19

Unsold

Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,500

JOHNSTON, FRANCES BENJAMIN (1864-1952)
"Mrs. Grover Cleveland and the ladies of the Cabinet, Princeton, N.J." Platinum print, 7 1/2x13 inches (19.1x33 cm.), double mounted, with Johnston's signature on the thick primary mount board and her copyright date on the paper secondary mount, both in pencil; with the title and a list of the women pictured, in ink, on mount verso. 1897

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Additional Details

This striking group of women is posed in front of a tableau of two Native American woven baskets and a classically-inspired urn on a mantle. These beautiful objects also appear in Johnston's well-known self-portrait, in which she posed herself with one leg thrown over the other, and a beer stein in her hand.

The photograph was taken in 1897, just a few years after Johnston had established her own photographic studio in Washington, D.C. At that time she was the only female photographer in that city, and worked photographing many of the celebrities (political and otherwise) the metropolis had to offer. She also traveled to Europe and throughout the East coast of the United States, notably documenting the educational facilities at Hampton Institute, Virginia, and Tuskegee Institute, Alabama, as well as Southern homes and gardens and New York City architecture. Adventurous and ambitious, Johnston is often referred to as America's first female photojournalist.
Both the Library of Congress and the Huntington Library in California have this image in their collections.