“Photography is a potential depiction expressed in seamlessly merging tonal values and brought about or conveyed by the effects of light”
~ Heinrich Kuhn
I realized early on in my collecting career that I was never going to be able to afford in my lifetime a Degas or Bonnard or Modigliani or a Mary Cassatt some of my favorite painters. What I did discover was the school of photography called “Pictorialism” where roughly at the end of the 19th Century and beginning of the 20th Century certain photographers believed that photography should be understood as a vehicle for personal expression on a par with the other fine arts, the “painterly” effect so to speak. Steiglitz, Steichen, Gertrude Kasebier and Clarence White were important figures in the United States. In Europe there was Heinrich Kuhn a photographer of incredible technical skill who produced soft textured works with rich tonal values.
I fell in love with his work and the second photo I ever purchased in 1980 was a portrait of Miss Mary who became his children’s governess after his wife died.. Sadly I had to sell this early purchase to set up my gallery but it went to a good home, the owner of which loved it as much as I did and to this day allows me “visitation rights”. But I was hooked and over the following years whenever I came across a vintage print in great condition in my travels I would try and acquire it. Such is the case with this print, a really beautiful image of Miss Mary. We do not know the details of their relationship but it is clear from the tenderness between them that a deep connection was there.
