Who is this artist:
This artist was considered a master of the medium of photography by an early twentieth-century American art publication. Even from a young age, as they traveled across the country for employment, pursuing work in the banking industry in Chicago, or prospecting in Arizona and California, they also worked on perfecting their landscape photography. Their career took many turns, as the artist worked with western photographer William Henry Jackson before they again returned to banking in Denver and management of a gypsum quarry in Michigan.
From 1913 on, however, the artist was dedicated to portraying the beauty of the natural world as a full-time photographer based in their hometown of Gardiner, Maine, and visits to Monhegan Island. Their interesting process involved waiting sometimes for hours, sometimes days, occasionally months for the right effects of sunshine or mist, flat light, or accentuating shadow. Their romantic and often dramatic imagery benefited from their careful observation of nature’s detail, photographed only when the artist felt that all compositional elements had come together. The artist worked on a photographic process using light-sensitive carbon pigment which lent areas of their prints a great luster and range of tone. Their birthday is today, and they died in 1953.
This artist is:
Bertrand Wentworth
Maine-born Bertrand Wentworth pursued travel and landscape photography from a young age, even while working in banking in Chicago or prospecting in Arizona and California. He worked with western photographer William Henry Jackson before he again took up banking in Denver and management of a gypsum quarry in Michigan. From 1913 on, however, Wentworth attempted to frame the beauty of the natural world as a full-time photographer from his Maine homes based in Gardiner, Maine, and Monhegan Island. His romantic and often dramatic imagery benefited from his careful observation of nature’s detail, photographed only when he felt that all compositional elements had come together. Wentworth made what he called his Lecay Prints using light-sensitive carbon pigment in his processing, which lent areas of his prints a great luster and range of tone.
Bertrand Wentworth, Snow, 9 7/8 x 11 1/2″, Gift of Mrs. Ethel Wentworth Lazaroff, 1956, 56.983.24
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