Mount Washington, Massachusetts, July 22, 1890

Discussion

FROM THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART’S CATALOG

At the turn of the 20th century, Redfield was a leading proponent of staging simple genre scenes outdoors, instead of being limited to a studio setting. Here, the Philadelphia-born photographer carefully positioned three children in the foreground of this picturesque landscape dominated by a split-rail and stone fence. The print features his interests in clarity and fidelity and atmospheric effects. In this rural scene, he used the warm, delicate tonal range of a platinum print to render subtle variations and nuances of light. For two decades around 1900, Redfield was a leading advocate of photography as fine art and was one of the founders of the Photo-Secession. He sought to convince an audience accustomed to viewing photographs as simple recorded fact that they were beautiful images able to convey emotion.

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