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CAFFIN, CHARLES H.
Although he frequently lectured, it is as a writer that
Caffi n made his mark. In an era when photographers
battled for recognition as members of the art world,
Caffi n devoted his life to the belief that photography
could be viewed as more than just the application of a
mechanical recording device. Although credited as one
of the most infl uential proponents of photography as
art, Caffi n began his writing career on the other side of
the fence. As the new art critic for the New York Post,
he entered the melee over the merits of photography
with a scathing review of the 1898 Philadelphia Salon
in Harper’s Weekly. The subject of the attack, Alfred
Stieglitz, met with Caffi n and persuaded the critic to take
a second look at his images. Convinced of the merits of
photography, Caffi n’s subsequent writings refl ected a
changed attitude. He wrote time and again that photog-
raphy could be practiced as a fi ne art since it requires the
methods of other arts: sound technique, knowledge of
formal principles and the ability of the artist to control
the processes for the aim of personal expression. Caf-
fi n soon earned a reputation as a proponent of modern
art and, especially, pictorial photography. He never
explained his advocacy of photography, but he may
have been infl uenced by the Arts and Crafts Movement
theory that all products may be formed artistically. He
clearly felt that the possibility of art exists in all human
endeavors. Attacked by other critics for his tolerance,
Caffi n received praise from Stieglitz, a fellow member
of the Photo-Secession society (later 291 group), who
described him as the only art critic who was utterly
honest and who took the trouble to look at every picture
before making up his mind.
A highly moral and devoutly religious man, Caffi n
turned to art to fi nd a rationale for these sentiments and
later wrote that religion, morality, and art were insepa-
rable aspects of a full life. It remained his conviction
that an artist’s character is revealed in his work and his
criticism often involved comment on the artist as well
as the art. He persistently denounced the efforts of
some photographers to imitate other media, calling for a
practice that would respect photographic properties and
not seek to imitate painting. Caffi n advocated “straight”
photography, which values immediate effects with little
or no manipulation of the print. He noted often that he
was not a photographer and, since he lacked extensive
knowledge of technical matters, he rarely commented
on them. Caffi n stayed with the Post until 1901, when
he became the art critic for the rival New York Sun. He
cemented his reputation as one of the most infl uential
turn-of-the-century critics by serving as the art editor
for two very infl uential magazines, Harper’s Weekly and
International Studio. He also found time to contribute
pieces to two journals edited by Stieglitz, Camera Notes
and Camera Work.
Although Caffi n published many works on art, he
produced only one book on photography and it is the
work for which he is best remembered. Photography as
a Fine Art (1901) fi rst appeared in the form of a series
of articles in Everybody’s Magazine and Camera Notes.
While Caffi n’s aim was to assert photography as an art
independent of painting, his monograph includes im-
portant assessments of both photography and painting.
He implied that both painting and photography have
the same goals of harmony and beauty. Dismissing the
objection that the camera is a mechanical device that
prohibits artists from being inventive, he stated that ev-
ery art has its limitations. The photographer overcomes
this diffi culty, Caffi n wrote, by selection of the view and
the moment of light and further control may be asserted
in the developing and printing process. Photography
as a Fine Art opens with a history of the photographic
process and includes as illustrations photographs that
made false claims to the rank of fi ne art. Caffi n then
reviews the work of progressives: Alfred Stieglitz,
Gertrude Käsebier, Clarence H. White, Edward Steichen
and others.
To boost the cause of photographers, Caffi n fre-
quently compared photography with painting. In the
summer of 1905, he contributed “The Development
of Photography in the United States” to International
Studio for a special “Art in Photography” edition. In the
article, Caffi n suggested that the growth of American
photography had been infl uenced by the success of
American painting since the latter offered art as a means
of personal expression while exploring the possibilities
of the medium. In his 1913 book, Art for Life’s Sake,
Caffi n asserted that photography confi rms that mechani-
zation may serve art and that an important consequence
of photography has been the improvement of painting
—more imaginative pictures have been produced. Caffi n
died in New York City on 15 January 1918.
Caryn E. NeumannBiography
Charles Henry Caffi n was born in Sittingbourne, Kent,
England, on 4 June 1854 to Reverend Charles Smart
Caffi n, a Church of England minister, and Harriet
C. Caffi n. He attended Pembroke College, Oxford
University, where he received his B.A. in 1877. Fol-
lowing graduation, Caffi n taught for several years
before joining an itinerant theater troupe, Ben Greet
and His Shakespearean Players. Married in 1888 to
actress Caroline Scurfi eld, the couple had two daugh-
ters, Donna and Freda. The Caffi ns immigrating to
the United States in 1892 and Charles found work
in Chicago with the Columbian Exposition. He then
worked as a mural painter for the Library of Congress
in Washington, D.C. in 1897. He published his fi rst
essay on art in Herbert Small’s Handbook of the New