to a break in 1912, which would not be patched
until 1924.
While other photographers, such as White’s
famous student Karl Struss, responded to the city,
especially New York, the Ohio photographer’s eye
stayed focused on the natural world. He and his
family accepted several invitations to visit the
noted photographer and publisher F. Holland
Day at his summer retreat on Georgetown Island,
Maine. White then purchased a dilapidated farm-
house there and started the Seguinland School of
Photography for summer classes. Day, Ka ̈sebier,
and modernist painter Max Weber were among
the visiting lecturers. To be more accessible to
New York, White moved the summer school to
Canaan, Connecticut, in 1919, where it continued
until his death.
Nearly all former students agreed that White was
a great teacher, and those reflections came from a
roster that included Dorothea Lange, Margaret
Bourke-White, Laura Gilpin, and Doris Ulmann,
to cite some of the many women whose careers he
furthered. An openness to many approaches, and an
aim to bring together commercial and art photogra-
phy so students could find employment as artists was
in sharp contrast to the anti-commercial, elitist phi-
losophy of Stieglitz. Such students as Paul Outer-
bridge, Anton Bruehl, and Ralph Steiner, however,
achieved fame with bold photo illustrations.
White recognized that time devoted to teaching
had taken its toll on his personal photography, and
when the opportunity to hold a summer session in
Mexico developed in 1925, he envisioned that the
new environment might ignite his own work. In-
stead, he suffered a fatal aneurysm on 6 July 1925.
Jane White, devoted students, and many famous
lecturers maintained the White School of Photo-
graphy, though the master’s prints sometimes sub-
stituted for pay. Her youngest son, Clarence H.
White, Jr., had studied at the School and also taught
there. By 1940, he was Director, but, with World
War II and an ill-timed expansion, the school was
forced to close in 1942. Jane Felix White, a colla-
borator throughout White’s career, died the follow-
ing year.
JohnFullerSeealso:Bourke-White, Margaret; Gilpin, Laura;
HistoryofPhotography:Twentieth-CenturyDevelop-
ments; Impressionism; Lange, Dorothea; Linked
Ring; Modernism; Outerbridge, Jr., Paul; Photogra-
phy in the United States: the Midwest; Photo-Seces-
sion; Photo-Secessionists; Pictorialism; Steichen,
Edward; Stieglitz, Alfred; Ulmann, Doris
Biography
Born in West Carlisle, Ohio, 8 April 1871. Graduated 1890,
Newark High School; took bookkeeping job Newark,
Ohio, 1883. Married 1893; photographed family and
area landscape, 1894. Co-organized Newark Camera
Club; exhibited, Philadelphia Salon, 1898. Elected to
Linked Ring Brotherhood, London, 1900. Commercial
photography, 1904. Moved to New York, 1906. Teach-
ing position, Teachers College, Columbia University,
1907; also taught at Brooklyn Institute of Arts and
Sciences.Camera Work, 23 (July, 1908), featured work.
Established Seguinland School of Photography for sum-
mer classes, Seguinland, Maine. Established The Clar-
ence H. White School of Photography, 1914. First
President of the Pictorial Photographers of America—
moved summer school to Connecticut, 1916. Ceased
teaching at Brooklyn Institute; founded Art Center,- Died Mexico City, 8 July 1925.
Selected Works
Miss Grace, 1898
Spring, 1898
Ring Toss, 1899
The Orchard, 1902
Alvin Langdon Coburn and His Mother, c. 1907
(Miss Thompson), (Clarence White and Alfred Stieglitz),
1907
Morning, c. 1908
Self Portrait, 1925Further Reading
Barnes, Lucinda, ed.A Collective Vision: Clarence H. White
and His Students. Long Beach, CA: California State
University, 1985.
Bicknell, George. ‘‘The New Art in Photography: the Work
of Clarence H. White.’’The Craftsmanno. 9 (January
1906): 495–510. CD-ROM, Release 1:1, New York:
Interactive Bureau, LLC., 1998.
Caffin, Charles T.Photography as a Fine Art. (1901). New
York: Amphoto, 1972.Camera Work: A Photographic
Quarterly(1903–1917). Reprint. New York: Kraus Rep-
rints, 1969.
Fulton, Marianne, ed.Pictorialism into Modernism: the
Clarence H. White School of Photography. Text by Bon-
nie Yochelson and Kathleen A. Erwin. New York: Riz-
zoli, 1996.
Hartmann, Sadakichi. ‘‘Clarence H. White—A Meteor in
Space.’’ InThe Valiant Knights of Daguerre: Selected
Critical Essays on Photography and Profiles of Photo-
graphic Pioneers. Edited by Harry W. Lawton and
George Knox. Berkeley and London: University of Cali-
fornia Press, 1978.
Naef, Weston.The Collection of Alfred Stieglitz:Fifty Pio-
neers of Modern Photography.New York: The Metropo-
litan Museum of Art, 1978.
White, Clarence H.Symbolism of Light: the Photographs of
Clarence H. White.Essays by Maynard P. White, Jr.,
Cathleen A. Branciaroli, and William lnnes Homer. Wil-
mington, DE: University of Delaware and Delaware Art
Museum, 1977.WHITE, CLARENCE