Doris Ulmann (American, 1882-1934)
Landscape with Pump and Barn, circa 1925-1934
Platinum print
20.5 x 15.4 cm
“This composition lies somewhere between landscape and still life, Romanticism and Constructivism. It contains elements of material culture—an old pump, battered metal tankards, tim roof, and whitewashed fence—and fragments of natural forms—a fertile valley, forested hills, and overcast sky. With the simple lines of vernacular architecture and ordinary implements, Ulmann has constructed a sophisticated collage that is a challenge to contemporary work in platinum by Paul Strand and Alfred Stieglitz.”
From Judith Keller, Doris Ulmann: Photographs from the J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles: In Focus Series, Getty Publications, 1996), page 82
Doris Ulmann (American, 1882-1934)
"Summer" study of a wagon, circa 1925-1934
Platinum print
20.5 x 15.5 cm
Judith Keller’s comment that Ulmann’s “composition lies somewhere between landscape and still life” about Landscape with Pump and Barn applies equally here. Best known for her portraits, Ulmann’s landscapes are less common. Grounded in Pictorialism, she was also on the cusp of Modernism. She attended the Ethical Culture School in New York and was trained as a photographer at the Clarence H. White School of Photography, the first art photography school in the United States. Like most early art photographers, the School’s students worked in the soft-focus style of Pictorialism.
Doris Ulmann (American, 1882-1934)
Seated couple on a porch, Berea, Kentucky, circa 1920s
Platinum print
20.0 x 15.5 cm mounted on and matted with 36.2 x 28.6 cm paper
Doris Ulmann (American, 1882-1934)
Church group in white robes, circa 1920s
Platinum print, 20.5 x 15.5 cm
Doris Ulmann (American, 1882-1934)
Field worker with two mules, circa 1920s
Platinum print
20.4 x 15.5 cm on 21.4 x 16.3 cm paper
Doris Ulmann (American, 1882-1934)
Man with cap, 1917
Platinum or silver print
20.9 x 15.7 cm mounted on 33.2 x 24.2 cm tissue, all mounted on 36.1 x 28.6 cm card