Belle Johnson Self-Portrait 14.1 Cm X 9.8 Cm | C
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© Massillon Museum 2011 BOARD OF DIRECTORS Judy Paquelet, Chairman Massillon Museum Elizabeth Pruitt, Vice Chairman 121 Lincoln Way East Maude Slagle, Treasurer/Secretary Massillon, Ohio 44646 Carey McDougall, Executive Committee Member 330.833.4061 Joe Herrick www.massillonmuseum.org Shane Jackson facesofruralamerica.org Wendy Little Jeff McMahan Edward D. Murray ISBN Gloria Pope 978-0-9830553-2-7 Brad Richardson LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CONTROL NUMBER Keith Warstler 2011930014 CORPORATE SPONSORS Alexandra Nicholis, Curator Massillon Cable TV Massillon Eagles #190 Shearer’s Food, Inc. Bonnie’s Engravers Gallery and Signs FACES OF RURAL AMERICA PROJECT TEAM: Connect USA, Inc. Hilary Brentin Aqua Ohio Brian Donovan Sol—Harris/Day Architects Jody Hawk The Eye Clinic, Inc. Alexandra Nicholis The Health Plan Mandy Altimus Pond Memory Productions Andrew Preston Keller’s Office Furniture Robert Garner—State Farm Cristina Savu Christine Fowler Shearer Emily Ritchie Vigil Margy Vogt FRONT COVER Belle Johnson Self-Portrait 14.1 cm x 9.8 cm | c. 1900 Gelatin Silver Print BC 1877.2.3 | Massillon Museum Collection Gift of William L. Bennett PREVIOUS PAGE Belle Johnson Youth (Portrait of a Boy in a Straw Hat) 16.8 cm x 11.8 cm | c. 1900 Gelatin Silver Print BC 1877.1.2 | Massillon Museum Collection Gift of William L. Bennett OPPOSITE PAGE Belle Johnson ArtsinStark Snowy Field 11.9 cm x 16.6 cm | c. 1905 Aristoprint BC 1877.6.95 | Massillon Museum Collection Gift of William L. Bennett FACE S of Rural Americ A Belle Johnson CONTENTS Faces of Rural America . 5 —Alexandra Nicholis Miss Belle Johnson’s Photographs Captured the Spirit of Monroe City, Missouri . 10 —Nancy Stone Plates . 18 Timeline . 76 Acknowledgments. 78 Authors . 80 MASSILLON MUSEUM June 11 to October 9, 2011 Belle Johnson Self-Portrait 10.6 cm x 9.8 cm | 1904 Aristoprint BC 1877.2.1 | Massillon Museum Collection | Gift of William L. Bennett Belle Johnson negative envelope 11.43 cm x 17.145 cm Massillon Museum Collection | Gift of Linda Geist 4 Belle Johnson’s Faces of Rural America —Alexandra Nicholis Museums have a responsibility to preserve history, as preservation is at the very core of what defines them. But, museums also have a responsibility to be proactive, particularly when it comes to recording oral histories. The public relies on museums to assume a leadership role in defining the ways our heritage is not only cared for, but documented. We cannot afford to wait for individuals to approach us with their stories. We need to seek them out, encourage them to share with us memories that can help shape our understanding of history and precipitate a more widespread appreciation for the oral traditions that transmit invaluable information from generation to generation. Despite our fascination with our own family histories, so often we take for granted the opportunity to ask important questions of our ancestors while they are alive. Taking the time to sit with them, record a conversation, or ask for help identifying subjects of photographs is not something we often make time for when it matters most. With the advent and popularity of StoryCorps,1 a project initiated by National Public Radio, more people are becoming aware of just how important oral histories are to preserving not only our memories, but our collective American heritage. Oftentimes people will question why we value their stories, particularly if they are not attached to a major historical event. It is important for us, as museum professionals, to reinforce the fact that these stories, no matter how seemingly uneventful, help preserve information about the course of everyday life in a particular era. In an age of digital communication where information is exchanged with rapidity but rarely archived, concentrating on oral history projects becomes all the more crucial. The decline of letter writing makes our historical paper trails scarcer each day. Oral histories have given us firsthand accounts of business owners, veterans, former slaves, athletes, and politicians. With assistance from the Institute of Museum and Library services, the Massillon Museum was able to assemble the project we have dubbed Faces of Rural America. Initially, the project impetus was to exhibit and record the efforts of two American photographers, neither of which has a direct connection to Massillon. Yet, both Henry Clay Fleming and Belle Johnson have fascinated and delighted Museum staff and visitors for years. We are proud to be the caretaker of their photographs, which are inherently American in their subject matter. Were it not for her correspondence with friend and fellow photographer, William Loren Bennett, residents of Massillon, Ohio, may never have become familiar with Belle Johnson. Bennett was a native of Navarre, a town adjacent to Massillon, which is similarly located along the Ohio and Erie Canal. The waterway inspired Bennett to photograph its numerous locks and scenic locations, many examples of which also reside in the collection of the Massillon Museum. Though how the two came to know one another is uncertain, it seems likely that they became acquainted at a photographic salon or convention. As an extension of the pride Johnson took in her work—or perhaps her signs of affection—she sent more than two hundred photographs to Bennett, starting in 1901. Bennett donated his photographic collection to the Museum in 1946; the donation included the Belle Johnson photographs. The collection of images held by the Massillon Museum presents only a vague sense of who Johnson was as a photographer; they encapsulate about a fifteen-year period of her artistic and award-winning ventures. Before embarking upon the Faces of Rural America project—which opened a dialogue between the Massillon Museum staff and residents of Monroe City—we had never imagined how extensively Belle Johnson’s photographic career spanned time and subject matter. The Museum’s knowledge of her work was limited to that which was more narrative and pictorial in nature: genre images of women reading and tatting, a forlorn-looking tramp on interlude between his railroad adventures, floral still lifes, farm scenes, and idyllic portraits of children.2 In an effort to document the legacy of Belle Johnson and her multidimensional body of work, the Monroe City Arts Council produced a book about the photographer in 2000 which, for the first time, reflected her stylistic range. And, having witnessed an even larger compendium of Johnson’s work 5 that resulted from a week’s worth of meeting with Monroe City citizens, scanning their photographs, and extensive communication and image sharing before and after the Massillon Museum staff’s visit in February 2010, it can now be fully deduced that Johnson maintained a comfortable balance between articulating her artistic vision and capturing over half a century of faces and places in Monroe City. As Monroe City’s official photographer, she chronicled the town as well as the countryside. Images of newborns and newlyweds, students and servicemen, and flora and fauna make up her repertoire. The formats of these photographs assume a multitude of sizes, matting styles, tones, colors, papers, and printing techniques. Although she can be credited with preserving more than fifty years of Monroe City’s history, it seems as though Belle Johnson reserved The Studio as a sort of enchanted space, suspended in time and immune from the rigor and hardship of real life that transpired on the streets below.3 As Nancy Stone’s essay in this catalog states, the photography Belle Johnson produced in the latter part of her career “did not include photos of the town as it modernized.” Rather, her photographs romanticize life in a small rural town, singling out and elevating even the most ordinary activities like blowing bubbles, playing checkers, and reading a book. While these activities also conjure ideas of childhood and leisure associated with the Victorian upper class, in Johnson’s photographs they function as character studies, rather than documentary evidence of life growing up in a small town. The photographer was transparent in her staging of these photographs; they do not let on to be anything more than really beautiful pictures. And though overwhelmingly whimsical, her subjects are humanized, shown in mid-conversation, laughing and smiling, enjoying the company of neighbors, friends, and family. Johnson dedicated time in her studio and darkroom to exploring and experimenting with photography’s capacity for purely artistic expression. All visible elements from the background to the foreground of her images were executed with painstaking care. From the initial staging of a shoot to the final presentation of a print, Johnson was a masterful technician. Not only do her compositions reveal a great deal of thought in the use of props, gestures, and other anecdotal devices, her ability to manipulate light and shadow to create a particular mood and atmosphere indicates her command of the photographic medium. Miss Belle—as she was known locally—took great pride in her work and operated The Studio with the highest level of professionalism. Most all of her commissioned photographs were presented in handsome decorative mats, her name or initials embossed upon them. She proudly showcased her prize-winning photographs at the base of the studio staircase, which led upwards to a lavishly decorated waiting room. The Studio walls were lined with thick green velvet curtains and a large skylight allowed her access to the most important photographic ingredient.4 She experimented with a variety of color and toning in her printing. A studio assistant, Miss Julia McClintic, did most of Miss Belle’s retouching and finishing work on the photographs.5 As the town’s sole photographer, Johnson would find herself overwhelmed with work at times, validating the need for an assistant.6 Portrait of Robert L.