glass globe used by Clarence H White

[jp]

Update from asking the library of congress:

Question History:

Patron: To Prints and Photographs Reading Room:
A LOC curator, Verna Posever Curtis, presented a paper called "The Mystique of the Glass Globe in Pictorialist Photography". I'm wondering if this paper or notes are available, or the author's contact information might be shared. Thanks! I have not found it using amazon or google books or google search. A summary is here: http://aha.confex.com/aha/2011/webpr...Paper6540.html

Thank You!

Librarian 1: This is the second question we've received about Ms. Curtis' paper today. We don't have a copy here in the reading room, but I will give you her contact information and hopefully she can send you one. You can reach her at:

Telephone: 202-707-8938
FAX: 202-707-6647
Email: vcur@loc.gov

I will warn you that there was a death in her family this weekend, so she may not be in the office much this week.

Jonathan Eaker

*********************************
Reference Section
Prints and Photographs Division
Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave., SE
Washington, D.C. 20540-4730
telephone: 202-707-6394
fax: 202-707-6647
URL: < http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/ >
email: < http://www.loc.gov/rr/askalib/ask-print.html >
***********************************

[BrianShaw]

LOC are great people. They really try hard to please and support research. When you get a copy I hope you will be able to share with us. Interesting topic!

[Mark Sawyer]

LOC are great people. They really try hard to please and support research. When you get a copy I hope you will be able to share with us. Interesting topic!

Indeed! I'd like very much to read this.

[jp]

I'm gonna wait a week or so, out of courtesy for the death in her family they report, then email her. I'd be glad to share it if allowed.

[jp]

Update: she seems to have nothing written to share, but does collect the globes; unusual but cool.

Dear Jason Philbrook,

It is fun to learn of your interest in Clarence H. White and the "mystique" of the glass globe. I do not really have anything convenient to share with you, however, by way of the talk I gave at the American Historical Association awhile ago. Many of the Pictorialists shared White's interest in the use of that prop, not only for its symbolic content, which is difficult to pinpoint, but more understandably, for its beauty by way of reflecting light. You must know this photo then http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/96502077/
with the model who holds a lens in one hand and a globe in the other. She is a model whom White and Stieglitz worked with together.

I keep collecting examples of the globe used as prop by photographers and have found it still being used today.

Wish I had more to share, and thanks for your e-mail.


Verna Curtis

-----Original Message-----
From: Jason Philbrook [mailto:jphilbrook@staff.gwi.net]
Sent: Monday, August 20, 2012 4:28 PM
To: Curtis, Verna
Subject: glass globes

Ms. Curtis; I am a lifelonger learner interested in photo history, and I'd come across this:
http://aha.confex.com/aha/2011/webpr...Paper6540.html where you shared your research or thoughts on the glass globes in pictorialism.
It interests me greatly. Is there any chance you have anything written to go along with this that you could conveniently share? Other people I converse with on the Internet are interested as well.

I'm a big fan of Clarence H White and he used the glass globes a great deal. I enjoy pictorialist photography myself using old lenses, but also get to work in some of the same geography White/Day/students enjoyed in the Georgetown area of Maine.

My gut instincts are that it's a mix of carryover from when shiny things were put into old paintings to show off 3-d skills, and a mix of the affinity of "classical" themes (mythology, archetypes, Christianity, etc..) and it's associated symbolism. I'd be curious to know what you've unraveled.

Thanks,
Jason

--
Jason Philbrook

Midcoast Internet Solutions - a GWI company www.midcoast.com and www.gwi.net
207-594-8277

[BrianShaw]

Interesting. Thanks for the update.

[Drew Wiley]

I thought the globe was a symbol of knowledge, another PreRaphaelite icon carried over into the Pictorialist genre. Or maybe Clarence just thought it was a nice way to keep the model's hands steady. I'll ask my cat when I get home.

[Harold_4074]

I seem to remember reading somewhere that the "globe" in the Anne Brigman photograph is a glass fishing float (used to suspend nets). These objects are very common, at least on the Pacific coast, probably having washed ashore from Japan. In the Brigman picture, it is probably supposed to be a bubble, not a crystal ball....not sure what that might mean in terms of metaphorical implication...

[RichardSperry]

How about the obvious?

That it's a symbol of divination or prophesy. Especially with that getup the model is wearing. She looks like someone you'ld meet at a Ren Faire.

[Drew Wiley]

My grandfather used to pick up various sizes of Japanese seine floats when out hunting
agates at their summer home on an Oregon beach. I still have one of these things. My cat
did have the definitive answer to their role in the photograph, but it's largely phrased as
an intonation of "meow" for which there is no direct translation.