The PICTORIAL PHOTOGRAPHERS of AMERICA

The objects of the Pictorial Photographers of America are to stimulate and encourage those engaged and interested in the Art of Photography; to enlist the aid of museums and public libraries in adding photographic prints to their departments; to stimulate public taste through exhibitions, lectures, and publications; to invite exhibits of foreign work; and generally to promote education in this Art so as to raise the standards of Photography in the United States of America.

Meetings of the Association are held in New York City on the first Monday of each month. During the winter of 1919-1920 the following lecturers addressed the Association at these meetings: Mr. Robert J. Cole, Art Reviewer, New York Evening Sun, on “Man and the Camera;” Mr. H. J. Potter, of the Eastman Kodak Company, on “Both Ways from F-8;” Mr. Albert Sterner, on “Before the Click of the Shutter;” Mr. Pirie MacDonald and Mr. E. B. Core, on “The Pictorial Side of Professional Photography;” and Mr. Walter G. Wolfe, on “The Use of the Soft Focus Lens.” Mr. Allen Eaton, Field Secretary of the American Federation of Arts; Mr. William M. Ivins, Curator of Prints, Metropolitan Museum of Art; Dr. Frank Weitenkampf, of the New York Public Library; Prof. Charles H. Farnsworth, of Columbia University, and Walter L. Hervey, Ph.D., also made addresses.

Another feature of the meetings which added to their interest and usefulness was a monthly print competition. Prints were submitted by members from all parts of the United States, judged by a committee in advance of the meeting, and a selection of ten prints presented to the members for their consideration. From these they chose each month the two best prints.

The Pictorial Photographers of America this year for the first time arranged an exhibition of prints in Europe. Acting on the invitation of the Copenhagen Photographic Amateur Club to cooperate in celebrating its Twenty-fifth Anniversary, about 350 prints from leading pictorialists all over this country were assembled and forwarded in July to Copenhagen.

At home, in cooperation with the American Federation of Arts, the Pictorial Photographers of America exhibited at the following museums the hundred prints which are reproduced in “Pictorial Photography in America for 1920.” The John Herron Art Institute of Indianapolis, The Jackson Art Association of Michigan, The Boston Society of Arts and Crafts, The Mechanics Institute of Rochester, The Arnot Art Gallery of Elmira; and during May, at the University of Virginia.

During the past season the Association has cooperated with other organizations of a similar nature in planning for and establishing an Art Center in New York City. The plans for this have been successfully worked out, funds are already in hand for its accomplishment and buildings purchased for occupancy. This will provide a home for our Association, a splendid gallery for exhibitions, and thus make certain of immediate accomplishment plans for our future which have seemed impracticable up to the present time.

In publishing “Pictorial Photography in America for 1921” the Association has invited the cooperation of pictorialists whether or not members of the organization. We hope that it will interest in our work men and women, whether photographers or not, who are interested in the development of the Art of Photography. The Secretary will gladly give more detailed information about the work of the Association and its plans for the coming year to any who are interested.

JERRY D. DREW, Secretary.

National Arts Club, 119 East 19th Street, New York City.

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