The Positive Image: Women Photographers in Turn-of-the-Century America

The Positive Image tells the largely untold story of women photographers in turn of the century America. Women like Gertrude Käsebier, Frances Benjamin Johnston, Alice Austen, Catherine Weed Ward, and Eva Watson-Schütze were among thousands of women who as professional and amateur photographers sought personal, artistic, and professional fulfillment while still connected to the traditional domestic environment.

These women created a positive experience for themselves in photography through an identifiable female network of women photographers, through membership in camera clubs, and in many cases, through their association with photography great Alfred Stieglitz. Theirs became an alliance between women, art, culture, and technology in a time of intense social change in the United States.