The University of Chicago Library > The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center > Finding Aids > Guide to the Eva Watson Schütze Photographs 1902-1929
© 2006 University of Chicago Library
| Title: | Schütze, Eva Watson. Photographs |
|---|---|
| Dates: | 1902-1929 |
| Size: | 5.5 linear ft (11 boxes) |
| Repository: |
Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center |
| Abstract: | Includes photographs of John Dewey, George Herbert Mead, James Hayden Tufts, Jane Addams, Henry Castle Mead, Elinor Castle Nef, John Nef, Mabel Wing Castle, William Butler Yeats and others. |
No restrictions
When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Schütze, Eva Watson. Photographs, [Box #, Folder #], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library
Eva Watson-Schütze was born in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1867. At the age of sixteen she enrolled in the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, where she studied under Thomas Eakins. She eventually became a founding member of the Photo-Secession movement and contributed both images and articles to Stieglitz's Camera Work, while being an active participant in Steiglitz's circle of followers and artists. Like many late-19th-century photographers, Eva Watson-Schütze originally had her work exhibited at Alfred Stieglitz's influential New York Gallery.
Watson-Schütze established a new studio in Chicago and soon attracted a large and appreciative clientele for her romantic, yet powerfully composed portraits and figure studies. Beginning in 1902, she and her husband spent their summers in Woodstock, New York. Eventually, Watson-Schütze lived there six months out of the year, working on photography and painting.
In Woodstock, she became associated with Byrdcliffe, a distinctly American arts and crafts colony. Founded by Ralph Radcliffe Whitehead, his wife Jane Byrd McCall, Hervey White (associated with Jane Addams's Hull House) and painter Bolton Brown, Byrdcliffe was conceived under the precept set forth by John Ruskin and William Morris: a movement resistant to the rapid urbanization and industrialization during the latter part of the nineteenth century. They had the vision of developing a utopian community that would foster the education and collaboration of like-minded artists; the mission: producing handmade objects to finance the colony and concurrently holding classes to lend its aesthetic traditions to future generations.
Additionally, in 1929 Watson-Schütze became the director of the Renaissance Society, a non-collecting museum founded in 1915 at the University of Chicago and is Chicago's oldest contemporary art museum. Named for the spirit of rebirth, the society sought to provide university students with a well-rounded education in the arts. Although located on the university campus, the museum has remained an independent institution.
Despite the controversies surrounding modern art following the Armory Show of 1913, the society, from its inception, was quick to embrace modernism. Under Watson-Schütze's direction, from 1929 to 1935, the society presented groundbreaking exhibitions of early modernists such as Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Marc Chagall, Jean Arp, Joan Miró, Wassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian, Henri Matisse, and Constantin Brancusi, as well as pivotal one-person shows of Isamu Noguchi, Alexander Calder, Fernand Léger, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.
Eva Watson-Schütze died in 1935.
The majority of photographs are portraits sponsored by the University of Chicago taken by Watson-Schütze of various faculty, family and friends of the University. Also included are a portrait of William Butler Yeats and a sketch of Eva Watson Schutze, by Francis Fox.
The following related resources are located in the Department of Special Collections:
http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/spcl/select.html
| Box 1 | 1. John Dewey, c. 1902 |
| Box 1 | 2. Alice Dewey, c. 1902 |
| Box 1 | 3. Alice Dewey and Gordon Dewey, c. 1902 |
| Box 1 | 4. Alice, Jane and Gordon Dewey, c. 1902 |
| Box 1 | 5. Lucy Dewey, c. 1905 |
| Box 1 | 6. Lucy Dewey, c. 1905 |
| Box 1 | 7. Lucy Dewey, c. 1905 |
| Box 1 | 8. Lucy Dewey, c. 1905 |
| Box 1 | 9. Lucy Dewey, c. 1905 |
| Box 1 | 10. Lucy Dewey, c. 1905 |
| Box 1 | 11. Fred Dewey, c. 1905 |
| Box 1 | 12. Fred Dewey, c. 1905 |
| Box 1 | 13. Evelyn Dewey, n.d. |
| Box 1 | 14. Evelyn, Jane, and Lucy Dewey, 1912 |
| Box 1 | 15. Lucy Dewey, 1912 |
| Box 2 | 1. George Herbert Mead, c. 1903 |
| Box 2 | 2. George Herbert Mead, c. 1903. Autograph signature |
| Box 2 | 3. George Herbert Mead, c. 1903. Defective print |
| Box 2 | 4. George Herbert Mead, c. 1903 |
| Box 2 | 5. George Herbert Mead, c. 1903 |
| Box 2 | 6. Henry Castle Mead, c. 1908 |
| Box 2 | 7. Henry Castle Mead, c. 1908 |
| Box 2 | 8. Henry Castle Mead, c. 1908 |
| Box 2 | 9. Cynthia Whitaker Tufts, c. 1902 |
| Box 2 | 10. James Hayden Tufts, c. 1916. Reproduction |
| Box 2 | 11. Jane Addams, n.d. |
| Box 2 | 12. Jane Addams, 1910 |
| Box 2 | 13. Jane Addams,1910 |
| Box 2 | 14. Jane Addams,1910 |
| Box 3 | 1. Elinor Castle, c. 1910 |
| Box 3 | 2. Elinor Castle, c. 1910 |
| Box 3 | 3. Elinor Castle, c. 1910 |
| Box 3 | 4. Elinor Castle, c. 1910 |
| Box 3 | 5. Elinor Castle, c. 1910 |
| Box 3 | 6. Elinor Castle, c. 1910 |
| Box 3 | 7. Elinor Castle, c. 1910 |
| Box 3 | 8. Elinor Castle, c. 1910 |
| Box 3 | 9. Elinor Castle, c. 1910 |
| Box 3 | 10. Elinor Castle, c. 1910 |
| Box 3 | 11. Elinor Castle, c. 1910 |
| Box 3 | 12. Elinor Castle, c. 1910 |
| Box 3 | 13. Elinor Castle, c. 1910. Defective prints |
| Box 3 | 14. Mabel Wing Castle, c. 1906 |
| Box 3 | 15. Mabel Wing Castle, c. 1912 |
| Box 4 | 1. Elinor Castle, 1917 |
| Box 4 | 2. Elinor Castle, 1917 |
| Box 4 | 3. Elinor Castle, 1917 |
| Box 4 | 4. Elinor Castle, 1917 |
| Box 4 | 5. Elinor Castle, 1917 |
| Box 4 | 6. Elinor Castle, Nef, 1921 |
| Box 4 | 7. John U. Nef, Jr., 1917 |
| Box 4 | 8. John U. Nef, Jr., 1917 Defective print |
| Box 4 | 9. John U. Nef, Jr., 1917 |
| Box 4 | 10. John U. Nef, Jr., 1917 |
| Box 4 | 11. John U. Nef, Jr., 1917 |
| Box 4 | 12. John U. Nef, Jr., 1917 |
| Box 4 | 13. John U. Nef, Jr., 1917 |
| Box 4 | 14. John U. Nef, Jr., 1917 |
| Box 4 | 15. John U. Nef, Jr., 1917 |
| Box 4 | 16. John U. Nef, Jr. and Elinor Castle Nef |
| Box 5 | 1. William R. Castle ? n.d. |
| Box 5 | 2. William R. Castle ? n.d. |
| Box 5 | 3. William D. Westervelt n.d. |
| Box 5 | 4. Carrie Castle Westervelt n.d. |
| Box 5 | 5. Ida Castle (Mrs. William) ? n.d. |
| Box 5 | 6. Ermine Cross and Hattie Castle Coleman, 1916 |
| Box 5 | 7. Hattie Castle Coleman, grandson "Sonnie" and Ermine Cross, 1916 |
| Box 5 | 8. Hattie Castle Coleman, Sonnie, and Ermine Cross, 1916 |
| Box 5 | 9. Hattie Castle Coleman, Sonnie, and Ermine Cross, 1916 |
| Box 5 | 10. Hattie Castle Coleman and Sonnie, 1916 |
| Box 5 | 11. Sonnie, 1916 |
| Box 5 | 12. Hattie Castle Colemank 1916 |
| Box 5 | 13. Julia Judd Swanzy, n.d. |
| Box 5 | 14. Nora Swanzy, n.d. |
| Box 5 | 15. Rosamond Swanzy, n.d. |
| Box 5 | 16. Rosamond Swanzy Morgan, 1917? |
| Box 5 | 17. Rosamond Swanzy Morgan and J. P. Morgan, 1917? |
| Box 6 | 1. Frau Amalie Steckner, c. 1909 |
| Box 6 | 2. Frau Amalie Steckner, c. 1909 |
| Box 6 | 3. Frau Amalie Steckner, c. 1909 |
| Box 6 | 4. Frau Amalie Steckner, c. 1909 |
| Box 6 | 5. Frau Amalie Steckner, c. 1909 |
| Box 6 | 6. Young woman, unidentified, c. 1909 |
| Box 6 | 7. Man, unidentified, c. 1909 |
| Box 6 | 8. Man, unidentified, c. 1909 (Frau Steckner's brother?) |
| Box 6 | 9. Man, unidentified (Liese Steckner Werbel's husband Franz?) c. 1909 |
| Box 6 | 10. Man, unidentified (Liese Steckner Werbel's husband Franz?) c. 1909 |
| Box 7 | 1. Liese Steckner Webel and Hanni Steckner Jahrmarkt, c. 1909 |
| Box 7 | 2. Hanni Steckner Jahrmarkt and Liese Steckner Webel, c. 1909 |
| Box 7 | 3. Hanni Steckner Jahrmarkt and Liese Steckner Webel, c. 1909 |
| Box 7 | 4. Hanni Steckner Jahrmarkt, c. 1909 |
| Box 7 | 5. Hanni Steckner Jahrmarkt, c. 1909 |
| Box 7 | 6. Hanni Steckner Jahrmarkt, c. 1909 |
| Box 7 | 7. Hanni Steckner Jahrmarkt, c. 1909 |
| Box 7 | 8. Hanni Steckner Jahrmarkt, c. 1909 |
| Box 7 | 9. Liese Steckner Webel, c. 1909 |
| Box 7 | 10. Liese Steckner Webel, c. 1909 |
| Box 7 | 11. Liese Steckner Webel, c. 1909 |
| Box 7 | 12. Liese Steckner Webel, c. 1909 |
| Box 7 | 13. Liese Steckner Webel, c. 1909 |
| Box 7 | 14. Liese Steckner Webel, c. 1909 |
| Box 8 | 1. Helga Jahrmarkt, c. 1909 |
| Box 8 | 2. Helga Jahrmarkt, c. 1909 |
| Box 8 | 3. Helga Jahrmarkt, c. 1909 |
| Box 8 | 4. Helga Jahrmarkt, c. 1909 |
| Box 8 | 5. Helga and her mother, Hanni, c. 1909 |
| Box 8 | 6. Helga and her mother, Hanni, c. 1909 |
| Box 8 | 7. Helga and her mother, Hanni, c. 1909 |
| Box 8 | 8. Helga and her mother, Hanni, c. 1909 |
| Box 8 | 9. Helga and her mother, Hanni, c. 1909 |
| Box 8 | 10. Helga and her father, Mor, c. 1909 |
| Box 8 | 11. Helga and her father, Mor, c. 1909 |
| Box 9 | 1. Henry Mead |
| Box 9 | 2. Alice Mead Swing, photo 1 |
| Box 9 | 3. Alice Mead Swing, photo 2 |
| Box 9 | 4. Alice Mead Swing, photo 3 |
| Box 9 | 5. Alice Mead Swing, photo 4 |
| Box 9 | 6. Alice Mead Swing, photo 5 |
| Box 9 | 7. Alice Mead Swing, photo 6 |
| Box 9 | 8. Alice Mead Swing, photo 7 |
| Box 9 | 9. Alice Mead Swing, photo 8 |
| Box 9 | 10. Alice Mead Swing, photo 9 |
| Box 9 | 11. Alice Mead Swing, photo 10 |
| Box 9 | 12. Alice Mead Swing, photo 11 |
| Box 9 | 13. Alice Mead Swing, photo 12 |
| Box 9 | 14 Alice Mead Swing, photo 13 |
| Box 9 | 15. Alice Mead Swing, photo 14 |
| Box 9 | 16. Elizabeth Storrs Billings Mead |
| Box 9 | 17. Eva Watson Schutze, ink portrait, by Francis Fox, 1931 |
| Box 10 | 1. William Butler Yeats, c. 1914 |
| Box 10 | 2. Sophonisba Breckenridge |
| Box 10 | 3. George Herbert Mead |
| Box 10 | 4. George Herbert Mead |
| Box 10 | 5. Mead, Helen Castle |
| Box 10 | 6. John U. Nef, Jr. |
| Box 11 | John Dewey |