Karl Struss
KARL STRUSS
“Potted Plants on a Windowsill”, 1909, platinum print, ca. 1909, 4 1/2 x 3 3/4. |
KARL STRUSS
FF, La Danseuse, ca. 1915, silver print, 1915, 7 1/4 x 8 1/2. |
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Karl Struss, American, 1886-1981
At the age of 17 Struss left his father's bonnet-wire factory "in
self-defense" to pursue his interest in photography. He studied with his
mentor, Clarence White from 1908 to 1912 at Columbia University. His talent
was soon discovered by Alfred Stieglitz who published eight photogravures by
Struss in the April 1912 issue of Camera Work, and in that same year
Struss became a member of Stieglitz's Photo-Secession. Struss was one of
the first photographers to use modernist compositions in his pictorialist
photographs. In 1914 Struss was commissioned by the government of Bermuda
to be the official photographer.
He continued to exhibit his art work and was represented by major galleries
throughout the United States. He soon took over the studio space once
occupied by White and set up a commercial business. Some of his images
from this period appeared in Vogue and Vanity Fair. In 1916 he was a
co-founder of Pictorial Photographers of America. With the onset of WWI
Struss joined the armed services and did work in infrared photography.
After the war, he traveled to Hollywood to fulfill a new dream of becoming a
cinematographer, and realized his dream in just eight months. He worked from
1919 to 1922 for Cecil B. DeMille and then continued to flourish in films
including "Ben Hur" and "Sunrise", winning an Academy Award in 1928 for the
former. Struss also had some credits as director of photography on "The
Fly", and "Taming of the Shrew". Although Struss' career in film seems to
surpass his still photography, he is still remembered today as a talented
artist whose work can be found in collections at the Metropolitan Museum of
Art, Museum of Modern Art and IMP/GEH in NY and many others. For more
information on Struss see Karl Struss: Man with a Camera by Susan and
John Harvith.
Bibliography:
Lucinda Barnes, A Collective Vision: Clarence H. White and His Students Margret Bourke-White Anton Bruehl Laura Gilpin Dorthea Lange Paul Outerbridge Ralph Steiner Karl Struss Doris Ulmann, Long Beach: University Art Museum, California State University, 1985.
Stephen White, Maurice Simons, Karl Struss Catalogue Of Work Available, Los Angeles: The Photo Album Gallery, 1977.
Barbara McCandless, Bonnie Yochelson, Richard Koszarski, New York to Hollywood: The Photography of Karl Struss, Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 1995.
Stephen White, Maurice Simons, Karl Struss Catalogue, Los Angeles: The Photo Album Gallery, 1977.
Susan and John Harvith, Karl Struss: Man with a Camera, Bloomfield Hills Michigan: Cranbrook Art Museum, 1976.
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