Adelaide Hanscom
Encyclopedia
Adelaide Hanscom Leeson (25 November 1875 – 19 November 1931) was an early 20th century artist and photographer who published some of the first books using photography to illustrate literary works.
Adelaide Marquand Hanscom was born in Empire City (now Coos Bay, Oregon
) in 1875, the fourth of six surviving children born to Meldon LeRoy (1869–1919) and Louisa Hyde Hanscom (1845–1923). She was one of a set of twins, but the other child was still-born
. Hanscom was named after Adelaide Marquand, an early proponent of universal suffrage
. Marquand's husband, Henry, was a business associate of Meldon Hanscom, and later published the Berkeley Advocate. Adelaide Marquand was co-editor of the Advocate with her husband, and she remained a family friend and influence on Hanscom for many years.
When Hanscom was six, her family returned to their previous home city of Berkeley, California
, in order to obtain a better education for the children. Her father was a Harvard-educated businessman who later became the city auditor of Berkeley.
Hanscom began creating art when she was a teenager and later studied art and design at the University of California and at the Mark Hopkins Institute of Art. Her classmates at the Institute were photographers Emily Pitchford and Laura Adams, who had recently established their own studio, and Hanscom expanded what she learned about photography in school by working with her classmates. She also is known to have frequented the home of photographer Anne Brigman
and is thought to have learned some of her printing technique from Brigman.
In 1902 she set up a commercial studio in San Francisco with fellow photographer Blanche Cummings, and soon they were accepting commissions for portraits and commercial work. At the Third Photographic Salon in San Francisco in 1903 Hanscom exhibited five prints, including a highly acclaimed study called Mother and Child. One critic said her showing in this exhibition "secured her a place among the foremost pictorialists of the Pacific Coast." This show was also important to Hanscom because it was the first place she would have seen prints by Alfred Stieglitz
, Edward Steichen
and Gertrude Käsebier
, who were the leaders of the pictorial photography movement in New York. As a result of her recent acclaim, her artistry was in high demand. She was so successful that when a newspaper critic asked her if her profession financially rewarded her, she replied "Handsomely".
. The concept of illustrating a literary work with fine art photographs was new at that time, and The Rubaiyat was one of the very first American books in this genre. She solicited some then well-known California literary figures, including Joaquin Miller
, George Sterling
and George Wharton James
, as models for the project. She saw the project as both a classic literary publication and as a metaphor for her times. In a newspaper interview she said decided to illustrate The Rubaiyat because it presented "an expression of the struggle of the human soul after the truth, and against the narrowing influence of the dogmatic religions of our time."
In 1905 she published the first edition of The Rubaiyat, and it became a national sensation. Her hometown newspaper proclaimed "The Berkeley Girl whose 'Omar' photos startle the literary critics." Due to the high demand several more editions followed, including a 1914 volume with full-page color plates. The early editions of the book credited only Leeson as the photographer, while later editions said "photographic illustrations by Adelaide Hanscom and Blanche Cummings". Today the work is recognized for its lush beauty and because the first edition is thought to be one of the first publications in America depicting male nudity in photographs.
Unfortunately her success was cut short by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake
and fire. Hanscom's studio was completely destroyed, and with it all of the negatives for The Rubaiyat. A small number of prints survived in a safe, but otherwise the only remaining images from this project are in the books themselves. She had to completely start her business and life anew, and since the area where she lived and worked was now mostly uninhabitable she packed her few remaining belongings and moved to Seattle. She soon set up a new studio there with another photographer, Gertrude Wilson, and for the next five years she did commercial portrait works for prominent families in the area. Her photographs often filled the society pages of Seattle's newspaper.
That same year Alfred Stieglitz listed Hanscom as an Associate Member of his Photo-Secession
. It is not known how he became aware of her work, and there is no record of the two meeting. Nonetheless, in December 1906 and into early 1907, Stieglitz included two of Hanscom's prints in the Photo-Secession members exhibit in his Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession
in New York.
Hanscom's creativity did not suffer from the loss of her work or her move to a different city. She immediately began working on a new project, illustrations for Elizabeth Barrett Browning
's Sonnets from the Portuguese
. Work on the project was interrupted several times, and it would take many years for her to complete it.
In 1907 it was announced that Seattle was to be the site of the great Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition
, an enormous world's fair
-type exhibition to be held in 1909. The organizers of the Exposition decided to hold a competition for a logo
to represent the event, and more than 150 of America's best artists and designers entered the contest. By unanimous vote, the publicity committee selected Hanscom's design as the winner. The design, in a colorful Arts and Crafts movement
style, portrayed three women representing Seattle (right), Alaska (middle) and "the Orient" (left) all extending their hands to each other while holding representations of each area's economic strengths (respectively, railroad commerce, mineral resources and ship-going commerce).
On 1 January 1908 Hanscom married British mining engineer and ex-Canadian Mountie Arthur Gerald Leeson. Soon after they moved to the area near Douglas, Alaska
, for her husband's work on the Treadwell gold mine
. They remained there for the next three years, although both Hansom and her husband made yearly trips to Seattle and other areas outside of Alaska. In 1909 she spent several months in San Francisco after giving birth to a son, also named Gerald. During this period her photography all but ceased while she sacrificed her needs for her husband's career. In 1911 they moved to Danville, California, where her husband took up farming. She was able to once again set up a darkroom and soon resumed her work
, when Gerald once again worked on a mining project. Adelaide and the children returned to Danville by the end of the year, and Gerald remained in Kellogg for most of 1915.
In 1916 she was finally able to publish The Sonnets of the Portuguese. The first edition included twenty tipped-in photogravures and was followed by two more editions due to its popularity.
Soon after she began a new series of photographs, using her children as models, for illustrations of nursery rhymes and other children's poems, but due to unforeseen events she never completed the project.
That same year her husband Gerald enlisted in the Canadian army in order to fight in World War I
, and he left for Europe with very little notice to his family. Within a few weeks he was killed in action. The combination of this loss and that of her father three years later caused her to fall into a deep depression. She became irrational at times and was admitted more than once to mental institutions. She never resumed her photographic work, and, as one writer noted, "the remaining sixteen years of her life seem to have been a feckless series of wanderings with her children in tow." She moved briefly to England to be near her dead husband's relatives, but she eventually returned to California and lived with her daughter.
In November, 1931, Leeson was killed by a hit-and-run driver while getting off of a trolley
in Pasadena, California
. For many years her artistry was forgotten, but as of 2008 her work is once again being recognized for its creativity, beauty and grace.
Early years
Coos Bay, Oregon
Coos Bay is a city located in Coos County, Oregon, United States, where the Coos River enters Coos Bay on the Pacific Ocean. The city borders the city of North Bend, and together they are often referred to as one entity called either Coos Bay-North Bend or the Bay Area...
) in 1875, the fourth of six surviving children born to Meldon LeRoy (1869–1919) and Louisa Hyde Hanscom (1845–1923). She was one of a set of twins, but the other child was still-born
Stillbirth
A stillbirth occurs when a fetus has died in the uterus. The Australian definition specifies that fetal death is termed a stillbirth after 20 weeks gestation or the fetus weighs more than . Once the fetus has died the mother still has contractions and remains undelivered. The term is often used in...
. Hanscom was named after Adelaide Marquand, an early proponent of universal suffrage
Universal suffrage
Universal suffrage consists of the extension of the right to vote to adult citizens as a whole, though it may also mean extending said right to minors and non-citizens...
. Marquand's husband, Henry, was a business associate of Meldon Hanscom, and later published the Berkeley Advocate. Adelaide Marquand was co-editor of the Advocate with her husband, and she remained a family friend and influence on Hanscom for many years.
When Hanscom was six, her family returned to their previous home city of Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
, in order to obtain a better education for the children. Her father was a Harvard-educated businessman who later became the city auditor of Berkeley.
Hanscom began creating art when she was a teenager and later studied art and design at the University of California and at the Mark Hopkins Institute of Art. Her classmates at the Institute were photographers Emily Pitchford and Laura Adams, who had recently established their own studio, and Hanscom expanded what she learned about photography in school by working with her classmates. She also is known to have frequented the home of photographer Anne Brigman
Anne Brigman
Anne Wardrope Brigman was an American photographer and one of the original members of the Photo-Secession movement in America. Her most famous images were taken between 1900 and 1920, and depict nude women in primordial, naturalistic contexts.-Life:Brigman was born in the Nuuanu Valley above...
and is thought to have learned some of her printing technique from Brigman.
In 1902 she set up a commercial studio in San Francisco with fellow photographer Blanche Cummings, and soon they were accepting commissions for portraits and commercial work. At the Third Photographic Salon in San Francisco in 1903 Hanscom exhibited five prints, including a highly acclaimed study called Mother and Child. One critic said her showing in this exhibition "secured her a place among the foremost pictorialists of the Pacific Coast." This show was also important to Hanscom because it was the first place she would have seen prints by Alfred Stieglitz
Alfred Stieglitz
Alfred Stieglitz was an American photographer and modern art promoter who was instrumental over his fifty-year career in making photography an accepted art form...
, Edward Steichen
Edward Steichen
Edward J. Steichen was an American photographer, painter, and art gallery and museum curator. He was the most frequently featured photographer in Alfred Stieglitz' groundbreaking magazine Camera Work during its run from 1903 to 1917. Steichen also contributed the logo design and a custom typeface...
and Gertrude Käsebier
Gertrude Käsebier
Gertrude Käsebier was one of the most influential American photographers of the early 20th century. She was known for her evocative images of motherhood, her powerful portraits of Native Americans and her promotion of photography as a career for women.-Early life :Käsebier was born Gertrude...
, who were the leaders of the pictorial photography movement in New York. As a result of her recent acclaim, her artistry was in high demand. She was so successful that when a newspaper critic asked her if her profession financially rewarded her, she replied "Handsomely".
The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
In late 1903 she began working on a series of photographs to illustrate the classic selection of poems, The Rubaiyat of Omar KhayyamRubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám is the title that Edward FitzGerald gave to his translation of a selection of poems, originally written in Persian and of which there are about a thousand, attributed to Omar Khayyám , a Persian poet, mathematician and astronomer...
. The concept of illustrating a literary work with fine art photographs was new at that time, and The Rubaiyat was one of the very first American books in this genre. She solicited some then well-known California literary figures, including Joaquin Miller
Joaquin Miller
Joaquin Miller was the pen name of the colorful American poet Cincinnatus Heine Miller , nicknamed the "Poet of the Sierras".-Early years and family:...
, George Sterling
George Sterling
George Sterling was an American poet based in California who, during his time, was celebrated in Northern California as one of the greatest American poets, although he never gained much fame in the rest of the United States.-Biography:Sterling was born in Sag Harbor, Long Island, New York, the...
and George Wharton James
George Wharton James
George Wharton James was a prolific popular lecturer and journalist, writing more than 40 books and many articles and pamphlets on California and the American Southwest....
, as models for the project. She saw the project as both a classic literary publication and as a metaphor for her times. In a newspaper interview she said decided to illustrate The Rubaiyat because it presented "an expression of the struggle of the human soul after the truth, and against the narrowing influence of the dogmatic religions of our time."
In 1905 she published the first edition of The Rubaiyat, and it became a national sensation. Her hometown newspaper proclaimed "The Berkeley Girl whose 'Omar' photos startle the literary critics." Due to the high demand several more editions followed, including a 1914 volume with full-page color plates. The early editions of the book credited only Leeson as the photographer, while later editions said "photographic illustrations by Adelaide Hanscom and Blanche Cummings". Today the work is recognized for its lush beauty and because the first edition is thought to be one of the first publications in America depicting male nudity in photographs.
Unfortunately her success was cut short by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake
1906 San Francisco earthquake
The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was a major earthquake that struck San Francisco, California, and the coast of Northern California at 5:12 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18, 1906. The most widely accepted estimate for the magnitude of the earthquake is a moment magnitude of 7.9; however, other...
and fire. Hanscom's studio was completely destroyed, and with it all of the negatives for The Rubaiyat. A small number of prints survived in a safe, but otherwise the only remaining images from this project are in the books themselves. She had to completely start her business and life anew, and since the area where she lived and worked was now mostly uninhabitable she packed her few remaining belongings and moved to Seattle. She soon set up a new studio there with another photographer, Gertrude Wilson, and for the next five years she did commercial portrait works for prominent families in the area. Her photographs often filled the society pages of Seattle's newspaper.
That same year Alfred Stieglitz listed Hanscom as an Associate Member of his Photo-Secession
Photo-Secession
The Photo-Secession was an early 20th century movement that promoted photography as a fine art in general and photographic pictorialism in particular. A group of photographers, led by Alfred Stieglitz and F...
. It is not known how he became aware of her work, and there is no record of the two meeting. Nonetheless, in December 1906 and into early 1907, Stieglitz included two of Hanscom's prints in the Photo-Secession members exhibit in his Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession
Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession
291 is the commonly known name for an internationally famous art gallery that was located at 291 Fifth Avenue in New York City from 1905 to 1917. Originally known as the "Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession", the gallery was created and managed by photographer Alfred Stieglitz.The gallery is...
in New York.
Hanscom's creativity did not suffer from the loss of her work or her move to a different city. She immediately began working on a new project, illustrations for Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Elizabeth Barrett Browning was one of the most prominent poets of the Victorian era. Her poetry was widely popular in both England and the United States during her lifetime. A collection of her last poems was published by her husband, Robert Browning, shortly after her death.-Early life:Members...
's Sonnets from the Portuguese
Sonnets from the Portuguese
Sonnets from the Portuguese, written ca. 1845–1846 and first published in 1850, is a collection of forty-four love sonnets written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. The poems largely chronicle the period leading up to her 1846 marriage to Robert Browning...
. Work on the project was interrupted several times, and it would take many years for her to complete it.
The Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition emblem
Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition
The Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition was a world's fair held in Seattle in 1909, publicizing the development of the Pacific Northwest.It was originally planned for 1907, to mark the 10th anniversary of the Klondike Gold Rush, but the organizers found out about the Jamestown Exposition being held...
, an enormous world's fair
World's Fair
World's fair, World fair, Universal Exposition, and World Expo are various large public exhibitions held in different parts of the world. The first Expo was held in The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, United Kingdom, in 1851, under the title "Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All...
-type exhibition to be held in 1909. The organizers of the Exposition decided to hold a competition for a logo
Logo
A logo is a graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition...
to represent the event, and more than 150 of America's best artists and designers entered the contest. By unanimous vote, the publicity committee selected Hanscom's design as the winner. The design, in a colorful Arts and Crafts movement
Arts and Crafts movement
Arts and Crafts was an international design philosophy that originated in England and flourished between 1860 and 1910 , continuing its influence until the 1930s...
style, portrayed three women representing Seattle (right), Alaska (middle) and "the Orient" (left) all extending their hands to each other while holding representations of each area's economic strengths (respectively, railroad commerce, mineral resources and ship-going commerce).
On 1 January 1908 Hanscom married British mining engineer and ex-Canadian Mountie Arthur Gerald Leeson. Soon after they moved to the area near Douglas, Alaska
Douglas, Alaska
Douglas, Alaska is an area on Douglas Island in southeastern Alaska. Itoriginated in 1881 as a place providing services to miners of the nearby Treadwell gold mine, and was incorporated as a city in 1902. Douglas was once a larger town than neighboring Juneau, but dwindled in the early 1900s as...
, for her husband's work on the Treadwell gold mine
Treadwell gold mine
The Treadwell gold mine was the largest mine of the Alaskan Panhandle and, in its time, the largest gold mine in the world. During its operation from 1881 to 1922 over 3 million troy ounces of gold were extracted. The mine was owned and operated by John Treadwell , from whom it derives its name...
. They remained there for the next three years, although both Hansom and her husband made yearly trips to Seattle and other areas outside of Alaska. In 1909 she spent several months in San Francisco after giving birth to a son, also named Gerald. During this period her photography all but ceased while she sacrificed her needs for her husband's career. In 1911 they moved to Danville, California, where her husband took up farming. She was able to once again set up a darkroom and soon resumed her work
Later years
In 1912 she had a daughter, Catherine. She continued to work on her photography while caring for her two children and, at times, running their farm by herself. In 1914 the family moved briefly to Kellogg, IdahoKellogg, Idaho
Kellogg is a city in the Silver Valley of Shoshone County, Idaho, United States, in the Idaho Panhandle region. The city lies near the Coeur d'Alene National Forest and about east-southeast of Coeur d'Alene along Interstate 90...
, when Gerald once again worked on a mining project. Adelaide and the children returned to Danville by the end of the year, and Gerald remained in Kellogg for most of 1915.
In 1916 she was finally able to publish The Sonnets of the Portuguese. The first edition included twenty tipped-in photogravures and was followed by two more editions due to its popularity.
Soon after she began a new series of photographs, using her children as models, for illustrations of nursery rhymes and other children's poems, but due to unforeseen events she never completed the project.
That same year her husband Gerald enlisted in the Canadian army in order to fight in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, and he left for Europe with very little notice to his family. Within a few weeks he was killed in action. The combination of this loss and that of her father three years later caused her to fall into a deep depression. She became irrational at times and was admitted more than once to mental institutions. She never resumed her photographic work, and, as one writer noted, "the remaining sixteen years of her life seem to have been a feckless series of wanderings with her children in tow." She moved briefly to England to be near her dead husband's relatives, but she eventually returned to California and lived with her daughter.
In November, 1931, Leeson was killed by a hit-and-run driver while getting off of a trolley
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
in Pasadena, California
Pasadena, California
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...
. For many years her artistry was forgotten, but as of 2008 her work is once again being recognized for its creativity, beauty and grace.