F. Holland Day's portraits
Arresting portraiture from the turn of the century
Alex Q. Arbuckle
1895-1911
These remarkably contemporary-looking portraits, taken more than a century ago, are the work of F. Holland Day, the son of a wealthy Boston merchant. Day cofounded the publishing firm of Copeland and Day in 1893, and was a significant patron of artists and collector of books and poetry. By 1889, his passions had grown to include photography. Influenced by the European Decadent and Symbolist movements, Day often used nude male models to create allegorical or mythological images. His most famous work was a series on the last words of Christ, for which he starved himself and grew his hair out to play the subject.Day printed his images exclusively using the complex yet beautiful platinum process, and mounted them in handsome, gilded frames.At the turn of the century, Day’s reputation in American photography circles rivaled that of Alfred Stieglitz, who often asked Day to send photos for inclusion in the photographic journal Camera Work.Day largely withdrew from image-making after a fire destroyed his studio in 1904, but his work, with its bold interpretation of religious iconography and occasional homoerotic undertones, remained well ahead of his time.
