Early life (1852–1873) Käsebier was born Gertrude Stanton on May 18, 1852, in Fort Des Moines (now
Des Moines, Iowa). Her mother was Muncy Boone Stanton and her father was John W. Stanton. He transported a saw mill to
Golden, Colorado, at the start of the
Pike's Peak Gold Rush of 1859, and he prospered from the building boom that followed. In 1860, eight-year-old Stanton traveled with her mother and younger brother to join her father in Colorado. That same year, her father was elected the first mayor of Golden, which was then the capital of the
Colorado Territory. During her four years in Colorado, she developed an interest in and affection for Native Americans. She would visit with them, and then be returned to her home. Her father died suddenly in 1864 and afterward the family moved to
Brooklyn, New York, where her mother, Muncy Boone Stanton, opened a boarding house to support the family. From 1866 to 1870, Stanton lived in
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, with her maternal grandmother and she attended the
Bethlehem Female Seminary (later
Moravian College). Little else is known about her early years.
Becoming a photographer (1874–1897) On her 22nd birthday, in 1874, she married 28-year-old Eduard Käsebier, a financially comfortable and socially well-placed businessman in Brooklyn. She formally studied drawing and painting, but she quickly became obsessed with photography. Like many art students of that time, Käsebier decided to travel to Europe to further her education. She began 1894 by spending several weeks studying the chemistry of photography in Germany, where she was able to leave her daughters with in-laws in
Wiesbaden. She spent the rest of the year in France, studying with American painter
Frank DuMond. Cody and Käsebier were similar in their abiding respect for
Native American culture and maintained friendships with the Sioux. Cody quickly approved Käsebier's request and she began her project on Sunday morning, April 14, 1898. Käsebier's project was purely artistic and her images were not made for commercial purposes. They never were used in Buffalo Bill's Wild West program booklets or promotional posters. Käsebier took classic photographs of the Sioux while they were relaxed.
Chief Iron Tail and
Chief Flying Hawk were among Käsebier's most challenging and revealing portraits. Käsebier's photographs are preserved at the
National Museum of American History's Photographic History Collection at the Smithsonian Institution. ,'' Gertrude Kasebier, 1898,
U.S. Library of Congress Käsebier's session with
Iron Tail was her only recorded story: "Preparing for their visit to Käsebier's photography studio, the Sioux at Buffalo Bill's Wild West Camp met to distribute their finest clothing and accessories to those chosen to be photographed." Käsebier admired their efforts, but desired to, in her own words, photograph a "real raw Indian, the kind I used to see when I was a child", referring to her early years in Colorado and on the
Great Plains. Käsebier selected one Indian, Iron Tail, to approach for a photograph without regalia. "He did not object. The resulting photograph was exactly what Käsebier had envisioned: a relaxed, intimate, quiet, and beautiful portrait of the man, devoid of decoration and finery, presenting himself to her and the camera without barriers." Several days later, Chief Iron Tail was given the photograph and he immediately tore it up, stating that it was too dark. Käsebier photographed him again, this time in his full regalia. Iron Tail was an international celebrity. He appeared with his fine regalia as the lead with Buffalo Bill at the
Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris, France and the
Colosseum of Rome. Iron Tail was a superb showman and disliked the photograph of him relaxed, but Käsebier chose it as the frontispiece for an article in the 1901 ''
Everybody's Magazine''. Käsebier believed all the portraits were a "revelation of Indian character", showing the strength and individual character of the Native Americans in "new phases for the Sioux". , Gertrude Kasebier, 1898,
U.S. Library of Congress In her photograph of
Chief Flying Hawk, his glare is the most startling image among those portraits by Käsebier, quite contrary to the others who were shown as relaxed, smiling, or making a "noble pose". Flying Hawk was a combatant in nearly all of the fights with United States troops during the
Great Sioux War of 1876. He fought along with his cousin
Crazy Horse and his brothers
Kicking Bear and Black Fox II in the
Battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876. He was present at the death of Crazy Horse in 1877 and the
Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890. In 1898, when the portrait was taken, Flying Hawk was new to show business and he was unable to hide his anger and frustration about having to imitate battle scenes from the
Great Plains Wars for Buffalo Bill's Wild West in order to escape the constraints and poverty of the Indian reservation. Soon, Flying Hawk learned to appreciate the benefits of a
Show Indian with Buffalo Bill's Wild West. Flying Hawk regularly circulated show grounds in full regalia and sold his "cast card" picture postcards for a penny to promote the show and to supplement his meager income. After the death of Iron Tail on May 28, 1916, Flying Hawk was chosen as his successor by all of the braves of Buffalo Bill's Wild West and he led the gala processions as the head Chief of the Indians.
Height of her career (1898–1909) and Gertrude Käsebier on the patio of a hotel in Venice, Italy, 1905 Over the next decade, she took dozens of photographs of the Indians in the show. Some of those photographs become her more famous images. Unlike
Edward Curtis, a photographer who was her contemporary, Käsebier focused more on the expression and individuality of the person than their costumes and customs. While Curtis is known to have added elements to his photographs to emphasize his personal vision, Käsebier did the opposite, sometimes removing genuine ceremonial articles from a sitter to concentrate on the face or stature of the person. Her rapid rise to fame was noted by photographer and critic
Joseph Keiley, who wrote "a year ago Käsebier's name was practically unknown in the photographic world... Today that names stands first and unrivaled...". That same year her print of "The Manger" sold for $100, the most ever paid for a photograph at that time. In 1900, Käsebier continued to gather accolades and professional praise. In the catalog for the Newark (Ohio) Photography Salon, she was called "the foremost professional photographer in the United States". Due to demand for her artistic opinions in Europe, Käsebier spent most of the year in Britain and France visiting with
F. Holland Day and
Edward Steichen. In 1902, Stieglitz included Käsebier as a founding member of the
Photo-Secession. The following year, Stieglitz published six of her images in the first issue of
Camera Work. They were accompanied by highly complementary articles by Charles Caffin and
Frances Benjamin Johnston. In 1905 six more of her images were published in
Camera Work, and the following year, Stieglitz presented an exhibition of Käsebier photographs (along with those of
Clarence H. White) at his
Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession. The strain of balancing her professional life with her personal one began to take a toll on Käsebier at this time. The stress was exacerbated by her husband's decision to move to
Oceanside, Long Island, which had the effect of distancing her from the New York artistic center. In response, she returned to Europe where, through connections provided by Steichen, she was able to photograph the reclusive
Auguste Rodin. When Käsebier returned to New York an unexpected conflict with Stieglitz developed. Käsebier's strong interest in the commercial side of photography, driven by her need to support her husband and family, was directly at odds with Stieglitz's idealistic and antimaterialistic nature. The more Käsebier enjoyed commercial success, the more Stieglitz felt she was going against what he felt a true artist should emulate. which was seen by Stieglitz as a direct challenge to his artistic leadership. By this time, however, Stieglitz's tactics had offended many of his former friends, including White and
Robert Demachy, and a year later, he was forced to disband the Photo-Secession. During this time, many young women starting in photography sought Käsebier, both for her photographic artistry and for inspiration as an independent woman. Among those who were inspired by Käsebier and who went on to have successful careers of their own were
Clara Sipprell,
Consuelo Kanaga,
Laura Gilpin,
Florence Maynard, and
Imogen Cunningham. Throughout the late 1910s and most of the 1920s, Käsebier continued to expand her portrait business, taking photographs of many important people of the time, including
Robert Henri,
John Sloan,
William Glackens,
Arthur B. Davies,
Mabel Dodge, and
Stanford White. In 1924, her daughter Hermine Turner joined her in her portrait business. In 1929, Käsebier gave up photography altogether and liquidated the contents of her studio. The same year, she was given a major
solo exhibition at the
Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences. Käsebier died on October 12, 1934, at the home of her daughter Hermine Turner. A major collection of her work is held by the
University of Delaware. In 1979, Käsebier was inducted into the
International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum. ==Gallery==