Gertrude Käsebier
Nancy and Bubby at Five Months

CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Nancy and Bubby at Five Months
Date1900
MediumPlatinum print
DimensionsImage: 8 × 5 13/16 in. (20.3 × 14.7 cm)
Sheet: 9 1/8 × 6 3/4 in. (23.1 × 17.1 cm)
Mount: 15 × 13 in. (38.1 × 33 cm)
Frame (FR.429): 22 1/2 × 18 1/2 × 1 in. (57.2 × 47 × 2.5 cm)
Credit LineGift of Mike and Mickey Marvins
Object number2013.715
Non exposé

Explore Further

Department
Photography
Special Collections
Object Type
DescriptionAt the turn of the century, Gertrude Käsebier was among the country’s leading Pictorialists, as fine art photographers then called themselves, and the first issue of Alfred Stieglitz’s lavishly produced and influential journal Camera Work in 1903 was devoted to her work. In addition to her more purely artistic compositions, she ran a highly successful portrait studio. Although the specific identities of “Nancy and Bubby” are unknown, this intimate portrait conveys a more universal portrait of motherhood, delicately lit and softly focused, printed on a velvety-surfaced, warm-toned platinum paper, stamped with a chop reminiscent of those found on the Japanese prints that advanced artists of the time so admired, and mounted on layers of colored paper. At a time when the Kodak camera was already leading people to think that anyone could be a photographer, soft focus, subtle lighting, platinum printing, and layered mounts declared one’s artistic ambition.
ProvenanceAuction, c. 1984; purchased by Michael Marvins and Michele Marvins, Houston, c. 1984; given to MFAH, 2013.
Exhibition History“A Photographer’s Collection: Gifts from Michael and Michele Marvins,” The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, April 4–July 5, 2015.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
verso of 2nd mount top left in pencil: Nancy & Bubby (at 5 m)
top right on the image: artist's chop
Stylized initials in ink on second mount lower right below the image.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.

Claire & Bubby
Gertrude Käsebier
1904
Platinum print
2018.411
[Man in Tutu]
Gertrude Käsebier
c. 1898
Platinum print with applied color
2023.287
Cornelia Montgomery
Gertrude Käsebier
1896
Platinum print
2004.534
Mrs. O. E. Davies
Gertrude Käsebier
1902
Platinum print
2004.535
Lucille Thomajon
Gertrude Käsebier
c. 1910
Platinum print
85.82
Sunshine in the House
Gertrude Käsebier
1910–1915
Palladium print
91.323
The Red Man
Gertrude Käsebier
c. 1900, published 1903
Photogravure
2020.274
Blessed Art Thou Among Women
Gertrude Käsebier
1899
Photogravure
2008.746
Mother-and-Child Figure
1865–1900
Wood and traces of indigo
91.238
Dr. Salvatore Bernard with His Wife and Son
Antoine de Favray
1759
Oil on canvas
94.1140
Susan Comforting the Baby
Mary Cassatt
c. 1881
Oil on canvas
74.136
Pair of Deity Head Effigy Ornaments
900–200 BC
Spondylus shell with mother of pearl and stone inlays
2010.899.1,.2