Family

One of a small circle of women
photographers who were active and recognized for the high quality of their work
around the turn of the century, Eva Watson-Schütze operated a thriving
photography studio in Philadelphia. In 1900 she was a participant in both the
Paris exhibition of American women photographers, organized by Frances Benjamin
Johnston, and F. Holland Day's exhibition of the New American School at the
Royal Photographic Society in London. Her work was also included in the series "The
Foremost Women Photographers in America" published in the Ladies' Home
journal in 1901. Photogravures of Watson-Schütze's images were included by
Stieglitz in his magazine, Camera Work.

Her contemporaries described
Watson-Schütze's oeuvre in terms of daintiness and beauty rather than of compositional
strength of line and form. This assessment is borne out by this luminous
portrait of an unknown family. Light streams in through the window,
illuminating the room with a sunny cheerfulness and warmth that is echoed by
the affection the family members demonstrate to each other. The storybook
quality of Watson-Schütze's photographs may account for her somewhat obscure position
in the annals of photographic history, where sweetness and beauty are often
discounted.