George H. Seeley is a photographer, American, 1880-1955
Known for the lyric quality of his outstanding pictorial photographs, George H. Seeley was brought to the attention of Alfred Stieglitz about 1906 by Alvin Langdon Coburn. As a member of the Photo-Secession, he was a leader along with Stieglitz, Clarence White, and Gertrude Kasebier in the battle to have photography recognized as an art form. Members of the Photo-Secession wrote numerous articles in defense of photography and published their work in fine gravures in Stieglitz's Camera Work, where a number of George H. Seeley's photographs were published. Seeley also exhibited his work in Stieglitz' "291" gallery.
He frequently used his sisters as models for photographs with titles like: "Battering for the Soul" and "The Mourning Veil". The photographs are often dark and brooding and printed in soft and subtle tones on platinum paper. The photographs are softly focused and have a painterly feeling. George H. Seeley was fond of photographing winter landscapes and was one of the first photographers to use abstractions of landscape in his photographs. George H. Seeley was a life long resident of Stockbridge, Massachusetts and became supervisor of art for the Stockbridge schools, and was recognized as an accomplished painter of still life.
George H. Seeley's photographs are held in public collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, NY, University of Texas, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, New Orleans Museum of Art, Seattle Art Museum, and many others.
For more information on George Seeley see Intimations & Imaginings The Photographs of George H. Seeley published by The Berkshire Museum, or The Collection of Alfred Stieglitz: Fifty Pioneers of Modern Photography by Weston Naef.
