{
"data": {
"id": 149940,
"accession_number": "1980.174",
"share_license_status": "Copyrighted",
"tombstone": "Portrait of Clarence H. White (1871-1925), c. 1898. Ema Spencer (American, 1857\u20131941). Platinum print with graphite; image: 20.2 x 14.9 cm (7 15/16 x 5 7/8 in.); matted: 45.7 x 35.6 cm (18 x 14 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of John Flory, Elizabeth Flory Kelly, and Phoebe Flory, 1980.174",
"current_location": null,
"title": "Portrait of Clarence H. White (1871-1925)",
"creation_date": "c. 1898",
"creation_date_earliest": 1893,
"creation_date_latest": 1903,
"artists_tags": [
"female"
],
"culture": [
"America"
],
"technique": "platinum print with graphite",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Photography",
"collection": "PH - American 19th Century",
"type": "Photograph",
"measurements": "Image: 20.2 x 14.9 cm (7 15/16 x 5 7/8 in.); Matted: 45.7 x 35.6 cm (18 x 14 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"image": {
"height": 0.202,
"height_inch": 7,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.9375,
"width": 0.149,
"width_inch": 5,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.875
},
"matted": {
"height": 0.457,
"height_inch": 18,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.0,
"width": 0.356,
"width_inch": 14,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.0
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [
{
"inscription": "Written in pencil on verso: \"Portrait of Clarence H. White / by Miss Ema Spencer(?), Newark / Ohio about 1898\"",
"inscription_translation": null,
"inscription_remark": null,
"sortorder": null
}
],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 304521,
"title": "Year in Review: 1980",
"description": "Year in Review: 1980. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (June 24-July 19, 1981).",
"opening_date": "1981-06-24T04:00:00"
},
{
"id": 185439,
"title": "Artists Photographing Artists",
"description": "Artists Photographing Artists. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 13, 2001-February 27, 2002).",
"opening_date": "2001-10-13T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 202729,
"title": "Shadows and Dreams: Pictorialist Photography in America",
"description": "Shadows and Dreams: Pictorialist Photography in America. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (September 5, 2015-January 17, 2016).",
"opening_date": "2015-09-05T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 283644,
"title": "Clarence H. White and His World: The Art and Craft of Photography, 1895-1925",
"description": "Clarence H. White and His World: The Art and Craft of Photography, 1895-1925. Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ (organizer) (October 7, 2017-January 7, 2018); Davis Museum and Cultural Center, Wellesley, MA (February 13-June 3, 2018); Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME (June 22-September 16, 2018); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 21, 2018-January 21, 2019).",
"opening_date": "2017-10-07T04:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": []
},
"provenance": [],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": null,
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "A native of Newark, Ohio, Spencer was a talented photographer who received national and international recognition for her work created in the prevailing Pictorial style. As a founder of the Newark Camera Club, she met and encouraged the young photographer Clarence White and then studied under him, assimilating his ability to render portraits with an innate gentleness. In this image, Spencer skillfully orchestrated the composition and captured the subtle effects of natural light. She looked to her teacher's early work when applying soft graphite strokes to the finished photograph for structural emphasis and tonal shading. This charming portrait celebrates the simple pleasures of unhurried living, like reading a book in a sun-filled room.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [],
"internet_archive": []
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: P. 328",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "McCauley, Elizabeth Anne, Peter C. Bunnell, Clarence H. White, Peter C. Bunnell, Verna Posever Curtis, Perrin M. Lathrop, Adrienne Lundgren, Barbara L. Michaels, Ying Sze Pek, and Caitlin Ryan, 9. Clarence H. White and his world: the art & craft of photography, 1895-1925. Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Art Museum, 2017.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 9.",
"url": null
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1980.174",
"images": {},
"alternate_images": [],
"creditline": "Gift of John Flory, Elizabeth Flory Kelly, and Phoebe Flory",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": null,
"athena_id": 149940,
"creators": [
{
"id": 938,
"description": "Ema Spencer (American, 1857\u20131941)",
"extent": null,
"qualifier": null,
"role": "artist",
"biography": "Ema Spencer American, 1857-1941\r\n\r\nA native of Newark, Ohio, Ema Spencer is perhaps best remembered today for her encouragement of the young Clarence H. White. Nevertheless, she was a talented photographer in her own right, exhibiting nationally and internationally, winning awards in Italy and Germany, and participating in several of the most important exhibitions of her day.\r\n\tSpencer founded the Newark Camera Club and was a member of the Photo-Secession; her photographs were published in the January 1909 issue of Camera Work. The calm, quiet quality of her work links her not only to White, with whom she studied, but also to Gertrude K\u00e4sebier and others whose images often had a domestic focus and informal tone. In addition to her interest in photography, Spencer was a columnist for the Newark Advocate and a trustee of the New York Public Library. T.W.F.",
"name_in_original_language": null,
"birth_year": "1857",
"death_year": "1941",
"use_in_caption": true,
"include_extent": false,
"weight": 1
}
],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "1980-09-09T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1893,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "c. 1898",
"collapse_artists": false,
"on_loan": false,
"recently_acquired": false,
"record_type": "object",
"conservation_statement": null,
"has_conservation_images": false,
"cover_accession_number": null,
"is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-05-01 06:51:01.669000"
}
}