id: 154047 accession number: 1988.166 share license status: Copyrighted url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1988.166 updated: 2024-03-26 02:00:02.710000 The Tangled Skein, c. 1910. Nancy Ford Cones (American, 1869–1962). Gelatin silver bromide print, toned; image: 24.6 x 19.7 cm (9 11/16 x 7 3/4 in.); paper: 25.1 x 20.1 cm (9 7/8 x 7 15/16 in.); matted: 50.8 x 40.6 cm (20 x 16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1988.166 title: The Tangled Skein title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1910 creation date earliest: 1905 creation date latest: 1915 current location: creditline: John L. Severance Fund copyright: --- culture: America, 20th century technique: gelatin silver bromide print, toned department: Photography collection: PH - American 1900-1950 type: Photograph find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Nancy Ford Cones (American, 1869–1962) - artist Nancy Ford Cones American, 1869-1962 Nancy Ford Cones (born Nancy Ford in Milan, Ohio) began her photographic career in 1895 as a retoucher at Waldo Studio in Fostoria, Ohio. Two years later her father bought her a half-interest in a photography studio in Mechanicsburg. The studio partnership did not work out, however, and Ford moved to South Lebanon, Ohio, to be with her family. She continued to take photographs and in 1898 met James Cones, a self-taught photographer who ran a studio in Lebanon. They began working together, taking portraits of many of the well-to-do in Cincinnati, and two years later they married. Cones and her husband then operated a photography studio in Xenia, Ohio, for a year before opening a studio in Covington, Kentucky, in 1901. Six years later they purchased a farm in Loveland, Ohio, which became their permanent residence. During these years Cones entered a number of competitions sponsored by manufacturers to promote their products. She won second place in Kodak's 1902 competition as well as in Bausch & Lomb's 1903 contest, and in the 1905 Kodak competition she again came in second, with Edward Steichen taking first prize and Alfred Stieglitz third. Kodak began purchasing prints by Cones to use in its advertising campaigns. Cones also took part in pictorial salons in the United States and Europe, and her work began appearing on the covers of publications such as Woman's Home Companion, Country Life in America, and Browning's Magazine. She remained active as a photographer until her husband's death in 1939, choosing as her primary subjects portraiture, scenes of rural life in Ohio, and allegorical studies. M.M. --- measurements: Image: 24.6 x 19.7 cm (9 11/16 x 7 3/4 in.); Paper: 25.1 x 20.1 cm (9 7/8 x 7 15/16 in.); Matted: 50.8 x 40.6 cm (20 x 16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: Written in pencil on verso: "Tangled Skein / ca 1910 / Grandma Cones & MFC"; "LC 16, 14"; "M.F.C. 1981" translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * {'description': 'CMA, March 17 - May 14, 1989: "Photographs: Recent Acquisitions," Gallery D.', 'opening_date': '1989-03-17T00:00:00'} --- PROVENANCE --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996. page number: Reproduced: P. 129 url: --- IMAGES