Historical Photographer: Gertrude Kasebier

Gertrude Kasebier was one of the most influential American photographers of the early 20th century.  She was born in 1852 in Iowa, but in 1864 when her father suddenly died, her family moved to New York and she eventually moved to Pennsylvania where she attended college.  She married on her twenty second birthday in 1874 and soon after has three children.  She was very unhappy in her marriage, but divorce was not accepted then, so Kasebier and her husband decided to live separate lives while remaining married.  Her husband supported her when she was 37 to attend art school even though she wasn't thrilled about art. 
In the late 1890s she began photographing elements of the Western U.S., focusing on people's faces and emotions.  In July 1899 after having 5 of her pictures published, she shot to fame.  In the same year her picture titled "The Manger" sold for $100, the most for any picture at the time.  In 1901 she had an entire chapter devoted to her work in the book Photography As A Fine Art. 
Her husband died in 1910, giving her the independence she had always wanted.  She began coming into the spotlight, not for her work, but because former friends and colleages were criticizing her.  Alfred Stiegletz, who had published her first five photographs, began attacking her work, possibly because of jealousy or because he did not believe in making money and getting rich off of photography, which he saw as art.
She opened a door for many women in photography, inspiring them to follow their dreams and pursue photography like she had done.  She continued her portrait business throughout the 1910s and most of the 1920s.  in 1929 she gave up photography and emptied the contents of her studio.  She later died in 1934.