The Washington herald., 1914-04-10
HISTORY BUILDERS.
A Famous Photograph of an Ameri-
can Business Man.
Written Expressly for The Herald.
BY DIR. Il. j. EDWARDS.

BY DIR. Il. j. EDWARDS.
'I am fortunate enough to possess a
photograph which at one time caused
probably a greater amount OF discussion
in England than did any other photo
graph ever exhibited by the Royal Pho
tographic Association OF Great Britain" T"
| said Pirie MacDonald-himself a man of
long established artistic prominence-to
me recently.
They have established in London an
authoritative association composed of
| those who have been carrying from year
| to year the development Of photography
to a higher and higher artistic plane
The annual exhibitions OF this society are
always an event in the artistic life of
England. The pictures that are accepted
and exhibited are thoughtfully studied
and they lead frequently to much criti-
cism- i do not mean by that term un-
friendly criticism. The pictures are stud
led with view of determining whether
they contain valuable hints which may
be Of great service in the development Of
photography.
Il think II was about four years ago
that at one of these annual exhibitions. a
photograph was exhibited which attract
ed more attention than any other one
shown that year. 1t was the photograph
OF man. not a full-length one, but Of
the face and head poised upon the shoul-
ders. II was about half life size. The
picture and the discussion which II
caused led to considerable popular inter-
est and even excitement. Throngs visited
the galleries every day especially to look
at that picture.
Criticism was divided. There was a
considerable body Of experts who found
fault with the picture because of its real
ism. There was another group which de-
Tended the picture. speaking of IL as one
OF the finest examples of what photog-
raphy could do in the way of presenting
what seemed to be the almost living like
ness of a man. Discussion got into the
newspapers and the art journals. Col
umns were printed about II. II served
more than any other incident OF that or
earlier exhibitions to identify the two
schools OF photoGraphy-one of the So
called idealists and the other OF the 80
called reaIists. although that term is not
exactly correct
THE photograph represented a man
with clean-shaven face and bespectacled.
with a whimsical smile on his lips. as
though he were about to tell OF some
quaint or humorous thought. so that tho
impression was that those pictured lips
might actually open and speech issue
from them.
This photograph was that Of an
American, a man VINO had becn prOmi-
nently identified with large mining in
tercsts."
Who was he' What was his name"
| asked.
He was Edward Jennings Cox. for
many years the executive authority over
one of the great iron mines Of Cuba.
which was owned and operated by Amer
lean capital He lived long enough to
know how great a discussion followed
the exhibition Of his photograph At the
annual exhibition Of the Royal Photo
graphic Association, and / an, glad TO
have in my possession the picture which
occasioned this discussion, and to know,
as | learned. that the discussion was fol-
lowed by the acceptance by many of the
leading photographers Of Great Britain
of the principle that II should De the true
purpose of artistic photography to set
forth the man not idealized, but as his
friends knew him. so that when looking !
at this counterfeit presentment they are
compelled to admit. He looks just as he !
always did when he was going TO speak.
CuIyrEh'. l9ILl
TomO-TOw-Dr. Edwards will tell Why |
Hetty Green's Father Sold His Bank"