Names: | Born: George Corwin Poundstone
|
| Dates: | 1870, 14 February - 1938, 9 May | Born: | US, IL, Chicago | Died: | US |
Preparing biographies Approved biography for George C. Poundstone (Courtesy of Christian Peterson) | George Corwin Poundstone was born on February 14, 1870, in Chicago, where he, apparently, spent his entire life. In 1902, he graduated from the dental school of Northwestern University, where he subsequently taught for seventeen years. He served as president of the Chicago Dental Society and in 1925 traveled around the world.
Poundstone exhibited in pictorial salons from the early 1920s until his death in 1938. Among the American cities where he showed were Buffalo, Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, Pittsburgh, Princeton, Rochester, San Diego, San Francisco, and Wilmington. Foreign salons included Antwerp, London, Madrid, Ottawa, Paris, Prague, Tokyo, and Turin. His most prolific season was 1933-34, when thirty-four juries accepted over ninety of his prints. In 1933, a one-person exhibition of his work was seen at both the Chicago Camera Club and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
Poundstone was a member of the Chicago Camera Club and a lecturer on Autochromes, the first viable color process invented early in the twentieth century. He wrote a few articles for the photographic press, including a review of the Chicago salon for the November 1931 issue of Photo Era. American Photography published a lead piece by him in March 1932, on how to find pictorial images in existing negatives through severe cropping; he illustrated the article with no less than seven pictures he extracted from a single negative.
During the 1920s and 1930s, Poundstone’s pictures were reproduced in American monthlies, an annual, and at least one picture book. They appeared not only internally, but also on the cover of American Photography in October 1935, and Camera in September 1930 and December 1933. The American Annual of Photography featured them in 1931, 1932, 1936, and 1937. And Ships and Water, a 1938 publication compiled and edited by Alfred A. Dé Lardi, included two of his images, richly printed by sheet-fed gravure.
Some of Poundstone’s successful pictures were of foreign subjects, using negatives he made on his travels. The institute’s photograph by him is a scene of a Venice canal, with effective reflections on the water. The back of this print sports Poundstone’s personal label, which confirms his membership in the Chicago Camera Club, and a sticker from the 1934 International Photographic Exhibition of the Preston Scientific Society, in England.
Dr. Poundstone died on May 9, 1938. Later that year the catalog for the Ninth Chicago International Salon of Photography dedicated a page to him and the gallery of San Francisco’s Photo-Art Monthly hung a memorial show of his work. Christian A. Peterson Pictorial Photography at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (Christian A. Peterson: Privately printed, 2012) This biography is courtesy and copyright of Christian Peterson and is included here with permission. Date last updated: 1 June 2013.
SHARED BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION PROJECT We welcome institutions and scholars willing to test the sharing of biographies for the benefit of the photo-history community. The biography above is a part of this trial. If you find any errors please email us details so they can be corrected as soon as possible. |
|
| Premium content for those who want to understand photography | References are available for subscribers.There is so much more to explore when you subscribe. Subscriptions
| | Portraits If you have a portrait of this photographer or know of the whereabouts of one we would be most grateful. alan@luminous-lint.com |
Family history If you are related to this photographer and interested in tracking down your extended family we can place a note here for you to help. It is free and you would be amazed who gets in touch. alan@luminous-lint.com |
|