Seeking modernity through the Romanesque: G. G. King and E. H. Lowber behind a camera in Spain c. 1910-25

Abstract

Women photographers made considerable contributions to the ‘age of emulsion’ that transformed the way art history was practiced and taught early in the twentieth century. Among American women who made great efforts to record medieval monuments were Vida Hunt Francis, who worked in France c. 1905-15, and Lucy Warren Porter whose work has previously been attributed to her husband, Arthur Kingsley Porter. Georgiana Goddard King of Bryn Mawr College preceded Porter and others in documenting medieval and renaissance sites for the Hispanic Society of America. Her co-photographer Edith H. Lowber has until now been overlooked. The last book they planned together was edited and published posthumously and most of the illustrations they prepared for it remained unpublished. King also had a great interest in modern art, through her friendship with Gertrude Stein. Occasionally the photos recall cubism, and some of her writing verges on modernist écriture feminine