Blog Posts | PhotoSeed

Platinum Spring Poses

Apr 2025 | New Additions, Significant Photographers

Passion, joy, yearning, and dreaming are common to Cutting’s vocabulary, as, implicitly, they are to his photographs. ⎯ Ellie Reichlin

“Fiddlehead Ferns Emerge: Matteuccia struthiopteris” 1906, Album-mounted platinum print, Alfred Wayland Cutting, American, 1860-1935, 9.2 x 9.54 | 27.8 x 34.5 cm. Fiddleheads emerge in Spring in this landscape study most likely taken in or around Wayland, MA. Fiddleheads are prized by foragers and can be prepared for consumption in any number of ways. From Wikipedia: “Matteuccia is a genus of ferns with one species: Matteuccia struthiopteris (common names ostrich fern, fiddlehead fern, or shuttlecock fern.” From: PhotoSeed Archive

Spring is finally upon us in New England, so I’m making the excuse of showcasing a few more examples of the beautiful work of Wayland, MA resident Alfred Wayland Cutting. (1860-1935) Pulled from an 1905-1906 Cutting album acquired by PhotoSeed in 2022, these delicate platinum prints may just be the inspiration for you to explore the beauty and magic emerging in your own backyard: the wonder of the season after their Winter slumber.

“Star of Bethlehem: Ornithogalum”, 1906, Album-mounted platinum print, Alfred Wayland Cutting, American, 1860-1935, 10.5 x 16.0 | 27.8 x 34.5 cm. However delicate and beautiful, some species of Ornithogalum are classified as noxious invasive weeds in some portions of North America. From Wikipedia: “The common name of the genus, star-of-Bethlehem, is based on its star-shaped flowers, after the Star of Bethlehem that appears in the biblical account of the birth of Jesus. The number of species has varied considerably, depending on authority, from 50 to 300.” From: PhotoSeed Archive

“Trilliums: Trillium grandiflorum: Melanthiaceae”, 1906, Album-mounted platinum print, Alfred Wayland Cutting, American, 1860-1935, 12.5 x 19.2 | 27.8 x 34.5 cm. White Trillium blooms are arranged in a glass vase. From Wikipedia: “Trillium grandiflorum, the white trillium large-flowered trillium, great white trillium, white wake-robin or French: trille blanc, is a species of flowering plant in the family Melanthiaceae. A monocotyledonous, herbaceous perennial, the plant is native to eastern North America, from northern Quebec to the southern parts of the United States through the Appalachian Mountains into northernmost Georgia and west to Minnesota. There are also several isolated populations in Nova Scotia, Maine, southern Illinois, and Iowa.” From: PhotoSeed Archive

The Wayland Historical Society describes Cutting as someone who “always had his camera with him.” A lifelong bachelor, he was the sixth generation of Cuttings to live in Wayland, MA going back to 1713. Born in Boston, he spent 19 years of his life there as a bank teller after graduation from English High School. He then moved to Wayland for good around the turn of the 20th Century, devoting countless hours to his photography.

“Flowering Apple Trees: Malus domestica”, 1906, Album-mounted platinum print, Alfred Wayland Cutting, American, 1860-1935, 16.0 x 20.5 | 27.8 x 34.5 cm. In an orchard, apple trees show off their flowers in Spring. Seen from a high angle, with a fence and roadway at right, this view was most likely taken on a farm in the greater Wayland, MA area. From Wikipedia: “An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (Malus spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (Malus domestica), the most widely grown in the genus, are cultivated worldwide. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, Malus sieversii, is still found. Apples have been grown for thousands of years in Eurasia before they were introduced to North America by European colonists. Apples have cultural significance in many mythologies (including Norse and Greek) and religions (such as Christianity in Europe).” From: PhotoSeed Archive

Historic New England, based in Boston, the oldest and largest regional preservation organization in the United States, holds the largest collection of extant photographs and other ephemera by Alfred Wayland Cutting: a body of work that commenced when he acquired his first camera, in 1881, to the early 1930’s. By 1927, this archive had already numbered short of 4000 examples.

“Gathering Lilac Blooms between Poplar Trees: Syringa vulgaris & Populus”, 1906, Album-mounted platinum print, Alfred Wayland Cutting, American, 1860-1935, 19.0 x 15.5 | 20.4 x 17.0 | 27.8 x 34.5 cm. On a country road, most likely in or around Wayland, MA, a woman gathers lilac blooms from a large bush growing between two poplar trees. From Wikipedia: “Syringa vulgaris, the lilac or common lilac, is a species of flowering plant in the olive family, Oleaceae. Native to the Balkan Peninsula, it is widely cultivated for its scented flowers in Europe (particularly the north and west) and North America.”| “Populus is a genus of 25–30 species of deciduous flowering plants in the family Salicaceae, native to most of the Northern Hemisphere. English names variously applied to different species include poplar, aspen, and cottonwood.” From: PhotoSeed Archive

Here are three insights into the working methods of Alfred Wayland Cutting, from research conducted by the late Ellie Reichlin, former curator of acquisitions at the Harvard Peabody Museum and then Director of Archives at the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities in Boston. From the exhibition brochure: “The Old Life Silently Passed: Photographs by Alfred Wayland Cutting (1860-1935):

Cutting was an intensely serious photographic artist and craftsman, steeped in the precepts of art photography and pictorialism, which emerged in the late 1880s and early 1890s as a liberating alternative to the sharply detailed documentary styles that had dominated photography’s first four decades.

He loved Wayland, Massachusetts, where his ancestral roots ran generations deep, with a devotion that verged on reverence.

For all the local significance of Cutting’s work, it would be a mistake to characterize him principally as a Wayland photographer, or as Wayland’s photographer, even though he-with Yankee disdain for the high-falutin’-might have protested efforts to intellectualize or magnify his accomplishments. He described himself unpretentiously as an “amateur or semi-professional.”

American Crucible

Apr 2025 | Documentary Photography, New Additions, Publishing, Unknown Photographers

Members of the Acton Minute Men, reenactors in the annual Isaac Davis Trail March, fire a volley over the side of The Old North Bridge in Concord, MA: the start of the American Revolution on April 19, 1775. This year marks the 250 anniversary of what is known as “The Shot Heard Round the World.” David Spencer for PhotoSeed Archive

Concord Hymn

“By the Rude Bridge That

Arched the Flood,

Their Flag to April’s

Breeze Unfurled,

Here Once the Embattled

Farmers Stood,

And Fired the Shot Heard

Round the World.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson 1837

“Flag Raising on New Flag-Staff Apr. 19, 1906”, 1906, album-mounted platinum print, Alfred Wayland Cutting, American 1860-1935, 15.3 x 19.5 | 27.8 x 34.5 cm. On the Wayland, MA town common, residents watch the dedication of a new town flag pole: the date occurring on April 19th, an important date in American history commemorating “The Shot Heard Round the World.” From: PhotoSeed Archive

Bad luck. At least for one distant relation. On official battle cry orders, the second soldier to die on April 19, 1775— the very moment which started the American Revolutionary War—was my direct cousin, private Abner Hosmer, not quite 21 years old, a member of the Acton, MA Minute Men.

At left, a cow powder horn recovered from the Old North Bridge battle is now a centerpiece of a display on Concord’s role in the American Revolution at the Concord Museum. A descriptive panel states: “Abner Hosmer loaded his musket with gunpowder from this horn at the North Bridge on the morning of April 19, 1775, but was killed before he had a chance to pull the trigger.” Right: this bloodied hatband belonging to Private Abner Hosmer, an Acton Minute Man, was also recovered at the bridge site. It is now on display at the Acton Memorial Library. Abner’s father, Jonathan, in a letter written just ten days earlier, had predicted that if the (British) Regulars turned out, “there will be Bloody work.” Hosmer was a direct descendent of this site owner. David Spencer for PhotoSeed Archive

Today, April 19, 2025, we, now the American nation, pay tribute to his fellow Massachusetts townsfolk—those approximately 400 colonial soldiers who went into battle against 96 British Regulars at the Old North Bridge in Concord, Massachusetts. It was their bravery that began the epic conquest and eventual success to cast off their English king in becoming a new nation and free republic.

Detail: “Bloody Butchery, by the British Troops”, 40 coffins representing some of the first provincial soldiers killed in fighting against British troops from towns including Concord, Acton, (Captain Isaac Davis, Abner Hosmer and James Hayward) Sudbury, Charlestown, Salem, Woburn, Cambridge, Brookline, Medford, Lynn and Danvers make up the top portion of this broadside. Printed in letterpress by the Essex (MA) Gazette only five days after the April 19, 1775 battle, subsequent editions of the broadsheet added more coffins representing lives lost in the ongoing war. The work is framed and on display at the Concord Museum. David Spencer for PhotoSeed Archive

The last time I visited Concord was in my childhood. The Hosmer line sprouts from my maternal side, and I’m sure my mom was her usual stern yet patient New England self in trying to explain the significance of our ancestor and what happened in this place. But no. I remember the bridge and perhaps a vague memory of someone dressed in a tricorn hat, but that is all that registers now, thinking back. But 50 years forward to the present? A load of difference.

And, as one of those descendants, I will not mince words now. I’m scared for our country and ashamed of what is happening in the name of it. But what I saw in Concord yesterday was downright beautiful.

With permanent Photography not invented yet in 1775, the Concord Museum features a variety of media, including a large 24-hour digital timeline on an expansive battle and route map showing the advance of British troops marching from Boston to Concord. This detail from a 3d diorama of the battle at the Old North Bridge, however old school, is still visceral and gets the point across: casualties on the provincial side. Two British soldiers were also killed at the bridge, their bodies interred nearby. David Spencer for PhotoSeed Archive

In what has become a long-time annual tradition, a group of Acton, MA and other local town residents gather and march behind the Minute Men bearing that old town’s name: the annual Isaac Davis Trail March. The Acton group are American Revolutionary War reenactors who celebrate that fateful day by marching at dawn nearly seven miles to the Old North Bridge in Concord. They are led by a gentleman playing the role of Captain Isaac Davis, “the leader of the Acton Minute Company who sounded the alarm shots to rally his men to come to his house and prepare to head off for Concord,” according to the company’s website.

“American Revolutionary War Reenactors: Wayland, MA”, 1906, album-mounted platinum print, Alfred Wayland Cutting, American 1860-1935, 14.2 x 19.0 | 27.8 x 34.5 cm. Pride and patriotism are on display as three columns of troops parade off the town common in Wayland, MA: perhaps on the July 4th holiday. An automobile can be seen making up the rear. From: PhotoSeed Archive

This year, due to events surrounding Concord’s direct 250th anniversary role in “The Shot Heard Round the World,” and the massive amount of people expected on town streets, many of which will be closed due to a parade and other Patriot Day Weekend events, the Acton company made the decision to do the trail march a day early.

Overlooking from the rear at the conclusion of the April 19th Issac Davis Trail March at Concord’s Old North Bridge is the iconic Minute Man bronze statue depicting Davis by American sculptor Daniel Chester French. The large group that marched behind the Acton Minute Men look on at center as they are thanked for their nearly seven mile journey. The sculpture was unveiled for the Centennial of the battle on April 19, 1875. My aunt Jane described the work in 2009: “By definition, a minuteman can be ready to fight “in a minute”: he hears the alarm, grabs his musket from the farmhouse wall, and leaves his farm chores for battle. This statue can be Abner, in our imagination, or any other soldier in the Revolution, standing with his left foot forward, his right foot poised to take a step while holding his musket on his right hip. He wears simple, everyday clothes, and boots, and a hat with a jaunty, upturned brim, and he gazes straight ahead.” David Spencer for PhotoSeed Archive

“Two Drummers & Fifer: Wayland, MA”, 1906, album-mounted platinum print, Alfred Wayland Cutting, American 1860-1935, 13.2 x 14.0 | 27.8 x 34.5 cm. Pride and patriotism are on display as two drummers and a fifer keep the past alive- perhaps with a spirited rendition of The White Cockade March, on the Wayland town common. Fifteen-year-old Luther Blanchard was the name of the fifer that day, and is reported to have been the first to be grazed by a bullet on his side by a British Regular: the “First Shot?” The gathering was perhaps part of the town’s July 4th holiday. From: PhotoSeed Archive

So let me end with this, while getting back to that “beautiful” statement thing I mentioned a few lines ago. The 100 or so townsfolk following along yesterday—to my eye—were from all walks of life, nationalities and genders, along with a Boy Scout troop thrown in for good measure. Basically, the American Melting Pot, in real life, practicing their Constitutionally-protected right to assemble while keeping in marching step to the flute and drummer ahead of them playing a spirited rendition of the White Cockade, the traditional Scottish folk song. And, as luck would have it, at the conclusion of several musket volleys over the Old North Bridge, I ran into a fellow Hosmer descendant from another line of the family. A hug for both of us, and not bad luck at all 250 years later.

Painting & Photography: Sorolla meets The Misses Selby

Mar 2025 | Painters|Photographers

From time to time, one of the benefits of having an archive of your photographs online is someone out of the blue will contact you with a revelation.

Left: “Jean Walker Simpson with Rob Roy, her West Highland White Terrier”, 1909, oil on canvas portrait by Joaquín Sorolla, Spanish:1863-1923. Courtesy of a private collection. Right: “Jean Walker Simpson with Rob Roy, her West Highland White Terrier”, The Misses Selby, American, born England, (Emily Selby: 1868-1915? & Lillian Selby 1866-1964) platinum print, 1910-15, image: 16.7 x 12.0 cm | support: 18.2 x 12.5 cm (unmounted). From: PhotoSeed Archive

To wit, historian Robert Bagnall contacted me last week with news a portrait by the fashionable Fifth Ave. photographers The Misses Selby in my collection: “Woman with her West Highland White Terrier” actually had a painted twin.

What you see here, next to the Selby photograph, is that revelation: the oil portrait “Jean Walker Simpson with Rob Roy, her West Highland White Terrier“. (my title) From a private collection, and with our thanks to reproduce it here, it was painted by the Spaniard Joaquín Sorolla (1863-1923) in 1909. The painting is signed and dated in the lower left corner by Sorolla and seen here cropped to the inner part of its gilded frame.

Robert Bagnall’s research into the subject of the work- Jean Walker Simpson-lead him to discover she lived at:

“926 Fifth Avenue. Her parents, John Woodruff Simpson and Kate Seney Simpson, were noted art collectors – among other things, the first major American collectors of Rodin’s work and early patrons of Steichen, whose studio was across the street from the Selbys.”

He further informed me the dog’s name was Rob Roy, and the Simpson family purchased him in Scotland in 1908. (no knowledge if the dog’s namesake and personality lived up to the legend of his Scottish outlaw folk hero)

Another interesting tidbit: the famous American photographer Gertrude Käsebier photographed Joaquín Sorolla c. 1908, possibly around the same time as the Misses Selby portrait here. That work can be seen at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Although perhaps only a young teen in this portrait, Jean Walker Simpson’s (1897-1980) legacy endures to this day, after establishing the John Woodruff Simpson Memorial Library in East Craftsbury VT when her father passed in 1920. Her library legacy continues to grow, with it becoming a vibrant community resource and driving force in the cultural life of East Craftsbury.

Eyes Wide Shut

Feb 2025 | Alternate Processes, New Additions, Painters|Photographers, Significant Portfolios

It seems relevant to look to a chapter of America’s past-that of the so-called “Gilded Age” whose unchecked power and monopolies ran most things in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, while seeking out clues to the unsustainable wealth, as well as racial and environmental disparities of the present-day.

“Group Photo: One of the 1001 Nights Costume Party: December 17, 1896”, James Lawrence Breese, American, 1854-1934, Cyan Carbon Print, The Carbon Studio, 1897 from 1896 negative, 22.3 x 27.6 | 35.8 x 50.6 cm & mat with window opening: 25.1 x 29.8 cm. Celebrants attending a costume party close their eyes while being instructed by host, the photographer James L. Breese, seen standing at right. Breese, who might be described as a dandy polymath of the America’s Gilded Age, (photography, race cars, early airplanes as well as other passions) was a stockbroker by profession who ran his Carbon Studio more as a hobby, although it was a paying concern. But social gatherings were also an amusement. His riotous, and sometimes scandalous midnight “1001 night” Salons like this one were gatherings for the New York City elite. The scandal on this occasion? “News” of a distinctly social register kind appeared in the pages of the New York Journal ten days after this photograph was taken: champagne had to be used to extinguish the flaming dress of Mrs. George B. de Forest- “a member of one of the city’s oldest and most aristocratic families”, who “narrowly escaped being burned to death as a result of the exuberant liveliness of the entertainment” in the form of one party goer amusing himself by throwing lit matches into the air. From: PhotoSeed Archive

In defending artistic expression, the history and beauty of past accomplishments: in the form of art, photographs, literature, musical scores, etc. is top of mind in the evolving form of this website. Of course, the transformational technologies that created and maintain the modern internet have made this possible in the first place, but maintaining our Democratic ideals, all within a Constitutional framework- keeps things honest, in check, and crucially- from falling apart.

And yet the mantra of late seems to reward those going really fast, while things have started to break. Asking questions does not seem to figure into certain algorithms- or at least those programmed by a computer. Meanwhile, the ones running the show seem to be closing their eyes while flipping all the switches. What could possibly go wrong? Uncharted for now, but devastating in a most human and personal way for those swept up in the present.

These so-called mandates, earned by our esteemed prophets of commerce in the seeking of the new, belies an absolute absence of what was once known as “wisdom”, at least in what I formerly understood to be the meaning of that word pertaining to government action and sound public policy. I for one am sober to the reality of what I’m looking at. I may not like it, but I’m planning on keeping my eyes open, all the same. I hope you feel similarly, while maintaining vigilance and honesty in calling out the truth staring back at us.

See related: Portfolio: Souvenir of “One of the 1001 Nights”

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