This ethereal image shows a woman, believed to be a sister of the artist, dressed in a headband. While looking directly into the camera lens, she clasps a firefly (Lampyridae) against the front of a large bowl-with the resulting contrast achieved by the highlighted aura of the insect against the shadowed recess of the bowl’s cavity. Scientifically, the light emitted by fireflies is believed to be a kind of mating signal, but not with romantic intent: “adult female fireflies of the genus Photuris mimic the flash pattern of the Photinus beetle to trap their males as prey.” (Wikipedia) As for the artist, he was simply conjuring an enigma: …”evident in the otherworldly figure and auras of light in The Firefly.” (1.)

George Henry Seeley: 1880-1955

…was an American photographer, primarily associated with the pictorialist movement. (who made his living as supervisor of art for his local school district.)

Early life and Education: Seeley was born in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and attended the Massachusetts Normal Art School from 1897 to 1901, as a student in painting. He studied under Joseph DeCamp, who encouraged his interest in natural light, and became interested in photography after meeting F. Holland Day.

Career: He returned to Stockbridge in 1902, where he worked in both painting and photography. In 1904, Seeley’s photographs were included in the First American Photographic Salon in New York City, where Alfred Stieglitz encountered them; Stieglitz then invited Seeley to join the Photo Secession, in which Seeley was a member from 1906 to 1910.

After leaving Stieglitz’s group, Seeley continued creating in a pictorialist aesthetic while the style as a whole declined in critical praise; this, coupled with wartime shortages in raw materials needed for photography, hurt Seeley’s career as a photographer. While Seeley continued exhibiting his photographs until the 1930s, little of what was shown was new material. -Wikipedia (2025) continues…

1. Peterson, Christian A. Camera Work: Process & Image : [exhibition, Minneapolis, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, August 31-November 3, 1985, Seattle, Seattle Art Museum, November 22, 1985-February 2, 1986]. Minneapolis: Minneapolis Institute of arts, 1985. p. 67.