Robert Stuart Redfield (American, 1849–1923)

Robert Stuart Redfield American, 1849-1923 Robert Stuart Redfield was a strong advocate of photography as a fine art during the turn-of-the-century debate on that subject. Born in New York and reared in Philadelphia, he belonged to a scientific family. In the 1860s, Redfield was first introduced to photography by Coleman Sellers, Constant Guilloû (the first president of the Photographic Society of Philadelphia), and a friendly professional named Hemphill, but did not undertake the new medium seriously until the appearance of dry plates in 1881. He also became an active member of the photographic society (serving as secretary, editor, and later president) and was instrumental in its exhibitions and salons, whose jury system sought to narrow the field of participants and raise the quality of the work shown. Redfield's work is often naturalistic in style and carefully crafted, similar in technique to that of Peter Henry Emerson and in artistic tone to the compositions and subjects of Winslow Homer. He knew and worked with Alfred Stieglitz and was a member of the Photo-Secession's original council. Stieglitz and F. Holland Day included his work in their exhibitions on new American photography organized by each around the turn of the century. Redfield's later work includes family portraits and genre scenes taken in Cape Cod and Wayne, Pennsylvania. T.W.F.