
“While Johnston was running her studio in Washington, feminist campaigns to secure the vote and other rights were encouraging women to break out of their domestic roles. In 1897, she published an article in the Ladies’ Home Journal urging women to consider photography as a means of supporting themselves. “To an energetic, ambitious woman with even ordinary opportunities, success is always possible,” she wrote, adding that “hard, intelligent and conscientious work seldom fails to develop small beginnings into large results.” Johnston also used her influence to help other American female artists—for example, arranging exhibits of their work for the 1900 Paris Exposition. Her portraits of Susan B. Anthony, taken that same year, capture the stoic determination that the feminist leader needed—for half a century—to hold together the competing groups working toward women’s suffrage. And yet there is no evidence that Johnston ever participated in a feminist campaign.” http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Victorian-Womanhood-in-All-Its-Guises.html




Images Library of Congress
6 responses to “A New Woman: Fanny Benjamin Johnston”
Love!
LikeLike
Good 🙂
LikeLike
Did you redecorate your site? Looks good. Following up on your last post; I believe we share many thoughts on Feminism. When WordPress started using popups on there Reader, they forgot to give it a followup reminder.
LikeLike
Thanks for the compliment! I really appreciate it 🙂
LikeLike
While I have you in my mind, might I suggest you check out “To Say Nothing of the Dog” by Connie Willis. She works a similar time period as you but uses time travel to explore.
LikeLike
I’ll have to check her out 🙂
LikeLike