Alice’s World
The Life and Photography of an American Original: Alice Austen, 1866-1952
Ann Novotny
While searching for photographs to a possible guidebook to Ellis Island, Ann first saw Alice Austen’s work at the Staten Island Historical Society. She then contacted Oliver Jensen, the editor who had first recognized the value of glass-plated negatives moldering away in the Society’s basement. Jensen founded the Friends of Alice Austen group after it was learned that Alice was still living, confined to a bed in the local poorhouse; the organization dedicated itself to raising funds for Alice to live out her years on, as well as preserving her work.
Though Ann Novotny had not met Alice Austen, in the course of her growing involvement with her photographs, Ann decided to write Alice’s World. She became chairwoman of the Friends, leading the group in fighting to have the deter orating Alice Austen family home declared historically import ant in order to save it from the imminent wrecking ball. Shortly after Ann Novotny’s death, the New York City Parks Department finally signed over one million dollars in contracts to re store Alice Austen’s home and turn : it into a museum devoted to her work -probably the first museum in this country for a woman photographer, and certainly the first for a lesbian photographer. ~ Judith Schwarz, Off Our Backs, Vol. 13, No. 1 (January 1983), p. 14
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Details
| Genre | Arts & Photography; Grier Rated |
| Publication Date | 01-Nov-76 |
| Publisher | Devin-Adair Publishing |
| Format | Hardcover |
| Language | English |
| Rating | Great |
| BookID | 274 |
