Sipprell, Clara Estelle

  • From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: See full biography at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clara_Sipprell
  • Wiki Biography Notes:
    • Clara Estelle Sipprell (October 31, 1885 – December 27, 1975) was a Canadian-born, early 20th-century photographer who lived most of her life in the United States. She was well known for her pictorial landscapes and for portraits of many famous actors, artists, writers and scientists. Her photograph New York City, Old and New was the first artwork by a female artist acquired for the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
    • Clara Estelle Sipprell was born in Tillsonburg, Ontario, Canada on October 31, 1885. She was the sixth child and only daughter of Francis and Fanny Crabbe Sipprell. Her father died before she was born, and her mother had to find various housekeeping jobs in order to care for the family on her own
    • In 1902, Frank borrowed money from an older brother and opened the Sipprell Photography Studio in Buffalo. From the start his sister was fascinated with what went on at the studio, and soon she was acting as Frank’s apprentice. At the age of sixteen she left school and became a full-time assistant, and over the next ten years she learned all of the technical aspects of photography in his studio. Later, Sipprell would credit her brother for both her technical and her aesthetic training, saying “He taught me all I seem to know.”
    • Because of the work of George Eastman and the establishment of the Eastman Kodak Company in Rochester, the city became an important center for American photography in the early part of the 20th century. Sipprell became involved in the activities of the Buffalo Camera Club, which, although its membership was closed to women at the time, allowed her to participate because her brother Frank was a member. In 1910 she exhibited her first photos at the Camera Club, one of which won second prize in the portrait competition
    • Within a few months Sipprell established a portrait studio and soon established a long list of clients due to her already well-known artistry. Over the next forty years she would photograph some of the most famous artists, writers, dancers and other cultural icons of the time. As a portrait photographer, Sipprell sought to convey a sense of the whole person and what made each unique She was a traditional pictorialist, interested in simple beauty and soft-focus imagery, and she kept this same aesthetic vision whether she was taking portraits, landscapes or still lifes.
    • In 1937 Sipprell moved to Manchester, Vermont, at the suggestion of Vermont poets Walter Hard and Robert Frost. Soon after she met Phyllis Reid Fenner (1899–1982), a writer, librarian, and anthologist of children’s books. Fourteen years younger than Sipprell, Fenner soon became Sipprell’s housemate and traveling companion. 
  • Second Great Granddaughter of United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=7686
  • Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/183752440/clara-estelle-sipprell