Dates | 1864 - 1933 |
Roles | Photographer |
Nationality | American |
Born | Norwood, Massachusetts, United States |
Died | Norwood, Massachusetts, United States |
Fred Holland Day was a wealthy eccentric and philanthropist from Massachusetts. As partner in the publishing firm Copeland and Day, which he founded in 1884, Day indulged his passion for English literature, publishing exquisite small-edition, hand-bound volumes by the likes of
Day began to photograph in 1886; and he wrote extensively about photography's position as a fine art and organized international photography exhibitions to further his claim. He asked: "And if it chance that [a] picture is beautiful, by what name shall we call it? Shall we say that it is not a work of art, because our vocabulary calls it a photograph?"
Day's photographs were controversial for their unconventional depiction of religious subject matter and for the male nudity that he employed. His style was