Florestine Perrault Collins (1895–1988) was an American professional photographer from
.
Collins is noted for having created photographs of African-American clients that "reflected pride, sophistication, and dignity." instead of
racial stereotypes
An ethnic stereotype, racial stereotype or cultural stereotype involves part of a system of beliefs about typical characteristics of members of a given ethnic group, their status, societal and cultural norms. A national stereotype, or nation ...
.
Life and career
Born in Louisiana, Collins was one of six children. She attended public school only until age six, when she was forced to drop out to help bring in family income.
In 1909, Collins began practicing photography at age 14 .
[Arthé A. Anthony, "Florestine Perrault Collins and the Gendered Politics of Black Portraiture in 1920s New Orleans", ''Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association'', Vol. 43, No. 2 (Spring 2002), pp. 167–188.] Her subjects ranged from weddings,
First Communion
First Communion is a ceremony in some Christian traditions during which a person of the church first receives the Eucharist. It is most common in many parts of the Latin Church tradition of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Church and Anglican Communi ...
s, and graduations to personal photographs of soldiers who had returned home.
["Florestine Perrault Collins." ''KnowLA Encyclopedia of Louisiana''. Ed. David Johnson. Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, September 12, 2012. Web. March 8, 2015.] At the beginning of her career, Collins had to pass as a white woman to be able to assist photographers.
Collins eventually opened her own studio, catering to African-American families. She gained a loyal following and had success, due to both her photography and marketing skills. Out of 101 African-American women who identified themselves as photographers in the 1920 U.S. Census, Collins was the only one listed in New Orleans.
She advertised in newspapers, playing up the
sentimentality
Sentimentality originally indicated the reliance on feelings as a guide to truth, but in current usage the term commonly connotes a reliance on shallow, uncomplicated emotions at the expense of reason.
Sentimentalism in philosophy is a view in ...
of a well-done photograph. Collins also included her photograph in the ads to appeal to customers who thought a female photographer might take better pictures of babies and children.
Collins' first husband, Eilert Bertrand, believed that women should not have careers and tried to restrain her public appearances.
Collins died in 1988.
Legacy
According to the ''Encyclopedia of Louisiana,'' Collins' career "mirrored a complicated interplay of gender, racial and class expectations".
"The history of black liberation in the United States could be characterized as a struggle over images as much as it has also been a struggle over rights," according to
bell hooks
Gloria Jean Watkins (September 25, 1952December 15, 2021), better known by her pen name bell hooks, was an American author and social activist who was Distinguished Professor in Residence at Berea College. She is best known for her writings on ...
. Collins' photographs are representative of that. By taking pictures of black women and children in domestic settings, she challenged the pervasive stereotypes of the time about black women.
Collins was featured in the 2014 documentary, ''Through A Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People''.
Collins' work was included in exhibitions in New Orleans in the late 1900s and early 2000s, such as ''Women Artists in''
Louisiana, 1825–1965: A Place of Their Own'', ''
Collins is the subject of the 2013 book ''Picturing Black New Orleans: A Creole Photographer’s View of the Early Twentieth Century,'' by Arthé A. Anthony.
"Picturing Black New Orleans, Learning through the lens of Florestine Perrault Collins"
Capus Conversations, Occidental College, February 11, 2013.
References
External links
Visions of Early Rampart Street, The photographs of Florestine Perrault Collins
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Florestine Perrault
1895 births
1988 deaths
African-American photographers
20th-century American photographers
Artists from New Orleans
20th-century American women photographers
20th-century African-American women
20th-century African-American artists
Photographers from Louisiana