Ethel Standiford-Mehling (née Conway; 1871–1963) was an American artist and photographer.

Biography

Ethel Conway was born in

Jackson County, Indiana Jackson County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2020, the population was 46,428. The county seat is Brownstown, Indiana, Brownstown. History Jackson County was formed in 1816. It was named after G ...

on January 3, 1871. She studied to be a teacher, but instead apprenticed to a photographer. By 1901 she owned and operated the Standiford Photographic Studio in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

. In the early part of the 20th century she experimented with early photographic techniques such as the

autochrome Lumière The Autochrome Lumière was an early color photography process patented in 1903 by the Lumière brothers in France and first marketed in 1907. Autochrome was an additive color "mosaic screen plate" process. It was one of the principal color phot ...

and photo-viewing devices such as the diascope. An example of her early photography is the autochrome Lumière diascope of two of the children of Eleanor Silliman Belknap Humphrey. 2015-12-02 1405 photo file for EBH

Standiford-Mehling moved the Standiford Photographic Studio from Louisville to

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

in 1919, locating first in the Gage Gallery of Fine Arts, then in the Chilcote Building (1925), and subsequently in the Hickox Building at 1030 Euclid Avenue, where she worked into the 1930s. She was awarded prizes for her photographs of Cleveland's elite of the 1920s and 1930s at the

Cleveland Museum of Art The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Located in the Wade Park District of University Circle, the museum is internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian art, Asian and Art of anc ...

exhibitions. A collection of her work, including photographic portraits of important citizens of Cleveland, is held by the

Western Reserve Historical Society The Western Reserve Historical Society (WRHS) is a historical society in Cleveland, Ohio. The society operates the Cleveland History Center, a collection of museums in University Circle. The society was founded in 1867, making it the oldest ...

. One of her portraits and a statement about the portrait may be found in ''The American Annual of Photography''. Her photo of Louis Rorimer (1872–1939), the father of museum curator

James Rorimer James Joseph Rorimer (September 7, 1905 – May 11, 1966), was an American museum curator and former director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where he was a primary force behind the creation of the Cloisters, a branch of the museum dedicated t ...

, appears in an article about him in ''

The Plain Dealer ''The Plain Dealer'' is the major newspaper of Cleveland, Ohio; it is a major national newspaper. In the fall of 2019, it ranked 23rd in U.S. newspaper circulation, a significant drop since March 2013, when its circulation ranked 17th daily an ...

''. Two photographs of Anna Burge Muir, attributed to Standiford studio and borrowed from a 1927 ''

Louisville Herald-Post ''The Louisville Herald-Post'' was a newspaper that was published in Louisville, Kentucky. Origins ''The Herald-Post'' was created in 1925 from the merging of the old '' Louisville Herald'' and '' Louisville Post'' newspapers. Louisville financ ...

'' article, appear in a website about ''The Little Colonel'', a series of stories for children by

Annie Fellows Johnston Annie Fellows Johnston (May 15, 1863 – October 5, 1931) was an American author of children's fiction who wrote the popular ''The Little Colonel'' series, which was the basis for the 1935 Shirley Temple film ''The Little Colonel (1935 film), The ...

. One photo is of Anna Burge Muir as a child and one is of her as the grownup wife of lawyer Edward Porter Humphrey. Anna Burge Muir Humphrey was the real-life model for the character Anna Moore (Rob Moore's cousin) in the stories. A portrait of Lily Belknap, daughter of Colonel Morris Burke Belknap and Lily Buckner, is included in the ''Herald-Post'' collection of photos of prominent Louisvillians from Standiford Studio. Generally, Standiford-Mehling preferred men as subjects for her portraits and discussed her reasons in a 1932 interview published in the ''

Middletown Times Herald The ''Times Herald-Record'', often referred to as ''The Record'' or ''Middletown Record'' in its coverage area, is an American daily newspaper published in Middletown, New York, covering the northwest suburbs of New York City. It covers Orange, S ...

''. Faced with financial failure, she filed for bankruptcy and closed the Standiford Studio in 1936. She presented a portfolio of 500 autographed photographs of prominent Cleveland residents to the

Cleveland Public Library The Cleveland Public Library is a public library system in Cleveland, Ohio. Founded in 1869, it had a circulation of 3.5 million items in 2020. It operates the Main Library on Superior Avenue in downtown Cleveland, 27 branches throughout the cit ...

. Clevelanders are represented in the collection through newspaper photographs and portraits by George Mountain Edmondson and Ethel Standiford. Standiford-Mehling was the first woman elected president of the Cleveland Photographers Association.

Personal life

She married Frank Standiford in 1891. After his death in 1916, she remarried to Harold David Mehling in 1917. She was an amateur golfer, winning a tournament in Louisville in May 1917. She died at her home in

Mount Healthy, Ohio Mount Healthy is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States. It is a suburb of Cincinnati. The population was 6,996 at the 2020 census. History Mount Healthy was founded in 1817 as the village of Mount Pleasant. In 1850, the village renamed ...

on May 9, 1963, and was buried at

Cave Hill Cemetery Cave Hill Cemetery is a Victorian era National Cemetery and arboretum located at Louisville, Kentucky. Its main entrance is on Baxter Avenue and there is a secondary one on Grinstead Drive. It is the largest cemetery by area and number of buri ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Standiford-Mehling, Ethel 1871 births 1963 deaths Burials at Cave Hill Cemetery People from Jackson County, Kentucky Photographers from Cleveland