Wayne Clinton Albee (1882–1937) was an American

pictorialist Pictorialism is an international style and aesthetic movement that dominated photography during the later 19th and early 20th centuries. There is no standard definition of the term, but in general it refers to a style in which the photographer ha ...

photographer, best known for his portraits of dancers such as ballerina

Anna Pavlova Anna Pavlovna Pavlova. (born Anna Matveyevna Pavlova; – 23 January 1931) was a Russian prima ballerina. She was a principal artist of the Imperial Russian Ballet and the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev, but is most recognized for creating ...

, Adoplh Bolm of the

Ballets Russes The Ballets Russes () was an itinerant ballet company begun in Paris that performed between 1909 and 1929 throughout Europe and on tours to North and South America. The company never performed in Russia, where the Russian Revolution, Revolution ...

, and early

modern dance Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert dance, concert or theatrical dance which includes dance styles such as ballet, folk, ethnic, religious, and social dancing; and primarily arose out of Europe and the United States in the late 19th ...

pioneers

Doris Humphrey Doris Batcheller Humphrey (October 17, 1895 – December 29, 1958) was an American dancer and choreographer of the early twentieth century. Along with her contemporaries Martha Graham and Katherine Dunham, Humphrey was one of the second gen ...

Ted Shawn Ted Shawn (born Edwin Myers Shawn; October 21, 1891 – January 9, 1972) was an American dancer and choreographer. Considered a pioneer of American modern dance, he created the Denishawn School together with his wife Ruth St. Denis. After their ...

, and

Ruth St. Denis Ruth St. Denis (born Ruth Dennis; January 20, 1879 – July 21, 1968) was an American pioneer of modern dance, introducing eastern ideas into the art and paving the way for other women in dance. She was inspired by the Delsarte advocate Gene ...

. Albee got his start at age sixteen, working in a photographic supply shop owned by Byron Harmon. He went on to work for McBride Studios with business partner

Ella E. McBride Ella Etna McBride (November 17, 1862 – September 14, 1965) was an American fine-art photographer, mountain climber, and centenarian known for her career achievements after age sixty. In addition to running her own photography studio for over t ...

. She soon become a well-known photographer in her own right, and credited Albee's influence with inspiring her to learn to take her own photographs. He also was an early mentor to the Japanese American photographers Frank Kunishige and

Soichi Sunami Soichi Sunami (角南壮一, given name translating as "magnificent first son," and family name translating as "south corner"; 1885–1971) was a Japanese and American modernist photographer, influenced by the pictorialist movement, and best ...

, who assisted him at McBride Studios. He was an informal advisor to the Seattle Camera Club, and he also served for many years as the chief judge at the

Frederick & Nelson Frederick & Nelson was a department store chain in the northwestern United States, based in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington. Founded in 1890 as a furniture store, it later expanded to sell other types of merchandise. The company was acqu ...

art salons.

References

1882 births 1937 deaths Dance photographers Pictorialists American portrait photographers Artists from Saint Paul, Minnesota 20th-century American photographers {{US-photographer-stub