IMAGINE A SEPIA-TONED portrait of a very dapper man seated in a high-backed, ornately carved chair. Now, imagine this same man has no legs below the knees. Place one of his artificial limbs neatly on the floor, next to the chair, and prop the other up under his arm like an armrest. While this might sound like some image dreamed up by Andre Serrano or Joel-Peter Witkin, it's an actual photograph taken in the early 20th century in Springville, Utah, by photographer Elfie Huntington (1868-1949).
Through June 30, the Utah State Historical Society will exhibit "A Woman's View: The Photographs of Elfie Huntington," giving many Utahns their first glimpse at the work of one of its most creative woman artists.Born in Springville on Dec. 29, 1868, Huntington had a normal childhood until she suffered a bout of scarlet fever at the age of four. The illness left her deaf and largely mute; later she became an adept lip-reader.
Shortly thereafter her mother died and the young Huntington was raised by her grandmother. Later, as a teenager, she lived with her uncle, Don C. Johnson, who was very sympathetic to the artistic inclinations of his niece. He encouraged her to pursue the visual arts, eventually arranging an apprenticeship for her with George Edward Anderson, an established commercial photographer, in 1892.
Huntington began her apprenticeship by retouching Anderson's negatives, eventually learning darkroom techniques and general camera skills. The introduction of dry-plate technology and the development of faster lenses helped free photographers from their bulky old equipment, and in 1894, Huntington purchased a small-view camera suitable for album-sized portraits. At this time she began to develop her characteristic candid style.
In 1903, Huntington and another assistant, Joseph Bagley, quit Anderson's shop and established their own studio which offered such services as film finishing, professional portraiture, framing and a traveling tent gallery. Huntington and Bagley became a well-known team in Utah County and could often be seen traveling in tandem on a motorcycle. They documented Indian ruins and took portraits of individuals in the small towns they visited.
Huntington's photographs portray Springville and its environs in a way few towns have ever seen. She moved beyond the purely historical or geographical pictures that dominated 19th century photography, creating instead works that communicated complex thoughts and feelings about life.
A significant number of her photographs depict children, whom she often photographed at play. Historians believe she favored children as subjects because she had none of her own. She also had an affinity for the handicapped, perhaps because of her personal experiences.
But her creativity knew no bounds. Huntington contrived portraits of dogs; people dressed as clowns and friends out for a walk. One photograph in the exhibit shows a woman on the verge of beheading a chicken; another shows a woman holding a shotgun. There is a still life with a human skull and several works of drunks in the park.
At age 68, she married her longtime partner, Bagley, a widower, but he died a mere six weeks later. Huntington herself survived until July 24, 1949, when she died in a Provo hospital celebrated as an artist who was ahead of her time.