Roger Sturtevant

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Roger Sturtevant

Roger Sturtevant
6dd6288f-cfe1-46d7-a499.jpg 6dd6288f-cfe1-46d7-a499.jpg "He Flunked in Sandpile (Self Portrait)," 1933
Born	January 26, 1903 Berkeley, California
💀Died	July 3, 1982 Sonoma, CaliforniaJuly 3, 1982
💼 Occupation	Photographer

Roger Sturtevant (January 26, 1903 – July 3, 1982) was an American photographer known primarily for his photographs of California Bay Area modernist architecture. He was awarded the first medal for photography from the American Institute of Architects in 1960, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the field. In 1977 he was awarded the CCAIA (California Council of the American Institute of Architects) Special Award in recognition of extraordinary contributions to the profession as a pioneer in architectural photography.

In 1979 he gave his entire photographic archive to the Oakland Museum of California, comprising more than 20,000 negatives and hundreds of vintage prints from all periods of his career.

Early life

Sturtevant was born in 1903 to George and Susie (Hand) Sturtevant while the family lived at 837 San Luis Road, Berkeley, California. He grew up in the Webster House at 1238 Versailles Avenue, the oldest documented residence in Alameda, California, originally built in 1854. George Sturtevant was active in local politics: he was appointed  as the county postmaster in 1889 and later became Alameda County deputy sheriff. Susie Sturtevant was involved in the local social scene and frequently hosted artistic gatherings, including dance performances, at their home. Roger Sturtevant had two sisters: Helen (later Helen S. Townsley) and Jeanne Sturtevant Etter, who died at age 27 on May 24, 1924.

Sturtevant attended Alameda High School, graduating with the class of 1922. He taught himself photography and while still in high school, worked for photographer Dorothea Lange for approximately a year and a half. His parents were supportive of his burgeoning career in photography, and his mother hosted exhibitions of his work in their home. Sturtevant opened his own portrait studio in San Francisco the day after his 18th birthday.

In addition to photography, Sturtevant was involved in the performing arts. He was a lead actor in a production of The Sea Woman's Cloak by the Theater of the Golden Bough, and was a member of the artists' colony in Carmel-by-the-Sea, where he was known for both photography and acting.

Career

Early career

Roger Sturtevant, Freudian Composition, 1925, Collection of the Oakland Museum of California

Sturtevant's work was recognized from an early age. Alongside his thriving portrait studio, he developed his own particular style that bridged the soft-focus Pictorialist style and the emerging hard-edged, sharply-focused work made famous by Oakland’s Group f/64. In November 1921, before he had graduated high school, a photograph of his was included in the Oakland Salon by the Pictorial Photographers' Association. In September 1923 he exhibited at the Palace of Fine Arts and the Oakland Art Association. In 1924 he won first prize at the tenth annual Arizona State Fair for a pictorial portrait titled Bright Child, judged by artist Maynard Dixon who was at the time married to Dorothea Lange. In 1925, he exhibited at the Black Sheep tea room in Berkeley, and in 1926 the Oakland Art Gallery presented a solo exhibition of sixteen of his photographs which included portraits of actors Everett Glass and Irving Pichel, etcher Roi Partridge (husband of Imogen Cunningham), and film actor Ian Keith, as well as studies of local children. In 1929 Edward Weston invited Sturtevant to participate in the prestigious Deutsche Werkbund International Exhibition of Photography, Film und Foto, in Stuttgart, Germany, for which Sturtevant exhibited an abstract photographic composition of everyday objects.

Roger Sturtevant, David Stover, c. 1930s. Collection of the Oakland Museum of California

His portrait business continued to grow throughout the 1920s and 30s with many clients drawn from the local creative community, including painters, actors, dancers, musicians, composers and writers such as Dorothea Lange [photograph, OMCA collection] novelist Dashiell Hammett [photograph in OMCA collection]; sculptor Adeline Kent [photograph in OMCA collection]; and textile designer Dorothy Liebes [photograph in OMCA collection].By 1929, he was described in the press as a "well known portrait photographer" and was traveling to Los Angeles to photograph for Vogue.

Commercial photography

In the 1930s Sturtevant worked as a commercial photographer. His advertising photographs were unconventional, often witty, and still distinctly pictorialist in style. He made several series of photographs documenting different California industries, such as the San Francisco coffee industry, for the magazine published by California State Chamber of Commerce, California: Magazine of Commerce, Agriculture & Industry. One of these photographs, a particularly surrealistic composition of coffee cans and grounds arranged into the shape of a face, was included in the 1937 international invitational at the San Francisco Museum of Art [photograph in OMCA collection].

Roger Sturtevant, Saxton Pope Residence, Orinda, CA, designed by William Wurster, 1940s. Collection of the Oakland Museum of California

Architectural photography

In 1927 Sturtevant’s photographs of William Wurster’s Gregory Farmhouse near Santa Cruz drew the attention of the community of Bay Area architects. He became Wurster’s preferred photographer of his projects and Sturtevant became the photographer of record for an important architectural movement.

Roger Sturtevant, Yeazelle Beach House, Stinson Beach, designed by Joseph McCarthy, 1950s. Collection of the Oakland Museum of California

In 1930 Pauline Schindler commissioned him to photograph works for her pioneering Contemporary Creative Architecture of California exhibition which traveled the country from UCLA. The show preceded by two years the landmark Modern Architecture exhibition at New York's Museum of Modern Art (1932). The California exhibition featured modernist architects including Richard Neutra, Rudolf Schindler, and Frank Lloyd Wright.

Roger Sturtevant, Coleman house, San Francisco, Designed by Wurster, Bernardi & Emmons, 1960s. Collection of the Oakland Museum of California

Throughout the 1930s and 40s, Sturtevant prolifically documented the development of what  became known as the Bay Region style. He took photographs of buildings across the Bay Area by architects including Julia Morgan, Richard Neutra, Bernard Maybeck, John Carl Warnecke, Harwell Harris, and Raphael Soriano. Favoring a “humane” aesthetic geared to an informal way of life, these architects sought continuity of indoor/outdoor space and used “honest” materials such as unpainted wood. Working in close collaboration with these architects, Sturtevant’s photographs were published in countless books and architectural journals, bringing worldwide attention to their designs.

During the Great Depression, Sturtevant became one of the principal photographers for the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) of the National Park Service. In 1934, the de Young Museum in San Francisco opened an exhibition of more than 100 of his HABS photographs, described in The San Francisco Examiner and Oakland Tribune as "one of the most fascinating [exhibitions] ever held at the museum." That same year, approximately 130 of his photographs of historic buildings spanning locations across the county were displayed at the Haggin Museum in Stockton. Many of Sturtevant’s photographs for HABS are in the collection of the Oakland Museum of California and Library of Congress.

In 1937, the de Young Museum opened an exhibition titled Trails of Steel, Through the South and West of 166 photographs by Sturtevant and photographer David Stover. Taken “under the supervision of a large railroad company,” the photographs documented the scenery along a Southern Pacific Railroad route from Salt Lake City to San Francisco and Los Angeles.

In 1949, the San Francisco Museum of Art produced the exhibition Domestic Architecture of the San Francisco Bay Area Region, for which Sturtevant photographed 32 of the 52 houses shown. Other photographers in the exhibition included Minor White and Pirkle Jones.

In 1955, Wells Fargo Bank marked 103 years of banking in California with an exhibition titled Scenes from The Mother Lode, featuring Sturtevant's photography.

Recognition

In 1960, Sturtevant was awarded the first Gold Medal for Photography from the American Institute of Architects (AIA). In 1966, his work was included in the exhibition f/64 and Before at the Oakland Art Museum. His photographs appeared in Sally Woodbridge's 1976 book Bay Area Houses, and that same year his HABS-era work was exhibited at the Oakland Museum of California alongside drawings by Ray Boynton. In 1977, he received the California Council of the American Institute of Architects (CCAIA) Special Award in recognition of his extraordinary contributions to the profession as a pioneer in architectural photography.

Personal life

Dorothea Lange, Portrait of Roger Sturtevant, c. 1931. Collection of the Oakland Museum of California

Throughout his life, Sturtevant was embedded in the free-spirited and experimental bohemian scene of Northern California, socializing with historic figures such as Anne Brigman, Edward Weston, Dorothea Lange and Imogen Cunningham, with whom he shared his San Francisco studio in 1943.

He was involved in an increasingly visible gay community and was frank about the men and women who were his lovers throughout his life. On July 29, 1925, Sturtevant married Viola Worden Smith, a dancer and fellow free-spirit who grew up in the utopian Oneida community, known for advocating sexual freedom. The two had known each other since childhood and had been rehearsing a dance act for the vaudeville circuit shortly before their marriage. They had two children: a daughter, Joan Worden Sturtevant (later Joan Pugh; October 11, 1926 - May 28, 2009), and a son, Michael (October 1, 1927 - November 23, 2023).

In 1935, Sturtevant bought a ranch in Sonoma Country where he spent most of the last decade of his life. Sturtevant died of heart failure on July 3, 1982.

References

This article "Roger Sturtevant" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Roger Sturtevant. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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