My aunt, Caroline Loretz Whiting, was born on January 2, 1905, in Asheville, North Carolina. My father, William Scott Whiting, Jr., was her younger brother. She grew up in the Appalachian Mountains where her father had lumber mills. Caroline was the third of four children, tall and somewhat awkward, with a handsome face and a dreamy nature. Because she was not as sociable, nor considered as beautiful as her older sister, her father encouraged her to pursue a career in art.
In 1925, Caroline graduated from Parsons School of Design, now part of the New York
School of Fine & Applied Art. She continued her studies in Paris for a year, then toured
Europe with a friend. Upon returning to New York, she apprenticed to a photographer for
a year and then opened her own studio. She told us that a friend Lucy studied under Ralph
Steiner and that he critiqued her work and Lucy’s.
Caroline and Walter Fellows began working together in 1928. Walter was technically talented and they had a commercial photography studio on Lexington Avenue in New York. They were among the vanguard of commercial color photography. They did extremely technical work in dye transfer, attracting the notice of Eastman Kodak. Their combined expertise produced state-of-the-art photographs which they signed “Carloff.”
Among their clients in the 1930’s were the magazines: Esquire, House Beautiful, House & Garden, Harper's Bazaar, Town & Country, and McCall's. They also did commercial photography for many New York advertising agencies. Their color prints were exhibited in the following galleries: Society of Motion Picture Engineers, Hollywood, California; and American Federation of Arts, circulating exhibit.
The New York studio was closed in 1940, due to problems with Walter’s health. They lived in Mexico, North Carolina, Arkansas, Connecticut, and finally, New Mexico, always photographing, but never going back to the commercial photography business. Walter died in 1985, about eight years after their divorce. Caroline spent her last year in Crestone, Colorado, anticipating the construction of a long-awaited studio. The studio was never built as she died from a strangulated intestine in the early hours of July 4, 1989, in the Alamosa Hospital.
Now, thirty years after her death, and almost 100 years after their commercial photography enterprise, Caroline has been recognized for her place in the world of avant-garde women photographers in the exhibit The New Woman Behind The Camera, curated by Andrea Nelson, Associate Curator of Photography, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. The show was to have opened September 20, 2020, and because of COVID-19, opened first at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, July 2, 2021, through October 3. The exhibit then returned to its home and opened October 31, 2021, through January 30, 2022. Others of her color photographs are now in the permanent collection of the National Gallery, as well as black and white photos.
Although her commercial career was short-lived, the inclusion of the photograph in this wonderfully researched and curated exhibit is inspiring me to write her biography, to include photography and art work from before and after the commercial period.
This photo's color is as bright and brilliant today as it was when it was printed in 1936. The print demonstrates the excellence of the dye transfer process used. The process never became commercially viable because of its complexity and expense.
In 1925, Caroline graduated from Parsons School of Design, now part of the New York
School of Fine & Applied Art. She continued her studies in Paris for a year, then toured
Europe with a friend. Upon returning to New York, she apprenticed to a photographer for
a year and then opened her own studio. She told us that a friend Lucy studied under Ralph
Steiner and that he critiqued her work and Lucy’s.
Caroline and Walter Fellows began working together in 1928. Walter was technically talented and they had a commercial photography studio on Lexington Avenue in New York. They were among the vanguard of commercial color photography. They did extremely technical work in dye transfer, attracting the notice of Eastman Kodak. Their combined expertise produced state-of-the-art photographs which they signed “Carloff.”
Among their clients in the 1930’s were the magazines: Esquire, House Beautiful, House & Garden, Harper's Bazaar, Town & Country, and McCall's. They also did commercial photography for many New York advertising agencies. Their color prints were exhibited in the following galleries: Society of Motion Picture Engineers, Hollywood, California; and American Federation of Arts, circulating exhibit.
The New York studio was closed in 1940, due to problems with Walter’s health. They lived in Mexico, North Carolina, Arkansas, Connecticut, and finally, New Mexico, always photographing, but never going back to the commercial photography business. Walter died in 1985, about eight years after their divorce. Caroline spent her last year in Crestone, Colorado, anticipating the construction of a long-awaited studio. The studio was never built as she died from a strangulated intestine in the early hours of July 4, 1989, in the Alamosa Hospital.
Now, thirty years after her death, and almost 100 years after their commercial photography enterprise, Caroline has been recognized for her place in the world of avant-garde women photographers in the exhibit The New Woman Behind The Camera, curated by Andrea Nelson, Associate Curator of Photography, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. The show was to have opened September 20, 2020, and because of COVID-19, opened first at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, July 2, 2021, through October 3. The exhibit then returned to its home and opened October 31, 2021, through January 30, 2022. Others of her color photographs are now in the permanent collection of the National Gallery, as well as black and white photos.
Although her commercial career was short-lived, the inclusion of the photograph in this wonderfully researched and curated exhibit is inspiring me to write her biography, to include photography and art work from before and after the commercial period.
This photo's color is as bright and brilliant today as it was when it was printed in 1936. The print demonstrates the excellence of the dye transfer process used. The process never became commercially viable because of its complexity and expense.
