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Clarence Hudson White (1871 --1925) was an American photographer and a founding member of the Photo-Secession movement. During his lifetime he was widely recognized as a master of the art form for his consummate sentimental, pictorial portraits and for his excellence as a teacher of photography. Toward the end of his career he founded the Clarence H. White School of Photography, which produced many of the best-known photographers of the Twentieth Century including Margaret Bourke-White, Dorothea Lange, and Paul Outerbridge. White was born in West Carlisle, Ohio. He moved with his family to Newark, Ohio when he was sixteen. He was avid amateur young artist, and filled sketchbooks with his drawings and paintings before taking up photography in his late teens or early twenties. In 1893 White married Jane Felix, who became White’s business manager, critic, and inspiration. In 1906 he decided to move to New York City, and devote his full attention to photography. Stieglitz included White’s photos in exhibitions at his Photo-Secession gallery and published them in his highly acclaimed magazine, Camera Work. Stieglitz devoted an entire issue of Camera Work to White’s photography and the two men were jointly credited on several images, most notably The Torso. He quickly became a renowned instructor, encouraging and inspiring his students rather than formally expounding on technical or aesthetic principles of photography. Although White’s teaching never provided him with a significant amount of money, it enabled him to work as a full-time photographer and he deeply loved to teach. In 1914, he founded the Clarence H. White School of Modern Photography. White taught many students who went on to become notable photographers, including Margaret Bourke-White, Anne Brigman, Dorothea Lange, Paul Outerbridge, Karl Struss, and Doris Ulmann. White, Stieglitz, and the other Photo-Secessionists initially imitated traditional fine arts in order
