Death of Gertrude Käsebier

On 13 October 1934, Gertrude Käsebier died in New York City, closing a life that had profoundly reshaped art photography and women’s place within it.[1][2][16] She was 82 years old. While some English‑language sources list 12 October as her death date,[3][4] the 13 October date is corroborated by Encyclopedia.com, Britannica, and the German and Polish Wikipedia entries, and is therefore used here with a noted discrepancy.[1][2][5][16]

By the time of her death, Käsebier had long been recognized as a leading portraitist and a central figure in Pictorialism and the Photo‑Secession. Her images of mothers and children, Native American performers from Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, and prominent cultural figures had helped establish photography as a medium capable of psychological depth and poetic atmosphere.[2][3][11][18] She had also advocated strongly for photography as a viable profession for women, contributing to organizations like the Women’s Professional Photographers’ Association of America.[16]

Her passing in 1934 occurred as modernist and documentary approaches were gaining prominence, yet institutions such as the newly founded Museum of Modern Art in New York would soon honor her with a solo exhibition, affirming her continued relevance.[11][20] The date thus marks not only the end of her personal story but also a transitional moment in the history of photography, as newer styles emerged on foundations that Käsebier and her contemporaries had laid.

For women’s‑history researchers, 13 October 1934 serves as a fixed point from which to assess her legacy: a career that spanned the closing of the American frontier, the rise of mass media, and the gradual opening of professional artistic spheres to women.[2][16]