Francis Marion Steele

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The Windsor Hotel in Garden City in 1907

Francis Marion Steele , also known as FM Steele and Frank Steele (born September 14, 1866 in Stanton (Illinois) , † January 2, 1936 in Dodge City ) was an American photographer .

Life

When Francis Marion Steele was two years old, his father left the family. Steele took up photography at the age of 13; At that time he was working in Kansas City , but was apparently already traveling a lot, as in his later years, as a stay in Woodward (Oklahoma) is documented. After several years as a traveling photographer, he opened a photo studio in Meade , where he married Pink Fletcher that same year, 1895. The couple had two daughters named Edith and Zula, but in 1897 they divorced. At this point, Steele was already back on the road as a photographer, according to the Comanche Clipper in Ashland (Kansas), among other places . His innovative techniques - he used telephoto lenses and also took color pictures - attracted customers like the Rock Island Railroad and the Garden City Co. , which built a sugar factory. During the time he was working for the Rock Island Railroad in Greensburg , he met his second wife Sadie Harp, with whom he had a son named Marion in 1904. At that time he had a studio in Hutchinson , in 1906 he bought a gallery in Dodge City. In 1914 he settled in Garden City (Kansas) , in 1925 in McCook in Nebraska , and in 1935 he returned to Dodge City. The Steele couple died there in a domestic accident with a gas stove.

Steele photographed in western Kansas , Texas , New Mexico, and Oklahoma . Presumably by a long way not all of his surviving images have been identified. He saw himself as an artist, which was not denied on one side of Emporia State University - in fact, the composition and aesthetic quality of his pictures were remarkable - but was also not regarded as the most important criterion: the documentary value of his pictures, which “nearly every facet of life in the southwestern plains ”is essential. The Center for Great Plains Studies at Emporia State University is working with the Kansas State Historical Society in Topeka to locate and digitize his photographs.

Web links

Commons : Francis Marion Steele  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Nancy Ohnick, FM Steele, Photo Artist on www.oldmeadecounty.com
  2. ^ Francis Marion "Frank" Steele at www.findagrave.com
  3. ^ Francis Marion Steele (1866-1936) at www.emporia.edu
personal data
SURNAME Steele, Francis Marion
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Steele, FM; Steele, Frank
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American photographer
DATE OF BIRTH September 14, 1866
PLACE OF BIRTH Stanton (Illinois)
DATE OF DEATH January 2, 1936
Place of death Dodge City