b. 1854; d.1952
Frances studied art in Paris and Washington, and worked for periodicals, writing and illustrating her articles. She then began to take her own photographs, and embarked on a campaign to promote greater recognition of women in photographic circles in America.
Women were among the early photo-journalists in the United States, and Frances Benjamin Johnston was a particularly noteworthy freelance photographer. In 1900 she collected 148 works by 28 women photographers for exhibition in Russia and at the World Exhibition in Paris, evidence that there was a niche for women keen to take advantage of an opportunity for self-expression that the traditional male-dominated visual arts denied.
Johnston was also a member of the Photo-Secession.
© Robert Leggat, 1999.