Karl Struss

Karl Struss, A.S.C. (November 30, 1886 – December 15, 1981) was an American

Early in his studies, he explored the properties of camera lenses and eventually invented, in 1909, what he attempted to patent as the Struss Pictorial Lens, a soft-focus lens.[3] This lens was considered popular with pictorial photographers of the time. The Struss Pictorial lens was the first soft-focus lens introduced into the motion picture industry, in 1916.^[4]

Initially, Struss gained attention in the photo world when 12 of his pictorial works were chosen by Alfred Stieglitz for the Albright Art Gallery International Exhibition of Pictorial Photography in 1910. This was the final exhibition of the Photo-Secession, an organization that promoted photography as fine art.^[4]

Struss's reputation was solidified by his inclusion in the exhibition "What the Camera Does in the Hand of the Artist" at the Newark Art Museum, held in April 1911, and an invitation by the Teacher's College for Struss to organize a one-person exhibition of his views of New York City as well as to teach White's course in the summer of 1912 while White was away.^[5] Struss was invited by Stieglitz to join the Photo-Secession in 1912, which led to the publication of Struss's photographs in the group's magazine Camera Work. In 1913, Struss, in collaboration with Edward Dickson, Clarence White, Alvin Langdon Coburn, and Paul Anderson, began their own publication, Platinum Print. In 1914, he resigned his position at the family business and asserted his identity as a professional photographer by assuming Clarence White's former studio space in June of that year ^[6]

At the suggestion of Coburn, Struss submitted prints to the American Invitational Section of the annual exhibition of the Royal Photographic Society in London, initiating an exhibiting practice he would continue into the 1920s.^[7] He also participated in numerous exhibitions organized by photography clubs and other associations, including the Pittsburgh Salon of National Photographic Art and the annual photography display organized by the Philadelphia department store Wanamaker's.^[8] As Struss continued his exhibitions and specialized commissions, he produced commercial photography for magazines, including Vogue, Vanity Fair, and Harper's Bazaar.^[4] (However, he was quick to insist that he was not doing fashion photography.) His photographic practice was interrupted by World War I. In 1917, he registered for the draft and then enlisted with the aim of fulfilling his military service through photography.^[9]

He trained to teach aerial photography, but an investigation into Struss's German affiliations launched by the Military Intelligence Department led to his demotion from the rank of sergeant to private; after a period in confinement in Ithaca, New York, where he had originally gone to teach in the new School of Military Aeronautics, he was transferred to Fort Leavenworth to serve as a prison guard and then as a file clerk.^[10] In the latter role, he took up photography again, documenting the prisoners. Near the close of the war, in an attempt to clear his record of rumors of anti-Americanism, he applied and was accepted into Officer's Training Camp at the rank of corporal.^[11]

While Struss eventually received an honorable discharge, he likely was disinclined to resume his former roles in New York because of the fracturing of many of his professional relationships in the wake of the military investigation.^[12]

In 1919, after his discharge, he moved to Los Angeles and signed with

Struss's photographic archive of exhibition prints, film stills, negatives, and papers (3 linear feet of materials) is available at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, located in Fort Worth, Texas.^[19]

Aside from his work as a photographer and cinematographer, Struss had a keen interest in philately with a particular focus on the first transpacific airmail flights, making commemorative covers for both the initial November 22, 1935 airmail flight from San Francisco to Honolulu and on to Manila and for the first flights on the extension of the service, from Manila to Hong Kong and Macau, starting April 1937. These signed covers are on his personal stationery showing his address at the time as 1343 N. Orange Grove Ave., in Hollywood (see illustration).^[20]

Awards

In his career, Struss was nominated for an

References

1. ISBN 0-8263-1637-9. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help
   )
2. ^ New York to Hollywood 1995, pp. 19, 92.
3. ^ New York to Hollywood 1995, pp. 20-21.
4. ^ ^{a b c} McCandless, Barbara (1999). Struss, Karl Fischer. Cary, North Carolina: American National Biography. pp. 57–59.
5. ^ New York to Hollywood 1995, pp. 24-25.
6. ^ New York to Hollywood 1995, p. 30.
7. ^ New York to Hollywood 1995, p. 33.
8. ^ New York to Hollywood 1995, pp. 226-228. See the appendix (pp. 225-235) for Struss' Lifetime Exhibition Record
9. ^ New York to Hollywood 1995, pp. 34-35.
10. ^ New York to Hollywood 1995, pp. 35-41.
11. ^ New York to Hollywood 1995, p. 42.
12. ^ New York to Hollywood 1995, p. 43.
13. ^ New York to Hollywood 1995, p. 48.
14. ^ New York to Hollywood 1995, p. 50.
15. ^ New York to Hollywood 1995, pp. 179-180.
16. ^ New York to Hollywood 1995, p. 181.
17. ^ New York to Hollywood 1995, p. 182-183.
18. ISBN 978-0-02-517500-6
    .
19. ^ Amon Carter Museum Library & Archives
20. ^ Covers in the personal collection of Colin Talcroft.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Karl Struss.

• Biography on 3D Gear website
• Karl Struss at
  IMDb
• Karl Struss in 1912(portrait by
  Clarence H. White
  )
• Karl Struss 1912(by Clarence H. White, courtesy the Amer.Society of Cinematographers)