Diana Mara Henry

Diana Mara Henry (born June 20, 1948, in Cincinnati, Ohio) is an American freelance photographer and photojournalist.

Biography

Early life and education

After attending Miss Doherty's College Preparatory School for Girls in Cincinnati, Henry entered the Lycée Français de New York where she pursued the ''Classique'' course of studies including six years of Latin and four years of Greek. During the summer of 1963 she stayed for several weeks with the family of Georges Simenon at their Chateau d'Echandens. Admitted a year early to Radcliffe College, she received Harvard's Ferguson History Prize (1967) for her sophomore essay, "The Concept of Time and History", published that same year in the Foundation for the study of Cycles ''Cycles'' Magazine, Vol XVII, pages 67,68,69. In the summer of 1968, she worked at publicity assistant on location for the David Wolper production of the film ''If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium''. She received her A.B. in Government from Harvard University in 1969.

Before turning to photography full-time in 1971, she worked as a researcher for the NBC News documentary, From Here to the Seventies, in 1969, and as a general assignment reporter, news and features, for the Staten Island Advance, a Newhouse daily, in 1970.

Introduction to photography

Henry followed her father Carl Henry's path to Harvard College, from which he graduated in 1934. He gave her her first camera, an Ansco Pioneer, when she was three years old and had himself been a filmmaker of his family's European travels in 1927 and 1929. Together they attended avant-garde film showings at the Cincinnati Museums and viewed '' North By Northwest'' multiple times. Henry's mother Edith E. Henry, a handbag and shoe designer, led them into a life a taste and travel. Henry began her career in photojournalism at Radcliffe College, as photo editor of the ''Harvard Crimson'' from 1967 to 1969. Her photography was also published during that time in ''Harvard Alumni Bulletin'', the Harvard Lampoon Overkill Number Brian Kahin's student film ''Barbara Baby'' (starring Barbara Lanckton Connors), ''The Boston Globe'', ''Harvard Today'', and ''Time'' magazine. Her first paid assignments were for Dana Hall School and were published in the ''Dana Hall Bulletin'' Vols. 30 and 31. She illustrated the "Clean for Gene" (McCarthy) campaign pro bono. She also wrote feature and news articles for the ''Crimson'' about Jerry Rubin and Frank Bardacke and the Boston Black Panther Party and "Probing Antioch College's Novel Psyche"

Legacy

Diana Mara Henry first set foot at the Alice Austen House in 1970, when she was writing a feature article for the ''Staten Island Advance'', the NYC borough's ''Newhouse'' daily newspaper for which she was working as a General Assignment reporter.

The house was in disrepair and deteriorated further over the years, as DMH researched the work of the owner (1866–1952) for whom it is named, pioneering photographer E. Alice Austen. Diana Mara Henry, who had left the ''Advance'' to take up a career in photography, wanted to produce a book of famous women photographers to inspire and encourage young women to adopt the profession by offering them role models of other daring and accomplished women in the field. Upon discovering that Ann Novotny was preparing a book to be entitled ''Alice's World'', Henry contacted her and joined The Friends of Alice Austen. The group undertook to place a marker in a ceremony at Alice Austen's gravesite and, after Ann Novotny's demise, to have a Staten Island ferry named in her honor. Henry's documentation of the condition of the house and the progress of the restoration were included in the Historic Structures Report that preceded and accompanied the saving of the house. The Alice Austen House, also named Clear Comfort, became a NYC Landmark when, as Vice-President of the Friends of the Alice Austen House, under the leadership of Margaret Riggs Buckwalter, Diana Mara Henry lobbied successfully for the city to grant $1,025,000 to restore the house and open it as a museum. Now a National Historic Landmark, the house was inducted in 2002 into the National Trust for Historic Preservation's highly selective group of Historic Artists' Homes and Studios.

Besides her photography of the Women's Movement, including paid assignments for the National Commission for the Observance of International Women's Year, Henry chose to photograph many events on her own initiative such as the Women's Pentagon Action in 1980 and the demonstration at ''The New York Times'' for the use of the term Ms in 1974, demonstration against decades-long sex experiments on cats at the Museum of Natural History, the 1977 strike at radio station WBAI against Pacifica, and other often obscure events and personalities that she considered historic and that would be unknown to this day without her visual testimony.

For the decade 1971–1981, she continued the reportage she had begun in 1970 with her feature articles about Ed Murphy, an early Vietnam Veterans Against the War leader, for the Staten Island ''Advance'' and photographed the Memorial Day demonstration at Boston Common and at Lexington and Concord in the days preceding. She continued on to photographing the hunger strike at the VA Hospital in Westwood. Ron Kovic was moved to write to her on July 25, 2010: "Your photos are beautiful and represent such a powerful and passionate time in American history. I believe these photos will last and many years from now they will be looked at and studied just as Mathew Brady's classic and haunting Civil war photos are today." For each of the events she photographed, she collected and preserved massive amounts of documentation in the form of leaflets, press releases, guest lists, personal monograph statements, and continued the conversations, documentation and publication of the ephemera through her website. This historic collection, along with the photographs, has found a home at the Du Bois Library of U Mass Amherst.

Assignments, teaching, writing

In 1971, Henry began to learn the technical side of photography by working as an assistant at Steve Eisenberg's studio at 123 West 28th Street, and by starting to photograph one of her most enduring subjects: the anti-war movement, including a demonstration at the Internal Revenue Service "Don't Pay War Taxes."

One of Henry's first and most successful assignments was to photograph Elizabeth Holtzman on the Brooklyn Bridge for her primary campaign in 1972. Besides being used in the campaign literature, her photographs were published in ''Juris Doctor'' magazine and in the Congresswoman's autobiography, ''Who Said it Would be Easy?'' The Congresswoman credits Henry's photograph for helping her win her seat in Congress. That was the year Henry also began to photograph Bella Abzug, her most enduring friend and significant client. Henry's photographs were used in all the Congresswoman's subsequent campaigns for Senate and Mayor. Henry's adventures with the George McGovern campaign, starting with getting on the press bus in New Hampshire and going through the convention in Miami Beach, at which she photographed a young Bill Clinton, are detailed in her book, ''Women on the Move.'' In her introduction to Henry's book, Professor Nancy C. Unger, author of ''Beyond Nature's Housekeepers: American Women in Environmental History'' (Oxford University Press) writes: "In ''Women on the Move'', Diana Mara Henry's striking photographs bring to life the excitement, the tension, the joy, and the drama of this inspiring period in which anything seemed possible ... Through Henry's eyes, we see these women as heroic, but also deeply human. Her image of Eunice Shriver's careworn face in a pensive moment at the 1972 Democratic Convention reveals a profound beauty." Henry's photographs for ''Reliable Source'' in Miami illustrated articles including "The issue is more than women" by Gloria Steinem on October 7, 1972. Henry also became the staff photographer for the short-lived newspaper ''Brooklyn Today.''

In 1973 she photographed James Brown in performance at Riker's Island at the behest of William Van den Heuvel. She began her annual report work with Camflo Mines that extended for the years 1974, 1975 and 1976, along with the sister company La Luz Mines in 1975 and 1976. In 1973 Henry also photographed Fashion Week at the Plaza for ''ore', later republished in the premier issue of a reborn ''Reliable Source'' and the Second A.J. Liebling (journalism) Counter Convention. Further assignments under Events, Subjects.

In 1973–1974, Henry returned to her alma mater to teach English at the Lycee Francais de New York, where Pierrette Fleutiaux asked her to teach photography to the teachers, her first photography teaching. In 1974, Henry volunteered at the International Center of Photography before it opened, and was then hired by Via Wynroth to attend to the Education program. Cornell Capa, founder of the ICP, then asked her to create and run the Community Workshop Program, in which she also taught black and white photography until she left the ICP in 1979. She also headed up the Photography Department at the Convent of the Sacred Heart, 1976–1982. Having taken a course and received a "certificate of honor in recognition of outstanding achievement in color photography-prize winning prints" in Ektacolor printing at Germain School of Photography in 1975 taught by Hollingsworth, she developed a course in Cibachrome printing that she taught at the ICP.

Invited to speak as keynote, presenter or panelist on the topic of women's history and her photography, topics and occasions have included the Society for Photographic Education Northeastern region conference, slide show, 1982; the American Society of Picture Professionals, slide show, 1983; The Radcliffe Club of NY at the Harvard Club, a presentation on the work of Alice Austen, 1985; "Photography as a Political Art" with panelists Alex McLean and Anne Whiston Spirn, 40th reunion of the class of 1969, Harvard,2004; "Making Women's History Visible" panel presentation "Preserving the Passion of the Past" at Smith College, 2003

Henry wrote about photography for the American Society of Picture Professionals in 1981: "Fifty Great Women Photographers; An Annotated Checklist"

Since 1985, she has been writing, translating from the French, publishing and speaking about the Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp and its Nacht und Nebel political prisoners, including the Jewish spy Andre Scheinmann. Conferences at which she has been invited to present include the Association for Jewish Studies /AJS 41st Annual Conference, Los Angeles, December 2009, and the 40th Annual Scholars Conference on the Holocaust and the Churches at St. Joseph's University, 3/6-8/2010. Henry's paper entitled "Call Me Andre: Memoirs of a Jewish Spy in the Resistance" was published in the ''Journal of Ecumenical Studies''.

Exhibitions and galleries

Recent exhibitions include: the American Civil War Center at Historic Tredegar, Richmond, VA; National Museum of American Jewish History, Philadelphia, PA; and the Jewish Women's Archives's ''Women of Valor'' and ''Jewish Women and the Feminist Revolution''.

1973: Group exhibit at Hanratty's, 5/5-6/1, curated by Lee Romero, with Rachel Cowan et al.

1975: "Breadth of Vision: Portfolios of Women Photographers" juried by Liliane de Cock, Barbara Morgan, Marge Neikrug, Anne Tucker

"The Bus Show" with Bill Cunningham, Lois Connor, Scott Hyde, Lilo Raymond, Ruth Orkin, W. Eugene Smith, Jim Alinder, et al.

1976: "Images of Women", Portland, ME

International Women's Arts Festival: "Woman Photographs Man: A Slide Presentation", Rockefeller Center

1978: "City Games", Midtown Y Gallery, 6/22-9/17/78 with Larry Fink, Nancy Rudolf, Arthur Tress, et al.

NY Photographers' Forum exhibit, Milwaukee Center for Photography, 2/26-3/22/1978

1979: "East Side-West Side: New York Photography", Roanoke College, Olin Hall Gallery 11/4-12/2/79

1980: Women, Image, Nature", Temple University, Tyler School of Art, all galleries, curated by Martha Madigan, with Joan Lyons, Barbara Morgan, Bea Nettles, Barbara Crane, Mary Beth Edelson et al., 12/1-12/19/1980

1981: "The Finished Print", curated by Larry Fink and Martha Madigan

1982: "Focus on Women", The First Women's Bank, with James Van der Zee, Bettye Lane, Tana Hoban, et al.,7/5-9/10/1982

1983: "Photographs from France", solo exhibit, Overseas Press Club, 12/1-31/1983

"One Room Schools and Schoolteachers", Granite Hills Photography Gallery, Hardwick, VT, 6/29-7/11/1983

"Photographs: Selected Work of the Last Fifteen Years", solo exhibit, Ballard Mill Center for the Arts, Malone, NY 11/4-12/16/1983

1984: "One Room Schools and Schoolteachers of Vermont" solo exhibit, curated by Rod Faulds, text by Professor Margaret Nelson, at the Brattleboro Museum 4/27-6/24/1984

"First National Photography Resume Exhibition", Project Arts Center, Cambridge, MA

Brian Gormley, Kim Keever, Noel Mapstead and Diana Mara Henry, Peggy Doyle's 8/6-9/10/1984

1985: National Women's Hall of Fame, solo exhibit, official photographs of the First National Women's Conference, March 1983

1986: Catskill Center for Photography 8th and 9th (1987) Annual Benefit Auction of Contemporary and Vintage Photographs and Works on Paper

1987: "One-Room Schools of Ulster County" solo exhibit of the documentary project funded by an Individual Artist's Grant from the NY State Council on the Arts, shown at the Women's Studio Workshop, Inskirts Gallery, Rosendale, NY 3/21-4/16 1987; the Erpf Catskill Cultural Center 5/2-5/31/1987 and the Catskill Center for Photography, Woodstock, NY

1988: "Libel", an exhibit of Photographs and Words, solo exhibit, Pacific Grove Arts Center, 10/21-11/26/1988

1989: Slide show at intermission of the first Broadway run of ''The Heidi Chronicles'', with Bettye Lane and Ken Regan

Member Exhibit, Pacific Grove Art Center, 5/19-6/24/1989

Monterey County Women's Exhibition, sponsored by the Monterey County Cultural Council

1990: "Photowork '90", curated by Barbara Millstein, 2/16-3/16/90

"The Divine Feminine"

1991 "Vanishing Jews of Alsace and the Natzweiler-Struthof Concentration Camp", solo exhibit with text of ''L'Enfer d'Alsace'' by Eugene Marlot voiced by 4 dozen residents of Carmel, CA, at the Carl Cherry Center, March 1991.

"Dreaming Art", Carl Cherry Foundation, 4/6-28/91 (also 1993)

1993: "The Creative Feminine", Santa Cruz Art League, 3/19-4/24/1993

Artists' Studio Tour of Henry studio at the Carl Cherry Foundation (also 1994 and 1995)

"The Subject is Women"

1994: "The Way We Were", solo exhibit of photographs taken for the Harvard Crimson, 1967–1969, at the Science Center, Harvard, June 1994

"Women to Watch For" Galeria Tonantzin, San Juan Bautista, CA August 1994; "20/20Insight: Forty Contemporary Women Artists 2/2-3/26/1995; "Women to Watch For", July, 1995; "Bread and Roses" exhibit, 1996

1995: "Redefining Legacies", National Juried Exhibition 1/18-2/11/1995

Membership Exhibition Women's Caucus for Art National Conference, San Antonio, 1/24-27/95

"Reflections of Our Jewish Identity" – Jewish Women Artists Network Exhibition curated by Marcia Goren Weser, UT Health Science Center Auditorium Foyer Gallery 1/17-27/95; "Our Secret Selves" Jewish Women Artists Network xerox project

"Mentors and Role Models" presented by Diana Mara Henry / Alice Austen and Margaretta Mitchell / Nell Dorr, part of the Fireside Lecture series of the Monterey Bay Women's Caucus for Art, June 22, 1995

Women and Animals", Society for Photographic Education / SPE conference

2013: "Photographer DMH" an online exhibit at UMass Amherst's Dubois Library by Chuck Abel

Publications

Her photographs have appeared in many magazines and books such as ''The Perfect Portfolio'' by Henrietta Brackman, ''The Photograph Collectors' Guide'' by Lee Witkin and Barbara London; ''The Best of Photojournalism 4'': Newsweek's Pictures of the Year 1977; ''The Best of Popular Photography''; and as a slide show during the intermission of the first run of the 1989 Pulitzer and Tony award-winning play, ''The Heidi Chronicles''.
Her photography is also featured on the covers of the books: "The American Women's Movement 1945-200", by Nancy McLean; ''Feminist Coalitions: Historical Perspectives on Second-Wave Feminism in the United States'' by Stephanie Gilmore; "On the Move: American Women in the 1970s" by Winifred D.Wandersee; and in the books: ''Red Feminism'' by Kate Weigand; ''Dear Sisters; Dispatches from the Women's Liberation Movement'', edited by Rosalynn Baxandall Linda Gordon; ''Malcolm Forbes: Around the World on Hot Air and Two Wheels'', ''Spiritual Radical: Abraham Joshua Heschel in America'' by Edward K. Kaplan; ''Women in America: Half of History'', by Mary Kay Thompson Tetreault; ''Through Women's Eyes, An American History with Documents'' by Ellen Carol DuBois and Lynn Dumenil''The Liberals' Moment: The McGovern Insurgency and the Identity Crisis of the Democratic Party'', by Bruce Miroff; ''Betty Friedan and the Making of the Feminine Mystique'' by Daniel Horowitz; ''The Decade of Women: A Ms. History of the Seventies in Words and Pictures''; ''A Pictorial History of Women in America'' by Ruth Warren; ''The World Split Open: How the Modern Women's Movement Changed America'' by Ruth Rosen ''Coretta Scott King: Keeper of the Dream'' by Sandra Henry and Emily Taitz; ''The Harvard Crimson Anthology: 100 years at Harvard'' edited by Greg Lawless; ''Stayin'Alive: The 1970s'' and ''The Last Days of the Working Class''.(selected list.)

1973: Cover photo: ''La Forteresse'', by Pierrette Fleutiaux, Juillard

1977: ''High Lady: For Women Who Dare'': feature about "Tania Temerson, a 28-year-old American whose career as a jockey has taken her to ...France."

"18 Women, 417 Men", with Henry's photo of Elizabeth Holtzman, one of 18 women in Congress; flyer reprinted as a promotional piece from November issue of ''Good Housekeeping''

1978: ''Viva'' Magazine, "They Shoot Pictures, Don't They?" interview with Henry et al. by Eddie Adams

1979: ''Women in American Life'' Video Series by the National Women's History Project, Program 5: "1955–1977: New Attitudes Force Dramatic Change" and subsequent NWHP publications: 1997 Gazette, "Living the Legacy", full cover photo and double-page centerfold; "150 Years for Equality, 1998; "Our History is Our Strength: A women's Perspective", gazette and poster, 2011

Collections

Diana Mara Henry's photographs were the first contemporary collection of photographs to be housed at the Schlesinger Library, in 1976. Her photographs of the First National Women's Conference were exhibited there in 1998. The "Diana Mara Henry: Twentieth Century Photographer" collection is now housed at the Du Bois Library, U Mass Amherst. That collection includes more than 50,000 negatives, 10,000 color slides, 5,000 prints, and documentation for the history of the last four decades of the 20th century as seen in her photographs. The Du Bois has created an online exhibit as well as an introduction to the collection and some 1,000 images already online.

Notable portrait subjects

1967–1969:
Daniel Patrick Moynihan,
Walter Gropius,
Nathan Pusey,
Erik Erikson,
Stanley Hoffman,
Martin Peretz,
Bill Baird,
Julian Wasser,
Jacques Lipchitz,
Mary Ingram Bunting,
Elma Lewis,
Peggy Cass,
Elsa Martinelli,
Donovan,
Suzanne Pleshette,
Mildred Natwick,
Ian McShane, Rowland Scherman

1972:
George McGovern, Eleanor McGovern,
Bella Abzug (through 1980),
Elizabeth Holtzman (through 1980),
Hubert Humphrey,
Edmund Muskie,
Thomas Eagleton,
Sargent Shriver, Eunice Shriver,
Shirley Chisolm,
Charles Rangel,
Yvonne Brathwaite Burke,
Jesse Jackson,
Gloria Steinem (through 1980),
Lawrence O'Brien,
Norman Mailer,
Allen Ginsberg,
Edward Kennedy,
Richard Tuck,
Richard Wade,
Allard Lowenstein

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases