Background
Fred Holland Day was born on July 8, 1864 in Norwood, Massachusetts, United States. He was the son of a Boston merchant.
1898
Photograph of Day by Gertrude Käsebier
1911
Part of the Louise Imogen Guiney collection
Fred Holland Day was born on July 8, 1864 in Norwood, Massachusetts, United States. He was the son of a Boston merchant.
He was educated at Chauncy Hall, a private school in Boston.
Fred Holland Day began doing photography about 1887. With Harvard professor Herbert Copeland he established the publishing company of Copeland & Day (1893-1899). Having been born into a wealthy family, he was free to pursue his craft and spent much effort in convincing the art world that it should embrace photography. Through his publishing firm he produced very fine books of poetry and other literary works, notably several illustrated books by Aubrey Beardsley, including The Chap Book.
Fred Holland Day joined The Linked Ring in 1896. He carried on an active correspondence with Stieglitz, but was at odds with him and refused to join the Photo-Secessionists.
As a pictorialist, Fred Holland Day found his chief interest in recreating legendary and Biblical scenes. He worked with medium and large format; most of his prints were platinum. He also did many male nude studies and portraits of friends and servants, with an emphasis on the exotic. -
Fred Holland Day was also a lifelong bibliophile and collector. Most notable among his collections was his world-class collection on the poet John Keats.
Quotes from others about the person
Pam Roberts, in F. Holland Day (Waanders Pub, 2001; catalog of a Day exhibition at the Van Gogh Museum) writes: "Day never married and his sexual orientation, whilst it is widely assumed that he was homosexual, because of his interests, his photographic subject matter, his general flamboyant demeanor, was, like much else about him, a very private matter."