Lady Clementina Hawarden

Lady Clementina Hawarden was an aristocrat and mother of eight in Victorian era England whose amateurphotographs of her daughters show an eye for composition and mastery of the nascent medium. Hawarden’s thoughtful positionings of her daughters, often against mirrors and windows, captured light, shadow, and form with compelling artistry. Her collection of almost 800 photos remained in her family until 1939, when her granddaughter donated them to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Art historians praise Hawarden’s work for relating pubescent femininity to the implications of preserved time and artifice inherent in photography.