The Soul Unbound

The Dayton Art Institute in Ohio was one of the earliest collectors of photography as art, and this was in no small part due to the work of Jane Reece, a tiny, insistently private woman from Dayton who nonetheless embraced photography passionately around the turn of the 20th century. Reece worked in a Pictorialist style, with romantic costumes and soft focus, and though the Modernists held sway in the 1930s, eclipsing her fame if not her determination, her images and portraits-often of other artists, here and in Europe-are again being appreciated for their artistry. This catalog from the Dayton Art Institute contains 83 plates in various shades of sepia and silver tones, and many additional illustrations, including a handful of autochrome color photographs.