Accomplished inventor, visionary photographer, philanthropist,
and successful businessman, Francis Blake (1850 1913) changed not
only the way Americans communicated in the nineteenth century but
also quite literally how they saw themselves. His major inventions,
the telephone transmitter and innovations in high-speed
photography, and his Weston, Massachusetts estate Keewaydin
epitomized how a gifted individual of modest circumstances could
create and re-create himself during America s Gilded Age.
The Blake telephone transmitter became the world standard, and
anyone who spoke into Alexander Graham Bell's device in the last
twenty years of the nineteenth century also encountered Blake s
name, emblazoned on his transmitter. In addition, he invested an
enormous amount of his energy, talent, and wealth in his home,
originally designed by Charles Follen McKim, and its elaborate
grounds. This self-contained compound, which included homes for his
in-laws and his children and a complete water system, reflected
Blake's passion for precision, beauty, and order. It became his
major preoccupation, a place where he could exercise unchallenged
mastery.Unfortunately, the fabulous Keewaydin estate did not
endure, but thankfully Blake's photographic images remain. Blake's
experimental camera work placed him in the forefront of the
photographic world in the 1880s. His high-speed photographs remain
unsurpassed for their clarity, crispness, and composition, and are
as fresh today as when he first snapped them over a hundred years
ago. Although little-known today, Blake helped revolutionize
photography and transformed the role of the photograph in American
society, marking him as a significant figure at the dawn of the
twentieth century. His story is a compelling and fascinating
chronicle of unbounded energy, independence, and genius.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!