Classically Modern: The Portraiture of Věra Prášilova Scott

2015

In the years after World War I, European photographers shed the nostalgic, softly focused trappings of Pictorialism in favor of crisp imagery and a modern sensibility that reflected the new industrial era. Bohemian-born artist Věra Prášilova Scott (1899–1996), who immigrated to the United States in 1924, gracefully fused these competing aesthetics in her photographs produced in New York City, Portland, and Houston during the 1920s and 1930s.

Born in Kutná Hora, Bohemia (now the Czech Republic), Prášilova studied painting before turning her attention to the camera. At age eighteen, she began an apprenticeship with renowned Czech photographer František Drtikol (1883–1961), who introduced her to the bold compositions, defined lighting, and sharp focus of modernist photography. He also encouraged her to master traditional print techniques, including gum and bromoil, which produced images reminiscent of lithographs.

Prášilova moved to Munich in 1922 to pursue a master's degree in photography, and, in 1924, relocated to New York City, where she made portraits of actors for the Famous Players-Lasky Company (now Paramount Pictures). After living for a short time in Portland, where she married chemist Arthur F. Scott, she and her husband relocated to Houston. Prášilova established a studio in the Junior League building, and quickly gained a reputation as a fine portrait photographer who skillfully combined the luxurious qualities of traditional printing with the look of contemporary fashion photography and cinema.

Prášilova returned with her husband to Portland in 1938, leaving her photographic practice behind to raise three daughters, sculpt, learn calligraphy, and handcraft beautiful clothing and hats from Vogue pattern books. Her striking portraits of actors, musicians, and members of Houston society remain significant works that demonstrate her unique fusion of romantic and modern photographic styles.

Curated by Julia Dolan