Clara Estelle Sipprell (1885-1975)

Clara Sipprell (1885-1975); Auratum Lilies; 1950; Gelatin silver print; Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, Purchase through gift of The Dorothea Leonhardt Fund of the Communities Foundation of Texas, Inc.

Clara Sipprell (1885-1975); Two petunias; ca. 1930’s; Gelatin silver print on tissue; Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, Purchase through gift of The Dorothea Leonhardt Fund of the Communities Foundation of Texas, Inc.

Clara Sipprell (1885-1975); Clara Sipprell; 1965; Gelatin silver print; Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, Purchase through gift of The Dorothea Leonhardt Fund of the Communities Foundation of Texas, Inc.

Clara Estelle Sipprell (1885-1975)

Canadian born Clara Estelle Sipprell (1885-1975) was one of America’s most important pictorial photographers of the early 20th century. She did not have the luxury of wealth but supported herself through photography. She is best known for her portraits of famous sitters, however, her landscapes, cityscapes, and still-life subjects were exhibited in national and international salons, galleries, and museums.

Bradfordsauction.com writes: In 1937 Sipprell moved to Manchester, Vermont where she met Phyllis Fenner (1899–1982), a writer, librarian, and anthologist of children’s books. This relationship continued through the final thirty-eight years of Sipprell’s life. Clara Sipprell died in April 1975 at the age of eighty-nine. According to the letter included in this lot from Phyllis Fenner [sold July 24, 2022] it is said that towards the end of her life Clara was partially blind and slipped into a coma on April 15th. She requested that her ashes be buried in a plot near an outcropping of rock in Manchester. Attached to the rock is a small bronze tablet which is engraved with her own name, along with the names of Jessica Beers and Phyllis Fenner.

Jessica Beers (1930s) Gelatine silver print by Clara E. Sipprell, courtesy of Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, Purchase through gift of The Dorothea Leonhardt Fund of the Communities Foundation of Texas, Inc.

Phyllis Fenner (1960) Gelatine silver print by Clara E. Sipprell, courtesy of Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, Purchase through gift of The Dorothea Leonhardt Fund of the Communities Foundation of Texas, Inc.