Laura Gilpin (American, 1891-1979)

At the advice of Gertrude Käsebier, Laura Gilpin enrolled in the Clarence H. White School in 1916 and studied with White, Paul Anderson, and Max Weber. In 1918, Gilpin fell victim to the great influenza epidemic, returned to Colorado Springs (where she was born), and spent the rest of her life photographing the western landscape and its peoples. Gilpin's work represents photography as a social art. Her major books include her photographic survey, The Rio Grande: River of Destiny (1949) and The Enduring Navajo (1968), in which she photographed the "old ways," as seen in the context of the many changes affecting Indian life. -
Barbara Lenihan

Selected Bibliography
The Early Work of Laura Gilpin, 1917-1932. Tucson: Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, 1981.

Gilpin, Laura. The Enduring Navajo. Austin, Texas: University of Texas, 1968.

Sandweiss, Martha A. Laura Gilpin, An Enduring Grace. Fort Worth, Texas: Amon Carter Museum, 1986.

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