Elise Mitchell Sanford (1930 - 2018)
American educator and photographer Elise Mitchell Sanford was born in Burlington, Iowa. She received Bachelor’s degrees from both Tulane University (BA) and at Ohio University, where she received both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Fine Arts.
She worked throughout her career as a writer and consultant for various public service agencies and enterprises, and since 1990 pursued photography as an artist and instructor.
Much of her work in that time has been directed toward the use of photography as an artistic tool for the exploration of reality in its many incarnation by the mentally ill. To that end, Sanford has served on the Board of Trustees of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, and as a member of the Ohio Mental Health Commission.
In 2000, she founded The Athens Photographic project, where students with serious mental illness learn the art and techniques of photography in a ten-week course. The program has provided transformative benefits to its students, sparking their creativity, fostering their autonomy, and nurturing their sense of worth and self-esteem.
Her own portfolio includes a series of self portraits exploring the interplay of clothing, gesture, and context in the formation of both external and internal manifestations of individual identity. This work ultimately led to work on a series of portraits of older women posing as those individuals who had served them as role models, and eventually grew to include men of a certain age as well. Ms. Sanford mounted several collaborative exhibitions of her work in the 1990s.
Elise Mitchell Sanford died in Athens, Ohio on March 23, 2018.
Elise Mitchell Sanford as Hedy Lamarr
Selenium toned silver gelatin print, ca. 1990; edition not stated. Image size 14-3/16” x 17-7/8”; sheet size 15-7/8” x 19¾. Signed and annotated by Sanford in pencil on the reverse of the print. Overall fine condition, with an archival mount in a black gallery frame,
One of a series of seventy portraits which comprise the cycle The Stuff of Dreams, an attempt by the artist to explore the roles of dress, gesture and context in the internal and external perceptions of individual identity. Each of the subjects in the series appears as someone influential in his or her life. When asked why she selected Hedy Lamarr for her portrait, Ms. Sanford candidly replied "I always wanted to wear a wig."
Not for sale
Marjorie Clarke as Harriet Tubman
Selenium toned silver gelatin print, 1992; edition not stated. Image size 14-3/16” x 17-7/8”; sheet size 15-7/8” x 19¾. Signed and annotated by Sanford in pencil on the reverse of the print. Overall fine condition, with an archival mount in a black gallery frame,
One in a series of seventy portraits which comprise the cycle The Stuff of Dreams, an attempt by the artist to explore the roles of dress, gesture and context in the internal and external perceptions of individual identity. Each of the subjects in the series appears as someone influential in his or her life.
Not for sale
Patricia Grean as Charles Chaplin (from The Pilgrim, 1923)
Selenium toned silver gelatin print, 1990; edition not stated. Image size 14-3/16” x 17-7/8”; sheet size 15-7/8” x 19¾. Signed and annotated by Sanford in pencil on the reverse of the print. Overall fine condition, with an archival mount in a black gallery frame,
One in in a series of seventy portraits which comprise the cycle The Stuff of Dreams, an attempt by the artist to explore the roles of dress, gesture and context in the internal and external perceptions of individual identity. Each of the subjects in the series appears as someone influential in his or her life.
Not for sale
Margaret Cohn as Gloria Swanson
Silver gelatin print, ca. 1990. An homage to Nickolas Muray's famous 1925 portrait of the great film star.
One in in a series of seventy portraits which comprise the cycle The Stuff of Dreams, an attempt by the artist to explore the roles of dress, gesture and context in the internal and external perceptions of individual identity. Each of the subjects in the series appears as someone influential in his or her life.
Not for sale
Margaret Cohn as Greta Garbo
Silver gelatin print, ca. 1990. An homage to the iconic photograph by Edward Steichen.
One in in a series of seventy portraits which comprise the cycle The Stuff of Dreams, an attempt by the artist to explore the roles of dress, gesture and context in the internal and external perceptions of individual identity. Each of the subjects in the series appears as someone influential in his or her life.
Not for sale
Norman Cohn as Clark Gable
Silver gelatin print, ca. 1995.
One in in a series of seventy portraits which comprise the cycle The Stuff of Dreams, an attempt by the artist to explore the roles of dress, gesture and context in the internal and external perceptions of individual identity. Each of the subjects in the series appears as someone influential in his or her life.
Not for sale
Robert Borchard as Johannes Brahms
Silver gelatin print, ca. 1995. 20" x 16" overall.
One in in a series of seventy portraits which comprise the cycle The Stuff of Dreams, an attempt by the artist to explore the roles of dress, gesture and context in the internal and external perceptions of individual identity. Each of the subjects in the series appears as someone influential in his or her life.
Not for sale
Anne Braxton as Babe Ruth
Silver gelatin print, ca. 1990; Overall size 16" x 20". An homage to Nickolas Muray's famous 1927 portrait of the Yankee great.
One in in a series of seventy portraits which comprise the cycle The Stuff of Dreams, an attempt by the artist to explore the roles of dress, gesture and context in the internal and external perceptions of individual identity. Each of the subjects in the series appears as someone influential in his or her life.
Not for sale
Harolyn Brient as Rita Hayworth
Silver gelatin print, ca. 1990.
One in in a series of seventy portraits which comprise the cycle The Stuff of Dreams, an attempt by the artist to explore the roles of dress, gesture and context in the internal and external perceptions of individual identity. Each of the subjects in the series appears as someone influential in his or her life.
Not for sale
Ann Culbert as Martha Graham
Silver gelatin print, ca. 1990. An hommage to Barbara Morgan's famous portrait of the great choreographer.
One in in a series of seventy portraits which comprise the cycle The Stuff of Dreams, an attempt by the artist to explore the roles of dress, gesture and context in the internal and external perceptions of individual identity. Each of the subjects in the series appears as someone influential in his or her life.
Not for sale
Fred Kalister as Julia Child
Silver gelatin print, ca. 1995; Overall size 16" x 20".
One in in a series of seventy portraits which comprise the cycle The Stuff of Dreams, an attempt by the artist to explore the roles of dress, gesture and context in the internal and external perceptions of individual identity. Each of the subjects in the series appears as someone influential in his or her life.
Not for sale
Karen Nulf as Albert Einstein
Silver gelatin print, ca. 1990. Overall size 16" x 20".
One in in a series of seventy portraits which comprise the cycle The Stuff of Dreams, an attempt by the artist to explore the roles of dress, gesture and context in the internal and external perceptions of individual identity. Each of the subjects in the series appears as someone influential in his or her life.
Not for sale
Richard Brackin as Anna Russell
Silver gelatin print, ca. 1995; overall size 16" x 20".
One in in a series of seventy portraits which comprise the cycle The Stuff of Dreams, an attempt by the artist to explore the roles of dress, gesture and context in the internal and external perceptions of individual identity. Each of the subjects in the series appears as someone influential in his or her life.
Not for sale
Laurence Larson as Eleanor Roosevelt
Silver gelatin print, ca. 1995; overall size 16" x 20"
One in in a series of seventy portraits which comprise the cycle The Stuff of Dreams, an attempt by the artist to explore the roles of dress, gesture and context in the internal and external perceptions of individual identity. Each of the subjects in the series appears as someone influential in his or her life.
Not for sale