Except from Stella Shurtleff’s letter to Texas Art Association

Artist/Author: 
Stella Shurtleff
Subject: 
Aerial War Photography, World War I, Photography
Geographic Area: 
Houston, Texas
Date: 
September 28, 1918
Archives: 
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Archives
Description: 
During WWI, many art museums, as well as the American Federation of Arts, circulated numerous exhibitions based on patriotic war themes. In 1916, the MFAH held “Paintings by French Soldier-Artists” during which patrons could purchase the exhibited works, a not uncommon practice during the days of the Houston Art League. In this excerpt from a letter to the Texas Art Association, League member and art lecturer Stella Hope Shurtleff comments on an exhibition of aerial war photography, a new phenomenon made possible by the introduction of warfare flight.