Tude & I Masked, Short Skirts

Images 17 & 18: This highly staged, provocative image of Austen and her closest friend at the time, Trude Eccleston demonstrates Austen’s sensibility in challenging gender roles. It was undoubtedly made for the pleasure of Alice and her friends and, like most of her photographs was not planned for publication or distribution.
Unlike the glass plate used for the 1891 photo, this 1913 image at Lake George was made using roll film. The photographer is an observer through the screen of trees. Her landscape images often include small figures in the vastness of nature.

Text by: Mitchell Grubler, Executive Director, Alice Austen House Museum, 1990-1995
‘Presenting the legacy of this remarkable individual was so much more than my profession, it was my passion.’