Harry Whittier Frees (1879–1953) was an American photographer who created novelty postcards, magazine spreads, and children's books based on his photographs of posed animals.[1]
He used 1/5th of a second exposures[2] and held the animals in position using stiff costuming, pins, and forks.[3] He worked three months out of the year, since making the images was stressful.[2]
Frees is thought to have shot the uncredited photographic illustrations for children’s author Eulalie Osgood Grover’s 1911 educational children's book, Kittens and Cats: A First Reader.[4]
In 1937 he was working in Audubon, assisted by a housekeeper who made the animal costumes.[2]
Personal life
He remained single and spent much of his life caring for his parents; after they died he moved to Clearwater, Florida.
Death
Frees committed suicide in 1953 after being diagnosed with cancer.[3]
Cats, Dogs & Other Rabbits: The Extraordinary World of Harry Whittier Frees by Harry Whittier Frees and Sylvie Treille, Dewi Lewis Publishing, 2006.
בר, ראם: "חיות בלבוש אדם ומסורות חזותיות בשירי אמא אווזה של הארי ויטייר פריס", עיונים בספרות ילדים 20 (תשע″א, 2011) עמ′ 55-16. This Hebrew article focuses on Frees′ photographs for "The Animal Mother Goose" and presents their design techniques, from straightforward mimicry of previous illustrations, through adherence to traditional iconography, to a parody on popular American visual motives not otherwise related to the rhymes. It includes a review of anthropomorphic animals in art, their photographic versions and their becoming a feature of children's literature.
