Craft and Camera: The Art of Nancy Ford Cones

Nancy Ford Cones (1869-1962)

Taft Museum of Art, Cincinnati, Ohio

October 1, 2022-January 15, 2023

For more than thirty years, on a small riverside farm in Loveland, Ohio, Nancy Ford Cones created photographs that earned her an international reputation. Despite the praise they received during her lifetime, Cones’s imaginative and exquisitely crafted works were largely forgotten after her death. This exhibition celebrates the gifted artist’s career and her contributions to the field of photography. Cones made thousands of photographs that featured country life, fantastical visions, and literary characters, employing the help of neighbors, friends, and family who posed in costume around the farm and its environs. Working in partnership with her husband, James, who printed her work using a variety of techniques and papers, Cones conceived evocative subjects that fortified photography’s status as a fine art. Her images were published in prestigious journals such as Camera Craft, as well as in popular outlets including National Geographic
magazine and Kodak advertisements. The first major presentation of her work, this exhibition demonstrates that Cones was an exceptional artist who rivaled the top photographers of her time.