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This chronology presents an overview of Eliot Porter’s
life and accomplishments. It draws upon several sources, including
the bibliography compiled by Milan Hughston in Eliot Porter
(Boston: New York Graphic Society Books, Little Brown and Company,
in association with the Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas,
1987); the autobiographical material included in the same publication;
the chronology included in Eliot Porter: The Grand Canyon
(Munich: Prestel; New York: ARTnews, 1992); Nancy Barrett’s
chronology in Intimate Landscapes (New York: Metropolitan
Museum of Art, 1979); and material from Porter’s archives,
housed at the Amon Carter Museum. Those interested in a fuller
view of Porter’s life are encouraged to consult these
sources.
1901-1944 | 1946-1970
| 1971-2002
1901
- Eliot Porter is born December 6 in Winnetka, Illinois, a
suburb of Chicago, into an upper-middle-class household; his
parents are James Foster Porter, a biologist, architect, and
nature enthusiast, and Ruth Wadsworth Furness Porter, a social
activist
- Is the second child after sister Nancy; other siblings include
Edward, Fairfield, who later becomes an accomplished painter,
and John
1905-11
- Takes several trips with his family to Florida, New England,
and the Grand Canyon
1910
- Father purchases Great Spruce Head Island, Penobscot Bay,
Maine; family summers there beginning in 1912
1912
- Receives a Brownie box camera as a Christmas gift from his
parents
1912-19
- Photographs around Winnetka and on Great Spruce Head Island,
first using his Brownie box camera and later a Graflex; takes
his first photographs of birds
- Becomes interested in chemistry while in high school
- Enters Morristown School, a boarding school in New Jersey,
and photographs athletic events there
1920
- Enters Harvard University and studies chemical engineering;
interests broaden to include biology and physiology
1924
- Graduates from Harvard and enters Harvard Medical School
1926
- Suspends studies at Harvard Medical School and enters University
of Cambridge, England, to study biochemistry
1927
- Leaves Cambridge and returns to Winnetka; resumes studies
at Harvard Medical School
1928
- Marries Marian Brown
- First child, Meredith, born (exact date unknown)
1929
- Receives M.D. from Harvard Medical School
1929-39
- Researches and teaches bacteriology, biochemistry, and biophysics
at Harvard Medical School
1930
- Resumes photography after purchasing a Leica camera; photographs
architectural and object close-ups around Boston
- Meredith dies of meningitis
1931
- Eliot, Jr. born January 21
1933
- Charles Anthony born December 24
1934
- Divorces Marian
- Meets Alfred Stieglitz in New York City and Ansel Adams
in Boston (ca. 1934)
- Purchases a 9-by-12 cm Linhof camera
1935
- Travel: Switzerland and Austria, summer
1936
- Marries painter Aline Kilham
- Exhibition: Exhibition of Photographs
by Eliot Porter (Delphic Studios, New York, February
24–March 8; thirty-seven prints)
1937
1938
- Jonathan born March 25
- Exhibition: Eliot Porter—Exhibition
of Photographs (An American Place, New York, December
29–January 18, 1939; twenty-nine prints)
1939
- Father dies, July 30
- Resigns from teaching and research to pursue photography
as a career
- Begins photographing birds in color using Kodachrome film;
continues photographing other nature and landscape subjects
in black-and-white
- Through the late 1950s contributes regularly to nature photography
competitions presented at the American Museum of Natural History,
New York; the New England Museum of Natural History, Boston;
the Museum of Natural History, Chicago; and other venues
- Through the early to mid-1960s, writes articles about bird
and color photography and contributes photographs to publications
focusing on American birds and nature
1940
- Experiments with making color prints in his Chicago darkroom;
settles on using Kodak’s wash-off relief process
1941
- Stephen born July 23
- Receives a Guggenheim Fellowship to photograph birds in
both black-and-white and color
1942
- Mother dies, May 31
- Exhibition: Photographs by Eliot Porter
(New York Zoological Society, May 30–June 30; eighty
prints)
1942-44
- Suspends Guggenheim bird project and moves to Cambridge,
Massachusetts, during World War II; works as a job scheduler
in the Radiation Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1943
- Exhibition: Birds in Color: Flashlight
Photographs by Eliot Porter (Museum of Modern Art, New
York, March 9–April 18, and other venues through 1944;
fifty-four prints)
1944
- Moves back to Winnetka and resumes photographing birds;
occasionally makes color photographs of nature and landscape
subjects
1901-1944 | 1946-1970
| 1971-2002
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