F. Holland Day
American, 1864–1933
Introduction
Fred Holland Day (July 23, 1864 – November 23, 1933) was an American photographer and publisher. He was prominent in literary and photography circles in the late nineteenth century and was a leading Pictorialist. He was an early and vocal advocate for accepting photography as a fine art.
Wikidata identifier
Q555442
Information from Wikipedia, made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License . Accessed January 2, 2026.
Introduction
A wealthy eccentric, Day took up photography in 1887 and began experimenting with the human form, regarding Classical Greece as the ideal. In 1896, he was elected to the Linked Ring, and in 1899, he embarked on his most well known project: a series of 250 negatives depicting the Stations of the Cross, with Day posing as Christ (after having grown his hair for one year, and fasted). Day did not join Alfred Stieglitz in the Photo-Secession group of 1902, suggesting there was a rivalry. He continued his work, photographing scenes from the legend of Orpheus, where one of the models was his protégé, Khalil Gibran. In 1914, his collection of photographs was destroyed in a devastating fire in his Boston home. Day led the rest of his life in a self-imposed exile.
Country of birth
United States
Roles
Artist, photographer, publisher
ULAN identifier
500013817
Names
F. Holland Day, F Holland Day, Fred Holland Day, Frederick Holland Day
Information from the Getty Research Institute's Union List of Artist Names ® (ULAN), made available under the ODC Attribution License. Accessed January 2, 2026.
