Nell (Becker) Dorr (August 27, 1893 â€" November 15, 1988) was an
American photographer.Dorr was born Virginia Nell Becker on August 27,
1893 in Cleveland, Ohio, to Minnie and John Jacob Becker, a
photographer. From 1900 the family lived in Massillon, Ohio. Dorr was
introduced to photography by her father, John Jacob Becker, a graduate
of the Art Institute of Cincinnati, who ran a commercial photography
business. It was in Massillon that Dorr made her first successful
portrait; of actress Lillian Gish, who spent her summers in the town.
The two became lifelong friends.She married at seventeen to Thomas
Koons in 1910 and moved to Florida in 1923 with her family of three
girls Virginia (Win), Elizabeth (Betty or Bets), and Barbara (Barby).
After her husband's real estate speculation failed in the 1926
economic collapse, Nell opened her own portrait studio to support the
family. Gondolier a local society magazine, was one of her
clients.Meanwhile, she also made personal work in a Pictorialist style
of still life, nudes and child subjects, on day trips to the Florida
Keys. These were to become the material for her first two books
Mangroves and In a Blue Moon.
American photographer.Dorr was born Virginia Nell Becker on August 27,
1893 in Cleveland, Ohio, to Minnie and John Jacob Becker, a
photographer. From 1900 the family lived in Massillon, Ohio. Dorr was
introduced to photography by her father, John Jacob Becker, a graduate
of the Art Institute of Cincinnati, who ran a commercial photography
business. It was in Massillon that Dorr made her first successful
portrait; of actress Lillian Gish, who spent her summers in the town.
The two became lifelong friends.She married at seventeen to Thomas
Koons in 1910 and moved to Florida in 1923 with her family of three
girls Virginia (Win), Elizabeth (Betty or Bets), and Barbara (Barby).
After her husband's real estate speculation failed in the 1926
economic collapse, Nell opened her own portrait studio to support the
family. Gondolier a local society magazine, was one of her
clients.Meanwhile, she also made personal work in a Pictorialist style
of still life, nudes and child subjects, on day trips to the Florida
Keys. These were to become the material for her first two books
Mangroves and In a Blue Moon.
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