William Steeple Davis

1884 - 1961

American (Bryan, Texas -)

William Steeple Davis (1884-1961) was a painter, printmaker, and photographer from Orient, a small town on Long Island, New York. He made his career as a commercial illustrator and is best remembered for his photographic works and essays. At 11 years old, he took an interest in photography after a friend gave him a magic lantern (an early form of projector) and a few dozen photographic slides for it. Within a few years, he began to publish his photographs and articles on photography in well-known journals such as The Camera and Photo Era, and by 1923, he had published his book Practical Amateur Photography. During his life, his photographs were exhibited both in America and abroad. His photos were mainly of his rural surroundings of the Orient and many changing structures and sights of New York City throughout his life.

While he is most known for his photography, he was self-taught in painting. His earliest paintings, from when he was about 8 or 9, commonly depict the ships he would see sailing off the coast of Long Island. He persevered in creating both maritime and landscape paintings throughout the rest of his life.

He is similarly known for woodblock prints and etchings that follow in his paintings' theming.