Saving Face: Salvaged Negatives of Henry Clay Fleming is now on view in the Massillon Museum’s second-floor photography gallery. The exhibition features archival pigment prints made in 2011 from late 19th- and early 20th-century glass plate negatives. Saving Face will continue through the end of the year.

In 1878, Fleming (1845–1942) first opened his portrait studio in Ravenswood, West Virginia, a small Ohio River town; preserving a poignant look at Appalachian life throughout his career. 

After his passing, Fleming’s negatives were sold in local antique stores and auctions. Kent Vanderplas, an Ohio University art instructor, salvaged nearly 2,000 of Fleming’s glass plates and stored them in a garage in Athens, Ohio. Aware of the Massillon Museum’s outstanding photography collection, he donated them to the Museum in 1984. Despite years in less-than-ideal conditions, most of the negatives could be scanned and properly stored in the Museum archives. 

Saving Face includes portraits of individuals, friends, and families. Fleming was not a purely technical photographer focused on composition; rather, his style allowed the personalities and relationship dynamics of those he photographed to come through. The damage to the negatives is visible in many of the portraits, framing the subjects in an unintentionally artistic manner and adding a layer of complexity. 

"Artifacts from the collection that correspond with accessories worn by the people in Fleming's portraits are also on display,” says Massillon Museum Curator of Art and Artifacts Valerie Metzger. "Visitors are invited to take a closer look at the portraits to locate these items."

Dry plate technology involved coating glass sheets with an emulsion of collodion treated with silver nitrate. When exposed to light, a latent image was recorded on the plate, which the photographer developed and made permanent with chemicals. The image-bearing glass negative could be used to produce multiple photographic prints. Glass plate negatives fell out of vogue in the 1890s, when more convenient and less fragile films became available, but Fleming continued to use his familiar medium through the 1920s.

This is the first time Fleming’s images have been displayed in the Museum since 2011. A grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (2008–2010) supported a two-year research and digitization project resulting in the exhibition, Faces of Rural America, in which Fleming's images were displayed alongside those of another photographer, Belle Johnson (1864–1945). In 2010, a research team from the Massillon Museum visited Ravenswood, West Virginia, and made a documentary about Fleming and the town, which can be viewed on the Museum's YouTube channel. 

When visiting the photography gallery, guests can also view Juxtaposed: Honoring the Past, Inspiring the Future; Maxmillian Peralta: Flat Affect (through June 21); Canton Artists League: Into the Water (through July 6); 90 Years of Community: The Massillon Tiger Football Booster Club and Legendary Turf: Paul Brown Tiger Stadium (through July 6), the Paul Brown/Massillon Tigers Football History Timeline, the Immel Circus, the Local History Gallery; Innovators of Massillon; Ethiopian Expedition of 1903; Open Storage: China and Glass; the Albert E. Hise Fine and Decorative Arts Gallery, and a 1916 Massillon-manufactured steam engine.

The Massillon Museum appreciates operating support from the Ohio Arts Council and ArtsinStark, marketing support from Visit Canton, and the support of the citizens of Massillon. This exhibition is funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Exhibitions can be seen during regular MassMu hours, Tuesday through Saturday 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. 

MassMu is located at 121 Lincoln Way East in downtown Massillon. A visit is always free and everyone is welcome. Free parking is available on adjacent streets and in nearby city lots. For more information, call 330-833-4061 or visit MassillonMuseum.org.