Sutures and Spirits

The life and career of Lejaren à Hiller (1880-1969), the American illustrator and photographer who changed the face of advertisement photography.

Lejaren à Hiller (1880-1969) pioneered advertising photography for an industry dominated by text and an occasional line drawing. An advertising and editorial photographer in early twentieth-century America, Hiller began his careeras an illustrator. He first recognized photography's potential as a persuasive method to sell products and services, as well as illustrating magazine stories. Best known for his large and exquisitely detailed studio sets that often depicted historical scenarios or exotic foreign lands, Hiller produced thousands of photographs for a variety of clients. The author includes examples from all aspects of Hiller's career, and he examines two of Hiller's most recognizable projects: the 87 Lands campaign for Canadian Club Whisky and Surgery Through the Ages, commissioned by Davis and Geck, a manufacturer of surgical sutures. Doug Manchee is professor of photography and program chair for the School of Photographic Arts and Sciences at Rochester Institute of Technology. He teaches classes in advertising photography and his commercial clients include Adobe Systems, Corning Inc., Xerox, Eastman Kodak, Simpson Paper, Bausch & Lomb, and many others. Manchee's work has been exhibited nationally and internationally in both solo and group exhibitions.