Honoring Prominent Figures in Campus History: Constance Stuart Larrabee Arts Center

The Constance Stuart Larrabee Arts Center once had a location other than its current site at 100 Gibson Avenue. When it was originally dedicated in 1990, it was located in the building now occupied by the Career Center.

In 2014, the studio arts center was given a new building and rededicated. Many students taking classes and making art within its walls may not know the impressive history of the woman for whom the center is named.

 

Constance Stuart Larrabee was born August 7, 1914, in Cornwall, England, but her family moved to Cape Town, South Africa when she was only three months old. When she was ten, she received a Kodak Box Brownie and thus began a lifelong interest in photography. In her professional career, Larrabee preferred a medium-format Rolleiflex camera, and this square black-and-white format would become the identifiable standard for her work. She photographed the 1947 Royal Tour when it came to South Africa, and she was the first female South African war correspondent. During the 1940s, Larrabee worked for Libertas Magazine, photographing Europe. She returned briefly to South Africa before settling in Chestertown in 1949 after her marriage to Sterling Larrabee. It was then that her relationship with Washington College began. She created numerous photographs of the College and students from the 1950s to the 1980s and later served as chair of Washington College Friends of the Arts. Larrabee attended the dedication of the Arts Center in 1990 but sadly passed in 2000, and never saw the Larrabee Arts Center at its current location.

Larrabee photographed World War II and Europe’s liberation, her native South Africa, Kent County, and student life at Washington College, and the College is a proud collector of her photographs. If, while roaming halls or visiting offices, you see a square black-and-white image, take a moment to enjoy the work of this pioneering female photographer.