TWO WARMLY DRESSED MEN EN ROUTE

The subjects of this photograph are two warmly dressed men.  The seated man is wearing a fur coat and an interesting cap.  Is it a buffalo coat? He is holding a walking stick or cane. Look at his hands. They seem to be the hands of a man who works outside in the elements. The standing man is well dressed and his wardrobe includes a long coat. One wonders what line of work these men pursued. The man in the fur looks like a trapper. The man in the long coat looks like a rancher. If only assessing occupations of people in photographs was so easy.  This photograph was produced by Shepherd’s Automatic Studio. The location of the studio is listed as “On Route” which likely indicates that the photographer responsible for this image was a travelling photographer.

 

Published in: on November 5, 2012 at 12:01 am  Comments (3)  
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PORTRAIT OF STAGE ACTRESS MARY BEEBE (PHOTOGRAPH BY NAPOLEON SARONY)

This cabinet card, by celebrity photographer Napoleon Sarony, features actress Mary Beebe. She was a lesser known stage performer but did receive notice in the theater sections of major newspapers. Music and Drama (1882) reported that she had cancelled her performance with the Boston Ideal Opera Company because she had a sore throat. Life (1885) reviewed her performance in Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Patience”. The article described her performance as “good, but not up to standard”. To view other photographs by Sarony, click on the Cabinet Card Gallery category “Photographer: Sarony”.

Published in: on November 4, 2012 at 12:01 am  Leave a Comment  
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A YOUNG MAN AND THREE YOUNG WOMAN IN FANCY COSTUMES (STUTTGART, GERMANY)

A young man and three young woman dressed in ethnic clothing, or theatrical costumes, pose at the H. Brandseph studio in Stuttgart, Germany. The foursome are attractive, and they appear to be teenagers. Perhaps they are stage performers. Printing on the reverse of the cabinet card reveals that Hermann Brandseph’s Stuttgart studio was located at “Marienstrasse 36”. A telephone number is listed for the studio which demonstrates that this photograph was produced toward the end of the cabinet card era. Hermann was the son of well known German photographer Georg Friedrich Brandseph (1826-1915). Georg was a lithographer, silhouetter, and painter who learned about the daguerreotype process from the celebrated photographer Karl Reutlinger who lived in Stuttgart (to view a number of Reutlinger’s photographs, click on cabinet card gallery category “Photographer: Reutlinger”).  Georg opened his own studio there in 1853. In the 1870’s the Brandseph studio was extremely successful. In fact, by 1870, the studio had 40 employees. Georg turned the studio over to his son Hermann (1857-1907) in 1884.

Published in: on November 3, 2012 at 12:01 am  Comments (2)  
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