PORTRAIT OF A LOVELY YOUNG WOMAN IN BOSTON BY GEORGE K. WARREN (CARTE DE VISITE)

BOSTON LACE

An attractive young woman poses for her portrait at the Warren Studio in Boston, Massachusetts. She is well dressed and is wearing a collar pin. She stands beside a bouquet of flowers resting on top of a faux wall. The photographer of this image is William Shaw Warren. He was a talented and well known Boston area photographer.  He was also a very prolific photographer during the carte de visite era.   W. S. Warren worked as a photographer at 41 Winter from 1870-1874. The cabinet card gallery has a number of images by Warren’s studio which you can peruse by clicking on the category “Photographer: Warren (William Shaw)”.

BOSTON LACE 2

Published in: on July 12, 2016 at 12:00 pm  Leave a Comment  
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FAMOUS PHOTOGRAPHER SHOOTS FAMOUS POLITICIAN: PORTRAIT OF THEODOR TANTZEN BY CHARLES REUTLINGER (CARTE DE VISITE)

tantzen

This carte de visite image features German politician Theodor Johann Tantzen. The photographer who took this portrait of Mr. Tantzen was the celebrated photographer, Charles Reutlinger (1816-1881). Theodor Johann Tantzen (1834-1893) was from a political family in the Oldenburg State. His father was a member of parliament. Two of Theodor’s children became important political figures. His son, also named Theodor, became Prime Minister of Oldenburg. Tantzen’s grandson was philosopher Karl Jaspers (1883-1969). Theodor Tantzen grew up in Heering and at age twenty-one, he took over his fathers farm. In 1866 he was elected to the Oldenburg parliament. He remained in parliament for several terms and in fact died while still a parliament member. While in parliament he served in a number of other political roles. Now some words about the photographer. Charles Reutlinger was also part of a prominent and talented family. Charles Reutlinger was of German descent and founded the Reutlinger Photography Studio in Paris in 1850. The studio took photographs of many of the city’s rich and famous residents and visitors until 1937. The British Journal of Photography (1867) provides a wonderful description of Reutlinger’s studio. Charles’s brother Emile took over the studio in 1880 and he ran it until 1890. Emile’s son, Leopold took over in 1890 and among his accomplishments was that he developed the company’s esteemed and economically successful postcard business. The studio became known for it’s unusual art nouveau style of postcard designs. These were very notable in it’s portraits of actresses. Leopold also introduced risque/erotic postcards. He operated the business until losing an eye in an accident with a champagne cork in 1930. He died seven years later.

tantzen 2

Published in: on July 11, 2016 at 12:00 pm  Leave a Comment  
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GROUP PHOTO OF FRENCH SOLDIERS IN NORTH AFRICA (WORLD WAR I ERA)

french soldiers

This vintage real photo postcard features a group of uniformed French soldiers in Northern Africa. The sign they are holding,”Honneur Aux Bleus” reveals some interesting information. There is a related French military slogan that states “Honneur aux anciens, courage aux bleus”. This roughly translates to “honor to the old soldiers, courage for the rookies”. In French, “bleu” means “rookie”. In 1793, rookies wore blue uniforms while more veteran soldiers wore white uniforms. Note that three of the men have canteens and one of the soldiers is holding a cup of coffee. This postcard appears to date back to the 1910’s (World War I era).

 

 

 

Published in: on July 10, 2016 at 12:00 pm  Comments (1)  
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COSTUMED ACTRESS POSES WITH HER GUITAR IN LEAD, SOUTH DAKOTA

lady in costume

A young woman poses with a guitar at the Mcddaugh Studio in Lead, South Dakota. She appears to be an actress or a singer based on her elaborate costume. Preliminary research found little information about photographer E. Mcddaugh. Lead is located in western South Dakota in the Black Hills near the Wyoming border. The city of Lead was founded in 1876 after gold was discovered there. Lead was established as a company town by the Homestake Mining Company. In 1910, Lead was the second largest town in the state (population of 8,382). South Dakota became a state in 1889.This cabinet card was produced after 1889 as indicated by the “S. D.” printed below the image.

 

 

Published in: on July 9, 2016 at 12:00 pm  Leave a Comment  
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THREE FASHIIONABLE MEN AND THEIR HATS

three guys

This vintage real photo postcard features three fashionable men and their hats. These guys appear to be dressed for a special occasion. The men are smiling for the photographer, not a common sight in many portraits of this era. What era, you may ask? The answer lies in noting that the AZO stamp box indicates that the postcard was published sometime between 1904 and 1918. The names of these men and the identity of the photographer are lost to history.

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Published in: on July 8, 2016 at 12:00 pm  Comments (2)  

PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG WOMAN IN CHATHAM, ONTARIO, CANADA AND A STORY OF A STRANGE COINCIDENCE

montana cd

All of us experience coincidences; events that seem to be very unlikely occurrences. The carte de visite portrait above played a role in one of my latest unlikely experiences. I left my home in New York to attend a wedding in Montana. Before I left, I entered a Canadian cabinet card into the Cabinet Card Gallery. While in Montana, I visited several antique stores searching for vintage photographs. I only found one image to purchase, and you can see it above. The day after I returned to New York) I entered my newest image to the blog, I was surprised to notice that the photographer of this carte de visite image is the same photographer of the cabinet card that I entered right before leaving for my trip. Amazingly, the images were both photographs taken by Edwin Poole. The cabinet card image was taken in St. Catharines, Ontario while this CDV image was taken in Chatham, Ontario. To learn more about Mr. Poole, view the description of the image entered in the gallery directly before this one. I am truly amazed by this coincidence although I take little meaning from it besides “strange things happen”.

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Published in: on July 7, 2016 at 4:20 pm  Comments (1)  
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