JAMES AND MARY PIGGOTT: PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG COUPLE IN SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA

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This cabinet card portrait features a lovely young couple posed for their portrait at Cramer’s California Gallery in San Francisco. The reverse of the photograph has an inscription with the name “James Piggott and wife”. Preliminary research identifies this couple as James K Piggott and his wife Mary A. Piggott. Ironically, the 1940 US census indicates that James Piggott owned a photography studio. The business was managed by his son, Harold B. Piggott. The photographer of this cabinet card was Charles Lake Cramer (1835-1911). In his early career he operated photography studios in the California cities of Santa Barbara (1858), San Andreas (1858), and Suisun City (1860). Cramer ran a humorous ad in 1858 that stated “Good pictures made from hard looking subjects”. In 1863, Cramer worked for photographers Bradley & Rulofson (featured prominently in the Cabinet Card Gallery). Cramer ran his own photographic studio in San Francisco between 1863 and 1906. His studio was called the “California Gallery” during the 1870’s and 1880’s which indicates that this photograph was produced during one of those decades (Most probably the 1880’s).

Published in: on December 24, 2014 at 12:12 pm  Leave a Comment  
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HANDSOME MAN IN MILITARY UNIFORM AND HIS PRETTY WIFE IN MONTELIMAR, FRANCE

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This cabinet card photograph features a very handsome couple posing at the L. Lang Jeune studio in Montelimar, France. The image may be a wedding photo. The gentleman in this photograph strikes a dashing figure in his military dress uniform and boots. His wife appears delicate and pretty. She is bright eyed and displaying a nice smile. Advertising on the reverse of the cabinet card indicates that the studio that created this image was founded in 1869 and had won a medal at an exhibition in 1909,   SOLD

Published in: on December 23, 2014 at 12:00 pm  Leave a Comment  
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A HANDSOME GROOM WEDS A PENSIVE BRIDE IN ALBERT LEA, MINNESOTA

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This cabinet card features a well dressed handsome groom and his pretty pensive bride. The bride and groom are bedecked with flowers and are wearing white gloves and serious expressions. The reverse of the cabinet card has a penciled inscription stating “Mrs. Torborg Halvorsen”. This creates some interesting speculation considering that the photographers name is also Halvorsen. Is this the photographers wedding photo? Is the bride or groom in this image a child of the photographer? Preliminary research failed to answer these questions. However, it was learned that there was a photographer named J. R. Halvorsen who operated in Albert Lea, Minnesota between 1886 and 1887.  He is certainly the photographer of this image but the exact identity of the subjects in this portrait remain unknown. It is important to note that Halvorsen, a Norwegian name,  was not an uncommon name in Minnesota. Minnesota had many residents of Norwegian origin or roots from Norway.

Published in: on December 20, 2014 at 6:00 pm  Leave a Comment  
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WELL DRESSED MIDDLE AGED COUPLE IN BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA

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This well dressed couple is posed for photographer S.  at his studio in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His studio was named “El Mirador”, the Spanish word for “the View Point”. The couple’s clothing suggests that they are people of means. The gentleman is wearing a three piece suit and a pocket watch. The woman is wearing a dark dress and is accessorized with a pair of earrings and a ring. This couple appears quite formal. Although they are posed as a couple, body language seems to shout that they are in different worlds. Pozzuoli did an excellent job of positioning his subjects and placing props. The end result is an attractive portrait of an Argentinian husband and wife.

 

Published in: on December 4, 2014 at 12:08 pm  Comments (1)  
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EMOTIONLESS WEDDING COUPLE IN WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS

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This cabinet card features a young wedding couple posing for their portrait as the studio of Flodin & Thyberg in Worcester, Massachusetts (411 Main Street). The bride and groom are showing little emotion on their wedding day but it is likely that their expressions just reflect the instructions of the photographer. The bride is wearing fingerless gloves so that her wedding ring is visible in the photograph. The groom is posed with crossed feet. He looks like he is about to break out in a turn of the century version of the Nutcracker Suite Ballet. To view other photographs by this studio, and to learn more about the photographers, click on the category “Photographer: Flodin & Thyberg”.  SOLD

Published in: on November 23, 2014 at 3:00 pm  Comments (3)  

PORTRAIT OF AN ARMENIAN COUPLE IN WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS (PHOTOGRAPHED BY ARMENIAN PHOTOGRAPHER)

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One of the wonderful benefits of studying antique images is that they often are remnants of important and interesting history. This cabinet card image is a terrific example of a photographer capturing history with his/her camera. In this case, the photographer was just not cataloging history, but he was part of it. Lusadaran, the Armenian Photography Foundation, cites the photographer of this cabinet card. An article on their web site discloses that Hairabed was a photographer in Worcester, Massachusetts in the 1900’s through the 1920’s. During his photography career he had shortened his name from his given name of Hairabedian. There is no mention of his first name. The article reports that he had likely emigrated to America from the Ottoman Empire. Once here, he photographed the first waves of Armenian Genocide survivors and immigrants settling in the Worcester area. His specialty was taking studio portraits. After doing some preliminary research, I may have uncovered the photographer’s first name. The city directory of Providence (1909 and 1910) lists a photography studio operated by Bedros and Astoor Hairabedian. The 1910 directory notes that Astoor Hairabedian moved to Salem, Massachusetts during that year. This image was most likely taken before 1910 but it would not be unusual for a family photography business to have been operating at two or more different cities simultaneously. Perhaps Astoor had decided to move to Massachusetts to manage or work at that location to replace or join another relative already there. What do we know about the subjects of this cabinet card portrait? Not much. We can only surmise by their dress and appearance that they are Aremenian immigrants to the United States shortly after the turn of the century. The woman in the image is wearing traditional clothing including a scarf covering her head and much of her face.

Published in: on November 16, 2014 at 11:10 am  Comments (5)  
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WEDDING COUPLE IN MONTLUCON, FRANCE

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A couple poses for their wedding portrait at the studio of A. Heron in Montlucon, France. The bride and groom are formally dressed. Note the groom’s top hat (he’s holding it) and the bride’s long veil. The groom is shorter than the bride and unlike many other wedding photos of the era, the photographer didn’t attempt to hide the difference by placing the groom on an elevated surface. Another difference between this image and other wedding portraits of the era is that the couple in this image are holding hands. Apparently, they were not ashamed of public displays of affection. The lack of fear of photographing intimacy might reflect a difference of the French and American cultures at that time. Preliminary research yielded no information about Monsieur Heron. Montlucon is a town in central France on the Cher River.

Published in: on October 10, 2014 at 8:00 am  Leave a Comment  
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WEDDING PORTRAIT OF HANDSOME COUPLE IN CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

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J. B. Scholl, well known Chicago photographer, produced this wedding portrait of a smartly dressed bride and groom. The groom has a nice handlebar mustache. The bride is wearing a pretty floral wedding veil and appears to be holding the grooms sleeve rather than his hand. Despite their lack of physical contact, the pair are standing much closer to each than seen in many other wedding photographs. I wonder why the photographer posed the gentleman with one foot elevated on a curb. At first, I speculated that the rationale was to add height to a groom who was shorter than his bride. However, the gentleman has both knees bent which certainly restricts his reaching full height. My final conclusion was that the photographer, normally quite skillful, had a bad day and was careless setting up this particular pose.To view more of Mr. Scholl’s photographs and to learn more about him, click on the category “Photographer: Scholl JB.

Published in: on July 29, 2014 at 11:50 am  Comments (2)  
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PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG COUPLE IN LEEDS, ENGLAND

QUEENS ARCADE_0003A young well dressed couple pose for their portrait at the Allen Nield studio in England. The woman in this photograph appears to be only semi conscious but she is probably just at a loss as to how to pose for the camera. Nied had four studios at the time that this photograph was taken. There were two galleries in Leeds, and one each in Manchester and Stockport.

Published in: on July 15, 2014 at 11:35 am  Leave a Comment  
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SMARTLY DRESSED COUPLE IN READING, PENNSYLVANIA

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This cabinet card by John Strunk features a well dressed couple. Strunk must have been very productive at his studio in Reading, Pennsylvania. The cabinet card gallery displays multiple photographs created by him. It is interesting to note that his work is usually very professional and often has unusual content. Check out his work at the cabinet card gallery category “Photographer: Strunk”. This particular photograph does not fall into the unusual class. However, this couple appears to be “ethnic”. What does “ethnic” mean in this context? The couple, simply stated, have an appearance that may indicate that they are immigrants to the United States. Obviously, this hypotheses is little more than a guess, considering the absence of identifying information about the pair.

Published in: on July 8, 2014 at 11:26 am  Leave a Comment  
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