The young girl in this photograph looks like the American little girls who get all “dolled up” for beauty contests and the results of those efforts are that the girls look much older than their years. Writing on the reverse of this image indicates that the girl in the photograph is ten years old and is named Traudi. Fortunately, Traudi isn’t made up (cosmetically) to look inappropriately provocative like many of the contestants in the aforementioned beauty pageants. However, our “Little Miss Sunshine”  looks well beyond her years in this photograph. According to the previous owner of this image, the subject is wearing a fancy “Rokoko” costume. She is also holding a fan. This cabinet card may or may not be an example of  “Rokoko” fashion. I’m in way over my head. Fortunately, a number of visitors to the Cabinet Card Gallery are very knowledgeable about the history of fashion and hopefully they will leave a comment confirming or dispelling the Rokoko theory. By matter of explanation, (thank you Wikipedia), Rokoko refers to the late baroque periods artistic movement and style that had impact on fine arts architecture, decoration, interior design, and fashion. The movement developed in Paris, France, and was “more jocular, florid, and graceful” than the baroque influence. The photographer of this image is J. B. Hiebl and his studio was located in Munich, Germany.
Two young women pose for their portrait in Newport, Pennsylvania. Both women are grasping one end of a fan that they hold behind their heads. Their raised arms highlight their hour glass figures which are given an assist by the corsets they are wearing. The photographer is named William Easter Lenney. He was located in Newport in the early 1890’s and moved to Atlanta, Georgia where he became a well known portrait photographer between 1894 and 1920. He and his family then moved to California. (SOLD)
THE CABINET CARD GALLERY 