This cabinet card photograph features a portrait of a very pretty young nurse, or maid. She clearly is clearly is wearing a uniform. She seems very serious as she poses for her photograph at the Louis H. Rudolph studio in Chicago, Illinois. She has a wide-eyed expression and seems very attentive to the photographer. A drawing of the photographer’s studio (street view) can be seen on the reverse of the photograph. A sign in the window of the drawn building indicates that, at the time, cabinet cards sold for two dollar per dozen photographs. A listing of Chicago’s early photographers reports that Rudolph operated a studio between 1892 and 1900. He was born in 1871 and married Henrietta S. C. Ziehn in 1895. (SOLD)
This carte de visite photo is special because it is an occupational photograph. Many vintage image collectors search for and value occupational photographs. This CDV features a man at work but what is his occupation? It is clear that a clamp vice is one of the tools that he utilizes. There are strips of some material on the table in front of the vice. Are they strips made from medal? The worker appears to be wearing a uniform. I wish I knew his story? The photographer of this image is named Vaino Anshelm Rautell. As a photographer, he went by the name of VA Rautell. He was born in Lahti, Finland in 1875, and died there in 1942. Rautel studied art (painting) in Helsinki during the early 1890’s. He worked as a photographer in Lahti from about 1895 through 1927. In 1918, he photographed events of the Finnish civil war in Lahti. Teresia Dahlbom, his wife (m.1905) , worked with him in his studio. The couple divorced in 1927 and it appears they both ended their photography careers that same year. The pair had two children. At least one of Rautell’s photographs can be found in the collection of the Finnish Museum of Photography in Helsinki. SOLD
THE CABINET CARD GALLERY 