This photograph appears to be a family portrait judging by the family resemblance seen among the subjects. There is something very special about this image. Each of the four subjects have a very striking appearance. The young woman, furthest on the right side of the image, is especially beautiful. She has piercing eyes and seems to have troubling thoughts. This photograph has an abundance of personality. I am uncertain about where the photograph originates from. Reading the name of the photographer which is embossed on the bottom right hand corner of the mat, suggests that this is a Russian photograph. However, I have a major deficit in recognizing foreign languages, and this image could be from one of many other places in eastern Europe. SOLD
ADDENDUM: I have received feedback from a few readers of Russian about this photograph. There appears to be agreement that the embossed logo advertising the photographer’s studio reveals that the photograph was taken in the city of Tiflis, which became Tbilisi (the capital city of then nation of Georgia). There is also consensus that the photographers name is P. Kosloff or P. A. Kozlov.
ADDENDUM !!: I received the following message about this photograph on 5/4/23. The commenter saw the photo on another site. “the picture was taken very likely before 1917, because Koslov is written in old Russian orthography. There was no independent Georgia at that time, as Tiflis was Partner the Russian empire. And the family looks Armenian.”
This vintage real photo postcard features Russian ballerina, choreographer, and silent film star, Vera Karalli (1889-1972). She was born in Moscow. Her father was an entrepreneur and her mother was an actress. Karalli was active between 1914 and 1921. Karalli was a graduate of the Moscow Theatre School in 1906. She performed in the Ballets Russes company in 1909, and then again, in 1919 and 1920. She was a soloist with the Bolshoi Theater and after two years became a ballerina in 1915. She often danced with ballet star, Mikhail Mordkin. Karalli becan acting in 1914 and she became one of Russia’s most celebrated film actresses. From 1914 to 1919, Karalli appeared in about sixteen Russian silent films. One of these films was an adaptation of Tolstoy’s “War and Peace”. Her last film was a German drama released in 1921. Karalli was a mistress of the Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia. He was the cousin of Nicholas II. It was reported that she was a co-conspirator in the 1916 murder of Grigori Rasputin. After the October Revolution, she fled to the West. Between In the 1920’s she taught dance in Lithuania. Between 1930 and 1935 she was ballet mistress of the Romanian opera in Bucharest. She lived in Paris between 1938 and 1941. She later settled in Baden, Austria. (SOLD)
THE CABINET CARD GALLERY 