This cabinet card photograph features a lovely couple posing for their photograph at the Harnish & Marquart studio in Marion Indiana. The pair are well dressed and likely are financially well-to-do. The gentleman is wearing a three piece suit, a wide neck tie, and a shirt with a formal collar. He appears to be quite intense and probably wasn’t pleased that some of his hair when he learned that some of his hair was out of place in this photograph. The woman is wearing a ruffled top, fingerless gloves, a high collar, and a “busy” hat. She is holding a black parasol. Her clothing gives her a “bell shape”. Like many portraits of couples in the cabinet card era, the man is sitting and the woman is standing. It likely would be a project for the woman to take a seat, never mind, look attractive and comfortable. This image is crisp and clear. The photographers were evidently talented. Information about Mr. Harnish was readily available but that was not the case for Mr Marquart. Harnish was born in Pennsylvania in 1847 to a family of German descent. He left the family farm at age nineteen and learned photography in Myerstown, Pa. He moved to Bluffton with his family in 1867. In 1871 he married Miss Laura Myers (born 1850). George Adam Harnish opened his first photography studio in Bluffton, Indiana in 1872. In 1881 he became a town councilman in Bluffton. He sold his photography business to Benjamin Ashbaucher in 1889. Marion is about 35 miles west of Bluffton. It is my hypotheses that Harnish began working in Marion after selling his first studio. Clearly that is where he partnered with Marquart. There is a photograph in the American Museum of Photography that was taken by Harnish & Marquart in 1899. SOLD
THE CABINET CARD GALLERY 