The Smoking Club

Thomas Hofer Fulpmes cabinet card. Private Collection.

This turn of the century group of five teens, three smoking long porcelain pipes, seems to be enjoying a lazy day lounging around on the grass. Their homburgs and fedoras look more 1920s-30s, which I find perplexing. I’m not excluding the possibility this cabinet card is post period and from the 20s, even if their suits would look a bit dated in less rural areas.

This photo was taken by Thomas Hofer in Fulpmes, Austria. I googled a bit about Fulpmes and was taken aback by how gorgeous this mountain village is. Today it has just over 4,000 residents, mostly fueled by tourism. I imagine it was much smaller a century ago.

This is what these boys saw every day:

(only slightly jealous :-)

But to come back to the card…The picture takes the whole front, the photographer info on a back stamp. To me the grass appears brown and battered from the melted snow of long winter months. Was this taken in early spring?

6″ x 4.5″cabinet card

back of card stamp.

The photographer called himself an “amateur”. Perhaps he was only taking photographs for his own pleasure and did not own a business, or he was just starting out.