Boy in profile. RPPC. Private Collection.
A pensive chiaroscuro portrait of a boy from the 1910’s most likely. I don’t remember seeing many profile pictures of men from the time.
RPPC: AZO 1904-1918
Category Archives: Types of Photographs
Stoic
RPPC. Private Collection.
On the right is the oldest in robes (a priest?) with what I believe are his younger siblings and possibly cousins, all posing in front of an open French door with decorative plants in the background. They all look quite stern. This was the 1900’s and the era of the portable camera had just begun, but smiles were hard to loosen up on faces yet.
I haven’t posted in a significant way in years, and realized I have over 30 draft posts from my collection, images that at the time I was on the fence about sharing. Looking back I ask myself why was I so picky? However this website is here to stay.
Stylish Mr. John Wilber Tudor
Cabinet photo. J. Wilber Tudor circa 1900. Private Collection.
A cabinet photo of a turn of the Century young man in outdoors get-ups; tilted cap, turtle neck, slim fitting knickerbockers with calf length socks.
John Wilber Tudor was born in 1880 and lived in Champaign, Illinois. I think this is he circa 1900. He is described on army records as 5’6” with brown hair and blue eyes. Mr. Tudor went on to become a pharmacist and lived a long life to 1968.
To note, he passed away just a little over 2 weeks after his lifelong wife of 62 years. What a love story these two must have had!
His signature
Warning: two future heartbreakers in the making!
3 x 5 inches snapshot.
When I saw these two, my heart melted. They are so, so cute! I want to assume they were brothers from the late forties or early fifties. The oldest is amazingly beautiful, and his brother is so charming and cute a bit slumped over, and looking as if a bit shy. My mind wandered, what if these two were model children?
What’s funny is on the very same day I got the picture, someone on my tumblr posted this one:
So, what do you think?
Same kiddos? If they are the same set that would be highly coincidental, but not if their parents knew how cute they were and coached them to pose professionally. Who knows, but I’d like to find out if the ones I have ever did commercial work (gut feeling tells me they did).
Frozen in time by ‘The Elliotts, Makers of Pictures’
The Elliotts – Austin, TX.
The Elliotts, Makers of Pictures photo studio was owned and operated by a couple, Martyn (1871-1936) and Jane (1871-1955), of 814 Congress in Austin, Texas. Jane, sometimes referred to as Jean or Jeannie on family documents, was a full partner – a rare and uncommon practice at the time!
Martyn and Jane were both 30 when they moved to Austin in 1901, and opened their studio. It remained successful until the Great Depression when Martyn’s increasingly failing health, and the poor economy pushed them to sell the business and negatives to Jensen Studios and Student Publications.
During their years as co-owners they managed to land exclusive contracts with the State of Texas’ legislature and the University of Texas annual where their daughter, Sarah Pelham Elliott, graduated in 1929 with a degree in stenography.
Was this serious looking teen a University of Texas student? Was it Mrs. Elliott he saw behind the camera?
As all good photographers, Jane must have had a knack for making people comfortable in front of the lens. I imagine she must have had to work hard to assuage preconceived notions, and to gain and maintain a successful, professional and personal reputation in an era when women were not expected to own businesses, and especially not in a field traditionally occupied by men.
She should have seen mindsets slowly changing from the 1900s to 1930s, with women gaining the right to vote in 1920, around the middle of her career.
And photographs speak for themselves. This nice shot would have made a fine class portrait in the ’20s to mid ’30s.
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