Circa 1890. J.H.Kent CDV. Private Collection.
Another wonderful J.H. Kent photograph added to the fold. This time a CDV of a toddler boy placed behind a sofa with his hands over the back. I love how plain everything is so the focus is exclusively on the sitter, and I love that one of the buttons of the jacket is undone. No matter how still the pose seems, this is still an active little kid!
J.H. Kent. Rochester N.Y. CDV
A future architect! Private Collection.
Easily the youngest sitter of my collection! I usually don’t collect this young but this gorgeous photograph grabbed me. I love this cabinet photo. It took a talented photographer to capture this toddler at the right moment and with an expression of intense focus!
Photographers of yesterday didn’t have the luxury of taking dozens of photographs to pick out the best one. This here was true artistry and this photo came out wonderfully. In fact, this is so well done it is easily postcard material. The photo is well protected too with two overlapping flaps. I’m guessing this was taken in the 1930s or 40s.
Photographer: Steward. Carthage, Missouri
1860’s working class little boys. CDV. Private Collection.
These two seem about the same age but they don’t look like twins, fraternal twins maybe? If you look closely there is a contrast of personality between them. The one to the left looks like he ran everywhere and climbed everything in sight while the other looks more calm and poised. The unbuttoned jacket, the couple of stains on the trousers…the left one looks a bit more shabby than the other one, probably the most terrible of the two whose parents couldn’t keep clean for more than an hour! He has a furrowed brow, probably questioning the photographer’s use of a body stand for him and not his brother!
There’s no expensive furniture on this one, the photographer choosing instead to hang a flowered drape from the ceiling down over a small round table.
Photographer: A. Chapman. Oneonta, N.Y.
These two German kids are too adorable for words! The older one stands with a comically high bowler on his head and a large bouquet of daisies, while his little toddler friend has his hands in pockets with a mini walking stick on the arm and a pork pie hat. They’re posing like pros in their grown-up suits, and I just about died!
They’re too much, are they not? I hope there are others out there of the series.
Bowlers And High Collars 