Tag Archives: handsome man

October 21, 2015

Up Close II

By C.E. Ryan
Up close in checkered cap. Snapshot. Private Collection.

Up close in checkered cap. Snapshot. Private Collection.

I just received this one in the mail. He looks like he’s got a trick or two up his sleeve! When I first saw it I was happy to have another amateur close-up from the late 10s or 20s. It must have been his favorite cap to wear too. It looks like it was due for a wash!

And then I realized it came from the same seller I got another up close portrait from last June, but only recently posted (seen below). The format is similar although the first had its edges trimmed. One difference is that it’s much more sepia toned than the second one. Now, how did that happen? They both do have album glue residue on the back.

But they are positioned to the left, and at the same distance to the ‘shoreline’, the sun hitting them from high above. I think these two were playing with the same camera! Here’s them side by side:

Related?

Related?

The more I look at them the more I see some facial features they seem to share…Were they related? Well, this fine duo wished to record themselves up close on a beautiful day, and aren’t we glad they did! Their personalities shine through.

4 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Gentlemen, Others

October 2, 2015

This one’s just for us

By C.E. Ryan
The drinking duo. RPPC. Private Collection.

This 1910s-1920s drinking duo. RPPC. Private Collection.

There is closeness between these two. The worker on the right still has the cap on his beer, and his expression…He looks tired or buzzed or both, but still he seems self aware and smiling in that ‘you know it’ sort of way.  The other one is in a suit, chugging the (whiskey?) bottle hard and holding a pipe with a free hand…There is a ‘devil may care’ attitude with this handsome duo, a subtle vibe of rebelliousness!

I also love the way the gent on the right is wearing his checkered cap sideways on his head, very street mutt. ;) He must have been a factory or farm worker still wearing his denim shirt and pants after a long day of work.

The back of this RPPC is full of scribbled names, some paired up. I cannot make sense of it. Some names are repeated twice. An Agnes Worter is mentioned as well as a Ruffus Worter and a Winslow. On the actual picture I edited out a B on top of each sitter’s head – brothers? They most definitely were, in blood or not!

chug-back

RPPC: NOKO 1907-1920s

16 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , | posted in Gay Interest, Groups, RPPCs

September 2, 2015

“Mac”

By C.E. Ryan

“Mac” portrait. Private Collection.

Picture perfect “Mac” posing in three-quarter with the brilliantined hair. I’m in love with the grainy and thick paper of those period studio portraits, they are really beautiful in person.

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August 22, 2015

Axel in the Bowler Hat

By C.E. Ryan
axel-f-hall

Axel F. Hall of Minneapolis. Private Collection.

Handsome Axel F. Hall chose to have one glove on, the other off for the picture. His collar is extremely high. He reminds me of the bowler hatted gentleman often portrayed by the painter Magritte.

Axel was born in 1871 in Sweden. He immigrated to the United States and settled in Minneapolis where he married a Swiss lady named Anna M. Hall who was 12 years his junior. With her he had three children, Fred W. Hall in 1906, Mabel A. Hall in 1909 and Edgar E. Hall in 1910. On the 1910 census Axel was living with his wife, children and a ‘boarder’, Minnie Christen, 15. Minnie was related to his wife (her sister maybe) with both parents born in Switzerland but herself born in Minnesota. At the time Minneapolis’ population was about 23% foreign born.

On the 1940 census, Axel was 70 and still living with his wife. His children had moved out but his mother-in-law lived with them. Anna B. Christen was 13 years his senior.

Axel F. Hall. Cabinet card. Private Collection.

Axel F. Hall. Cabinet card. Private Collection.

Photographer: A. H. Opsahl. Minneapolis. MN.

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August 18, 2015

The fire’s still burning bright in this old man

By C.E. Ryan

Old smiling man. CDV. Private Collection.

1870’s old smiling man from Algona, Iowa. Burlingame. CDV. Private Collection.

The oldest sitter in my collection!  He must have been in his 70’s or 80’s at the time of this picture, always a feat at a time when the average lifespan was much shorter. I find it fascinating to think this man was born in or around 1800. I cannot begin to imagine what his life was like, the changes he witnessed, what he had seen and experienced, good or bad, and after all that for him to smile like this. So unusual too for a carte de visite of the period.

He looks like someone who led a very fulfilling life. There is fire and a zest for life in his piercing eyes old age did not manage to dim. And to complement the effect he still had a headful of thick, snowy white hair.

There is a different kind of true beauty that transcends age and is deeper than the fleeting skin-deep one of youth; this content looking, dignified old man is proof. (I bet though, that he was quite the gentleman in his younger days too!)

I love his generous neck scarf too, the way he tied it in a nice bow.

CDV back

CDV back

Photographer: D.W. Burlingame’s. Fine Art Gallery, Algona. Iowa.

2 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in CDVs, Gentlemen