Whatever Boat's Your Float

The boat is the float in this parade, a favorite late 19th and early 20th century summer and fall entertainment, this one perhaps in Newport or some such coastal town. At first glance I assumed that this coast guard type life boat was decorated with signal flags, but on closer inspection I am inclined to think they are national flags, maybe for a Pan American theme. The fore flag is an odd all-stars design without stripes. The riders are local pulchritude and not members of any life saving crew I have ever seen; the significance of this scene is lost on me since there are no identifying banners, but I am sure it was obvious and appreciated by their audience.

The boy in the foreground, bless his unnaturally constrained little soul, must stand still and hold his mommy's hand instead of scampering about as he would; I suppose his sister could be trusted not to be run down by passing boats.

This fair-sized cabinet card may be an amateur effort; the exposure was very flat and the focus somewhat soft.

Fashion Plate 1880

The clothes are as much the reason for this portrait as the woman in them, in fact her face is nearly secondary in this pose even though there is no doubt she is attractive, elegant and quite suited to her fashion. The one flaw is that the photographer cut the image off drastically at the hem – either in the camera or on the print – which is inexplicable in my opinion. So many portraits from this decade were composed in extreme profile in order to show the details of the bustle (see others under the Vagaries of Fashion heading here), but the photographer is trying something different here, leaving us wondering where the subject's attention is focused or why she is not looking at the camera. Definitely different. Definitely interesting to look at.

Simplicity

Here is an example of late 19th or early 20th century studio photography where backdrops are more impressionistic and lighting is employed to produce a minimum of shadow and a less defined space. With that comes a more relaxed pose and dress than formal portraits had sought in the earlier five decades of photography; the child is aware that she is striking a pose but it doesn't diminish the charm; the doll is an integral part of the exercise but it is not so much on display as it is the child's possession. 

Small, Dark and Handsome

The term "handsome" is somewhat out of fashion in our times when referring to a woman, but I have always preferred it to the hackneyed "beautiful" or "pretty", though I do sometimes use "lovely" to describe feminine attractiveness that is deeper than surface glamour or current ideals of the beauty type.

This woman projects a modest, straight-forward confidence in her appearance (her facial structure is very symmetrical, what geneticists claim is the most attracting to humans in a female face, whether to males or females) so she instinctively knows from experience how she is viewed by her companions and associates; she is timeless in any age and fashion.

The photo is a small, fancy cabinet card, early 20th century, by Acker of Bedford, Iowa. It is a good example of the studio art.

Serial Portaits

Unless you purchase a family album or a small cache of family photos, it's not often you find what you see here – two sister/brother portraits taken about five years apart; I found these in an a selection offered by a seller who obviously had not realized they were the same subjects. They are British but the photographer, location and subjects are not identified. 

They are turn of the century formal studio portraits. Notice how much more aware the children are of their pose and expressions in the second image.