"PAGEANTS OF MASCULINITY": REAL PHOTO POSTCARDS OF MEN POSING TOGETHER by Bob Young

When Stacy asked me to contribute an entry for her blog, I knew I wanted to write something about my collection of vernacular photos of men - in particular, images that American Studies professor John Ibson has categorized as "pageants of masculinity," in his ground-breaking book, Photographing Men: A Century of Male Relationships in Everyday Photography (Smithsonian Institution Press, 2002).

 

The "pageant" phenomena had its heyday during the 1890s through the early 1900s.  This type of image usually features two or more American men posing together in deliberate displays that either emphasize traditional "masculine" behavior, or playfully defy it (such as, posing in drag).  Masculine-oriented subjects include men drinking, smoking, and gambling (sometimes all three together).  Posing with firearms and pretending to fight or box were also common themes, as was dressing-up in cowboy or Indian attire.

 

There are probably any number of reasons why photos like this were so popular at the time. Camaraderie and a sense of shared fun are often obviously evident, as is an emphasis on shared masculine pursuits, that were distinct from the sphere of women. Dressing up as the romanticized figure of the cowboy might have signified a subconscious wish to escape the confines of modern life, while dressing as a woman may have been a way of, if only humorously in a photo, to briefly escape the confines of gender conformity.

 

The “pageant” examples I’ve provided for this entry are all real photo postcards from my collection, and date from the first and second decades of the 20th Century. While “pageant” photos are found in other formats, most notably cabinet cards, I am a huge fan of the real photo postcard, and my men photos collection is primarily made up of this type of image.

 

 

 

What I love about these photos, is that the men pictured, are putting on a type of visual performance that continues to resonate and communicate something to us about the men and era in which they were taken.               
                                            

To see more vintage men photos from Bob's collection on Flickr, click here

Click here for information on Bob Young
 

EARLY KODACHROME PHOTOS

Yesterday, I read this article in the Denver Post,  Captured: America in Color 1939 - 1943, which show wonderful color photos taken during the Great Depression of rural America.  The photographs are the property of the Library of Congress and were included in a 2006 exhibit Bound for Glory: America in Color.   Click here to read.

I thought I would share a few Kodachrome snapshots from my little collection.   I have a special place in my heart for pre-1960 snaps without the white border.

AN INTERVIEW WITH ESTELLE ROSEN - LEARNING HOW TO LOOK AT SNAPSHOTS

House of Mirth Photos has obtained an exclusive interview with Estelle Rosen, a photo dealer who has been a constant presence on the East Coast snapshot scene for upwards of twenty years and whose eye has had a great deal to do with defining the field.


Estelle, by all accounts you were among the first to recognize snapshots—for that you should get a lot of credit.  I imagine you weren’t following anyone.  What made you notice the first snapshot?  

When I discovered photo albums in flea markets, I was fascinated by the beautiful light, the mood, the composition and design of the pictures.

I’d spent four years in art school and I had a trained eye.  I’m an artist, but I don’t think you need formal art training to see.  I think your eye gets more sensitive the more you look.  With some guidance your eye will develop over time.  We’re all creative in our own special ways, and snapshots are a wonderful catalyst for the expression of creativity. 


“The expression of creativity.”  That sounds important.  Maybe you can enlarge on it later on.  Did you buy snapshots just for yourself at first, or did you try to sell them right away?

It was just for myself at first.  I shared them with a friend who became a constant customer and encouraged me to keep buying!  Selling snapshots has always come naturally to me.  I always felt I was selling my “vision.”  I felt I had something to say.

But my customers have guided me to some extent in what to buy.  Collecting snapshots is very personal.  People do it for different reasons.


Can you tell us a little more about the different kinds of collectors you’ve run into?

I am fascinated by what some people buy.  I know a poet who wants images that will inspire him.  He looks for sensitive images with a soft light.  They usually have a rural theme to them.  I can feel a poem emerging from some of the photos he chooses.  Another customer told me, “I need to be touched by the image.”  She’s looking for a personal reference.


What’s it all about for you?

For me it’s all about art—by which I don’t mean anything deliberate on the part of the people who took the pictures, as a rule.  I’m bringing an artful interpretation to them, if I can put it that way.

I sell my vision, and I collect my vision—although to me it’s more like just my favorites in a box!  But visions can differ.

We can’t know if the people who took the pictures saw what we see.  It’s there if you can see it.  And not all snapshots have it.


When you talk about art, what do you mean?

I mean a “look”—composition, lighting, formal things.  The way I think of it, there are universal standards that anyone with an eye can spot.  But each of us uses the standards to construct an aesthetic, which is personal.  As I say, visions can differ.
 
When a snapshot has the things we look for, it has them accidentally. That leaves room for us, for our own creative eye.

Without that creative eye, snapshots would just be family photos.


Estelle, maybe you can help us by explaining what you see in a few examples. What would you say to someone to get them to appreciate what’s good about these? Here’s the first.
 

The first thing I look for is the abstract design of a photo.  Here the light and dark areas play off each other to define the image as a whole. It’s a rigorous, “mathematical” design.  The subject is beside the point here.  The composition, light, and forms say it all.

Double exposures relate to surrealism—they suggest a wider art context.  This one could easily be made into a painting.

These two images came together accidentally.  But part of appreciating snapshots is that we welcome accident.  And of course the surrealists did too.

The dark forms in the front create an interesting spatial relationship with the background: the foreground is flat, but that highlights the receding perspective of the top image.  You have an illusion of depth that the top image alone would not have had.

What I like here is the way the image is framed by the dark form that surrounds it.  The contrast between the dark enclosure and its opening brings out the nice horizontal design of the landscape.  On the mundane level, of course, it’s just a view out a window.

Here the white form of the refrigerator sets off the dark space surrounding it.  And the foreground came out in soft focus—so that the tinted fruit seems to have a soft texture, which is a perfect balance to the simple, flat, untinted forms in back.  So you have contrasts in two directions—center against the sides, and back against the front.

This one has mystery—an atmosphere and an implied story.  That car isn’t going anywhere!  The placement of the car is perfect.  It makes for a wonderful composition.

  

The fence has a gentle flow and there’s a slight movement in the trees at the top.  The fence is an interesting distraction from the bland hill.  Movement, texture, and space come together to create a lovely, simple composition. 


This is a powerful abstract statement, going far beyond the subject matter.  The empty space becomes a form of its own, supported by the dark shapes.


As a dealer of very long standing, someone who’s been watching the ups and downs of the field from the beginning, you have a unique perspective on the snapshot scene.  What do you think we can do to help more people appreciate snapshots?

We need to be bringing more aesthetics to what we do, and we need better language to talk about what’s in these pictures.

The real challenge is to own your creative eye, as snapshots allow you to do—to understand what pleases you and why, to develop your own personal aesthetic.


Thank you for talking with us, Estelle!

You’re welcome.


Estelle sets up at various shows on the east coast.

You can see Estelle's art work at estellerosen.com

IS THE BABY IN THIS SNAPSHOT ALIVE OR DEAD?

A fixed gaze, but bent knees and where are the arms?  Is this baby alive or dead?  By a doorstep in the grass.   Something is not right.   Here it is posted on eBay

THE GORESBRIDGE ALBUM: A SNAPSHOT OF IRISH-AMERICA by Orla Fitzpatrick

Some of the photographs in this Irish-American album have crossed the Atlantic Ocean twice! Firstly, when they were sent to emigrants in the early twentieth century and secondly when I purchased the album from an online seller in 2009 and repatriated them.   

It was probably compiled by a female member of the Byrne or Nolan family from Goresbridge, County Kilkenny who had emigrated to the United States. Pages alternate between Irish and American locations. Its narrative is an attempt to unify a family who were geographically separated by emigration.

The creator has carefully placed and sequenced the photographs on the pages. None are captioned and only a few have information on the back. I love the movement and atmosphere of the snapshot which depicts a boat trip: the action of the young boy leaping onto the boat; the ladies in white dresses standing on the river bank and the hazy sky. The reverse reads ‘Uncle with fiddle, Dad with bottle of stout.’ Memories of a happy day in the Irish countryside!

The original Byrne and Nolan families were part of the Catholic Middle class. They ran businesses as evidenced by the photograph of the bakery and took jobs in the newly emerging independent state, for example, the prison warden standing in front of the gaol. 

Interspaced between the original photographs are images cut from magazines, chromolithographic scraps and an occasional poem. There are a wide variety of photographic formats including snapshots, tintypes, studio portraits and photo booth pictures. The tintype was not popular in Ireland and the one in this album may originate from an earlier generation of emigrants to the United States. The gold-painted watch fob is a nice touch.

It is immediately obvious which of the pages originate in the United States as the clothes, the light and the building types are very different to those in Ireland. Wooden houses, porches and saloon bars contrast with the stone buildings, public houses and small towns in the Irish pages.  The photograph of the children with the wooden guns is definitely taken in America – the brickwork and the clothes are unlike anything found in Ireland.

I particularly like the series of images taken in the 1930s showing an older generation of the family seated in their living room. The floral dresses and the piano, which is adorned with photographs, speak of a respectable emigrant family.

 

This album appears to demonstrate the transition and absorption of a family into America. One
wonders how it came to leave the family? What happened to subsequent generations? Did the dream turn sour? The places mentioned in the album such as Ely Avenue, New York and St. Joachim’s Church on the South Side of Chicago invoke an Irish-American culture and community that persisted for many decades. The album encapsulates all that I love about vernacular photography:   captivating images which provide a glimpse into a long- gone family’s aspirations and concerns.


Orla Fitzpatrick's Blog

Click here for more information on Orla Fitzpatrick

A CONVERSATION WITH BESS by Jane Waggoner Deschner

ANY IDIOT CAN FACE A CRISIS, IT IS THE DAY-TO-DAY LIVING THAT WEARS YOU OUT....ANTON CHEKHOV

Me: Excuse me, ma’am. May I talk with you?

Her: Who are you?

M: I'm the artist who found this photograph of you. I rescued it, actually. Then I used it to make an artwork.

H: Me, an artwork? How do you make art out of my old photo?

M: First, I find it. Then I look at it and decide what I might be able to "say" using this--er, your--image. One of the things I do in my practice is embroider sayings of famous people into studio portraits made by unknown photographers.

H: You've changed me. You have pierced my image. You've taken me away from those who know me.

M: Yes, I have. Tell me about the day you had this photo taken.

H: I'll tell you about that if you tell me what you think you are doing.

M: Okay.

H: My name is Bess. I had this photo taken as a present for my husband Herb's birthday. I went to the photographer and told him that I wanted a picture of myself for my husband's desk at the bank. I think he (my husband, not the photographer) eyes the young women too much--I wanted to remind him of his "other responsibilities."

The pearls I'm wearing were a 10th anniversary present from Herb. He gave me the earrings when we got married. You can't tell from the photo but the dress is shades of periwinkle blue and white--the blue matches my eyes. He always used to say that he loved my clear blue eyes. When I was young, I used to have the creamiest white skin.

The day I went to the studio, I was nervous to pose in front of the camera. I'm not usually one who takes center stage, but I had something to say to Herb and a photo seemed the best way to do it. The photographer assured me that he would take a series of photos and I could pick from the proofs the one liked best.

M: How did you decide on this particular photo?

Bess: I liked the way the light was on one side of my face and the other side of my hair. I'm looking up, just barely, but I appear to be thinking. I didn't like the proofs in which I was grinning. I'm not a silly person and I don't want to look like one. I'm not beautiful anymore, so I wanted to look like I had character.

So now you tell me why you chose this picture and stitched words through it.

M: I work with vernacular photographs; pictures taken by unknown photographers. I'm interested in uncovering/discovering commonalities of our shared humanity. (I hope I don't sound too pretentious.) It seems that we humans look more easily for differences among us--the things that separate us--than we do for the things that bring us together. There is the common and very widespread human tendency to want one's picture taken and to take pictures of people, places and times we want to remember. We want some evidence of our existence. By accumulating and sifting through these, I find ways of photographing (as shown in kinds of photographs) that many individuals in a variety of times and places have done. I hope, that by presenting these in interesting, creative ways, viewers will look at the photos of themselves and other un-famous people with a new interest--as part of a larger whole, a bigger family. Does that make sense to you?

B: Yes, I think so. I'm not that different from my friends. I guess there are women like me in other small towns in other places. They probably don't want their husbands eyeing younger women either.

M: Probably not. But I don't think they would understand, from looking at this photo of you, that that is why you had it taken. But as Susan Sontag wrote, "Photographs, which cannot themselves explain anything, are inexhaustible invitations to deduction, speculation, and fantasy." There is purpose, a personality, in your gaze. Your clothes, jewelry and hair say something about you, about your "position" in life. But in these kinds of studio images, there isn't the milieu, the spontaneity, that snapshots have, which offers the viewer clues about the impetus for the photo to have been snapped. You have chosen this photo of yourself because it presents you very well--you look better than you do on an average day--it's calculated and posed. And so, less interesting for people who don't know you and can't compare the photograph to the "real thing."

It's these kinds of photos that I add words from the famous to. In your case, I used a Chekhov quote: "Any idiot can face a crisis; it is the day-to-day living that wears you out." I want my art to say something--I want to say something through my art. If I am going to spend my time creating/working on something, I want it to provoke viewer's thoughts about life and living in some way. Famous people often say things more articulately than I can. Plus a famous name gives the statement more credibility. People will pay more attention to what Dwight Eisenhower or John McCain have to say about war than Jane Deschner, even though I might use the same words. Their quotes and your picture, you, give the art object a spectrum from famous to common. Am I making sense?

B: You use my photo as a symbol for women, even people, like me.

M: Bingo.

B: How do you choose the quotes?

M: I turned 60 this year. I've also lived longer than my mother and been healthy longer than my father. My younger sister is dying. I feel an urgency in living. I can share things in quotes I find that I believe and feel. Within this maxim series, I've developed "mini-series" I guess you have to call them. One mini-series used quotes that all related to "war and peace." Another about "love." I want to do another one with the words coming from children. Many of them, like this one, share my thoughts about aspects of living in general.

B: It seems like a lot of work to stitch the quote into the photograph.

M: It is. But, it's work that I enjoy. I love what I can do with my computer, but at the end of the day, what centers me is working directly with my hands. It's not the same as through a keyboard. Also, I believe that for all the immediacy of a photograph (the almost instantaneous recording of the light emanating from a subject at an instant in time [±Barthes]), there is a distance inherent in it as an art medium--no hands manipulating clay, paint or pencil. By hand-embroidering, I am inserting my hand--me--directly and obviously into the art making process. You can see my touch in the final artwork. Needle-in-hand is an age-old women's craft, as well. I feel comfortable joining those generations of craftswomen.

B: I like to crochet so I know what you mean. Earlier I said that you have taken "me" away from people who know me. Do I belong in an art gallery?

M: That's another part of this process. Remember, I'm pointing out commonalities in humanity. Putting this embroidered photograph into a gallery raises its value, broadens its scope. It's in a frame; it's on the wall; it's signed by an artist; it's an artwork. People now regard it differently--I hope in all the ways I've shared with you above.

So, what do you think now about what I've done with this photo of you?

B: You have done a beautiful job of embroidering. I think you have chosen a beautiful script to use and rich colors of thread. They go with the ambient coloration of my photo. I'm not sure about the hanging threads, but they must be there to "loosen it up." I like that I'm representing a part of humanity. I believe we should be kind to one another. Do you think people can see that? I'm happy that this photo is not lost--it means I'm not forgotten. You don't have to know that I'm "Bess from small town USA" to feel something about me--well, actually about all whom I'm representing. I think I'm understanding this art thing! I'm glad that we're working together.

M: Did Herb stop eyeing the younger women at the bank after he received his birthday present?

B: No, I really didn't think he would. We've been together a long time; I know he loves me. He just likes to look and fantasize. Don't we all?

M: I certainly do. That's why I love these photographs.

B: The one thing I'm not so sure about though. How would Chekhov feel about being associated with the likes of us?

The photo is from the maxim series (Chekhov, pearls), 2008, found studio portrait and DMC Mouliné 100% cotton thread, 9 7/8"h x 8"w.

The piece is in the collection of Sharon Dynak at Ucross Foundation in Wyoming.

www.janedeschner.com

Click here for more on Jane Waggoner Deschner and other Guest Contributors