I'm not a photography expert, but I don't believe I've seen a 19th century photo (albumen print, mounted to card) with such an extensively hand-drawn situation as this one, with only the heads and torsos of the couple seated in the carriage appearing to be photographic likenesses. (I especially love the moment where their gloved hands meet the hand-drawn reins.) I love contexts, especially photographs, in which different media and modes of representation converge, here drawing and photography and also stillness and motion. And what a beautifully rendered horse and pair of wheels on that carriage, so delicately rendered in ink. Further, the image, which dates to the 1880s, seems very much in conversation with Muybridge's work of the same period attempting to capture a horse in motion through rapid fire sequential views. To my eye really a wonderful image, embodying both the possibilities and limitations of representation at a specific point in time, and feeling forever suspended in a sort of liminal space.
5 7/8" x 4" and in good condition, with three clipped corners and one small tear to the surface of the photo at lower right. On reverse is stamped 925 Broad St Newark, NJ. and at the far corner appears "Price" -- making me certain the photograph was produced by photographer Frank H. Price, a noted photographer active 1860s-early 1890s. Francis “Frank” Henry Price grew up in a photographic family; his father, Robert Taylor Price of Elizabethtown was a daguerreotypist by 1850. Frank, who served in the Civil War, became known for his Civil War era portraits, photographing men who served and their families. In 1881 he settled at 925 Broad Street, where he stayed until he moved next door in 1893, so this photo dates between 1881-1893.
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