1913 – Portrait of an unknown lady, taken in Germany. © by Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com
The story behind the image
Here is a Carte de Visite (CdV) that I purchased as part of a lot the other day. She may belong to the Schütze-Oßwald family but I doubt it. Sadly, there is no hint whatsoever anywhere. Not on the back. Not on the front. Nothing. No handwritten comment. No studio label. Nothing. So, all we know is that it was probably shot in Germany.
Huh? How do we know that?
Well, we don’t know for sure, but we can safely assume this, because of the magazine she’s holding in her hands!
Okay, she’s not really presenting the magazine to the camera. She has opened the magazine as if she’d be going through the pages. So, it is quite likely that the photographer gave it to her as a prop to give her something to hold or read. Lacking a decent publication he probably used a magazine that was lying around in the studio.
The letters on the cover can be easily deciphered:
DAS …..
DES PHOTO…..
HERAUSGEGEBEN VON P…..
UND F. MATTHIES
ZWANZIGSTER…..
1913
And given modern technology, this can be easily found. Entering the term des photographen f. matthies 1913 into Google returns several good results, including various offers for printed issues of the magazine. But we are on the Internet, right? The magazine (or parts thereof) can be accessed online, for example on the Internet Archive. Here’s a sample cover of volume 20, issue 1, which looks surprisingly similar to the one on the photo.
I was not aware of this magazine before, but it’s really interesting to take a look at the content, including the ads which provide a good overview of the technology available back then. That magazine itself had a long tradition already in 1913. Launched in 1894, there were several mergers with other photo magazines throughout the years. Wikisource has a full list of all issues and their online locations (where available, in German.) After five decades in print, the publication apparently ended in 1944.
So, hat tip to the unknown photographer and lady for doing this photo shooting somewhere in Germany – probably in 1913 – that enabled me to find this awesome publication.
Thank you!
Design ideas
The high resolution image
| Capture Date | 1913 |
| Photographer | unknown |
| Location | Germany |
| Image Source | 5 x 10.8 cm black & white albumen print mounted on cardboard |
| Digital Image Source | EPSON Perfection 4870 Photo |
| Digital Image Source Format | TIFF, 48 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Format | JPEG, 24 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Dimensions | 4547 x 10140 Pixels |
| Copyright | © by Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com |
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