A 'Swenglish' journey through family photos, notes and postcards
from the early 20th century.

2013-04-13

Sepia Saturday 172: Destination Unknown

… “the destination is not as important as the journey” …

Gerda_0008 bil-001

Studio portrait of my great-aunt Gerda (on the right) with unkown friend. Possibly a photo that could have been sent as answer to the postcard request (1903) from Gerda’s sister-in-law: ‘How soon can we expect a photograph of you “as American”?’ (See my post for Sepia Saturday 169) The big hats do seem to indicate the early 1900s.

Mot okänt mål

Veckans Sepia Saturday fokuserar på utflykter mot kända eller okända mål. I brist på vandringsbilder väljer jag istället studiofotot på Gerda och en okänd väninna (?) i en elegant bil och med stora hattar som vittnar om tidigt 1900-tal. Min gissning är att fotot är från Chicago och att det kan kanske t.o.m. kan ha varit “svaret” på Elins önskemål om ett fotografi av Gerda “såsom americanare” (jämför vykortet som presenterades här för Sepia Saturday 169).

14 comments:

  1. ......but the car is right hand drive !! or maybe it's a Jap import !

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    1. Thanks for the observation, Nigel - I didn't think about the car being right hand drive. I don't think Japan started exporting cars already around 1903, though - did they??

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  2. ...and now I remember Sweeden drove on the left until the 1960s.

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    1. Yes we did, but that's hardly relevant, as I'm pretty sure this photo was taken in Chicago (where Gerda lived from 1903 until at least 1911).

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  3. It's hard to tell whether that is a real car. The color looks white and there doesn't seem to be mush room for an engine.

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    1. Another interesting observation. I guess they did not really need an engine if they never drove the car out of the studio...

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  4. What a fun day they must have had. What a great photo!

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    1. I'm sure they must have had fun dressing up and having the photo taken even if they didn't really "go" anywhere. I'm starting to wonder now if the hats were their own or if those belonged to the studio as well!

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  5. I had to exclaim "Gosh" when I opened your posting. What a wonderful white car, though I agree with Postcardy, it looks more like a studio prop than the real thing. Love the hats!

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  6. Whether the car is real or a prop, it's certainly a portrait that expresses the spirit of the times (early 1900s).

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  7. I just wish the photograpoher had taken that blanket off the engine cover.

    I suspect the hats were their own - I can't really imagine ladies wearing studio hats in those days.

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  8. The lighting certainly seems to give the game away; however, studio shot or not it's her first picture 'as American'!

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  9. Did posing in a car make it more "American"? The friend looks a little uncomfortable, but it is a great picture.

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  10. Lots of the "vehicles" used for these studio portraits in the early 1900s were fake, some better fakes than others. Great portrait!

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