For this week's Sepia Saturday, I decided to just browse through my grandmother Sally's old albums in search of a Girl On A Chair.
Alas there are no childhood photos of Sally, but I found this studio photo of her and her sister Hildur in their youth. I think Sally (born 1900) must be around 20 here - and Hildur in that case 28. It's Sally sitting on the chair, and Hildur standing.
While pondering when the photo might have been taken, it occurred to me that it reminded me of another studio portrait with these two sisters together with their older (half/step) sister Gerda, that I presented back in February this year, in a post entitled The Homecoming - dating that photo to 1919, in connection with Gerda's return to Sweden after having spent the WW1 years in France.
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| Photographer: Emil Svensson, Fristad |
My initial thought was primarily to check the length of their skirts - but on closer inspection, it struck me that the studio background, and even the chair, is the same in both photos too. Which means that the portrait of Sally and Hildur was taken in the same studio - and no doubt also by the same photographer (as I doubt the business of a village photographer would have been large enough to also support an assistant).
I noticed the similarity in the backdrop and also that the chair is the same. I like your idea it was prepared as a wintertime postcard for Christmas. Perhaps somewhere there is another card with a postmark!
ReplyDeleteMike, I suppose there might be - not in my collection, I think, but perhaps in someone else's!
DeleteLovely to see the two photographs side by side.
ReplyDeleteSue, I still keep finding "surprises" like that in the old albums because most photos have been put in quite randomly and without any notes about who, when or where.
DeleteI like your idea of a Christmas postcard - it makes more sense for keeping your coats on for a studio portrait. But those coats and hats make the comparisons and dating more difficult, don't they?
ReplyDeleteKathy, the photo I thought of as maybe having been intended as Christmas card (because of being printed on postcard paper) was the one of Sally and Hildur in their dark dresses. As for the photo with the coats on I have written about that before (see link in the post to 'The Homecoming'). I believe that may be from when Gerda returned from France in 1919 (after having being 'stuck' in that country all through WWI). My guess is that she brought her sisters some items of "Paris fashion" (if not the whole outfits, perhaps just the hats and/or fur collars) as Christmas presents, and that this was their reason for having that portrait taken. Checking the back of the photo with the coats now, I see that one has address lines printed on the back as well, though. So one purpose does not have to rule out the other - especially since I don't have an exact date for either photo. I don't think they were taken on the same occasion, though, because Sally is wearing a skirt of different colour on the photo with the coat.
DeleteI seem to have misunderstood. Not the first time! Lovely photos nonetheless.
DeleteThanks Kathy. I might add that when blogging a series of posts about the same subject or person/s, I find it a constant challenge to decide how much info to repeat from older posts. On the one hand, I aim to make each post readable on its own. On the other hand, I try to avoid being too repetitive. Not always easy to keep the balance, though! ;-)
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