Uncanny Artist Ephemera and Objects for Artists and Collectors
  • 19th Century Cabinet Card of a Boy by J C Strauss of St Louis

    $4.50
    This is a lightly sepia-toned 19th Century Cabinet Card of a Boy by J C Strauss of St Louis.  Julius C Strauss (1857-1924) was an American photographer who was known as an internationally renowned craftsman and the most famous St. Louis photographer at the turn of the 20th century.  The penniless son of a Bavarian tailor, he left his birthplace of Cleveland, Ohio for St. Louis in 1876 and opened up a photo studio in 1879.  By the 1890s, he had built a gallery.  While he experimented with lighting and backgrounds, he insisted on rigidly posed portraits.  From the time of the St. Louis World's Fair until his death, Strauss' studio was a local tourist attraction.  This photograph, probably taken in the 1890s, shows an unsmiling boy whose large eyes look away from the camera.  He is posed in a studio setting, which includes a three-dimensional fence with hanging vines and sticks on the ground and a painted canvas landscape backdrop with a distant gazebo and plant covered trellis.  He is wearing a dark suit with knickers, a large white collar with plaid bow, striped knee length socks, and high button shoes.  He holds a low-crowned bowler hat in his right hand, while he leans his left hand on the top of the fence.  The photograph measures 6.5" high by 4.25" wide and has the "Strauss" logo in gold in the bottom of the left hand corner.  The pink back has "Strauss Photo 1818 Franklin Ave. St. Louis" in gold.  This 19th Century Cabinet Card of a Boy by J C Strauss of St Louis is in Very Good condition with no damage or wear.