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CABINET PHOTOGRAPH OF AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMAN HOLDING A GUITAR
c1880s SHENANDOAH COUNTY, VA

Found in the Valley of Virginia, the black woman in this old c1880-90s cabinet photograph (4.25 x 6.5") probably sang OLD-TIME BLUES OR GOSPEL music. She poses for her portrait full-standing, holding her old-style guitar upright for the photograph with one hand and holding the back of a fancy chair with her other hand. She appears as though she just stood up from sitting & playing her musical instrument in the chair. She stands before the front door of a house on board planking running in front of the door stoop.

There is a light scrape across the front of this photo, and one dark-reddish stain at the top (see scan). Contrast is somewhat light. It has a blank back.

ALSO, included with this image is a cardboard-mounted photograph (with the cardboard mount cut-down to 4.5 x 6.5" cabinet card size) of two black women posing outdoors against a log fence in an open field. The seated African American woman holds a stringed instrument, larger than a guitar (perhaps a cello?). This photo came from the same family album as the cabinet card of the woman holding guitar above, so it must have been quite a family of musicians. This old photo is quite FADED as shown in the scan below. The scan of enlarged detail has been somewhat darkened to show what visual information is still contained in the original.

ALSO, included with these two images of black musicians, is another cabinet card chest-up view of a young Afro-American man from the same album. Written in pencil on the reverse is "Mr. Miller, Greensburg--Miss Carrieline Becks, Shenandoah." One of the black women holding their stringed instruments may or may not be Caroline Becks, but all images came together from Shenandoah County, Virginia. The cabinet card of Mr. Miller is in quite poor condition--image darkened considerably, crack in corner, and some of the same reddish stain as in the other cabinet card photograph. It is included in this lot for provenance. No photographer's name appears on any of the three images.

These photos of African American women posing with their guitar & cello(?) are quite a rare genre.

Price= $395.00


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