Mysteries of the Belle Époque – Part II

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Figure 1 - Napolean Sarony "Young Couple c1870." gentleman. In the public domain by virtue of its age.

Figure 1 – Napolean Sarony “Young Couple c1870.” gentleman. In the public domain by virtue of its age.

I’d like today to follow up on yesterday’s blog “Mysteries of the Belle Époque.

Figure 2 - Autochrome by Andre Hachette Portrait of Sarah Lievine, c 1907. In the public domain in the United Staes because of its age.

Figure 2 – Autochrome by Andre Hachette Portrait of Sarah Lievine, c 1907. In the public domain in the United Staes because of its age.

”Mystery I – One of my absolute favorite autochromes from the turn of the twentieth century is Andre Hachette’s stunning c 1907 photograph of the equally stunning Miss Sarah Lievine (Figure 2). After a lot of searching I have still not been able to figure out anything about Sarah Lievine. I keep hoping that someday I will. Indeed, I hope that some reader will have some knowledge of her. But for now this Mystery of the Belle Époque remains.

Mystery 2 – Last August I posted what I referred to as photographs of a young couple by portrait artist Napoleon Sarony from c 1871. The gentlemen is shown in Figure 1. I purchased the two images together and the dealer referred to them as a young couple and I could create a story about them in my mind. Of course, it was equally possible that the two were not related. One could not be sure. Well, I have since looked at a lot of Napoleon Sarony and contemporary portraits – particularly those of actors. I now am pretty sure that the gentleman in Figure 3 is the same although slightly older person seen in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a portrait by Gurney & Son of the then famous actor McKee Rankin. So I am pretty convinced that it is the same person in the two photographs – this just by looking at a lot of photographs, which is pretty remarkable. The lady in my original blog is not however Rankin’s wife, Kitty Blanchard – so that mystery remains. Rankin was extremely successful in his day and was a key player in the development of American theater. He was a founder of a short-lived acting dynasty: himself, Kitty, and his daughter Phyllis Rankin. His story was itself the stuff of theater. In his youth he was charming, handsome, and highly successful. He married a beautiful wife. But in the end alcohol and financial risk taking led to ruin, obesity, and divorce.

So while one mystery of the Belle Époque has been solved, two remain. There is the question of who was Sarah Lievine, and there is the question of the lady in the crinoline.

Figure 2 - McKee Rankin photograph by Gurney and Sons. In the public domain in the United States because of its age.

Figure 3 – McKee Rankin photograph by Gurney and Sons. In the public domain in the United States because of its age.

Mysteries of the Belle Époque – Part I

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Figure 1 - Miss Jocelyn Stebbins (Mrs. Fletcher) with Buzzer the Cat, portrait by Arnold Genther c. 1913 and in the punlic domain because of its age.

Figure 1 – Miss Jocelyn Stebbins (Mrs. Fletcher) with Buzzer the Cat, portrait by Arnold Genthe 1912 or 1913, from the US LOC  and in the public domain because of its age.

Yesterday’s posting about Arnold Genthe and Buzzer the Cat poses what I like to refer to as a Mystery of the Belle Époque. It raises the question of exactly who was the spectacularly gorgeous Anna Holch. I suspect that there are students of Women’s Fashion Design who know the answer right away, but actually that is beside the point. There are few puzzles that I love more than a question like “Who was Anna Holch?” And this is because the Belle Époque is just remote enough from us that the embracing tentacles of the internet merely touch and brush against it.

I asked the question of Siri, and she got all confused; so you can see what I mean. The sophistication of the question requires more sophisticated searching or, and more to the point, more sophisticated information coding. But the significant point is that you can ask the question and there is a good chance that it is out there somewhere in cyberspace.

We have often spoken here of the magic of photography. That bewitchingly lies in its ability to hold a century’s old moment – a face – a smile-frozen forever. These are the faces of the nineteenth century and in a sense the ability to name the person and to understand a bit of their lives restores, or reanimates, that life. There is the arguable concept that the coming singularity will merge human and mechanical life, thus rendering it immortal. At least superficially, photography has been doing that for 178 years. That is, it gives immortality through entirely mechanical means. I would suggest that the marriage of photography and the internet deepens or extends this immortality. “So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.” It is as if the effects of the singularity diffuse, seep, and move backward in time.

A beautiful age filled with beautiful people, and that illusion is an important part of the magic. This was the time of our grandparents and great grandparents. I have a portrait on my office wall of my grandmother taken in 1911; so contemporary with Miss Holch’s portrait. Like Anna my grandmother was young and beautiful. I remember her as a sweet old lady, but the silver gelatin reanimates her and returns her to youth. Like H. Rider Haggard’s Ayesha she is reborn.

What of Anna Holch? Women of the time typically took their husband’s names. And if I am correct Anna Holch rapidly became Mrs. (or Madame) Tappé after marrying fashion designer Herman Patrick Tappé. Anna Holch was the leading hat model of her day. Rather clever of Genthe to pose her with a mere head-band, don’t you think?  According to the Shelby (Ohio) Historical Society:

“He was the first to use models in his business. One of the girls was Anna Holch. She was known throughout New York City as ‘the beautiful Anna.’ She accepted his proposal for marriage, but Tappe wanted to time the announcement to gain maximum effect. He hosted a grand ball at the armory in Sidney in December of 1918 to celebrate the end of the First World War and announce his engagement. Over 600 people attended the social event of the season. … Local folklore has it that Herman later redecorated some of ‘The Chimneys’ in blue to match the striking blue eyes of Anna.

Over the next two decades, with Anna at his side, Herman Tappe became the rage in ladies’ fashions. In a book entitled The Ways of Fashion, author M.D.C. Crawford hailed Tappe as a “designer of creative imagination and authority,” who “for a generation has been recognized as an artist in costume by the most discriminating fashionables in the United States.” Crawford credited him with being the first American designer to gain international fame.”

So at least this little mystery from the Belle Époque is solved. But there are a couple more that I would like to consider, but those for another time. There is at least one more picture of Anna Holch by Arnold Genthe, but it lacks Buzzer; so in my opinion is not as interesting. As a result, I thought that a more fitting ending for today (although it could spark another mystery) is a photograph by Genthe of Buzzer with his companion Miss Jocelyn Stibbens (later Mrs. Fletcher) created in 1912/13.

The first feline superstar

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Figure 1 - Portrait of Miss Anna Holch holding Buzzer the Cat, 1913, by Arnold Genthe and in the US LOC. In the public domain in the United States because of its age.

Figure 1 – Portrait of Miss Anna Holch holding Buzzer the Cat, 1913, by Arnold Genthe and in the US LOC. In the public domain in the United States because of its age.

A while back I blogged about “The World’s First Super Model” Evelyn Nesbit. Quite contemporary with Miss Nesbit was a cat named “Buzzer” who belonged to the great early twentieth century photographer Arnold Genthe (1869-1942).- if cat’s ever truly belong to a person instead of the other way around. I will remind you that “Dogs have owners. Cats have staff.”

Genthe photographed many beautiful woman: friends, actresses, and socialites and Buzzer often appeared as an “extra” in these photographs – or perhaps they were actually portraits of Buzzer, with the women being extras. It is an important point of portraiture that hands can appear awkward and facial expressions stiff. But if you place something in the person’s hands you give them a natural look. And what better “prop” for the hands than a cat, who was also guaranteed to melt the severest countenance. Genthe describes Buzzer

“Buzzer IV, whom I had with me for eighteen years, was a large, short-haired yellow cat — half Chinese, half Persian — looking more like a small tiger. He was very haughty, but never vicious, and he seldom condescended to make friends with strangers.”

And in fact, much like movie and stage animal stars of  today there were actually four Buzzers over the course of Arnold Genthe’s career. There is a wonderful collection of portraits of Buzzer and his ladies in the Library of Congress. I include as Figure 1 above one example, a charming 1913 portrait with Miss Anna Holch.

” How we behave toward cats here below determines our status in heaven.”
– Robert A. Heinlein

 

Memorial Day 2016

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Figure 1 - The British Grand Fleet sails out to meet the German navy, May 30, 1916. In the public somain in the Unites States because of its age.

Figure 1 – The British Grand Fleet sails out to meet the German navy, May 30, 1916. In the public domain in the Unites Stated because of its age.

In the United States today is Memorial Day and we remember those who gave their lives for our freedoms. Memorial Day began as Decoration Day in 1868 to remember those who died in the American Civil War. But, of course and very sadly, there have been so many wars since and continuing.

The magic of photography is that it can take us back. So today I offer the image of Figure 1, which was taken one century ago today and shows the British fleet, “The Grand Fleet,” sailing out of Scarpa Flow, under the command of Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, to engage the Germans in what was to become known as the Battle of Jutland over the next two days. It was a critical moment in what was then the world’s most terrible war, and for the British, the rulers of the seas, everything stood in the balance. History has deemed the engagement a draw – but significantly the Germans never again challenged British supremacy at sea. So among those that we honor and remember today are the 8,645 souls who lost their lives that day.

Significantly, 1916 was a politically fulminating year. Just a month before British troops had occupied Dublin to put down the Easter rebellion. It was the start of a wave that would finally undo the major monarchies of Europe and the peace forged at the  Congress of Vienna. Among these monarchies would fall the Ottomans, which would lead in turn to what David Fromkin has called the “peace to end all peace” in the Middle East. That is a war we still fight today.

It is strange how all but the most dedicated student of history forgets the details. But May 30, 1916 was very real to those who lived through that day on the North Sea. We can imagine both their confidence and fear. We remember them and all the fallen of all the wars

“Dona nobis pacem.“

Common snapping turtle – Chelydra serpentina

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photocrati gallery

Today’s image is actually a short slide show; so please be sure to watch the whole set. I had the privilege yesterday of encountering this common snapping turtle – Chelydra serpentina laying eggs in sandy soil besides the path at the wildlife refuge. I gingerly walked past her, watching her carefully as she watched me carefully, and stood a while taking photographs. It never occurred to me that my camera has the ability to take video.

Here is a clear example of when a DSLR is preferable to an IPhone. With the IPhone I might have lost fingers getting close enough – or she might have eaten the IPhone – you never know.

As the name implies this is the most common species of snapping turtle in North America. The other species being the alligator snapping turtle – Macrochelys temminckii. There’s a lot in a name. My wife tells me that this one needs a name. So I will call her “Chely Serpentine.” The term “serpentina” or snakelike, derives from this snapper’s ability to bend its head back and, well, snap you. Hint – mind your social distance. I have read that they are not particularly aggressive, except when threatened. Book knowledge can be a dangerous thing. I tried very hard not to threaten Chely as I took her picture.

I include one full color image to give you a sense of the scene, but took the rest in black and white because the prehistoric demeanor would seem to demand it. I love the intricacies of  shell and armour and the dinosaur-like face with bugs clinging to it – the result of digging in the sandy soil.

Snapping turtles reach maturity at twelve to fifteen years of age, depending upon whether they are in a southern or more northern environment respectively. They typically lay twenty to forty golf-ball sized eggs, which hatch in the early fall. There is a very intriguing aspect to snapping turtle egg development. Snapping turtles have temperature-dependent sex determination. Eggs maintained at 68°F produce only females; eggs maintained at 70-72°F produce both male and female turtles; and those incubated at 73-75°F produce only males. Not surprisingly, there is a very high mortality rate among hatchlings. It is unclear how long these behemoths live, but capture, tag, recapture programs place this at about one hundred years.

Figure 1 – Canon T2i with EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens at 190 mm, ISO 1600, Aperture Priority AE Mode, 1/1000th sec at f/7.1 with no exposure compensation.

Figure 2 – Canon T2i with EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens at 310 mm, ISO 1600, Aperture Priority AE Mode, 1/1000th sec at f/7.1 with -1 exposure compensation.

Figure 3 – Canon T2i with EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens at 135 mm, ISO 1600, Aperture Priority AE Mode, 1/800th sec at f/7.1 with -1 exposure compensation.

Figure 4 – Canon T2i with EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens at 310 mm, ISO 1600, Aperture Priority AE Mode, 1/1000th sec at f/7.1 with -1 exposure compensation.

 

My next-door neighbor

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Figure 1 - Eastern cottontail, Sudbury, MA, (c) DE Wolf 2016.

Figure 1 – Eastern cottontail, Sudbury, MA, (c) DE Wolf 2016.

I ran into the fellow in Figure 1, my next-door neighbor, in my back yard yesterday evening. He is an Eastern Cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus), and it makes one wonder. The wild is really at our doorsteps. But more significantly, there has been a family of cottontails and a family of woodchucks living in my backyard as long as we have been here.

Whose backyard is it really? I read that back in the nineteenth century the site of my home was the location of a wheelwright’s shop and home – a Mr. Taylor, I believe. I suspect that the forebears of these fur-bearers were living here then. They would have been disturbed as human houses were torn down and new ones constructed. But they stayed on.

Every spring each year, my wife and I plant large pots which we locate at the end of the driveway. We carefully water them, and the next morning we find them all torn up with the little plantings strewn about the lawn. It only happens the one time each summer, as if it were a little protest meant to remind me of just who was here first.

So anyway, here is a portrait of my next-door neighbor. It seems sadly likely that at the time of King Philip’s War one of his distant ancestors was roasted for some Puritan’s dinner – we cannot say for sure.

Canon T2i with EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens at 330 mm, ISO 1600, Aperture Priority AE Mode, 1/250th sec at f/7.1 with no exposure compensation.

The pine barrens

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Figure 1 - The pine barren #1, Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge, (c) DE Wolf 2016.

Figure 1 – The pine barren #1, Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge, (c) DE Wolf 2016.

My wife and I used to, and I suppose still do, rejoice in the view of a pine barren. Pine barrens  occur throughout the northeastern United States. They are plant communities that evolve  on dry, acidic, infertile soils dominated by grasses, forbs, low shrubs, and small to medium-sized pines. The Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge is a pine barren, and an obvious feature, as you explore the landscape, is its glacial origins in the last ice age. Indeed, the watershed of the Concord and Assabet Rivers have developed from two huge glacial lakes which flooded the land 18,000 years ago: glacial Lake Sudbury (which encompasses what is now the Wildlife Refuge) and glacial Lake Concord.

With the coming of the warm weather there is a definite sense of summer in the air. For the first time this season, I put on bug spray – which seemed to attract the bugs to me. Bugs, bugs, bugs! As you walk along the paths now the song of the insects cries out louder than that of the birds – and more amusing is the bizarre bass croaks of the frogs, which you mistake at first as stomach gurglings.

Nature seems ever timeless. The cycles are there but the key is their immutability. But the longer cycles are there as well – the glaciations and the transitions of the climax forests. The woods are not as they always have been nor as they ever will be.  The Earth changes – now hastened by man-induced climate change – an biological evolution marches forward – with direction only defined after it has occurred.

I thought today that I would share some photographs of the pine barren. Figure 1 was taken with my big lens. This was not only overkill but also a sacrifice of sharpness. Figure 2, on the other-hand, was taken with my ever ready and trusty IPhone 6. For fun I include the camera settings for the IPhone as well, and I leave it to the reader to decide which is better and which is sharper.

Figure 2 - The pine barren #2, Iphone Photograph, Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge, (c) DE Wolf 2016.

Figure 2 – The pine barren #2, Iphone photograph, Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge, (c) DE Wolf 2016.

Figure 1 Canon T2i with EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens at 100 mm, ISO 1600, Aperture Priority AE Mode, 1/320th sec at f/7.1 with -1 exposure compensation.

Figure 2 IPhone 6 4.2 mm Lens, ISO 32, 1/186 sec at f/2.2 with no exposure compensation.

Christmas is over

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Figure 1 - Granites on the beach, Madison, CT. (c) DE Wolf 2016.

Figure 1 – Granites on the beach, Madison, CT. (c) DE Wolf 2016.

As I am writing this blog I look over my shoulder to my right and see the outdoor temperature on my patio, 86 deg. F. That crosses this New Englander’s comfort zone, which lies somewhere between 76 and 80 deg. F. For me this is hot!

Beyond personal disconfort, I have to say that it is certainly time, people, to take in your Christmas decorations. June is no time to have lit-up Santa’s on your roofs or holiday wreaths on your doors. It smacks perhaps of the slothful.

Now I have to say that I know of at least one reader and co-Masschusettsian who is rejoicing, probably by her pool. And that is the very point. When it gets this hot and humid our thoughts naturally gravitate towards the water. My thought are at the beach and by the ocean. It is a Herman Melville put it in his Moby Dick “There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me.” To quel my yearning, I am going to post today this image that I took a while back of granites on a beach in Madison, CT.

I am always torn when photographing stone. Should I do it in color or in black and white? For these particular granites I was struck by the wonderful pink coloration. Granite is an intrusive igneous rock, which means that it cools slowly deep beneath the Earth. This slow cooling gives the mineral crystals time to grow – hence beautiful texture and mineralization.

Canon T2i with Lens    EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens at 70 mm, ISO 1600, Aperture Priority AE MOde, 1/800th sec at f/13.0 with no exposure compensation

 

Updates from Hati and Skoll

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It is high time for a little housekeeping at Hati and Skoll Gallery. So a few things. First, and most importantly a bug thanks to all of the loyal blog readers and site-visitors. I really appreciate all of your support and comments. Second, I have updated the “Birds Gallery;” so that it is closer to being complete. Third, and finally, as regular readers will recognize over the last several months I have been hiking and photographing at the wonderful Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge in Sudbury, Maynard, Stow, and Hudson, Massachusetts.  So I thought that it would be fun to consolidate and put up a dedicated gallery of these images, even if just temporarily. Also I decided to do this as a photoessay rather than just a random gallery; so if you visit the “National Wildlife Refuge Gallery” you will see not only photographs but also notable quotes about wilderness and nature. I hope you enjoy it.

Thanks again for all of your support.

David