Beschreibung:

Theatrical Portraits Author: Sarony [and] Mora [and] Gurney Place: New York, NY Publisher: Various Photographers Date: Ca. 1870's? Description: Collection of 5 CDV photographs. 4 cream color card mounts and 1 black card mount, all with rounded corners. Collection includes: Mora, Jose Maria. Two portraits of well dressed women with stylish hats. Gurney & Son. Two portraits of well dressed women with adorning fancy hair styles. Sarony. Portrait of a young woman with adorned and stylish hair. Jose Maria Mora (1849-1926) was a Cuban refugee who studied painting in England. When the Cuban Revolution forced family to emigrate to the United States, he joined them in New York City. He quickly found employment at Napoleon Sarony’s photography studio, which at the time was the most artistic and well-regarded studio in the city. In 1870 Mora opened his own studio. He hired Sarony’s background painter, Lafayette Seavey who soon created the largest collection of hand-painted backgrounds in the world at that time, over 150 different ones ranging from snowy city streets to Moorish ruins to forests. Mora became the photographer of choice for the constant fancy-dress balls, tableaux, and other events of this era. In 1893, abruptly and without explanation, Mora closed his studio at 707 Broadway. For about 30 years, nothing was heard from or about Mora. In 1926, a New York Times article painted a bleak picture of his life as a recluse in the Hotel Breslin that year he was declared incompetent and died at St. Vincent’s Hospital, leaving nearly $200,000 untouched in his accounts. Jeremiah Gurney (1812-1886) did not concern himself with stage personalities until his partnership with son Benjamin Gurney (1833-1899) from 1860-1874. One of the founders of the photographic profession in the United States, Jeremiah Gurney pioneered most of the practices of studio organization, advertising, and finance. He learned to create daguerreotypes from Samuel F.B. Morse, invented the exhibition gallery, and experimented with the creation of paper prints, holding the patent for a version of the Talbot process dubbed the Chrystalotype. He acquiesced to the fashion for small carte de visites promoted by his onetime partner, C.D. Fredericks, and his rival Abraham Bogardus Gurney expanded his portraits to include performers, opera singers, ballet dancers and tragedians shot in intensely clear focus in settled poses. In 1860, the year Gurney and Son was formed. In 1874 Gurney & Son dissolved and the gallery at 707 Broadway was sold to Jose Maria Mora Napoleon Sarony (1821-1896) was an American lithographer and photographer and moved to New York City around 1836. He worked as an illustrator for Currier and Ives before joining with James Major and starting his own lithography business, Sarony & Major, in 1843. In 1867 Sarony left the firm and established a photography studio at 37 Union Square, during a time when celebrity portraiture was a popular fad. Photographers were known to pay their famous subjects to sit for them, and then retain full rights to sell the pictures. One of Sarony's portraits of writer Oscar Wilde became the subject of a U.S. Supreme Court case, Burrow-Giles Lithographic Co. v. Sarony in 1884 where the Court upheld the extension of copyright protection to photographs. Lot Amendments Condition: Light card handling wear; else near fine. Lots sold without reserve are sold “as Is” and are not returnable under any circumstances. The minimum shipping and handling per invoice is $20 for shipments to the US and $30 for shipments outside the US please consider this when determining your bid amount Item number: 322598