During the 1920’s, two of Beatrice Tonnesen’s photos, both featuring charming children protected by their faithful dogs, became colorful calendar prints signed “A. Pope.”  Because no artist listing or biographical information has been found for A. Pope, collectors, myself included, have speculated for years that the signature might be a pseudonym for another artist.  Possibilities include Tonnesen herself and R. Atkinson Fox (1860-1935), who shared Tonnesen’s studio for a time and was known to use pseudonyms.  It’s also possible that A. Pope was either the real name or a pseudonym for an unknown staff artist, employed by either Tonnesen’s Studio or by the publisher of the print.

Recently, however, I purchased a 1927 salesman’s sample calendar featuring A. Pope’s “Safely Guarded” which came from a photo by Tonnesen, previously titled “On Guard.”  Under the print, the following information appeared:

(c)1924 Robert Chapman Co. NY.  Reproduced from the original by A. Pope.
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I recently had the privilege of viewing the “painting records” of the now defunct Thomas D. Murphy Calendar Company of Red Oak, Iowa. TDM was a frequent buyer of photos by Beatrice Tonnesen and, occasionally, of her paintings. In the case of the colorful calendar print shown here, I was able to trace its path from Tonnesen’s Studio in Chicago to the TDM Company.

The records reveal that the “copyright only” was acquired from Tonnesen for a “colored photograph” titled “Fedora” by the artist on 4/8/1904. Since Tonnesen took black and white photographs, I assume that either she or one of her staff members added the color. The TDM Company then retitled it “Muriel” and made it available in their 1905 calendar line for purchase by their customers, whose businesses were advertised on the calendars. The notation that only the copyright was purchased, seems to indicate that Tonnesen retained the actual colored photo.

It was very rare for a calendar company to use a piece of artwork as quickly after purchase as TDM used this one. In most cases, the length of time between copyright and publication on a calendar was at least two years. It was also rare for Tonnesen’s photography to be credited on the published calendar prints. In this case, the information under the print reads, left to right: Copyright 1904, The Thos. D. Murphy Co, Red Oak Iowa; M-4514 MURIEL; From Photo by Tonneson. (Note the misspelling of her name.)

My thanks to Rick and Charlotte Martin for facilitating and assisting my research.

Copyright (c) 2010 Lois Emerson

We’ve used Slideshow Pro for presentation of the Beatrice Tonnesen slideshows. It’s a Flash based player, and combined with their server-side media management component has made it a breeze to upload and include images and slideshows into web pages. Then along came Apple’s refusal to support Flash on the iPhone. It got worse with release of the iPad. Finally Slideshow Pro has released their new server-side product which supports non-Flash devices, allowing the Beatrice Tonnesen slideshows to now be viewed on the iPhone and iPad, anywhere and everywhere.

Collectors treasure the beautiful color prints found on advertising calendars of  the early twentieth century, known as “The Golden Age of Illustration.”  But, as we know, many of those beautiful illustrations started as equally beautiful black and white photos by Beatrice Tonnesen and others.  Unfortunately, because the calendar companies that published the color prints usually discarded the original photos, we rarely see the two together.  Now, thanks largely to the recent discovery of an archive of Tonnesen’s original photos in her hometown of Winneconne, WI, we can match many of them with the color prints found in my collection and the collections of others. Sumner Nelson has scanned the original photos and restored them for display in the Beatrice Tonnesen Catalog.   Here, for your enjoyment, is a true “before and after” presentation of vintage calendar art .  See the accompanying slideshow, and match each photo with its resultant color print.

Copyright (c) 2010 Lois Emerson

This is the eye of a beautiful, happy young woman photographed by BT around 1910. When I have the opportunity to do a proper scan on an image produced by a high quality camera, such as BT usually used, I can get to this level of digital detail. It’s far greater detail than can be seen on the web slideshow, and even far greater detail than most people would casually see on the original image itself.

In many cases the lens of the camera catches details that are hidden behind imperfections in the development solution and printing process. Often, as in this eyeball, you can see the reflection of what appears to be the natural studio lighting with possibly some added lights, and the shadow of the camera and photographer in the middle. [Click on the image for an even closer view.]

The eyes are always special to me. I try to give them extra attention, because I know that I’m the only one who has looked into these eyes from so close in maybe 100 years. And nobody may ever look again. While I don’t give the whole image as detailed of a cleaning for basic web and preservation prep, out of respect I give the eyes special attention. It’s my way of saying “Hello and thank you.”

I doubt that someone will be able to look into my eyes at this close distance in 100 years.