The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1884-11-28
POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHS.
Pictures of Humanity and How They Sell
to the Public-Grcat Men Ignored, but
Great Women I'm Demand

to the Public-Great Men Ignored, but
Great Women I'm Demand
Clearly the most interesting develop
ment in life is the human feature.
Hence daguerreotypes and photographs.
Twenty-Five years ago when cartes dc
visite We're all the rage, every man,
woman, and child, no matter how
humble their means, owned an album,
in which tiny pictures were preserved.
At that time the three chief picture
takers of this country were Brady,
Fredcricks, and Quincy. Mr.. Brady,
as the files of the Herald abundantly
disclose, began collection of local,
national, and universal celebrities,
which, shortly after the breaking out
of our civil war, he removed to Wash
ington, whence, as q base of opera
tions, he sent with every great army
corps his representatives to preserve in
pictorial form records of the great bat
ties of the day, with portraits of the
men who participated in them. That
vast collection is somewhere stored,
but at present makes no figure in the
public eye.
Some years ago the new style of
picture, called the imperial, wds in
troduced. At first it found but little
favor, as there were no albums large
enough to contain pictures of that size.
Other artists followed, and as art and
science kept pace with capital new
galleries were formed, until to-day the
entire city is sprinkled with frames
containing portraits, pictures of va
rious kinds, and of all sorts and sizes,
done for miraculously small sums of
money. Instantaneous photographs
are speciality with some, babies
pictures occupy the time of others,
groupings utilize the eye of this expert,
and fancy portraiturc enlists the talent
of that.
In an interview with well-known
photographer he said: 1.-THE first
occurred along about the time when
Beecher, Wendell Phillips, Garrison,
and their friends were prominent in
the public eye, but the sale of photo
graphs to any extent, so far as my ex-
perience goes, did not begin until
along about 1866. The first women
for whose pictures there was any noted
demand were Fanny Davenport, Clara
Morris, and Adelaide Nelson. Very
few pictures were sold of Ristori, but
thousands were sold of Miss Daven-
port, and other thousands of Miss
Morris, although the greatest favorite
of early times was Adelaide Nelson.
never shall forget the first time she
sat for me. She was dressed in her
magnificent Juliet costume, and as she
turned quickly one breadth of her ex-
quisite dress caught the charcoal on q
frame behind, and by it was absolutely
ruined. Throwing up her hands and
her eyes at the same time, she said, %
dear! what shall / dop My dress is
ruinedp / suggested, after examine
ton, that all she would need was
single breadth, whereupon she became
quieted and sat for pictures, thousands
and tens of thousands of which were
Sold"
''Do you still sell pictures of Neil
sonp'
Eyes, many thousands and thou
sands of Them t
Ibid you pay her anything for that
privileged"
Certainly not. The first person ]
ever paid was Sarah Bernhardt.
''How much did you give hcrp"
Fifteen hundred dollars at first, and
l sold thousands and tens of thousands
of her pictures, on European orders az
well as local orders 1t is singular
fact in connection with this sale of
photographs that in Europe, as soon us
a celebrity dies, the orders for his or
her pictures increase marvelously,
while here it is exactly the reverse.
'.For instancep'
"Well, take the case of Horace
Greeley. A few months prior to his
death his picture sold very rapidly,
and the presses were kept going all the
time, but as soon as he died the de-
mand fell off, and now we don't sell
one picture of his where in other days
we sold thousand. The same is true
of Farragut, who at one time was very
popular, but now we rarely, if ever, in
deed, are asked for one of his pictures"
"How about Pattip"
"Oh, Patti sells enormously, and
will until she dies. She poses easily
and gracefully, and makes very fair
portrait as well as pretty picture
did you have to pay her anything
for the privileged"
"Oh, yes; $1,000. But one of the
greatest cards of recent years is Mrs.
Langtry. We have sold so many pict-
urcs of her should really be afraid to
make an estimate, but scores of thou
sands of her photographs arcsold every
year"
Ibid you pay her anything for the
privileged"
Eyes; $1,000, of which 81 900 were
paid in cash and $500 in works of art. J"
''Bnt these are all women. Don't