Image of the Day - Vintage Photo, May 15, 2012
Howard, c. 1940s. Vernacular photograph of the West from the My-West.com photography collection.
PAINTING, PHOTOGRAPHY AND SCULPTURE
Howard, c. 1940s. Vernacular photograph of the West from the My-West.com photography collection.
Photographed by David F. Barry (1854-1934), “Sitting Bull,” mounted albumen print. Lakota chief and holy man, Sitting Bull (1831-1890) was famous for his 1876 victory over George A. Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in southern Montana.
D. F. Barry had a studio in Bismarck, North Dakota. From there he travelled to photograph Lakota, Apsolooke, Cheyenne, Arikara and other tribes.
The cabinet card of Sitting Bull, photographed in the 1880s is for sale at Bonhams, San Francisco, June 5th 2012 at 10:00 a.m. (although the web site reads June 4th at 12:00). Estimated sale price: $2000-3000.
By Donna Poulton
Before the 1960s (and color TV), most television stations turned off all programming at midnight. After 12:00 p.m., and until early in the morning, the only image you could tune into was the test pattern. The dominant and most famous test pattern was the grey scale pattern known as the “Indian Head.” It was introduced by RCA in 1939 and became “an important icon in the 1940s.” It was such a popular image that it was also used in Canada, Rhodesia, Venezuela and Sweden…and Poland (see below).
Technicians quickly glanced at the “Indian Head” to assess focus. If it was slightly blurred, they then used the lines and numbers for fine-tuning.
By Donna Poulton
While Jeff Pugh’s interest in agrarian scenes echoes that of his famous mentor, Gary Ernest Smith, he has created his own unique feel and style. While Smith’s Post-Regionalist work evokes nostalgia for a lifestyle that is rapidly fading from rural America, Pugh’s work is pre-reflective. His minimal forms and reductive colors place one in the immediacy of the scene. When I see his depiction of cows on a field, I feel like yelling “Moo.”
See Echo Canyon by Gary Ernest Smith:
Road trip through New Mexico, 1923. Vernacular photograph of the West from the My-West.com photography collection.