cabinet photograph

Fred Ash

Summary

3/4 length portrait of a young woman seated on a rustic wooden garden bench against a painted studio backdrop of an outdoor scene with flowers. The woman has wavy hair worn up with full sides and she is wearing a black hat covered in black silk net with a large turned up brim decorated with leaves at the front. She is wearing a dark silk spotted blouse with a scooped neck and elbow length flared sleeves over a fine white lace inset with a high round neck. Worn with a dark skirt. Written on reverse in pencil ' E Whitehead.'

Display Label

The Cunnington Collection These photographs are from the extensive archive of Drs C Willet and Phillis Cunnington, whose costume collection and library were acquired by Manchester Corporation in 1947. This purchase led to the formation of the Gallery of Costume at Platt Hall. The Cunningtons owned thousands of cartes-de-visite (small photographs, the size of a namecard you might present when visiting) and cabinet photographs (a good size to prop up for display on a cabinet) as well as later photographic prints, which he collected to show clothes worn by real people. Unfortunately the identity of the people in the photographs has often not been recorded. [Dr C W Cunnington dated many of the photographs on the reverse in his distinctive pencil/ink scrawl. While he was an early costume expert, some of his more specific dates seem suspiciously arbitrary. We have followed them here with the addition of ‘about’ to indicate that the date may be inexact.]