Amazing Posters Designed by Eugène Ogé in the Early 20th Century

Born 1861 in Paris, French poster artist and illustrator Eugène Ogé began as an apprentice to Charles Verneau, a printer who specialized in posters, and became a lithographer. During this period he made the acquaintance of several notable poster artists, including Adolphe Léon Willette, Jean-Louis Forain and Théophile Alexandre Steinlen. In his spare time, he studied painting at the Académie Julian and developed an admiration for Jules Chéret; an innovator in poster design.

Posters designed by Eugène Ogé in the 1900s and 1910s

In the 1890s, Ogé opened his own workshop and began designing posters, initially under contract to Verneau, then with Pierre Vercasson. He gradually developed his own style, moving away from the opulent women favored by Chéret. By 1900, he worked almost exclusively with caricatures and established himself with his famous poster for the “Billards Brunswick”, featuring three bald men. After 1902, he collaborated with La Lanterne, a daily journal with anti-clerical sentiments.

In the years leading up to World War I, Ogé caricatured many prominent people, including Queen Victoria and Paul Kruger, for “Dr. Trabant’s Supreme Pills”, and the heads of state meeting at the Permanent Court of Arbitration, to advertise the menthe-pastille made by Giffard. Among the other companies he worked for, one may mention Maggi, Gellé frères, Bazar de l'Hôtel de Ville and Réglisse Zan.

During the war, Ogé made very few posters; focusing instead on rubber models and patterns for advertising balloons. He died in 1936 at the age of 74. Here below is a set of amazing posters designed by Eugène Ogé in the 1900s and 1910s.

Biscuit du Cygne, Nouveauté Recommandée, circa 1900

Absinthe de Pontarlier, Cousin Jeune, Paris, circa 1900

Advertisement for Amidon Remy, circa 1900

Advertising for Maizena corn flour, circa 1900

Advertising for Vin Bravais, circa 1900

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20 Wonderful Embroidered Silk Christmas Postcards From World War I

Embroidered silk postcards made soldiers at the Western Front and sent to their families back home, for Christmas. These kinds of embroidered postcards were very popular among soldiers of World War I, and were made in large numbers by French and Belgian women during the conflict.

The Australian War Memorial collection holds over 600 postcards. The themes are mostly floral and/or patriotic, their reassuring prettiness belying the conditions lived by the men who sent them.

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Santa Claus Town, Canada, 1916

This set of images is devoted to some of the goings-on of Santa and “Santa Claus Town” in Canada, 1916; as pictured by a combination of drawing and composite photography by artist Jennie Walsh.

(Images © The British Library)

Georgia O’Keeffe: A Portrait by Alfred Stieglitz, 1918

Georgia O’Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz first met in person in 1916 when O’Keeffe paid a visit to Gallery 291 to see an exhibition of Marsden Hartley works. At the time, he was 52 years old, married, and a famous, internationally acclaimed photographer, with an avant-garde gallery in Manhattan. She, on the other hand, was 28, unknown and just beginning her professional art career. However, O’Keeffe, ever the striking woman, made an immediate impact on Stieglitz—both artistically and emotionally. The two began a professional and personal relationship, exchanging often daily correspondence.

In a 1917 letter to O’Keeffe, Stieglitz wrote: “How I wanted to photograph you — the hands — the mouth — & eyes — & the enveloped in black body — the touch of white — & the throat — but I didn’t want to break into your time — ”

O’Keeffe first posed for Stieglitz’s camera in the spring of 1917. Over the next twenty years, he made over 300 portraits of her—nude and clothed, performing mundane tasks and posing dramatically in front of her paintings, showing her entire body as well as isolated views of her neck, hands, breasts, and feet.

Alfred Stieglitz. Georgia O’Keeffe: A Portrait, 1918. (Georgia O’Keeffe Museum)

In 1918, the same year this photograph was taken, O’Keeffe accepted Stieglitz’s invitation and moved to New York where he provided her with financial support and arranged for a residence and studio space for her to work. Drawn together by their shared interests and passion, the two began a heated love affair. Stieglitz’s nude photographs of O’Keeffe taken at this time created quite the sensation. One of many the two would experience in their prominent decades long relationship.

Finally, in 1924, Stieglitz divorced his first wife and wed O’Keeffe. The two remained married until his death in 1946.

Stieglitz’s photographs of the young O’Keeffe document in great detail one of the most passionate love stories in the history of modern art.

(via Georgia O’Keeffe Museum)

24 Vintage Photos of Edwardian People Posing With Pianos

The modern form of the piano, which emerged in the late 19th century, is a very different instrument from the pianos for which earlier classical piano literature was originally composed. The modern piano has a heavy metal frame, thick strings made of top-grade steel, and a sturdy action with a substantial touch weight. These changes have created a piano with a powerful tone that carries well in large halls, and which produces notes with a very long sustain time.

The contrast with earlier instruments, particularly those of the 18th century (with light wooden frames, lightly sprung actions, and short sustain time) is very noticeable. These changes have given rise to interpretive questions and controversies about performing earlier literature on modern pianos, particularly since recent decades have seen the revival of historical instruments for concert use.

These amazing vintage photos captured portraits of people posing with pianos in the 1900s and 1910s.

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May de Sousa: Edwardian Beauty With a Tragic Life

Born 1884 in Chicago, Illinois, American singer and Broadway actress May de Sousa came to fame in 1898 as the singer of “Dear Midnight of Love”, a ballad by Bathhouse John Coughlin. She attracted such attention that at end of her first full season in 1901, whilst still only a teenager, she was engaged by Frank L. Perley as one of the principals for his touring company for the musical comedy The Chaperons. With thirty four speaking and singing roles and a chorus of sixty it was said to be the largest musical organization so far seen in America.

In April 1904, May was engaged to replace Bessie Wynne in the role of ‘Sir Dashemoff Daily’ in The Wizard of Oz and in September of that year followed that same actress in Babes in Toyland. By now she was an established success and much in demand.

May went to London after all as a star in her own right, and first appeared on the London Stage as ‘Cinderella’ at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Other London successes followed, including Castles in Spain, The Geisha and The Girls of Gottenberg.

Now she was a major star on both sides of the Atlantic and it seemed she had the World at her feet. Personal tragedy struck on January 31, 1910 however, when her mother was discovered dead in a gas filled room. It was not determined whether the tragedy had been a suicide or the result of an unfortunate accident. Continuing her career on both sides of the Atlantic, she was in France shortly before the outbreak of the Great War and escaped the German invasion by the margin of only a few weeks. De Sousa played the role of a model Juliette in the 1911 play of “The Count of Luxembourg” at Daly’s Theatre in London. In 1913, De Sousa declared bankruptcy.

De Sousa retired in 1918, and eventually moved to Shanghai. In 1943, following a seven-month imprisonment as a civilian internee under the Japanese in Chapei Civil Assembly Center, in Shanghai, China, she returned to the United States on the Gripsholm and took a job in Chicago as a scrubwoman in the public-school system. Her years of internment had taken their toll on her health however, and soon she was forced to quit working because she was too weak to continue. Without means to support herself, her condition worsened through malnutrition and she died, penniless and alone, a charity case in the county hospital on 8 August 1948.

Once the toast of Europe and America, whose voice had thrilled royalty and the nobility as well as countless masses, she died alone and unloved, unable even to feed herself. Her body lay unclaimed in the morgue and was interred in a paupers grave, at age 66.

Take a look at these vintage photos to see the beauty of a young May de Sousa in the early 20th century.

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Sublime and Atmospheric Photos By Léonard Misonne

Léonard Misonne (1870 – 1943) was a Belgian pictorialist photographer. He is best known for his atmospheric photographs of landscapes and street scenes, with light as a key feature, and as a pioneer of pictorialism. According to the Directory of Belgian Photographers, “Misonne’s work is characterised by a masterly treatment of light and atmospheric conditions. His images express poetic qualities, but sometimes slip into an anecdotal sentimentality.”

 

Misonne would often photograph things that were strongly illuminated from behind, producing a halo effect. He would also retouch the lighting effects in his photographs, experimenting with and using many techniques, such as the Fresson process and later the bromoil and mediobrome processes. “If I were asked what I have learned during my forty years as a photographer,” said Misonne, nicknamed “the Corot of photography”. “I should reply – the most important thing I have learned is to observe the beautiful effects of atmosphere and light.” He also invented the “flou-net” and “photo-dessin” processes.

Take a look through these extraordinary photographs taken by Misonne:

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Vintage Photos of Type B Bus “Pigeon Loft” During World War I

From its start in the summer of 1914, the demands of the First World War provided the impetus for the development of the latest developments and technologies. It was at this time that the first warplanes, tanks and submarines appeared. In the context of hostilities over large areas, the problem of coordination between individual units became increasingly important, as the means of communication at that time still remained relatively imperfect.

The telegraph already existed, but mobile devices were relatively heavy and unreliable, and their use was accompanied by constant technical problems. Faced with the question of communication, military commanders compromised and decided to use a tool often employed in earlier conflicts, namely birds, as a connection to the location of previous deployment. The amazing ability of certain species of birds, pigeons in particular, to return to their homes from a great distance would once again save the lives of many soldiers in the coming years of the Great War.

A special miniature container was attached to the bird’s foot, in which a note with a message could be placed. Given the fact that the speed of the pigeon could be up to 60 miles per hour (almost 100 km per hour), despite this rather archaic method the message could be delivered to its destination quite quickly.

Another factor was the possible destruction of the bird – for example, by heavy fire from enemy positions. This problem was overcome by the widespread use of pigeons, sending messages of the same content at the same time, carried by a large number of birds.

As early as 1914, during an intense German offensive towards Paris near the River Marne, pigeons released from their “lofts” delivered an important message to the command headquarters about the critical situation in this area, which allowed troops to regroup and prevent calamitous developments for the Allies.

In the following years of the Great War, despite the fact that the field telegraph continued to improve, communication with the help of birds still played an important role. Thus, in October 1918, when the conflict was almost at its end, a unit of American troops surrounded by the Germans released several birds with a note calling for immediate help. One of the birds named Cher Ami brought this urgent message to the headquarters in half an hour, and the unit was soon freed from the enemy's encirclement. For this act, the bird was given one of France’s highest awards – the Order of the Croix de Guerre, which by any measure is a remarkable achievement.

To transport a large number of birds together special mobile carriages were used, the so-called “pigeon lofts”. Initially, they were horse-drawn trailers, and later double-decker B-type buses were used as mobile bird shelters, which had now changed scene from the streets of London to the front lines of contact with the enemy on the Western Front.

Some of the two-story vehicles were rebuilt in order to perform their new task; the passenger seats on both levels were removed, the windows on the first floor were shuttered with boards, and the fence on the second floor was replaced by windows, cut out and covered with nets through which birds could fly simultaneously at the required time.

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Amazing Vintage Photographs of Fountain of Ice on Washington Boulevard in Detroit From the Early 20th Century

One of the unique features of Detroit in winter is the famous ice fountain on Washington Boulevard. Several jets of water are allowed to play all winder, and the result is a massive berg of ice which sometimes reaches a height of nearly thirty feet, and contains many tons of the crystal.

The tradition of forming ice sculptures in the city dates back to at least the early 1900s. These amazing vintage photographs show winter scene on Washington Boulevard in Detroit from between the 1900s and 1920s.

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Stunning Autochrome Pictures of Petra, Jordan From the 1900s to 1940s

Petra is a historic and archaeological city in southern Jordan. It is adjacent to the mountain of Jabal Al-Madbah, in a basin surrounded by mountains forming the eastern flank of the Arabah valley running from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba.

Famous for its rock-cut architecture and water conduit system, Petra is also called the “Red Rose City” because of the color of the stone from which it is carved. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985 and has been described as “one of the most precious cultural properties of man's cultural heritage” Petra is a symbol of Jordan, as well as Jordan's most-visited tourist attraction.

These stunning autochrome pictures of the ancient Nabatean stone city were taken by the photography department of the American Colony from between the late 1900s to the 1940s. Take a look:

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