Woman Looking out Studio Window

Fashion, Genre: Women, Interiors, Portrait: Woman, Supports

Dimensions

Image Dimensions: 22.5 x 15.0 cm | 20.2 x 13.1 cm
Support Dimensions: 30.2 x 21.1 cm

Woman Looking out Studio Window, the title assigned by this website, is an example of typical studio society portraiture done by the New York City Selby studio, perhaps around 1920 or slightly before. An engagement portrait? The modern American custom would emphasize the ring on the subject’s left hand. The “window”, a prop, is built within the studio itself. Lone attribution for The Misses Selby. N. Y. in graphite appears at lower right-hand corner of faux-frame print recto, printed in the middle of a larger sheet of photographic paper. The name of the subject is unknown and photograph is undated.  A short biography on the Selby sisters states:

The British-born Selby sisters, Emily and Lillian, were successful portrait photographers, who worked together from about 1895 to 1911, and Lillian Selby continued to work under the business name “The Misses Selby” until 1934.  (1.)

slight creasing and several abrasions to print recto, shown here slightly cropped on borders.

1. biography: The Misses Selby: in: Ambassadors of Progress, American Women Photographers in Paris, 1900-1901: edited by Bronwyn A.E. Griffith: Musée d’Art Américain Giverny, France In association with the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.: 2001: p. 170