A smoky haze permeates this pictorialist cityscape of Chicago, most likely dating from the mid to late 1920s. Pictured at foreground are some of the opulent mansions that once lined N. Lake Shore Drive. At foreground center right is the former William Borden mansion, then located at 1020 N. Lake Shore Drive in Chicago. Torn down in the early 1960s, the mansion was completed by 1884. It was designed by architect Richard M. Hunt, who designed the Administration building of the 1893 Chicago World’s fair. The home was said to be inspired by chateaux of the Loire of the time of Francis I.

Herman Hans Brand: 1874-1940

The prominent Toledo, Ohio businessman, amateur photographer and bromoil advocate Herman H. Brand was affiliated with the Toledo Camera Club (founded in 1904) in the mid 1930s. In 1935, his bromoil still-life: Pad-locked, was exhibited as part of an annual club show held at the Toledo Museum of Art. Surviving examples of his earliest known work are dated 1924: “Towers of Finance”, possibly showing New York City skyscrapers, and “Brooklyn Bridge”, from the same year. (1.)

This bromoil print: Chimney Pots of Chicago, is another fine example, probably dating from this period.

Ephemera related to Brand not held by this archive shows the artist received a Diploma for completion of the English Course of Study at The Peekskill Military Academy in Peekskill, N.Y. in June, 1893. In 1892, he received the rank of Sergeant Major in the Cadet Corps at the same institution.  (2.)

The Brand family came from wealth: they ran the wholesale enterprise R. Brand and Co., importers and wholesale dealers in foreign and domestic wines and liquors. After graduation, Herman Brand came back to Toledo from the east coast, eventually building a grand house around 1897 in the city’s Old West End. By 1910, the Toledo Polk City Directory shows him being the manager of the Toledo Chewing Gum Company and by 1913, he had become its President. (Polk Directory) Later, as early as 1923 and through at least 1929, Brand was affiliated with the The Union Savings Bank Company (which became the Union Trust & Savings Bank) of Toledo, where he was vice-president and on the board of directors.

In a listing of Who’s Who in Pictorial Photography published in The American Annual of Photography 1929, Brand entered one print in photographic salons spanning 1926-27 and 5 prints in 3 salons spanning 1927-28, including the 15th Pittsburgh Photographic Salon in 1928. Later, in the 1930s, he is believed to have continued entering his work in print salons, including one hosted by the Chicago Camera Club in 1932.

1. Digital screenshots held by this archive of an original archive of Herman Brand photographs and assorted ephemera from 2014 online auction listing.
2. Ibid