As noted in the 1946 American Annual of Photography, (p. 170) Frank Roy Fraprie (American, 1874-1951) had been taking photographs in June of 1926 in Eastern France. The area, located in the Haute-Savoie, (1.) or Upper Savoy, is a mountainous region of spectacular beauty which includes Lake Annecy, one of France’s largest freshwater lakes. 

In 1927, one of the first references to this pictorial landscape study, “A Savoy Stream” was commented on in the pages of The British Journal of Photography:

“A Savoy Stream,” by Frank R. Fraprie, is a black and white print of great beauty. It is well concentrated and dignified. The lines are as unusual as they are fine.” (p. 207) 

This exhibition print includes two labels: one on the support verso labelled #4, which may be ca. 1926-27 and another showing it had been exhibited at the 9th Annual Exhibition of the Lincoln Camera Club in England. The Camera Magazine lists this as having taken place from July 5-29, 1935.

support notes verso: on backing board: pre-printed pasted label for Fraprie upper left:

No.  4 (graphite)

Title:   A Stream of Savoy (typed)

Process:  Bromide (typed)

Frank R. Fraprie,

428 Newbury Street,

Boston, Mass., U.S.A.

print notes verso: two labels; one the same as above but with No. 7; and separate pasted label:

Exhibited at the 

9th Annual Exhibition

of the

Lincoln  (England)

Camera Club.

in graphite on print: 

B

290; along border: Vitava D

(Vitava was a bromide photographic paper. An early reference to Vitava D appears in a 1924 article on exhibited prints in American Photography Magazine.)

Provenance: Acquired by this archive in March, 2019 from South Carolina dealer who originally purchased it in Rhode Island at unknown date.

1. Haute-Savoie:  English: Upper Savoy; German: Obersavoyen or Hochsavoyen; Italian: Alta Savoia) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France, bordering both Switzerland and Italy. Its prefecture is Annecy. To the north is Lake Geneva and Switzerland; to the south and southeast are the Mont Blanc and Aravis mountain ranges. It holds it name from the Savoy historical region, as does the department of Savoie, located south of Haute-Savoie.  (Wikipedia accessed March, 2019)