A model wearing a dress, lace shawl and hat believed to be from the Edwardian era is shown from the rear in this rare surviving studio photograph by Boston photographer John “Jack” H. Garo.  (Born Armenia: John Higue Garo – 1870–1939)

print notes verso: signed in graphite within lower-left embossed plate area: Garo

Photograph enclosed within a three-fold, non-coated, cream-colored paper folder (with internal offsetting from print recto) printed with the following cipher including the photographer’s embossed Persian-inspired circular emblem- the location of his first and only Boston studio established in 1902 and located in the Boylston Chambers building:

GARO STUDIO
739 Boylston Street
Boston

note: Garo also used another address for his studio at 747 Boylston. Sometimes referred to as the “Garo Studio Building” in photographic literature of the day, this location is believed to be within the same building.

Title supplied by this archive. Dating  approximate based on published examples featuring a similar painted studio backdrop.

Examples of John Garo’s work seem rare. The 2015 volume: The Search For a Master’s Legacy: Yousuf Karsh & John Garo states that after Garo died in 1939, the photographer Karsh “spent decades searching for Garo’s original prints.”  The author follows that fascinating trail in this book. In spite of Karsh’s exhaustive efforts, only a few tantalizing Garo original photographs remain. They have found good homes at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Library and Archives Canada; and the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University. (1.)

provenance: Purchased 2018 from reseller who acquired it at an antique show in the Meredith, New Hampshire area.

1. The Search For a Master’s Legacy: Yousuf Karsh & John Garo: Mehmed Ali: Benna Books: Mansfield MA, 2015: p. 9