A poster drawing of a young woman wearing a kimono and framed by hanging Japanese lanterns beckons the viewer in French that: “We’ll Have Fun Tonight“.  Clockwise from top left corner, the French words making up the large jumbled hand lettered title of the work: On S’Amusera Ce Soir– surround the subject on all sides while defining the overall design of the work. Although unsigned, another example signed Lydia Redmond is held by the great grandson of photographer James Breese.

Lydia Redmond: 1868-1924

American artist Lydia Redmond is credited with being one of the founders and supporters of the Newport Art Association, founded in 1912 as the Art Association of Newport and now the Newport Art Museum. A New York and Newport, R.I. socialite, she exhibited at the National Academy of Design in New York City in 1895: #2 Miss D. L. Redmond; 1897: #29 Portrait of Maude Adams. Studied: Bouguereau; Robert-Fleury; Chase at Shinnecock Summer School, Long Island, N.Y. : Exhibited: Paris Salon, 1891; NAD, 1895, 1897; PAFA Ann., 1895, 1900: Member: Newport Art Association.

Her 1924 obituary in the New York Times: NEWPORT, R. I., July 22. –Miss Lydia Redmond, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Redmond, died at her home on Eustis Avenue yesterday after an illness of several months. Her parents were for a great many years Summer residents and for some Years she has been making the city her permanent home. She was an artist of considerable ability and painted the shrine behind the font in St. John’s Church, in which she was deeply interested. She was a member of all the church societies and her funeral will take place from that church.

✻       ✻      ✻      ✻     ✻

One of perhaps only 50-70 copies produced, with almost all believed to be either lost or destroyed, this rare mammoth album of original carbon photographs, including of artwork produced by notable artists and an original multi-color lithograph, was compiled by amateur photographer James Lawrence Breese in early 1897. An important and historical photographic and artistic record of America’s Gilded Age, it was produced as a lavish “souvenir” album of a gathering of 70 invitees of the New York City elite, including members of The Four Hundred. The occasion was a costume party at the photographer’s “Carbon Studio” and townhouse at midnight on December 17, 1896.

The album contains ten carbon prints, laid down on oversized cards and individually matted, all with Breese’s “The Carbon Studio” blindstamp, and an original lithograph of  the party’s “menu” printed in colors by American artist Robert Lewis Reid. (1862-1929)