19.00 USD
Very nice publicity RPPC by Hakob Semerdjian, who operated the Phébus Studio on Boulevard Poissonniere in Paris.
Lovely costume, and a very nice print. These publicity RPPCs are by their nature rare items. On the face of things, they look very much like our usual theatrical star postcards, but being produced out of smaller studios, and often for purposes of advertizing the act (getting the word out) before the artiste becomes a star, they were always printed in very limited runs.
On the back of the card we see that Mlle. Starville has her name stamped, and either she, or possibly her agent, has added text to this.
At the upper border on the image side, notice that her name is quite beautifully written in white ink (partially worn away). This would have been done because the cost of printing an artiste's name on a postcard was really very prohibitive at that time except when done in much larger printing runs by the big printing and publishing houses.
Mr. Semerdjian, an Armenian who was born in the Ottoman Empire and had emigrated to Paris, was a well respected photographer in his community, and today is celebrated by Armenian historians. His Phébus studio almost certainly was connected to the studio of the same name, established in Constantinople in the 19th century by Boghos Tarkulian another famous Armenian photographer. Our fourth and fifth listing images are a close up of first, the embossed studio name on our card, and then, the printed studio name of the Phébus Studio in Constantinople as it appears on a 19th century cabinet card. The font similarity pretty much dispels any doubt of a connection between the two studios.
This also brings up a favorite insight of ours that we have gained over our time researching these wonderful photographs, their subjects, photographers and publishers, which is that so many of them, photographers in particular, came out of segments of their populations which were of somewhat disenfranchised ethnic, religious, or in the case of women, gender, groups. We have found this to be a really thrilling bit of history.
In those old days, European Jews, women, and in the Ottoman Empire, certainly Armenians, were often limited in their ability to take part in many areas of employment. In the arts, for example, guild systems that limited membership by tradition, often made it impossible for people out of those sidelined groups to be apprenticed, to learn, and certainly to sell their work.
What we find exciting is the idea that when photography appeared in the 19th century it was new, revolutionary, and "traditionalists" in the arts, sciences and industry, did not at first value it enough to take it for themselves, so what happened?
Artists and intellectuals out of these sidelined groups found in photography an area wide open to them, not so bound up by rules, prejudices and traditions keeping them out, and so made it their own, thereby enriching it tremendously! Isn't that terribly romantic? :)
Anyway...a very nice RPPC. Please examine our high res scans for detail.
The item you are considering for purchase is, unless otherwise noted, a vintage postcard of approximately 5 and 1/2, by 3 and 1/2 inches. Postage is for fully-insured, first class shipping in a secure photo mailer (to avoid any damage to your purchase in the mails), and we happily combine shipping on all paper goods. If you purchase two cards, we will not charge for postage on the second card, and when you purchase three or more cards from us at the same time, your shipping will be entirely free, except for international orders which, because of increases in international shipping rates will still be charged one card's shipping fees on orders of three or more. We do not charge for insurance or shipping materials, and as of the date of this listing are still charging below our overall cost on shipping.
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redpoulaine.blogspot.com
where we post biographical and historical tidbits, images of cards and photographs for sale, some already sold but remembered fondly, related images of historical interest and sometimes even images of items that have not yet arrived in the shop, but that are expected to arrive soon, as well as coupon codes, links to other related sites, and more!