17.00 USD
Beautiful image of Belle Epoque artiste Marthe Derminy taken by Leopold Reutlinger circa 1905. We have not been able to find any biographical info on her yet, still looking, but it does appear that later in her life, she made appearances in a number of French musical romance films in the 30s and 40s, though it is possible this was another Marthe Derminy.
It is worth mentioning, that her costume in this image has been hand-tinted in the shades of the suffragettes, green, white and violet, suggested by some to stand for G ive, W omen the V ote, but whether or not this was the case, it is a fact that women in that time designed clothes, wore ribbons and buttons, in those colors to identify themselves with the cause. Solidarity among sisters? Who knows, but certainly the women coloring these cards were quite possibly interested in winning the vote, perhaps with the intent of improving working conditions, raising the wage, etc. We think we value these cards even more highly when we consider the actual labor involved in the producing of them.
Have you seen the beautifully embossed cards we sometimes sell? Recently we read an account of the way this embossing was done. In this particular case, circa 1899, there was a workspace, just off a narrow connecting street between two large avenues in the Latin Quarter in Paris. In this place, 40 or so women sat at tables, fitting metal dies over the sections of the postcards to be embossed, and hammered away at them with little hammers. This, from early morning til the day's end. We aren't suggesting that this was particularly dangerous or difficult work compared with some jobs of that time, but It's so easy in these amazing times to assume such cards were simply stamped out by some huge machine, when it is likelier that they were produced by the sweat of warm-blooded people :)
Please examine our high res scans for detail.
Postage is for first class shipping in a secure photo mailer, and we happily combine shipping on all paper goods. If you purchase two cards, we will refund the 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 sudden increases in international shipping rates will still be charged one card's shipping fees on orders of three or more.
And please come visit our blog at:
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!