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A Chapter in the Mallard Legend: The Family Offers His Personal Possessions at Auction
Families that inherit historical artifacts related to their famous or infamous ancestors often possess both a blessing and a burden. So it was for the descendants of Prudent Mallard (1809 to 1879), the renowned New Orleans 19th century merchant and probable cabinetmaker.
When Mallard’s widow, Augustine, died in 1889 (ten years after Prudent) her will contained instructions for the division [...] Click here to continue reading.
The Prudent Mallard Legend
Prudent Mallard (1809 to 1879) was a renowned New Orleans nineteenth century merchant and probable cabinetmaker. Many collectors and experts consider Mallard to be the leading, even iconic, figure in nineteenth century furniture in the lower South. Tom Halverson, Director of American Furniture and Decorative Arts for the New Orleans Auction Galleries believes that Mallard’s fame was well deserved. “I believe that by the middle of the nineteenth century the [...] Click here to continue reading.
Geronimo – Apache Leader
Geronimo (Goyaale or Goyathlay) was a Chiricahua military leader who was believed by his followers to have some spiritual “powers,” such as the ability to walk without leaving tracks and to survive gunshots. He led raids on both sides of the Southwestern border, eluding capture by both the Mexican and U.S. Armies for nearly three decades. He is often considered the last “hold out,” refusing to recognize American occupation of [...] Click here to continue reading.
Passe-Partout
The French phrase passe-partout, pronounced pas-par-too, translates literally as “passes everywhere,” meaning something is all-purpose or universal. (Passe-partout is also sometimes the term used for a master or skeleton key.) In terms of framing, it refers to a very basic framing technique in which a picture, usually with a mat, is placed behind a piece of glass and then the layers of glass, mat, picture, and backing are secured together with thin adhesive [...] Click here to continue reading.
J.P. Ball, African-American Photographer
J.P. Ball, a noted African American photographer, opened his first studio in Cincinnati, OH in 1845, then became an itinerant photographer, traveling to Pittsburgh, Richmond, and throughout Ohio. He eventually resettled in Cincinnati in 1849 and opened a Daguerrian Gallery downtown, which subsequently became one of the most well known galleries in the U.S. During the early 1850s, when Ball opened an additional gallery in Cincinnati, he hired his future [...] Click here to continue reading.
Kady Brownell
Kady Brownell (born 1842), nee Southwell, was born in an army camp on the coast of Africa, but when her mother died shortly after her birth, she moved to Providence, Rhode Island and was raised by family friends. In the early 1860s, Kady worked as a weaver in the mills, where she met and fell in love with Robert Brownell. In 1861, with the start of the Civil War, Robert joined the [...] Click here to continue reading.
George S. Zimbel (born 1929)
Documentary photographer George S. Zimbel spent his early career in New York, working for national magazines, as well as self-initiated projects. His work in Texas began in 1950 and extended through 2006. Among other things, Zimbel was a noted photographer of Marilyn Monroe and was featured in the 2001 PBS American Master’s production, Marilyn Monroe: Still Life. His photographs are included in many collections from The Museum of Modern [...] Click here to continue reading.
Wilson A. “Snowflake” Bentley (1865-1931)
Wilson A. Bentley, known as “Snowflake Bentley”, was born in Jericho, Vermont in 1865. Fascinated with the complexity and unique characteristics of snow crystals at an early age, Bentley made it his life’s mission to capture images of individual snowflakes. Bentley received a microscope for his fifteenth birthday, and by the time he was nineteen he had attached this microscope to a bellows camera and began producing photomicrographs of [...] Click here to continue reading.
Minor White (1908 to 1976)
Minor White was influenced by his grandfather, an amateur photographer, who gave White his first camera around the age of eight. White studied botany and poetry at the University of Minnesota. After serving in the Army during World War II, White moved to New York to learn about museum and curatorial studies. It was there that he met Alfred Stieglitz, whose work and ideas about his Equivalent series [...] Click here to continue reading.
Weegee-Photojournalist (1899-1968)
Born in 1899 in Zlothew near Lemberg, then a part of the Austrian province of Galicia, today part of Ukraine, Weegee’s real name was Usher (later Arthur) Fellig. He was the second of seven children from Jewish parents. In 1903, antisemitic campaigns spread throughout the Russian Pale. Pogroms unseen since the 1880s forced thousand of Jews to emigrate. In 1905 Russian revolutionaries almost succeded to overthrow the Tsar. The Fellig family acted [...] Click here to continue reading.
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