1922 YOUNG AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMAN Bretzman photo signed dated 1922 RARE

Description

[YOUNG AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMAN PHOTOGRAPH; CHARLES BRETZMAN PHOTO COMPANY, INDIANAPOLIS, SIGNED] PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPH OF YOUNG AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMAN taken by the noted Midwestern photo studio Bretzman Photo Company, hand-signed in ink and dated in the lower right “Bretzman ’22” [1922]
, sepia-toned black-and-white, 6” x 4”, woman unidentified,
RARE
Charles Bretzman Photo Company hand-signed photograph
/// CHARLES F. BRETZMAN:
1867-1934, founded the Bretzman Photo Company, also called the Bretzman Studio, in Indianapolis, Indiana, at the turn of the twentieth century and was a noted portrait and commercial photographer in the city for more than thirty years. In addition to operating his own photography studio, Bretzman worked for a few years as a staff photographer for three of Indianapolis's daily newspapers and became the first official photographer of the Indianapolis 500-mile automobile race. Bretzman's photographs documented Indianapolis's people, places, and events in the early decades of the twentieth century.” (wikipedia)
/// PROVENANCE:
from a large group of late 19th to mid 20th century photographs of African Americans from the Mid West and Boston, some of which were authenticated to be photos of Sydonia Byrd and relatives, friends, and classmates of hers…Sydonia was a one-time romantic interest of the HarlemRenaissance poet Countee Cullen…they met when he was at Harvard and she was at the Boston Conservatory following her study of music at Oberlin…she came from a well-to-do African American family in Indianapolis, her father owned a barbershop
/// CONDITION:
photograph near fine with two light creases at upper left, touches of edgewear at lower edge, and remnants of adhesive on back from mounting in scrapbook at one time.