Studio

1920 · Best.-Nr. 24022 — 1920. Portrait album of a young woman believed to have been visually impaired tentatively identified as Alice Erdman. The sitter appears alone in all nine photographs her gaze fixed and directed beyond or away from the camera. These formal studio portraits of the early 1920s offer a visual record of a blind woman whose life remains only partly documented. Eugene newspapers also document Alice Erdman's musical performances and prize-winning embroidery providing a possible connection between the sitter and a woman active in the local community. Album containing nine original gelatin silver photographs each approximately 6.5 x 4.5 inches mounted one per page on patterned brown cardstock leaves with silver-colored borders and corner mounts. Original gray cord-bound paperboard covers; album measures 10 x 6.25 inches. One photograph shows the sitter seated in an elaborately carved chair while another depicts her standing in profile holding a closed umbrella. Two further portraits show her in a light-colored satin dress beside the same studio furnishings. Her bobbed hair and loosely fitted dresses reflect the changing silhouettes of the early 1920s while glossy elbow-length gloves and pearls retain the formality of earlier portrait conventions. The album offers an opportunity to examine disability history through the photographic record of a young blind or visually impaired woman. Her fixed gaze solitary presentation and carefully arranged poses are visible features of the portraits though the photographs alone cannot establish the nature or extent of her visual impairment. The sitter's identification as Alice Erdman remains tentative. Elizabeth Erdman Romane a professional woman photographer apprenticed under Eugene Oregon photographer Sue Dorris and acquired her own studio in 1918 maintaining an independent photographic business for decades. She moved from Minnesota to Lane County Oregon in 1909 with her parents Mr. and Mrs. Albert Erdman and her sister Alice Erdman. She later married Harry Romane and spent more than 50 years living and working in the Lane County area. Operating under the name Romane Studio she became one of Eugene's most prolific photographers from the 1920s through the 1950s managing her business at multiple locations along downtown Willamette Street. Her portraiture earned national and international awards. Although the family connection makes Romane a relevant figure in the album's history the photographer of these particular portraits has not been established. Minor fading and cover wear; overall very good condition. unknown books