Follow me down a country road to the past, captured by the camera of one of the great photographers of the early 20th century.
The Flower Shows of the 30’s, Peacocks to Elephants, The Native Americans of Montana, Battle Flags of the Revolution, these are just a few of the talking points we will discuss on our travels created by the David Davidson Studios of Providence R.I.
This story is about a very ambitious young man who started a small, family-based business in Providence Rhode Island at the turn of the 1900’s. He grew this business into one of the leaders in the field of hand colored photography. And to a larger degree, helped that art form become a contributing part of the Arts and Crafts movement that influenced our country in many ways.
I have been fortunate enough to have started collecting David Davidson’s work 40-45 years ago. And as they say in “the business”, I was in the right place at the right time.
I hope to be able to share my collection and the knowledge I’ve acquired, touch base with old friends and meet new ones. Along the way, I’m sure I will learn a few things myself and possibly help create a few new Davidson collectors.
So subscribe below and let the Story begin!
Thank you, Mike Pellegrino
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This is a project I started about a year before I started this Davidson Blog. It was on my mind to do for some time before that and here we are finally getting ready to go live with it!
To explain what I’ve done in its simplest form, I’m taking Davidson’s numerical index of his pictures, making a new listing, adding a photo of the picture and adding any pertinent or just interesting information I may have. Simple!… Not really. Actually it’s become a monumental, probably never ending task. Everyone that I have explained this to have all looked at me and said the same thing: Why?? I guess because I can. Years ago, realizing that my Davidson collection consisted of over 1000 pictures, if anyone was going to attempt something like this, it should be me. Creating a tool like this for Davidson collectors would be something that has never been available before.
We made the Davidson Picture Index accessible to everyone without having to sign up for the blog. At the top of the blog homepage you will see this icon:
Click on this image and you will get the below question. If you have Google Drive click “Open”. If you do not have Google Drive, click “Cancel”. Either click should bring you to the index. You’ll only need to answer this question the first time you go into the index.
Once you are in the index, double tap any item and you should see a picture, an index number and any details I have input.
Two weeks ago at the Wallace Nutting Convention, I spoke briefly on the index, so some of you may already have looked at it!
Have I lost anyone?? If so, please feel free to email me at MikePellegrino111@gmail.com. I’d be happy to help or walk you through the process of getting to the index.
The Davidson Picture Index is a work in progress, so you will see it growing as I have time to input more pictures. It’s a great reference tool for everyone to use. Please check it out!
Boy did we love going to the Wallace Nutting Club auctions back in the 80’s. Exciting?? I could barely keep in my seat. And when something special would come up for bid, a certain calm or a “buzz” would come over the room. This picture, The Old Oaken Bucket was announced as a rarity. Possible the only hand colored photo of its kind!!!
And it was a Davidson. Fortunately for me, Davidsons were just showing up at the auctions and not drawing a lot of attention. Had it been a Nutting, I would not have it hanging on my wall today. A beautifully framed 17″ x 20″ matted, hand colored photo, signed and titled, with the original backing and art store label.
The picture depicts Louise Davidson in one of her Victorian dresses with matching hat, sipping a cup of coffee or tea, and appears to be listing to the elderly gentleman. He is probably the gardener or handyman of the house with suspenders, wide brimmed hat, and his white mustache, sleeves rolled up, standing beside the well and holding The Old Oaken Bucket, his head tipped back in conversation with Louise.
A great picture for sure, but what was the rarity? This picture was announced as possibly the only hand colored photo known to have a black man the picture.
About 40 years have passed since that auction. I’m still looking. The fact that I haven’t seen another, this picture may very much be the only one. But you never know! Something to keep an eye out for.
My first Davidson. I knew I still had it. Would never let it go, but I couldn’t find it. Off of our family room, I have a room with all the walls covered in 14X18 close framed Davidsons, all in that great deco style frame.
The picture I was searching for, Leisure Lair, was hanging with about 75 like pictures in that room.
I remember buying Leisure Lair at a tag sale in the early 1980’s. At the time we were hot into searching for Nuttings, which is what I thought this was when I picked it up. I had no idea who Davidson was. I bought this picture because I was intrigued with the letter attached on the back.
It was interesting that the letter was to the Watkins Art & Furniture Store, which years ago was on Cannon Street in Bridgeport CT, less than 1/2 hour from where we live.
As my collection grew and my knowledge of Davidson grew, my understanding of what the picture represented also grew.
The index number of the picture is #1966 which falls in line with the deco frame. That picture got its copyright about 1926.
What’s most interesting is the personal letter Davidson sent to Mr. Sehl, probably the owner of Watkins Art. A simple thank you for payment, but personalizing the picture, making Mr. Sehl feel as though he picked something special to buy.
Probably the least talked about, but one of the most important employees of any of the early hand colored photography business, were the salesmen.
Some of these early 20th century businesses may have had only 1 or 2 salesmen. The smallest ones may have had their pictures sold by just the owner. In contrast, Wallace Nutting employed over 200 people. At one point Nutting employed over 100 colorists. But history seems to have remembered the names of many of the colorists, but not so much the names of the men who sold the product.
And then there is David Davidson, whose business fell far below Nuttings’, but larger than the others. Artifacts and information I’ve acquired has allowed me to shed further light on the subject of Davidsons salesmen over the years.
This clipboard full of Davidson Sales receipts shows dates, salesmen, customers and contents of sales. Notice that Davidson was always part of the sales force.
These sales receipts from the 1940’s and 1950’s show salesmen; H.A. Pinkham covering CT, and NY salesman Fred Allen handled Massachusets and Maine. Information I received from the Davidson family years ago, noted that during the 1930’s, Oscar Perry covered NH and Maine, and Bert Huff handled sales in NY state.
Davidson salesmen would call on accounts carrying with them a set of these tri-fold picture boards showing miniature hand colored photos with the index # of the picture. I have 6 of these tri-fold boards in my collection.
There were probably 10-12 of these tri-fold picture boards making up a set of the pictures available for sales.
Sales orders back in those days were delivered door to door from the Davidson studio on 57 Whitmarsh St in Providence. Heavy metal and leather carrying cases like these from my collection were used to deliver the hand colored photos to accounts.
I have actually used these cases for carrying photos and those of us who have moved any amount of frames pictures know that its exhausting work! Add to the challenges faced by these salesman, if you go back to 1907, the year Davidson went into business, you find that only some main roads in the largest cities were paved and horse and wagon was still the main means of transportation.
David Davidson, as we have seen from all that we’ve talked about in these blog posts, always seemed to be able to change the direction of his business to the changing times, add another iron to the fire, and in the case of selling the hand colored photographs, he created a sales relationship none of the other like business were able to do.
Back in blog post #6, we looked at these advertising photos that Davidson took at the Shepherd Store in Providence RI.
The largest department store chain in Boston and Providence, became the largest account of David Davidson Studios.
This is a picture from my collection taken of the Shepherd Store in Providence in 1908.
Both stores took the selling of David Davidson pictures to a level that I don’t believe any account for any of the hand colored photography businesses did. They created a Davidson Room within their stores displaying and selling a vast array of Davidson work.
The salesmen. The forgotten employee. Hopefully we shed a little light on who they were, how they worked and how they helped the hand colored photography industry flourish through its Hay Day.
Introducing… Davidson Picture Index! …a story for another day
This pictures came to me maybe 10 years ago through a friend (Hi, Sharon!). The complete title of the picture is The Corona of R.I., Jan 1925. It has been on a shelf in my office, but when I decided to feature it, I thought I had better open it up to see if there was any further information on the inside; nothing! So this picture appears to be 1 of 1.
Looking at the picture, my first thought was that of Davidson focusing his camera and waiting for that millisecond to take that shot. One shot and it had to be perfect. After doing some online research, I now know that that moment was much more of a challenge to Davidson than I first realized. And if you are interested, the online information on this event is amazing!
The total solar eclipse, an event that lasted a total of 2 minutes and 32 seconds, was viewed at 9:30 on a sub zero temperature Saturday morning in January. There were many viewing spots for this eclipse in R.I. Vasa Park in Westbury, R.I. hosted an event that drew 5000 tourists for prime spot viewing.
Unfortunately we do not know exactly where in R.I. David Davidson was when his camera and talent captured this historic moment. But we now know that to have been able to take that exact picture with a perfect 100% ring of fire around the moon, he would have had to have been positioned along the southern edge of the state, possibly Watch Hill or Block Island.
The 1930s presented its obstacles to the hand colored photography movement with the stock market crash of ’29 and the Great Depression following. But the ’30s also brought new opportunities for photographers and colorists to take advantage of.
By 1920 the garden club movement in our country became closely affiliated with historic preservation. This led to the start of the famous publication in 1924, Better Homes & Gardens. More and more cars fueled The Highway Beautification act through the 1920s. So by the 1930s you could say that flowers and garden clubs were in full bloom. Hand colored photography artist reacted by creating more colorful pictures and garden scenes. These are just a few of the many Davidson garden scenes from my collection. Jamaica, Pond and Emerald Necklace of parks in Boston became Davidson’s focal point to create many of these pictures.
Wallace nutting in his final days created his series of still life floral pictures, many of which brought some of the highest prices of any of his works. These are some of the Nutting florals from my collection.
But Davidson captured the garden club and flower uprising in a way that none of the others did. He actually took pictures at flower shows focusing on the diverse array of garden club displays.
The flower show that was photographed by David Davidson took place at the Rhode Island auditorium on North Main St. in Providence. The Arena, as it was referred to, was built in 1925 and demolished in 1989. As far as the information I’ve been able to gather, Davidson photographed these events from 1934 to 1940. Fortunately, many of these pictures are dated as well as sign and titled.
This collection within my collection started years ago with this picture, which we’ve seen before back in block post #4: Sitting Pretty. The picture that I bought at auction years before I knew anything about the flower shows it was connected to:
Sitting Pretty
And this picture of a garden club display that I bought about 30 to 40 years ago at Brimfield antique show, not having any idea what the connection was.
Hillside Garden Club
The collection of pictures which I purchased almost 20 years ago, came to me in a box that looked as though it had been closed off from the light of day for maybe 70 years. Its contents, about 100 pictures as bright and colorful as the day they were taken.
For some reason, it seems that only a very few of these pictures have ever surfaced on the secondary market. Outside of what I own, I have only seen one of these flower show pictures.
But just last week as I was writing, this, something came to me that I had never thought of. None of these pictures are stamped with a copyright. Which means that Davidson did not make these to be on the resale market. This was a private commission job, possibly made to sell to the garden club through the promoters of the shows. Lack of interest may have left Davidson to pack them up and store them away. This is all speculation on my part. If someone can shed further light on this, please contact me.
The Davidson flower show pictures. The most colorful flower garden pictures created by the hand colored photography industry. But so rare that almost no one has ever seen them.
This is a new idea. And it wasn’t my idea. It was my daughters. “Dad you have so many great pictures that stand alone. They are not part of a story. What if we feature a new one every month?” and she’s right so here we go.
It’s July and we are celebrating our nation’s 250th birthday. I wanted to show a picture that represented our country‘s birthday. After walking around the house, over and over, and flipping through boxes and trunks for the right one, I kept coming back to this one.
This is a black-and-white that Davidson took a long time ago. He signed it, but unfortunately left no other identification. No title, no index number, no copyright. A one of one. I think he just thought the moment was worth capturing.
The picture appears to be a Fourth of July parade group probably resting after marching the parade route. Young and old black-and-white. Everyone in costume. Our flag probably represented. So I decided to take a closer look. 48 stars. So that places it at 1912 to 1959. If I had to guess, I would say close to 1912. And any thoughts? Let me know!
Everyone have a great celebration this Fourth of July!
This is the great thing about a blog vs. a book. I can make additions and corrections.
Digging through files looking for my next idea for a blog post, I came up with an answer to a question I posted a few blog posts ago.
What does the “L” stand for in young David Davidsons name. Not being able to find the answer is what caused me to raise the question in the first place.
David Lymen Davidson.
ALSO…
In the blog I showed the 3 very similar pictures with David L. in costume: The Connoisseur, The Butterfly, Grandpa’s Marguerites.
I walk down this hallway in my house probably 10 times a day. The other day I stopped to take a closer look.
This one is a little bit of a reach, but it does fall in line with what I’ve been referring to in previous blog post.
Davidson’s key to success was being able to keep many “irons in the fire”. Being a small business man always determined to succeed and never at a loss to keep busy, David Davison became the conservator of several estates during the 1930s. One of these estates yielded a thriving little business, The Jewelry Polishing Co., established 1905 and located in Providence R.I.
Davidson purchased Jewelers Polishing Company and successfully operated the business through the 1940s. The business ran its operation at a different location than Davidson Studios, and as far as I know, didn’t involve any of the Davidson staff.
The small case of Jennings Silver Soap has been part of my Davidson collection for many years. Given to me by the Davidson family, I’m sure this little bar of silver soap which sold for $.10 was not the only product sold by Jewelers Polishing Co. Unfortunately, this is the only example I have of what they produced.
Outside of myself and the Davidson family, I don’t think anyone else was aware of Davidson‘s other “irons in the fire”.
It’s Spring – Time for Flowers! The Flower Show Pictures….Story for another day.
Many of us who have taken apart a framed Davidson picture have seen this small 1 1/4“ x 3“ label.
The label was sometimes glued to the back of a picture or sometimes to the back of a matt but most people don’t know what the label represents. If you look closely, you can see that the label has two emblems. One depicts David Davidson studio with a “DD” in the center. The other emblem shows a pavilion with the words “International Exposition San Francisco”. The label represents awards won by David Davidson at the exposition.
The year was 1915. The Panama Canal had just been completed in 1914 and San Francisco was not yet 10 years in its recovery from the earthquake that decimated the city in 1906. In February 1915, the Panama Pacific international exposition, a world fair, was opened in San Francisco, California.
The fairs stated purpose was to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal, but it was widely seen in the city as an opportunity to showcase the city’s recovery from the earthquake. The fair showcased new technology. If you can imagine the year being 1915, the new technology in the world was cars, planes and telephones.
Awards and metals were given out for numerous categories including fine arts, photography and hand colored photography. Davidson offered samples of his work for consideration in the competition.
My pursuit of the details as to who was Davidson‘s competition and what were the hand colored photos that were presented required a lot of digging. What I was very surprised to find was my name and this blog noted as a resource to find information on Davidson. As it turns out none of the specific works of any of the contestants were photographed or saved for posterity. I was so looking forward to finding out what specific pictures Davidson presented. What I did find out was that the contestants all offered a grouping of their work that represented different styles and categories.
The exposition’s top prize in the field of hand colored photography was offered to a local artist; Willard Warden 1868-1946.
Warden’s work was very localized to the San Francisco area. He specialized in art photos of seascapes and landscapes of Northern California and San Francisco, sometimes colored by hand with watercolor and oils. Being a local artist he understood the city wanting to use the exposition to showcase the city’s recovery from the earthquake. His entry in the competition was a grouping of hand colored photos of the devastation and recovery of the 1906 earthquake.
Until now I have never heard of Willard Warden. He was a self taught photographer. The height of his career was the 1915 exposition. Being from the West Coast that long ago, Warden did not have the influence of the great photographers of New England so what did his work look like? If someone wanted to pursue a new name in the field of hand colored photography, Willard Warden might be a very interesting choice.
David Davidson‘s hand colored grouping of photos won him the bronze medal award at the Panama Pacific International Exposition in 1915. The actual award is part of the Davidson family collection.
The family was good enough to send me a photo of the award, which still finds dedicated wall space after 110 years. That small label that Davidson attached to the back of his pictures will occasionally show itself, reminding us of his accomplishment all those years ago.
