The End Part 3

Blog Post #7

We’ve talked about Davidson facsimile prints and his private commission work, which Davidson mixed in with his hand colored photography when times were good and more so when sales declined.

Added to Davidson’s repertoire of alternative pictures 1930’s – 1940’s, were pictures referred to as Colonial Prints. I can remember when one or two of these would show up at the auctions. I looked at them as being on the “rare” side and they didn’t go for much, so I was buying them. Not sure where the name Colonial Prints came from. I don’t think it came from Davidson because they are not prints. They are hand colored photos. And, they are not all colonial style. I think it might have just been a name put to these different pictures, not knowing what else to call them.

This is an image of “A Morning Call”, which was a black and white photo of a colonial drawing. Davidson colorists turned it into a hand colored photo

These images are John Alden and Priscilla. They were also titled “The Mayflower of Plymouth”, the untitled “Couple and Swans” and “Return of the Victors”. These are black and white photos of paintings that were then hand colored. Soon my search for these different Davidsons had me finding this picture, which was done in the same way but not colonial in appearance.

Baby Stewart is Davidsons hand colored version of the 15th century painting by Sir Anthony Van Dyke with the same title.

The process of creating these Colonial Prints was much like Davidsons private commissions work in that it didn’t require the involved and lengthy procedure of a photo shoot. Just Davidson and his camera. Far less expensive to create. Another one of Davidsons “irons in the fire” during tough economic times.

By 1950 hand colored photography sales that had begun to slow as early as the 30’s now slowed to a trickle. Years of Davidson compensating and always adding another iron to the fire to keep up with declining sales, were coming to an end.

Davidson Studios began selling a series of patriotic colored prints. George Washington, General Douglas MacArthur, and WWII patriotic scenes were some of the many.

Probably the last alternative pictures sold by David Davidson Studios were a series of floral prints.

These florals started to appear on many of the sales receipts that I have, beginning in 1950.

Facsimile prints, private commissions, colonial prints, patriotic prints and florals. The many irons in the fire that helped David Davidson Studios through the declining years of the hand colored photography movement. In 1955 the Davidson family finally closed the doors on their studio at 57 Whitmarsh Street, Providence, RI.

The many topics and unique pictures to follow that were part of the half century of David Davidson Studios?

A story for another day…..