White sofa photo by decor8

Art Photo Wall Decor

Historical Photos

Many of my personal favorites are historical photos, whether it's a famous historical figure, maybe taken before he was famous, or just a glimpse of the everyday life of some past era. Even a simple snapshot takes on extra interest with the passage of time.

I'd like to mention two issues that come up with some of the very old photos. One is the image quality, especially if it's going to be blown up bigger than 8x10. It may show considerable graininess. It's not necessarily a problem; it can be part of the appeal - making it look more authentically old.

The second issue, is that, before about the 1910s or 1920s, photography was not considered to be an art, even by many of the photographers. A camera was just a machine for recording things. As a response to this, the first art photos were in the pictorialist style, which means the photographer relied on filter effects and manually manipulating the image after development, including drawing or painting new elements onto the photo. (Look up photographer William Mortensen to see some good examples.) Again, it's not necessarily a bad thing, but by today's standards it might not strictly be considered a photograph. Instead it's some kind of hybrid painting/photo.

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Beware: there are several versions of this famous kiss; be sure to get the right one! There was another photographer, Victor Jorgensen, standing to Eisenstaedt's right, who photographed this same kiss. Although it captures the same exuberance of the day, his angle does not have the same graphical impact. It is sometimes mistakenly attributed to Eisenstaedt. There are also other shots by Eisenstaedt. The kiss is the same, but the crowd is not. Specifically, there is an oncoming sailor on the left side of the image that is a distraction. (In this image, he's the guy half-way cut off on the left edge.) Kissing the War Goodbye, Times Square, May 8th, 1945 by Alfred Eisenstaedt (aka Kissing on VJ Day) $50-$130	American Soldier Chatting with a Sunbathing German Girl in Postwar Berlin by Margaret Bourke-White $50-$130	Indian Leader Mohandas Gandhi Reading as He Sits Cross Legged on Floor by Margaret Bourke-White $100-$200	This is unbelievable! The Scarred Back of a Male Slave, c.1855 $50	Jackie Robinson, Brooklyn Dodgers, 1947 $25-$50

Louise Brooks $23	Mother and Baby Wearing Gas Masks During Gas Preparations Test During WWII by Hans Wild $50-$130	Crew on the Deck of the USS Monitor, c.1862 by Mathew Brady $50	Nikola Tesla Serbian Inventor in His American Laboratory $35-$180	Aboard USS Missouri as Japanese Mamoru Shigemitsu Signs Official Surrender Documents Ending WWII by Carl Mydans $100-$200

Barbed Wire Which Separates East and West Berlin by Paul Schutzer $50-$130	Automobile Arriving from the Eastern Sector of Berlin Being Halted by West Berlin Police by Ralph Crane $50-$130	George Bernard Shaw Irish Playwright and Critic in July 1891 Wearing a Distinctive Hat $30-$150	Muhammad Ali: The Great White Hope $30	Construction of George Washington Section of Mt. Rushmore Monument by Alfred Eisenstaedt $50-$130

Sarah Bernhardt in Costume, circa 1860 by Nadar $35-$180	I still don't know how you get on or off one of these crazy bikes, but it's the goofy quote on the side that really makes it! Tom Hughes with the Bicycle He Purchased in 1887 $30-$150	Chief Joseph, Nez Perce Napoleon, Leader of the War of 1887, Indian Warrior and Statesman from Idaho by Edward Curtis $40-$70	The Eiffel Tower During Construction in May 1888 by Neurdein Brothers $40-$70	Heinrich Schliemann was the guy who discovered and excavated (some would say ravaged) Troy, when it was thought to be wholly fictional. These jewels could belong, but probably don't, to Helen of Troy! Sophia Schliemann, Wife of Heinrich Schliemann, with Ornaments Found in Ancient Troy, 1822-1890 $80-$200

This wreck happened in 1895. One unfortunate woman on the ground was killed. Everybody in the train and the station was OK. Train Accident at the Gare Montparnasse, Paris, 1895 by Roger-Viollet $15	Soapy Smith's Saloon Bar at Skagway, Alaska, 1898 $50 (Read about "Soapy" at the Smith family website.)	Pablo Picasso Drawing a Centaur in the Air with a Flashlight at Madoura Pottery by Gjon Mili $100-$500