Sunday, January 11, 2015

Is it an Evans?

One of the more frustrating aspects of researching a photographer is coming upon photographs that seem like their work, but are unsigned or unattributed.  In going through the many magazines found on the extremely valuable Media History Digital Library website (mediahistoryproject.org), it's not uncommon to find such a photo that makes me wonder if it could be an Evans.  Every photographer has a certain style, but it is clear from looking at the work of the many Hollywood photographers of the day that they borrowed ideas freely from one another.  It's next to impossible to say who was taking from whom, but some of the studios that produced work that was most like Evans were the Hoover Art Studio, Hartsook Studio and Northland Studio.  I could probably go on and on (and may in a later post), but my point today is that it doesn't make my research any easier.

A good example of an 'is it an Evans' photo is (like the previous post) one I have in my Louise Fazenda collection.





Unfortunately, the right third of the photo is missing, most likely taking with it the photographer's signature.  The back has nothing but a snarky remark about it being suitable for a "How the Stars Recline" series.  It is, however, stylistically similar to 2 other photos in my collection, one of Louise Glaum and another of Ms. Fazenda (maybe Evans was working on a "How Louise's Recline" series).


     
You can see the similarities, but it's not necessarily enough to say with any certainty that it is an Evans.  If I were to name another possibility, it would probably be Albert Witzel, but I've yet to come across anything quite the same coming out of his studio.  For now, I am tentatively identifying it as an Evans, but would not be surprised in the least to find out it is the work of another studio.

UPDATE 8/3/15: A complete copy of the photo has appeared on EBay and it is indeed a Witzel photograph.