OTTO SARONY STUDIO, PHOTOGRAPH AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMAN, ca. 1900

[1900ca OTTO SARONY STUDIO AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMAN ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPH RARE] OTTO SARONY PHOTOGRAPH OF AN AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMAN nicely dressed standing at the bottom of steps with windows of apartment building behind her, with cardboard frame which has come apart with losses at edges of the front part, full-length photograph of African American woman, underneath photo with name in fancy italics, "Otto Sarony, 707 Broad St., Newark, N.J." (see Notes below), at lower left of front part of cardboard frame note in pen "From Dorothy to dear Clifton", lightly sepia photograph on relatively heavy photographic paper 8" high x 5" across, cardboard holder overall roughly 10-3/4" x 7" with 6" x 3-3/4" frame for photo, undated/date estimated from clothing of the woman, photo well-preserved/near fine detached from backing of the holder with dried remains of adhesive in the corners; RARE Sarony Studio photographs of African American individuals are rare for sale, some are found in online searches in archives, most of these are of notable individuals in the entertainment field; NOTES: OTTO SARONY: 1850–1903, portrait photographer and the owner of a celebrity photography business. Napoleon Sarony, the premier theatrical photographer of the 19th century, was his father. Sarony the Younger, as he was known, continued the family business. (wikipedia); OTTO SARONY BUSINESS NAME: In 1898 Sarony sold 'all the fixtures, implements, cameras, lenses, specimens and materials used in about the photographic establishment…together with the trade-mark 'Sarony' " to Jonathan Burrow. In 1902, desiring greater income, Otto Sarony, perhaps to fund his activities as a yachtsman, sold the right to his name to photographic entrepreneur Theodore C. Marceau. Otto Sarony served as Marceau's manager from Dec. 22, 1902, until his death in September 1903. From September 1903 onward, the Otto Sarony label issued photographs taken by other photographers. Otto Sarony remained a brand until World War I, and when the Marceau Studio merged with the Otto Sarony Studio in 1906, the volume of issues under the Otto Sarony name multiplied. Thus, in all likelihood, the photographs appearing under the brand Otto Sarony are in all probability not his creations, but those of W.H. Babbitt and a host of nameless cameramen. (Broadway Photographs website) ///// CONDITION: well-preserved, lightly sepia toned photo clear with minor age-wear of tiny spot of surface loss and a couple of similarly tiny, barely noticeable indentations, original cardboard holder apart in two pieces with losses at edges of the front piece.