Studio portrait of a young woman, circa 1915

About this postcard

A young woman sits in a wooden chair for a studio portrait, her body angled slightly and her face turned toward the camera. She wears a pale dress with a lace insert at the bodice, a flowered headband across her hair, and a brooch pinned at the throat. The plain backdrop and soft, even lighting are the working setup of a small commercial studio. Sittings like this were ordinary business in the early 1900s, when inexpensive real photo cards let a sitter order several prints of one pose to hand to family and friends or send through the mail. The lace and headband suggest a young woman dressed with care for the occasion, posed in the restrained, formal manner studios of the period favored.