Lot 264: Untitled (Little Girl) by Jessie Tarbox Beals

Untitled (Little Girl) by Jessie Tarbox BealsA charming untitled silver gelatin portrait of a young girl enjoying a tea party with her dolls, 1910, with penciled notation and Jessie Tarbox Beals / Hotel Allerton / Chicago, ILL. stamp on verso; 8 x 10 in.

Jessie Tarbox Beals (1870-1942) initially worked as a teacher in Massachusetts, but purchased her first camera in 1888 and began taking and developing pictures as a hobby. In 1897, she married Alfred Tennyson Beals, and by 1900, she left teaching and pursued photography as a full time career with her husband as her assistant. Beals started as a traveling photographer, but she was eventually hired by the Buffalo Inquirer as a staff photographer in 1902. She is considered one of the first women to hold this particular position on a U.S. paper. By 1904, Beals moved to St. Louis to take pictures of the World's Fair, and she eventually became the only official female photographer for the exhibition. Following this experience, Beals moved to New York and opened her own studio. Throughout the remainder of her career, she took a variety of photographs, including portraits of famous figures such as President Theodore Roosevelt.

Strange discoloration along right edge, perhaps as a result of developing process; wear to upper and lower corners on left side; small crease along lower left edge.