[Cabinet Card Portrait of a Chinese Man in Western Clothes]

Brown, Theodore A. (photographer)

Notes: A studio portrait of a Chinese man Western clothes: plaid pants, a white shirt, a polka-dotted vest, and a striped jacket. He wears a bowler hat and holds an umbrella like a walking stick. The studio setting mimics an outdoor scene with a large papier-mache tree, dried grass on the floor, and a painted botanical backdrop. This image is good evidence that by the end of the 19th century, Chinese immigrants had settled all over the United States, even in small town Iowa.

Albumen silver print; 3-7/8 by 5-1/2 inches on a larger mount with the name "Brown" at 19 West Main Street in Marshalltown, Iowa.

Edition + Condition: The image is well focused and has nice contrast. There is a small area of surface scuffing that blends in like one of the backdrop flowers; the lower left corner of the cabinet card is bent, just affecting the corner of the photograph. The back of the cabinet card is inscribed in pencil, "This was given to your Grandpa for you[,] compliments of Shong High.

Publication: Marshalltown, Iowa: Brown, (n.d. but ca. 1890).

Item No: #307725

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