Woman and child - a photo on Flickriver

Woman and child

            Portrait of a rather stiff-looking woman and a toddler. At first I just thought it must be mother and child (not necessarily daughter, toddlers at the time dressed in dresses no matter if boys and girls), but looking closer I felt less sure. 

The woman looks rather uncomfortable with the child, as if she doesn't quite know how to act. People on these old photos often look stiff in modern eyes, but I don't think that explains everything here. The other clue is that the woman is not wearing a wedding-ring. Of course there existed unmarried mothers back then, but it was a problematic thing and these two seems to belong to a financial secure situation (note her blouse and the enormous lace collar on the child) where it was even more problematic and to be avoided - having a child out of wedlock there most often meant being sent away to give birth and returning without the child. Especially if you did not live in a big city, and Sollefteå at this time (I think the photo was taken around 1900) had just over 1.250 inhabitants at the time. 

To sum it up, I think these two are relatives, perhaps aunt and niece/nephew, or even cousins.

Taken by the photographer Theres Karlström. She had opened her photo-studio around 1900 and had it for some twenty years (despite her marriage in 1909 - at a time when marriage often was a natural stopping-point for a woman's career). She had her sister working in the studio too, first as assistant and later on as a photographer herself.

Taken in: Sweden / Västernorrland / Sollefteå (show map)

Taken on: January 1, 1900

Tags:

portrait

porträtt

retrato

ritratto

肖像

vintage

old

kvinna

frau

femme

woman

mujer

donna

女

child

barn

Kind

enfant

Niño

bambino

子

sweden

sverige

schweden

suecia

suède

svezia

スウェーデン

Sollefteå

Theres Karlström « less

Sets appears in: • Vintage portraits • Vintage clothing

Groups appears in: • Old Photos • 100 years old more » • Vintage Kids • Vintage Female Photos • Antique Photographs • Pre-1930 Photos • Vintage Portraiture • Sweden before 1950 • Vintage Scans • ~ THE 20th CENTURY ~ • Vintage Orphaned Photographs • The Memory • ºNEORETROº • Vintage Female Photographers « less

Camera: HP Scanjet G3010 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	HP Scanjet G3010
Saturation:	Low
Sharpness:	Soft
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Microsoft Windows Photo Viewer 6.1.7600.16385
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