[African Americana]. [Texas]

[Late 19th-Century Cabinet Card of an African-American Man in San Antonio]

San Antonio: Barr Studio, [1880s]. Cabinet card photograph. Light wear and toning, a bit of foxing. Image clear. Very good. Item #3847

A handsome studio portrait of an African-American gentleman taken by D.P. Barr in San Antonio. It shows an unidentified man seated against what appears to be a "nature" background. He is in view almost full length, dressed in a three-piece suit and a bowler hat; one hand rests on his knee while the other arm rests casually on a prop. He looks directly into the camera, projecting a calm confidence. David P. Barr was born in 1839, a native of Ohio. He started as a partner with Barr & Wright in Houston in the 1870s before striking out on his own and moving to San Antonio. He operated a photography studio there from the early 1880s until around 1920. At the age of eighty, he is listed in the 1920 census as the owner and proprietor of a photo studio in the city. The present cabinet card does not list an address for him, but does have a printed note beneath the image which reads, "Patented Oct. 10th and Dec. 5th, 1882," leading us to date this albumen photograph to the early years of his career.

Price: $650.00