Sunday, April 10, 2011

Monarchs of the Past ...

Here's another great old postcard photo: "Monarchs of the Past," by T. J. Hileman. The image probably dates from the 1920s, when Hileman was an official photographer for the Great Northern Railway, capturing views of the Glacier Park country for use in the GN's promotional efforts. The shot is highly reflective of the GN's traditional use of Blackfeet imagery in its advertising materials ... and in a broader sense, it typifies the period's popular romantic nostalgia for the rapidly-vanishing traditions of Native American life.

2 comments:

  1. I love the colors of the postcards of this era...a peculiar subdued brightness. I can't describe it.

    The words "romantic nostalgia" are precisely right for the image.

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  2. Yep, I really like those colors, too. This was almost certainly a black-and-white image that had been hand-colored for postcard reproduction ... that's how most of them were back then, and I love the way those look.

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