IMAGE TO IDEAStephen Zietz

Georgia State University Special Collections and Archives

On the Power and Use of the Photographic NegativeCOMMERCIAL PHOTOGRAPHS

IN THE LANE BROTHERS PHOTOGRAPHERS “RETAINED SERIES”

Lane Brothers Letterhead, after 1942

THE LANE BROTHERS’ CAMERA WORKS

"Back Somersault in Nine Easy Lessons," clipping from the Sunday American (Atlanta, Georgia) newspaper (July 30, 1939), showing young Jack Carver in a springboard dive. The stop-action photographs were taken by Dan Lane.

IMAGES HAVE POWER

Richard Brooks, Janitor. Portrait photograph made for the Fulton National Bank of Atlanta, August 25, 1955.

Innocence is not without its defense; according to the sacred text, “I have not seen the righteous forsaken” (Psalms 37:25). This agrees with what one reads of an ancient orator wishing to defend the case of a certain lady, who having given birth to a black infant, dissimilar to her husband, was charged with adultery. He offered as proof of her innocence that in the room in which she dwelled, there was a painting of an Ethiopian, as if to say that the sight of the black figure and the vigorously implanted impression it made, were the real reason for the blackness of the birth and, on the contrary, not the least bit of the sin of impurity. “Mother Nature,” with the glances made on that black object, tinted the conceived-baby black. And, therefore, one should not judge as an impropriety that which was marked with the color. (Giovanni Domenico Ottonelli. Trattato della pittura e scultura, uso et abuso loro, 1652. Translation, SJZ.)

Nativity scene (crèche) with pine boughs and artificial poinsettias on console piano. Lane Brothers, December 1944? A variety of plaster and plastic figures from several “sets.” On the far right is a plastic figure of a U.S. sailor. Although there are three magi in the scene, the face of the one that might be the black magus is obscured by a leaf or ribbon.

THE VIEWER IN THE IMAGE

Street view: Bankhead Highway (Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway) at Mildred Place, Atlanta, Georgia, 1951.

Russell McGee, track runner, Georgia Tech, 1943.

SCIENCE EXPLAINS THE “POWER” OF THE IMAGE

Baby Joyce Schultz in crib at Scottish Rite Hospital, August 21, 1951. Lane Brothers Commercial Photographers photo taken by W.C. Lane, Jr. for the child's father, Joe Schultz.

A Photographic Baby. The following appears in the British Journal of Photography of October 28: “Some time since, my wife was engaged preparing albumen paper in a silver bath, and in a moment of abstraction pressed two of her fingers on her forehead, being at the time about to add another “olive branch” to the family. Soon after the birth of the baby we were surprised and annoyed at noticing that the child, when in strong light, exhibited two distinct impressions similar to silver stains before fixing; and the strangest part of the matter is that these disappear as night comes on and reappear as daylight arrives. I have not yet attempted to ‘tone and fix’ these said stains; and, although at present serving as a sort of actinometer to me, will prove a sad disfigurement to my daughter’s appearance in daylight, and we much regret they were not impressed in some less conspicuous place. I am &c., the Father of the Photographic Baby.” The editor adds: “Were the writer of the foregoing not know to us, we should have thrown aside his letter as an impudent hoax; but as we know him well as an excellent photographer, a good citizen, and a being little addicted to joking, we give his communication a place in our journal, and leave those more competent that ourselves to explain the strange phenomenon which we believe to be faithfully recorded by our correspondent.” – from the Boston Daily Advertiser (Nov. 22, 1864)

THE ART

Advertising photograph of a man looking through a tube, for Kirkland, White, and Schell Advertising Agency, Atlanta, Georgia (1954)

Advertising photograph of translucent packaging, for Kirkland, White, and Schell Advertising Agency, Atlanta, Georgia (1953)

POSITIVE VIEW OF THE NEGATIVECharles E. Stowers, portrait photograph made by Lane Brothers Commercial Photographers, for AT & T, Atlanta, Georgia, September 5, 1956. Positive and negatives images from original negative

ART—CONTENT AND CONTAINER

Copy of photo tacked to board, with heavy retouching-paint that has peeled off in places. Original photograph is of man with his dog. Date uncertain; 1940s?

Victory garden (?). Mother and young child in cottage garden. Unidentified damaged (channeled) negative; 1940s?

Victory garden (?). Mother and young child, with "grandfather" in cottage garden. Unidentified negative; 1940s?

THE IMAGE AS ILLUSTRATIONFlat Iron Building. Photograph by Lane Brothers Commercial Photographers (early 1940s?), used in August 1940 to illustrate their advertisement in a newspaper.

THE IMAGE AS SOURCE

Lady's pocketbook or purse. Patchwork of various leathers. Photograph made sometime in the 1940s by Lane Brothers for a retail store.

"Skin," Judy C. Knight's diptych painting based on two photographs from the Lane Brothers Collection, 2009.

Beauty contestant: woman in very brief two-pieced bikini, with plumed headdress against fabric background. Southeastern Fair Association, between 1943 and 1946.

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RECONSTRUCTING AN ART COLLECTION

Mill-Stream with Wooden Bridge, by John Constable, back of canvas with gallery labels, 1958

St. Sebastian with beard, 2 arrows, and martyr's palm, 17th century

Prodigal Son tending the swine, attributed to Zurbaran, 17th century

RECONSTRUCTING AN ART COLLECTION

Waiting for the Boats, portrait of seated woman, by Thomas Faed, R.A. (1826-1900). Detail showing gallery label on back of painting frame

Waiting for the Boats, portrait of seated woman, by Thomas Faed, R.A. (1826-1900).

WOMEN – TRADITIONAL ROLES

Childcare at Georgia Baptist Hospital, 1942

Evie and Chip Robert, Atlanta, Georgia, April 25, 1943.

Evie Robert, with her stepson, Lawrence Wood Robert, III,

standing under a garden arch, Atlanta, Georgia, April 25, 1943.

Maternity care at Georgia Baptist Hospital, 1942

WOMEN ON THE HOME FRONT

Woman wearing glasses sitting in upholstered chair writing letter, dog sleeping in chair, flowers and photograph of soldier on side-table, flowered drapes. December 1944?

Lily Pons holding the flag of Free France (France libre), in the GEorgian Terrace Hotel, Atlanta, April 13, 1943

A WOMAN’S PLACE…IS IN THE PHOTOGRAPH

Walter's Jewelry Co. (Atlanta, Ga.). Shop photo, showing six men at workbench; photo taken by Charles D. Jackson for Lane Brothers Commercial Photographers, October 7, 1946.

Interior view of watch-repair shop with four women workers and one male supervisor, made by Dan Lane of Lane Brothers Commercial Photographers, for Kirk-Dial of Georgia, Inc., December 8, 1958.

Unidentified factory scene. Women packing boxes on assembly line. Undated; 1950s?

HIGHWAY TO BETTER RESEARCH….. KNOWING HOW MAKES THE DIFFERENCE

Newspaper clipping of advertisement for Lane Bros. Photo News Service, from unidentified newspaper, ca. 1949?