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Mrs. Cleveland and Ladies of the Cabinet.
Washington, D.C.: [C. M. Bell Studio], ca. 1894. Silver bromide print, 6.875” x 9” on larger hand-tinted mount (9.75” x11.875”), printed title and caption on mount below image. CONDITION: Photo very good, very slight wear at edges; some wear and soiling to mount. A scarce photograph taken during President Grover Cleveland’s second term in office, showing First Lady Frances Folsom Cleveland and the wives—and one sister—of Cleveland’s cabinet members, all formidably armed in “leg of mutton” sleeves. Mrs. Cleveland, striking in a white striped jacket amid the dark dresses of her entourage, is surrounded by Agnes Park Thomas Olney, wife of Attorney General Richard Olney; Louise Fowler Sturges Bissell, wife of Postmaster General Wilson S. Bissell; Emma Morton, sister of Secretary of Agriculture Julius Sterling Morton; Sarah O’Neal Gresham, wife of Secretary of State Walter Quinton Gresham; Mary Goodson Carlisle, wife of Secretary of the Treasury John Griffin Carlisle; Juliet Lamont, wife of Secretary of War Daniel S. Lamont; and Birdie Cobb Smith, the youngest of the bunch and wife of Secretary of the Interior Hoke Smith. The group is framed by two plants in ornate stands in the background. Cleveland and her “Cabinet ladies,” with their gatherings, receptions, and visiting hours, were a fixture of Washington society pages throughout the Cleveland presidential terms. Born in Washington, D.C., Charles Milton Bell (1848–1893) grew up in a family of photographers and, after splitting off from his father and brother, opened a prominent portrait studio in Washington, D.C. in 1873. “Residents and visitors alike sat for the camera, including political figures, businessmen, educators, entertainers, church leaders, athletes, foreign visitors and more. Bell also photographed Indian visitors to the capital, sometimes at the behest of government entities such as the Department of the Interior and Bureau of American Ethnology” (Finefield). At the height of the business, Bell’s studio occupied four street numbers between 459 and 465 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W., as well as a branch location near the White House. Following his death in 1893, Bell’s wife Annie Colley Bell (1859–1932) took over day-to-day operations—with occasional help from her sons—although she soon closed the “West End Branch,” and around 1900 sold the business to Atha and Cunningham, who continued for some years to operate under Bell’s name. The photograph offered here, taken a year after Bell’s death, may have been taken by his wife. No holdings in OCLC. Two different photos (here and here), evidently from the same studio session, are held at the Library of Congress. An appealing studio portrait of the leading ladies of Washington, possibly taken by a female photographer. REFERENCES: Finefield, Kristi. “C. M. Bell Studio Collection: Newly Digitized Portraits” at the Library of Congress online.
Item #9441
Price: $475.00
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