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VINTAGRAPH • WPA • WWII • YOU MEAN A WOMAN CAN OPEN IT?

Whatever You Do, Don't Smile: 1920's

They say that the reason people didn’t smile in early photo portraits was because people were not typically depicted smiling in formal painted portraits. That makes mental sense if you equate camera portraits to oil paint portraits. But I don’t think they ever looked as sour and close to tears in painted portraits as this European relative of my grandmother does in this photograph. View full size.

They say that the reason people didn’t smile in early photo portraits was because people were not typically depicted smiling in formal painted portraits. That makes mental sense if you equate camera portraits to oil paint portraits. But I don’t think they ever looked as sour and close to tears in painted portraits as this European relative of my grandmother does in this photograph. View full size.

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