Have You Seen Me?

Does anyone get the feeling that these shot are not really documentation, be designed to be titillating? I know, not by modern standards, but there certainly is a lot of "exotic" things in the photographs. Combine that with our cultures perception that anyone who does not ascribe to cultural norms is probably liberal in bed too.

The woman's expression might either be an agreement that although the pictures need to be sexy, the woman herself cannot be flirty or interested in sex (so they can be sold as art or journalism), or the photographer found a woman who will do the modeling, and too the pictures demanded, ignoring the face of the model for the rest of the subject of the photograph.

Or maybe I read too much into things.

Comely

I find this woman's utter lack of expression very irritating. Her face is a complete blank. Come on, Miss Farra-farnham-whoever-you-are, crack a smile or something!

Great at poker. The expression on the lady woud be hard to read. Does she have a "high card" or a "full house"?

Black onyx scarab ring -- this lady was definitely into the occult studies!

She does not look like a very happy lady.

She looks quite a bit older in this shot. Whether the light's less forgiving here or more flattering elsewhere I don't know, but it might affect our guess of who she is.

It isn't often I am madly envious of clothing styles on Shorpy, but I am totally lusting over her outfit and earrings. She looks fabulous.

Where have you been Aunt Agatha? You have missed so many family gatherings and Uncle Albert wants you to come home. Please let us hear from you!

The mystery woman appears to be wearing a scarab ring on her right hand. (If you look closely, you can see that the stone has lines carved into it.) This would have been around the right time for the rise in popularity of Egyptian revival ornamentation.