Photograph of A. W. Mellon, Signed
Washington DC: Underwood and Underwood, c1925. Presumed one of several copies made. Photograph. Format is approximately 11 inches by 14 inches, with the photographic image approximately 7.5 by 9.25 inches. This photograph is unframed. The side and top borders are approximately 1.75 inches, and the bottom border is approximately 2.75 inches. The photographer identification as Underwood and Underwood Washington is very faint just under the bottom left corner of the image. The inscription has been mostly obliterated but the signature of A. W. Mellon is untouched. It appears to have been inscribed to Mr. Henry B------- with pleasant memories. A. W. Mellon. This image was identified through research on line which found this image in the Historic Pittsburgh exhibit of the University of Pittsburgh Library System. Estimated date is derived from a range presented in the Pittsburgh record. The attribution to Underwood and Underwood is also in this record. This photograph is assumed to have been taken while Mellon was the Secretary of the Treasury. Andrew Mellon (1855-1937), was the Secretary of the Treasury (1921-1932) to three Presidents (Harding, Coolidge and Hoover). He was also a successful banker and co-founder of Alcoa, Gulf Oil and U.S. Steel. A prominent art collector, he donated $15 million to build the National Art Gallery in Washington, DC, which opened in 1941. It started with housing Mellon's art collection, which was donated to the government upon his death in 1937. At the time, it was valued at $25 million. Two brothers, Elmer and Bert Underwood founded Underwood and Underwood in 1880 in Ottawa. The youths started with door to door sales of stereoscopic photographs. Persistency and improvements in business methods brought the Underwoods an increasing measure of success, and they soon became the exclusive agency for three prominent stereographic publishers. As the organization grew, branch offices were established in other cities in the U.S., Canada and Great Britain. The company relocated its headquarters to New York City in 1891. After the move to New York, Underwood and Underwood began making its own stereoscopic photographs and in 1896 commenced selling news photos to newspapers and magazines. The first group of photographs showed the Graeco-Turkish war and were taken by Bert Underwood while at the front with the Greeks. By 1901, production of stereoscopic photographs at Underwood and Underwood reached 25,000 a day while annual sales of stereoscopes attained a level of 300,000. An army of freelance news photographers was fielded and newspaper and magazine publishers seeking to break away from traditional line drawings and wood cut illustrations clamored for Underwood and Underwood prolific output. Around 1904 they set up a sales agency that would virtually dominate the news photo field for the next 30 years. Condition: Fair.
Keywords: Andrew Mellon, Photograph, Autograph, Cabinet Secretary, Secretary of the Treasury, Entrepreneur, Banker, U.S. Steel, Alcoa, Gulf Oil, Underwood and Underwood
[Book #83158]
Price: $500.00