Carte-de-Visite Portrait of a Seated African American Child, c. 1860s.
Cincinnati, Ohio: Ball & Thomas, Photographic Art Gallery, No. 30 West Fourth Street, near Walnut, circa mid-1860s. Albumen print on original mount with printed studio backmark. Light toning and minor edge wear; excellent contrast. Item #Cat346
A striking studio portrait of an African American child, produced by the distinguished Black photographer James Presley Ball (1825–1904) or his business partner Alexander Thomas during his Cincinnati partnership Ball & Thomas. Born in Virginia, Ball established himself in Cincinnati by the late 1840s and, in 1852, opened the Ball & Thomas Photographic Art Gallery with his brother and brother-in-law. The firm became one of the most prominent studios in the Midwest. Ball was also an outspoken abolitionist, publishing in 1855 a pamphlet condemning slavery and mounting photographic exhibitions depicting the horrors of the Middle Passage and enslavement. His studio survived a devastating tornado in 1860 and continued to serve a diverse clientele. Recent scholarship has emphasized Ball’s broader importance as a pioneering Black image-maker who used photography as a means of civic assertion and racial representation. Operating in Cincinnati—a border city deeply shaped by slavery, abolitionism, and Black migration—Ball’s studio provided carefully composed portraits that projected dignity, refinement, and belonging.[1]
The present image depicts the child seated in an upholstered chair against a painted scenic backdrop, consistent with the studio’s advertised “new and improved scenic back-grounds” and the “renowned Sarony poser.” The verso imprint confirms the Cincinnati location. Though Ball’s commercial output was fairly prolific, images of African American sitters from Ball’s studios are less common, with one appearing at auction (Lot 64,The Road West: The Steve Turner Collection of African-Americana, 2/20/2020, sold $2,750).
[1] keondra bills freemyn, “Bearing Witness: James Presley Ball, Black Image Making, and the Promise of Freedom in the American West,” Curationist, August 2024, https://www.curationist.org/editorial-features/article/bearing-witness:-james-presley-ball-black-image-making-and-the-promise-of-freedom-in-the-american-west.
Price: $1,500.00