Michael Lehr Antiques
Live Auction

Fall Photographic History Auction, 2025

Sat, Sep 6, 2025 01:00PM EDT
  2025-09-06 13:00:00 2025-09-06 13:00:00 America/New_York Michael Lehr Michael Lehr : Fall Photographic History Auction, 2025 https://auction.michaellehrantiques.com/auctions/michael-lehr-antiques/fall-photographic-history-auction-2025-20189
We are pleased to announce our next auction, featuring approximately 200 individual lots drawn from a diverse and compelling range of 19th- and early 20th-century photography. This sale focuses on vernacular images, photographs created not as formal studio portraits or elite commissions, but as direct, unscripted records of lived experience. These are objects made by and for everyday people, preserving moments of intimacy, labor, travel, performance, identity, and loss.
Michael Lehr Antiques info@michaellehrantiques.com
Lot 272

CDV Size tintype of a painter who did a comic sketch

Estimate: $200 - $300
Starting Bid
$100

Bid Increments

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Charming and humorous CDV-sized tintype showing a house painter mid-task, pausing in front of a freshly primed wall where he has left a playful drawing before beginning his real work. The bearded man, dressed in work clothes and a cap, rests one foot on a wooden crate next to a paint can with brushes, striking a theatrical pose as he looks off-camera with brush in hand. Behind him, sketched in paint, is a whimsical cartoonish face with spiked hair, wide eyes, a large grin, and a smoking pipe, executed in broad strokes and brimming with personality. Occupational tintypes of painters are scarce to begin with, but those that capture a sense of humor or self-expression are especially uncommon. This image combines documentation of labor with a rare dose of theatricality, suggesting a moment of levity either staged by the sitter or encouraged by the photographer. The wall sketch, temporary by nature, becomes permanently preserved in the photograph, adding a narrative element and insight into the subject’s character. The size and intimacy of the image further enhance its appeal, presenting a blend of folk performance, occupational identity, and spontaneous creativity rarely seen in 19th-century portraiture.

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