Absence/Presence: Scratched Out Negative Cabinet Card Obfuscating Figure lion soap dish and painted the perfect brick

and painted the perfect brick red and white

with hand-painted lit cigarette on top

which appears to have been given to an Edmund Hawley of Norfolk (CT I believe) from an Alanson Bunnel on Dec

and the paper is in good shape

13 3/8 x 3 7/8 x 2 7/8” t and in beautifully much used condition

Absence/Presence: Scratched Out Negative Cabinet Card Obfuscating Figure lion soap dish and painted the perfect brickI've seen a number of old photos at this point with subjects cut out or scratched out or otherwise omitted, which are always interesting and invite the invention of a story but this cabinet card is just about my favorite I've ever seen, with the very committed scratching out of one of the six figures done on the negative before printing the positive. I love the intensive markmaking itself, and the way it first reads as if the very long hair of a woman