Post by grahamew on Sept 22, 2008 11:47:56 GMT -5
What do we know about R. L. Kelly?
FRom what I can work out, despite some of the claims made on auctiion sites, Kelly did not arrive in Pierre, Dakota Territory, until 1881 when he opened his studio; however, he also seems to have worked with a partner, M. B. Odell, in Deadwood.
He is credited with taking the photograph of Sitting Bull with the monarch butterfly pinned to his hat in 1883, although just about every other photographer in the area has been credited with this.
If you look at the Sitting Bull in the Hat thread (under Hunkpapa) and the Gilbert thread (under Portraits - and, yeah, it should be under photographers. My fault. Can this be fixed, Dietmar?), there are discussions raising some of the pros and cons of this attribution - well, okay, mostly cons.
EDIT: What we do know is that Kelly photographed Sitting Bull in 1883 and that he was wearing a white shirt the day. Here, he's dressed in plaid shirt, a Metis style buckskin jacket (or maybe coat) and a hat which already has a minarch butterfly on it, so he hadn't just acquired it that day. He also looks older than he does in other images taken in 1883. My guess is that this is Scott's photo of Sitting Bull and Kelly's has yet to re-emerge, unless it already has and has been attributed to someonbe else - Cross, maybe...
However, he did photograph Spotted Eagle and though he seems to have been working over a considerable period of years, this must have been in the early 80s, judging by SE's appearance:
I know of two more Kellys from this period - judging by the backdrop:
Little Bull, a Cheyenne:
Three Sioux (there's no context, of course, to explain the presence of the trousers):
Donovin Sprague credits the following photos to Kelly. If this is the case, he was clearly taking photographs into the 1890s and possibly beyond.
Hump (late 1880s-1890s?):
James Blue Stone (1900s?):
FRom what I can work out, despite some of the claims made on auctiion sites, Kelly did not arrive in Pierre, Dakota Territory, until 1881 when he opened his studio; however, he also seems to have worked with a partner, M. B. Odell, in Deadwood.
He is credited with taking the photograph of Sitting Bull with the monarch butterfly pinned to his hat in 1883, although just about every other photographer in the area has been credited with this.
If you look at the Sitting Bull in the Hat thread (under Hunkpapa) and the Gilbert thread (under Portraits - and, yeah, it should be under photographers. My fault. Can this be fixed, Dietmar?), there are discussions raising some of the pros and cons of this attribution - well, okay, mostly cons.
EDIT: What we do know is that Kelly photographed Sitting Bull in 1883 and that he was wearing a white shirt the day. Here, he's dressed in plaid shirt, a Metis style buckskin jacket (or maybe coat) and a hat which already has a minarch butterfly on it, so he hadn't just acquired it that day. He also looks older than he does in other images taken in 1883. My guess is that this is Scott's photo of Sitting Bull and Kelly's has yet to re-emerge, unless it already has and has been attributed to someonbe else - Cross, maybe...
However, he did photograph Spotted Eagle and though he seems to have been working over a considerable period of years, this must have been in the early 80s, judging by SE's appearance:
I know of two more Kellys from this period - judging by the backdrop:
Little Bull, a Cheyenne:
Three Sioux (there's no context, of course, to explain the presence of the trousers):
Donovin Sprague credits the following photos to Kelly. If this is the case, he was clearly taking photographs into the 1890s and possibly beyond.
Hump (late 1880s-1890s?):
James Blue Stone (1900s?):
