Kaufman’s Brooklyn: 10 ‘Portraits from the past’

September 21, 2020 Phil Kaufman

Photos courtesy of Phil Kaufman

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My father, Irving Kaufman (1910 – 1982), was a professional photographer who started in Brooklyn in the mid 1930s working for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. He captured thousands of images of Brooklyn through the 1950s. I have recently digitized a great many of them. My father’s profile can be found here.

This week’s theme:

My father took quite a lot of portraits of businessmen and officers of charities or other organizations in his post-war, Manhattan years. These were typically middle-aged white guys in business suits with blank expressions, looking “professional.” They were mostly used for photos in annual reports or institutional publications.

From the early, Brooklyn years that I’ve been showing here, I found just one group of about fifteen portraits, members of the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW). I assume they were published in some booklet or registry for the organization. Beyond that, I know nothing – no names, no dates, no occasion they were earmarked for. From the looks of the packaging the negatives were in, and judging by the wardrobes and styles, I’m sure these were from the mid- to late-1930s.

The women were carefully dressed and for the most part “business-like” in expression and bearing, like the men my father would photograph decades later. Despite that, many somehow were more interesting than the grey-suited males of the 60s and 70s. Hairdos, wardrobe, hats, style made the difference. And somehow, expressions or personalities peeked through.

But I’ve added a great deal to this handful of formal portraits by realizing how many more I had hiding in plain sight. Much like I did last week with vehicles, I took interesting-looking women from images of all kinds and zoomed in to create, in effect, candid portraits. With those couple of dozen additions, I have a very full week’s worth of portraits to display.

Some of the faces have been shown before, but now they have no context. While I may have a little information about some, I will only supply background where I think it really adds something. For the most part I want to offer you the opportunity – maybe I should say challenge – to just look into the faces of these dignified, accomplished, generous women from more than 80 years ago.

Many are looking right at you; engage that eye contact. Try to imagine what they were like. What they did. What was important to them. Ask them about their backgrounds, their lives, their families, their activities. Listen to their answers.

A number of anonymous, actionless pictures can become a blur, can cause your attention to wander. So pick a few each day that strike your fancy for any reason and connect with them. How often do you get a chance to make the acquaintance of so many interesting, worthwhile people from a different time and a distant world? No risk! No commitment! It would be a shame to waste the chance. You’d never know what you missed.

Today’s photos:

Today’s display begins with only one person in the whole week’s selections who has a legitimate claim to fame. She is identified with her picture below, as has been done with most of my pictures all along. But after that, as I mentioned, almost all the rest are anonymous to me. Those I can identify will be shown with minimal information, but many will stand on their own.

Educator extraordinaire: “Miss Nutting,” c. 1945

Mary Nutting (1858-1948) was a pioneer in nursing education and public health. She established a rigorous curriculum for nurse training in the mid-1890s at Johns Hopkins, the first of its kind anywhere. She expanded the program and established it widely throughout the country from her position as chair of the nursing and health department at Columbia University Teachers College from 1907 until her retirement in 1925. Along the way she published numerous articles and texts and won many professional awards. One of her texts is actually still widely used.

Though retired, she stayed affiliated with Teachers College until her death. My father did considerable work for the College in the 1940s and it was at some event at the school that he encountered “Miss Nutting” and captured this beautiful portrait.

Member of National Council of Jewish Women

Board member, Brooklyn Home for Children

Member of National Council of Jewish Women

Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, 9/6/60

These women, with others from their organization, were hanging a sign in Times Square identifying it for the day as “Jane Addams Square.”

Member of National Council of Jewish Women

Luncheon on St. George roof, senior Red Cross leader

An index of Kaufman’s Brooklyn posts may be found here.

Irving Kaufman’s profile may be found here.

I invite you to submit comments, memories, images of Brooklyn, and especially any additional background information you can supply about the photos posted here to [email protected]. I’d also be glad to supply information about buying prints of any of the images seen here. Many of my father’s images are also available for viewing and purchase at http://yourartgallery.com/irvingkaufmanstudios. All prints purchased will be the product of professional scanning and editing.

Weekly collection 21: ‘Portraits from the past’