Kodak Girl
Photograph
Kodak Girl
1910
Gelatin silver print
Image: 9 1/4 × 7 1/16 in. (23.5 × 17.9 cm)
Gift of the 3M Foundation, ex-collection Louis Walton Sipley, 1977
1978.0245.0001
Inscriptions Signature in black ink on print recto, BRC: "Shewell Ellis [inside rectangle]"; no inscriptions verso.
Imprinted on mount recto in black ink: Eastman Kodak Company // Rochester, N. Y.; typed in black ink: October 9, 1927. // Mr. William Shewell Ellis, // 1425 Chestnut Street, // Philadelphia, Pa. // Dear Mr. Ellis, // I don't know whether you made the // Kodak Girl famous or whether she made you famous, but this I do know: When we used an Ellis picture, we could always point to it with pride. // Yours very truly, // Vice President. Signed in black ink: L. B. Jones
Imprinted on mount recto in black ink: Eastman Kodak Company // Rochester, N. Y.; typed in black ink: October 9, 1927. // Mr. William Shewell Ellis, // 1425 Chestnut Street, // Philadelphia, Pa. // Dear Mr. Ellis, // I don't know whether you made the // Kodak Girl famous or whether she made you famous, but this I do know: When we used an Ellis picture, we could always point to it with pride. // Yours very truly, // Vice President. Signed in black ink: L. B. Jones
TextWilliam Shewell Ellis ran a successful photography studio in Philadelphia in the early twentieth century. There, he created a number of photographs that Eastman Kodak Company used in its print advertisements. These images depict women fashionably dressed with a Brownie camera prominently displayed, as in this example, or women using cameras to document participation in the latest lifestyle trends. The so-called Kodak Girls created an enduring link between women, photography, and the accelerated pace of modern life.
—Label text, History of Photography [Rotation 15]
—Label text, History of Photography [Rotation 15]
