Beatrice Tonnesen – Photographer & Artist

Around 1922, Beatrice Tonnesen photographed a dark-haired beauty in Native American dress against a neutral background.  Photographs such as this one were in high demand for use by prominent illustrators who added backgrounds and details, producing the romanticized depictions of exotic and adventurous women that had caught the imagination of the calendar-buying public.  Best sellers [...]

It appears to me that Ziegfeld Follies dancer Eva Grady, sometimes known professionally as Eva Brady, appeared in some of Beatrice Tonnesen’s work ca. 1918-20.  Of course, barring documentation from someone associated with either the model or Tonnesen herself, I’m never completely certain about these things.  But here’s how I came to believe that Tonnesen [...]

It was shortly after receiving the March issue of Chicago Magazine in his mail that David Lloyd made a startling discovery. A photo of his wife’s grandmother, Beulah Clark Dunn, was prominently displayed on page 96. Alerted by her husband, and a bit skeptical, Rose Lloyd opened the magazine and immediately recognized the photo, by [...]

Editor’s Note: There are new developments in the story of the “Glory of Youth” photo .  A reader who has an original of that photo has identified the model as her grandmother, Beulah Clark Dunn.  Interestingly, like Vera Hedderman whose story is told below, she was born in 1903 and won newspaper acclaim for her [...]

If you’ve read Geoff Johnson’s feature on Beatrice Tonnesen in the current (March) issue of Chicago Magazine, or listened to his WBEZ interview, you know that we have learned a great deal about Tonnesen’s work from the descendants of Tonnesen’s models.  In most cases, it seems, a great-aunt or a grandmother, or maybe a dimly-remembered [...]

Sharon Bailey, daughter of child model Virginia Waller Wicks (1913-2006), who was featured prominently in the work of Beatrice Tonnesen from about 1916-1920, recently dug an old oil painting out of her closet.  The painting had  hung for decades in her mother’s home, but was stored away when her mother went into assisted living.   [...]

Lee Griffin, of Oregon, has written to tell us that white-haired, bearded “Father Time” in the print of the same name shown in our Slideshow Album 5, Image 20, was his wife’s great-great-grandfather, Henry Martyn Bates (1833-1902). Mr. Griffin provided the following information. Henry was born in Hudson, Ohio and moved with his parents to [...]