This album contains photographic reproductions, printed in carte-de-visite format, showing the beautiful, intricate psaligraphy (paper-cutting) work of George Schmidt, including a self-portrait of the artist at work, scenes of farm...
This album contains photographic reproductions, printed in carte-de-visite format, showing the beautiful, intricate psaligraphy (paper-cutting) work of George Schmidt, including a self-portrait of the artist at work, scenes of farm workers, plants and animals, and more. Schmidt, who began his career in 1857, was a virtuoso silhouette maker who made portraits for tourists at summer resorts in Saratoga, New York, and Long Branch, New Jersey. He also authored the book “Method of Teaching the Art of Psaligraphy.”
A similar album contains an introductory page which reads, “ George Schmidt, the celebrated and ONLY Psaligrapher, has exhibited his peculiar art before H.M. the Queen Victoria, also the Emperor of France, the Governor General of the Island of Cuba, and other most prominent persons and artists, and has brought to perfection the highly difficult science of creating the most natural and expressive Pictures and Scenes, even of Incredible smallness, by a simple pair of scissors and a piece of black paper.”
According to newspaper accounts, Schmidt “clipped away with astonishing dexterity upon bits of paper, black upon one side... The most delicate and intricate objects are turned off in a few moments and a false clip is never made.”