It has been said a well-executed portrait should be an "eye into the soul" of the person. For early photographers that statement meant long negative exposure times in less than adequate conditions for their sitters, often resulting in a strained, stiff view of an uptight Victorian society. Amazingly, along with those stiff portraits, many beautiful portraits were also created.

In the 1920's, as techniques in the photographic process improved and long exposure times lessened, it became possible to capture a more realistic, energetic modern view of a society on the verge of a exploding rebellion. Portraits began to flood the market, as young women seemed to have no problem allowing the camera to capture a fleeting glimpse of their more personal sides. The results were images with an artistic freedom never before expressed by photography.

The women portrayed in these images date between 1910 and 1926. They weren't famous women nor were they theatre stars, but they all look so beautiful, any one of them could grace the pages of a current day magazine and no one would ever know most of them would be over eighty to hundred years old today.

We salute the many early known and unknown photographers, had it not been for their efforts, we may have never been given the beautiful portraits we still enjoy today or the artistic license to create them.