Words and pictures

Before 1907, if you were sending a postcard to the United States you couldn’t write anything other than the address on the back of the card. As a result of this people wrote their messages around the image and this led to an interesting and quirky intersection of words and pictures. The pattern created by the text against the image is often fascinating. The sender of the first postcard from Howth/Beann Eadair has managed to write a considerable amount of text over the sea and sky! It was sent to California in April 1905. The second card was sent to Boston in 1905 and mentions a trip to the Dublin Horse Show and Donaghadee, near Belfast. 

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Wedding Photograph, Howth Head, 3rd September, 1930

This young bride is photographed on Howth Head, County Dublin. I think it is a really glamorous image – very much of its time. I love the headdress and oversized bouquet. These coupled with the setting and textured paper upon which it is printed make for a very atmospheric portrait. She looks like she could float away!

The marriage featured in the society pages of The Irish Times in September 1930. The bride, Monica, was a judge’s daughter and according to the 1911 census she had 5 sisters. The household, in Fitzwilliam Place, had 6 servants including a butler and a French governess. She married another bastion of upper class Ireland – a young army officer from Cork who was the son of manufacturer.   

    

The Victoria and Albert museum have gathered an archive of wedding photographs in preparation of an exhibition on that theme. It is arranged by decades and I think you will agree that this Irish bride was definitely in tune with the style of day. 

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