Massive 1920s Photography studio album with 46 portraits of women (in well-draped fabrics)

Hardcover leather folio album, 19 x 15 x 2 inches. Containing 46 photogravure prints, each around 16 x 12 inches; the last two images include children, and the other 44 are individual portraits of women. Bonded leather album perishing at the corners and lined along the spine with sympathetically painted cloth binding tape, about Very Good overall. The contents of the album are Near Fine; save for an incidental bit of finger soil (and the upper cheek in one photo where the retouching is evident), the prints are crisp and sumptuous. All but 2 (44) of the images are signed in pencil and have visible platemarks from the photogravure process. The remaining 2 images are still of fine quality but were perhaps commissioned by clients who did not go to the expense of having the photogravures made, but Hoyt still liked the images enough to include them in this album. This is presumed to be a studio portfolio that could be shown to prospective clients—the well-to-do on Madison Avenue. The album came from the estate of the photographer's friend, who had been given the album by Hoyt in his later years.

Dudley Hoyt was a member of the Professional Photographers' Society of New York, prominent in the 1910s and '20s. His studio was located 441 Madison Avenue in New York City. Many of the subjects are young women with short, stylish haircuts, looking like they're soon to be off at Vassar. There are also several striking portraits of older women exuding dignity. The treatment of fabrics and textures in the photographs is stunning, and he was renowned for his skill with draping and retouching. He is profiled in an article in 'Photo-Era: The American Journal of Photography' in 1919 (296-302), which hails his studio skills and quotes Hoyt explaining that his technique relies on his ability to understand color harmony and how it translates to a monochrome image.