ABOUT THIS COLLECTION  
The late 19th century was a period of enormous development and growth for baseball.  The game grew in popularity and the players of local clubs became recognizable figures not only from their play on the field but from the reports in the newspapers. Studio portraitists got involved by taking photographs featuring early baseball stars from the era seen here, which were reproduced and sold on cabinet cards, a style of photograph widely used after 1870, consisting of a thin photograph mounted on a card measuring 4 x 6.5 inches, the precursors to today’s baseball cards.
 
COLLECTION DETAILS
Series title: Photographs of Early Baseball Stars by G.E. Gray and William Frank Bacon
Series size: 16 artworks
Edition: Limited edition of 1000
Proof of Ownership: Certification on the Ethereum blockchain under the ERC1155 protocol. Each artwork is delivered privately and directly to collectors as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that guarantee proof of ownership.
Format: Pieces consist of PNG files sized 2160x3840 pixels - 150 dpi.
Medium: Photography
Artwork materials: Photography paper
Contract Address: 0x495f947276749ce646f68ac8c248420045cb7b5e
ID: 2749212597480566...
 
ABOUT THE ARTIST
These quirky portraits of baseball players from the late 1800s were taken by prominent studio photographers of the day—G.E. Gray in Boston and William Frank Bacon in Philadelphia. Both were accomplished craftsmen who tried to achieve “action” shots within the limits of camera technology at the time. The results are charmingly humorous. Gray seemed partial to creating moments where a player is preparing to catch the ball, suspended from the ceiling, in a seemingly hypnotized state, while Bacon has opted for a Victorian garden as a background. Both studios photographed famous performers, not only athletes, but authors and politicians. It was common practice for photographers to photograph the famous for free and then make their money by selling those portraits to the general public.
 
COLLECTION CREDITS
Historical curatorship: HARI - Historical Art Research Institute (HARI Editions)
Artwork: G.E. Gray and William Frank Bacon
Year of original publication: ca. 1870s - 1880s
Post-production: HARI - Historical Art Research Institute (HARI Editions)
Digital art supervisor: Marie-Lou Desmeules
Editorial: Braden Phillips
Historical research: Evangelos Rosios, Braden Phillips
Executive production: Victor Zabrockis
 
RIGHTS OVERVIEW
Source of artwork: New York Public Library
Underlying work rights: No Known Restrictions
Digital copyrights: No Additional Rights