2/19/2024 0 Comments Sissy wear pantyhose task![]() ![]() Valenti’s wife, Marie, ran a wig shop in New York City. The resort took its name from its proprietor, Susanna, who, when not at the camp, was known as Tito Valenti. “It is about the rediscovery of what mattered in a certain period, be it a chair, a lamp, or the expression of a marginal group in society.” “Our interest in the collection overlaps with our professional activities as both are about unearthing interesting objects and artifacts from recent history,” Swope told Hyperallergic via email. Though they generally deal in furniture, not photography, this particular find seemed to fit right into the logic of their flea market sleuthing habits. Immediately intrigued, they brought the suitcase home and began studying the images inside. Robert Swope and Michel Hurst, the proprietors of Full House, an antiques gallery specializing in mid-century wares, discovered a suitcase containing 340 photographs that documented the life of a summer retreat in Hunter, NY, called Casa Susanna. The story begins, as so many good ones do, at Manhattan’s West 26th Street flea market. Photograph from Casa Susanna (click to enlarge) ![]() Who are these subjects? Where is this place? And how did their photographs end up at an auction house known for pioneering the secondary market for postwar design? Dressed as they are in ordinary, even conservative women’s attire, these men look ready to host a game of bridge or bring a PTA meeting to order. Interestingly, the gender norms are of the same vintage as the clothing and décor, though instead of fluidity or ambiguity, we see a kind of certainty and clarity. That’s because all of the people in the photographs are men. Yet the subjects’ bodies are taller, broader, and squarer than you might expect, especially in the era of the nipped-in waist. Middle-of-the-line midcentury furniture can be seen in many of the images, sporting tweedy upholstery and tapered legs. In keeping with Wright’s focus on postwar American design, the Casa Susanna pictures depict a world of bouffant hairdos, transistor radios, pillbox hats, and mink coats. They are to be sold as a single lot by Wright auction house on October 30. On the cover, an off-white, hand-lettered logo reads “Casa Susanna.” The photographs reproduced inside appear at first glance to portray a group of women at leisure: posing in the kitchen, dressed smartly for dinner, sporting fashionable bathing suits, sitting in a field of wildflowers. Inside is a square, burgundy-colored folder containing a catalogue of 1950 and ’60s snapshots. ![]() Photographs from the Casa Susanna collection (all images courtesy Wright)Īn elegant black envelope arrived in my mailbox last week. ![]()
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