View allAll Photos Tagged bootblack
The job of the newsboy dates to the 1830s in the U.S., peaked in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and has largely vanished today due to digital media. Knowing the historical backdrop—the rise of child labor, the “newsies” who shouted headlines to survive—casts the image in a new light. It’s not just a Christmas cover; it’s a meditation on endurance and the fragility of youth.
Leyendecker’s work often captured poignant moments with subtle melancholy, and that image of the bundled-up boy and elderly man exchanging a newspaper feels like a quiet scene from Dickens. While the story of “Oliver Twist” doesn’t depict Oliver selling newspapers, the association with Charles Dickens makes sense: both the newsboy and Dickens’ orphan evoke themes of child labor, urban survival, and fleeting innocence.
As newspapers expanded, especially with afternoon editions, newsboys became ever-present in urban centers. They bought papers in bulk and sold them independently, often shouting sensational headlines to attract buyers. Many newsboys were impoverished children, some as young as six. They worked long hours in harsh conditions, often late into the night, and were not reimbursed for unsold papers.
Newsboys became symbols of youthful grit and entrepreneurship. Famous Americans like Thomas Edison, Dwight Eisenhower, and Mark Twain once worked as newsboys. Lewis Hine’s haunting photographs from the early 1900s documented their lives, helping fuel the child labor reform movement. (Hine's photos may be viewed at “Newsies: Portraits of the Working Children Who Spread the News, 1908-1924” at rarehistoricalphotos.com/newsies-photographs-lewis-hine/)
Though Oliver Twist wasn’t a newsboy, the emotional overlap is striking. Dickens’ London was filled with street children eking out a living—bootblacks, match sellers, flower girls—and the newsboy fits right into that world. The Leyendecker illustration coincides with the peak of the newsboy era and echoes the same social concerns Dickens wrote about: poverty, exploitation, and fleeting moments of human connection.
John George Brown - Not in it
Not in It is a charming and witty painting that represents John George Brown at the height of his abilities. This scene of childhood courtship exhibits the artist’s keen attention to detail and mastery of narrative. Here a blond-haired boy, whose shy nature is conveyed by his sheepish body position and hands stuffed in his pockets looks on as another lad tries to cavalierly kiss the cheek of a girl seated between them. The girl demurely holds her woven bag and looks coyly out at the viewer, indicating that she is in control of the situation. The title is two-fold, referencing both the boy who quietly looks on as the scene unfolds and the fact that the three children are not in school although they all carry scholastic accessories.
Brown had a strong following among Springfield, Massachusetts collectors, including Charles Shean, the original purchaser of Not in It. Martha Hoppin writes, “Brown’s Springfield patrons reflected the same mix of backgrounds as the New York patrons: wealthy merchants and industrialists, some of them self-made men. Charles Nichols began as a newsboy selling papers on the trains, and in true Horatio Alger style, he worked his way up to becoming the owner of a publishing company... Charles Shean had actually been a bootblack and became a leading Springfield hotel owner. He decorated his hotel’s bar and grill with paintings he bought at Gill’s gallery, among them a scene of children by Brown called Not in It and trompe l’oeil still lifes by William Harnett and John Haberle” (The World of J.G. Brown, Chesterfield, Massachusetts, 2010, p. 170).
www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2016/american-art...
Geralt: Looking for a very stern-faced man. Dark clothing, but I don't know what color. I was color-blind at the time.
Bootblack: Have you been getting into Fisstech? My memory's a little hazy. Perhaps if you would give word to the Duchess to expand my enterprise.
This child with the sad look was shining shoes, sitting on the pavement, outside the archaeological site of Karnak in Egypt.
When she saw me from a distance taking this photo, she raised her hand towards me asking for money.
Unfortunately I was in a coach, so I did not have the chance to respond.
From that moment on, I felt harrowing remorse every time I recall her sad face in my memory …. very hard to forget.
Bootblack: I don't know how I can do that, but won't you take a seat? You must've scuffed your boots in the fight!
"Boulevard du Temple", taken by Daguerre in 1838 in Paris, includes the earliest known candid photograph of a person. The image shows a busy street, but because the exposure had to continue for several minutes the moving traffic is not visible. At the lower left, however, a man apparently having his boots polished, and the bootblack polishing them, were motionless enough for their images to be captured.
... tenham uma excelente quarta ...
beijos
Flippers, por favor votem na melhor foto da China aqui www.flickr.com/groups/topic/55894/
Obrigada
Vagabonds — The Vagabonds, four young Negro lads who have been barber shop bootblacks, cotton pickers and errand boys, have pooled their vocal talents and are now, in their early twenties, heard regularly over NBC networks from Chicago. These close harmonizers are, left to right, above Robert O'Neal, John Jordan, and Norval Taborn, and, below, with the guitar, Ray Grant, Jr.
"Leaving with the desire to know not only the places, but people; return to the world in the heart.
Leaving with projects, get and forget, feel and experience the place where it is .....
go home and live more "there" ... and that "there" it becomes part of you. "
partire con la voglia di conoscere non solo i luoghi, ma le persone; tornare con il mondo nel cuore.
partire con progetti, arrivare e dimenticarli, stare e vivere il luogo in cui si è.....
tornare a casa e vivere ancora "là" ... e quel "là" farlo diventare parte di te".
- Anonimo -
From Left to right,
Dr.Marten Jemmas (nappa leather), New Rock 9980, and a pair of military boots I saved from the local surplus.
All are shined/conditioned by me, by hand with normal black kiwi polish and/or conditioned with hubberds boot grease.
To see the full video, click on the link below:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvUFXUexLDE
Unfortunately, imo, not very hot shoes, but still hot to see how a man is shining the leather dress shoes of a (business)man!
To see the full video, click on the link below:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvUFXUexLDE
Unfortunately, imo, not very hot shoes, but still hot to see how a man is shining the leather dress shoes of a (business)man!
Rodeo judge and bootblack chatting before the start of the 2018 Mid-Atlantic Police Motorcycle Rodeo.
Woodbridge, VA / September 29, 2018
Another fella I followed around a bit, getting his boots shined. Folsom Street East 2019.
To check out my other pictures from gay/fetish/leather events, click here.
Dj Sets By
Jonathan Toubin (Soul Clap)
Vito Roccoforte (The Rapture)
Caleb Braaten (Sacred Bones)
Pieter Schoolwerth (Wierd Records)
Christmas cards for customers from various service and professional workers in early 20th Century Spain.
Dj Sets By
Jonathan Toubin (Soul Clap)
Vito Roccoforte (The Rapture)
Caleb Braaten (Sacred Bones)
Pieter Schoolwerth (Wierd Records)
Dj Sets By
Jonathan Toubin (Soul Clap)
Vito Roccoforte (The Rapture)
Caleb Braaten (Sacred Bones)
Pieter Schoolwerth (Wierd Records)
Dj Sets By
Jonathan Toubin (Soul Clap)
Vito Roccoforte (The Rapture)
Caleb Braaten (Sacred Bones)
Pieter Schoolwerth (Wierd Records)