This October, 1913 calendar print, copyright 1911, T.D.M. Co., Red Oak, Iowa USA is titled "Sybil." This is one of a series of monthly mailing calendars for 1913, advertising WA Carpenter Jeweler and Optician, Ravenna Ohio. Of the 12 calendars in the series, most feature Tonnesen models. I believe this woman to hae been Alice Stuart, shown both in the Chicago Tribune article (Image 1) dated 1900, and the 1903 Tonnesen ad referenced in the caption for Image 1.
Portraits and advertising aside, her circa 1900 art work became wildly popular as home decor. It seems to have consisted largely of elaborate and beautifully produced Victorian-themed parlor prints, as well as black and white prints sold to newspapers across the country for use as gifts to readers of Sunday supplements.
In 1903, Tonnesen promoted “The Famous Tonnesen Models” in an ad shown elsewhere on this site. (See “Beatrice Tonnesen Introduced New Trend in 1890 Advertising” by Sumner under “Tonnesen Business.”) Also, in 1900, the Chicago Daily Tribune ran a pictorial indentifying the “Commercial Models of Chicago.” This pictorial appears as Image #1 in Slideshow Album #11. The images that follow it show examples of Tonnesen’s Victorian parlor scenes, featuring several models who can be seen in the 1903 Tonnesen Model ad and/or the Chicago Tribune pictorial, which also gives the models’ names.
These models can also be found in the black and white Sunday supplement prints scattered throughout Slideshow Albums 2, 5, 6 and 10.
All Content Copyright 2008 Lois Emerson