Framed or unframed, desk size to sofa size, printed by us in Arizona and Alabama since 2007. Explore now.
Shorpy is funded by you. Patreon contributors get an ad-free experience.
Learn more.
We'll leave it to our erudite commenters to elaborate on the party taking place in the background, a sort of Beaux-Arts photobomb involving a naked lady and a horse.
Washington, D.C., circa 1920. "H.E.F. in Packard at L.O.C." National Photo proprietor Herbert E. French in an enormous touring car (note the multiple lamps and lanterns) outside the Library of Congress, the eventual repository for his company's vast archive of photographs. 8x6 inch glass negative. View full size.
What you're seeing in the background is the front of the Library of Congress Jefferson Building, with the Neptune fountain by sculptor Roland Hinton Perry. It's very educational for the kiddies, if they're interested in anatomy.
on the dolphins. And look at the arms on that dame--I wouldn't arm wrestle her for money!
Looks like some street punks swiped his hubcap. Hooligans!
What a façade and car! But what really caught my attention is the horn that is both electric claxon and air-reed horn. I guess it's backup for those who can't yell loud enough from an open car.
Of course it's the famous "Wisdom Inspired By Music While Beauty Flogs a Dead Horse," sometimes attributed to the elder Saint-Gaudens but really executed by an anonymous but decidedly rebellious disciple of Henry Moore.
The Packard appears to be a 1914 Series 4-48.
On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5