Snapshots of the Past

The balloon, Coney Island – Historic Reproduction

The balloon, Coney Island, [between ca. 1904 and 1908] — historic drawing
The balloon, Coney Island, [between ca. 1904 and 1908]. Historic drawing from the Ballooning collection.

(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)

Description

Few images capture their era like this historic drawing of The balloon, Coney Island. The original is held by the Library of Congress, so what you hang is a true record of its time.

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The balloon, Coney Island

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Pennell drew this balloon on brown paper with pencil and colored pencil, and the sheet was never reproduced in the book it was meant for. Its subject is Coney Island, the Brooklyn seaside resort that in the early 1900s drew crowds to its rides, shows, and amusements. Balloons were a favorite spectacle at such places, and their rising shapes gave illustrators a chance to play with scale against the crowds below. The drawing was made for John C. Van Dyke's *The New New York* (1909), which used Pennell's pictures of the city and its life, and it was later part of the Pennell bequest to the Library of Congress.

Created / published[between ca. 1904 and 1908]
Medium1 drawing on brown paper : pencil, colored pencil ; sheet 31.8 x 25.4 cm.
NotesWuerth, L.A. List of original drawings and paintings, follows indexed group of drawings published in Van Dyke's The New New York with annotation: the following drawings done at this time, but not reproduced. Bequest; Joseph Pennell Estate; 1926-1937; (PR 06 CN 316.399). Forms part of: Joseph and Elizabeth Robins Pennell collection. Good condition.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan1,225 × 1,536 px · prints to 4 × 5 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-HPA-145703

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