In November 2022 I bought this portrait photo in an East Lothian shop selling second-hand goods and have been trying, without success, to identify (1) the photographer who signed the print and (2) the 'sitter' who is the subject of the photo.
Because I bought the photo in Scotland I have searched the two volumes of SCOTTISH STUDIO PHOTOGRAPHERS TO 1914 (D. Richard Torrance [2011]) using a variety of possible names. However the names do not appear to have ethnically Scottish origins.
The signature is unconventional and therefore not easy to read and my best guess FOSO O, NIASSCHE could well be wrong. Alternative names might be: TOLO O; M'ASSCHE
Size of print:- 176 x 239 mm
So I'm wondering if there is anyone here at BPH who might recognise the photographer's name or might recognise the sitter.
Comments
The name is the photographer and I think it is Ottilie Nitzsche-Reiter.
Like others, I think it is Foto, O Nitzsche. There is an Oscar Nitzsche, a German hairdresser at 46 Wellington Road, Woolwich in the directories for 1910 and 1915. He is also there in the 1911 census, aged 44 with his wife and daughter.
Dick Weindling
Result! Having posted below, I had a final Google with just "O. Nitzsche" rather than 'Oscar' and there's a book (pub.2007) about the National Museum of Namibia (ex-German colony) which Googlebooks shows as having several instances of photos captioned with "O. Nitzsche". There's one copy of the book in this country, at the British Library - the book is mentioned on the Wikipedia entry for the Museum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_Namibia - it may be possible to track down the author and send them the post to see if they recognise the photo?
Some random thoughts for what they're worth ...
I'd vote for Nitzsche, or similar too - the use of 'Foto', rather than 'Photo/grapher'also suggests it was taken in a German-speaking country. There are also Oscar (comman German name) Nitzsches in German directories (via Googlebooks) in 1909 and 1929, the latter apparently a lawyer, the former involved in theatre. There are also quite a few people on online family trees who are 'XXX Oscar Nitzsche'.
But with more of a photographic theme, British Newspaper Archive revealed a Johannes Nitzsche of Leipzig, who is mentioned in Bioscope and Kinematograph in 1913 as exhibiting/marketing 'the Perfect Projector". There's more about him here https://collectiblend.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3391 and here
https://www.amazon.in/Johannes-Nitzsche-Kinematographen-Films-Kinop...
Sorry, all a bit random, but hopefully at confirms the surname and German origins and a possible photographic connection.
Anne
Sorry, not particularly conclusive, but some of it might ring bells.
Hi, Graham. The surname looks like Nitzsche.