The mystery print. It is 20x28. There seems to be no signature. It was found in a junk shop in central Oklahoma, neatly and expensively framed. Is there more from this artist/illustrator? Who is it? Is it Francois Schuiten? Looks like his work but can someone confirm it? Have you seen this print in a book? Or have you seen another copy of it anywhere?

Yes, I refuse to use Kleenex until THIS stops.

Our house is a very, very, very fine house

Our house is a very, very, very fine house originally uploaded by anyjazz65. With two cats in the yard, Life used to be so hard, Now everything is easy 'cause of you. -(CSN)-

meagain625 says: A very, very fine house :) anyjazz65 says: Yes. Thanks meagain. When I found the picture I thought of the Crosby, Stills and Nash lyric right away but only saw the one cat and the dog. But I bought it anyway and when I enlarged he scan I spotted the other cat. I know where we (you and I) live, that a house in the middle of nowhere is an ordinary sight. But we have to remember how strange this is to some people in other areas of the planet, even our own continent. Texas and Oklahoma are the great undiscovered frontier of the exploding population. Stay tuned. XOZ says: Excellent photo. I love the clothes....(I hate that song!) :-) Definitely taken on a Sunday. I love going back in time. meagain625 says: Any idea if the boys are twins? They seem to be the same size, dressed alike, and look very much alike. For certain they are brothers, but just wondered... Yes, one expects to see a house setting off away from others, even away from the nearest paved road at times. I have wondered often about those that lived so far away from each other in the earlier part of the last century. What hardships they faced! Just moving to this area must have been disconcerting to someone that comes from a place where water is abundant, with trees so tall and shady. We have trees now, planted by those that dug this rock-filled earth, and probably had to carry water from the waterwell by the bucketfuls to ensure the survival of their trees and crops, as well as finding the right place to drill for water to supply the creatures they had to look after in order to put dinner on the table. I have wondered how disappointed the wives were to leave lovely homes and follow the dream of a better life, through cactus, mesquites, snakes, dry grass and blowing dust, over mesas and no real road to follow. We grow 'em tough here. If they didn't come from tough families or find that strength within themselves, they wouldn't last long here. But many families made it for generations and continue to survive. Old Clayton Williams was from here. That is one tough old boot. He's made his mark and remembers to come home to get with friends and family. West Texas is for survivors. That's one of the things I like about them. They didn't give up. Same goes with many families in all areas of the good ole US of A. Facing hardships and coming out the winner is a good part of being an American, and a Texan, Thank God. says: This is a great looking old house, says: @XOZ: Thanks! You are probably right, Sunday clothes. Hm. Odd about the song, I find that people have no ambivalence about it. One either loves it or hates it. Sort of like “McArthur Park” or “Society’s Child.” Or does that date me terribly? The photo has a post card back so dating it is a little easier. Using the Playle post card dating web page as reference, this one appears to be from the mid or west US about 1910 to 1918. All similar backs appear to come from northern central states, Minnesota and Montana. The horizon is very flat though. My guess would be western Kansas or Nebraska. @meagain625: No there is no other information on the people in this photo. But, I think you are bang-on about the two boys being twins. Yes, the hardships they faced are unimaginable now. My wife who spent most of her life on the east coast of England can readily describe the feeling. Absolutely everything is different. I always held the pioneering women in great respect and awe because of their bravery and resolution. But now, after seeing the culture shock up close, I just don’t know how they did it back then. It must have been miserable for them. No society, no friends or near neighbors, nothing that would break the day in day out hard work routine. It was grueling for the men but just terrible for the women. They had to be very special indeed. We visit the small towns on back roads a lot. My wife has often remarked how difficult it must have been for the settlers when there were NO roads or road signs to orient them. Planting trees and conserving the soil is something we learned a bit late in Oklahoma. The ‘30’s dust bowl was the wake up call here. Your mention of the water scarcity made me return to the photo again. Note that there are eave troughs across the front and back with down spouts on the left and right. The trough above the porch runs across the whole side, even in front of the window in the gable. That single stretch of trough allows the water run off both halves of the roof to one central point instead of a downspout on each corner. The downspouts showing, front and rear, do not go to the ground, they elbow and turn toward a common point at the rear. They are conserving the rain water. Maybe we are looking at western Kansas, Oklahoma or Texas here. The two story design is quite typical of rural Kansas houses except this one is a bit more ornate. There appears to be a screened in back porch. Does this mean a flying insect population? There is a small stained glass window near the rear. If it is a bathroom window it would mean indoor plumbing…possible but not likely. Windows like this also used at a landing of a stair well. That’s possible. The stair might approach the window, turn at the landing and go in the opposite direction to the second floor. A stretch, but it’s possible. Perhaps some architects can throw some light on this. Or perhaps someone has seen the inside of a house like this and can tell us the floor plan. There is a low rail around what would be a balcony on the front, as you might see in some of the southern mansions. But there is no door to it here. It seems to be just decorative. While I’m at it: There are dark clumps in the field beyond that are probably mesquite but could be an orchard or vineyard or maybe wheat or corn shocks. And there is some equipment sitting just at the left but I can’t quite identify it. There are no cables leading to the house. No electricity. There are no utility poles anywhere. There seems to be a well tended rose bush just behind the man on the left. And I say again: I think it is marvelous that these abandoned old photographs can take on a life of their own and stimulate imaginations and thought. @oh boy photos: Yes it is. I picked up the photo for the image of the house. It is quite a departure from some of the houses you see from 100 years ago in the mid west. It is much more decorated than some I have seen.

Details

meagain625 says:
I could be wrong (I know, I know...it has happened) but it looks like the house was recently built, down to the new paint on the porch columns. Is that house behind it the same size (a developer bought up land and built on the property?) or a smaller storage type building? And why do I expect someone to know all the details on a found photo? What is with that? :)

anyjazz65 says:
Hm. You posed some very good questions there. Another look at it brings some discoveries and some more questions. First, I thought that it was just one building but I am not sure now. There are three chimneys showing. If it was a very big house, it would perhaps require three. Two were more common, as one for the living area and one for the kitchen as they were still cooking at the hearth then. If an extension were build to accommodate more children then a third might be required. However, there could be two separate buildings too.

Did a developer acquire land to build tract houses? Probably not. Most houses were individually built back then with only meager planning. Actually these looked at first like a home (or two) that had been moved there from another location. See the makeshift foundations and the extra lumber stuffed beneath. But then I noticed the cellar door. (There is a classic cellar door and rain barrel here!) The likelihood of there being a cellar already dug there and moving a house over it is pretty thin. Look at the trees. They surround the lot. The house was probably built there, not moved into place.

But look at the “second” house. The screen door is standing open, there is no porch and there are no steps. The door does seem to be painted the same as the door on the closer house. It is too good for a farm utility building, barn, tool shed. It must be a second house. Families often did that back then. The son would marry and bring his wife home. They would build a house on the same property and continue farming the land as a bigger family. Some towns got started that way probably.

The windows of the two buildings are not identical. The closer one appears to be a double hung, two pane window. The other seems to be a “French” window with small panes. The third window, the one on the left is shuttered with an exterior mounted shutter.

The chimney design seems the same on all three.

The siding and roof appear to be the same on both buildings.

There are a lot of details that could point to it being one building and a lot in favor of it being two separate buildings.

I still don’t know.

This is a long shot, obviously intended to be a picture of the homes more than a portrait. If it was intended to be a portrait of the extended family and their respective homes, where are they?

The shadows indicate the sun is low over my right shoulder. I think it is late in the day and we are facing east. The front door would thus be protected from the prairie north wind.


meagain625 says:
Of course! I missed the cellar door. I did notice the trees were already established , but my mind didn't really dwelve into that area much, knowing that some build around them. I had noticed the door on the other house, and how it was not set up like the door/porch on the first house, that's what made me think of it as separate. It appears to be more like a back door, maybe the houses are back to back to allow the new wife to have her own garden and lawn area.I love the puzzles these bring out. It stretches my mind to be able to sit and speculate, something not normally done if you are looking at the photograph unless it is there in front of you for a while and reminding you: Look at me, think of me... (does that even make sense?)

anyjazz65 says:
Absolutely. If a photograph can take you into it and give your mind an exercise then it has well done its job.Yes, back to back houses seems a logical set up to me also. The only thing that still bothers me is: why did they need two houses for just the three of them? Normally it would be too expensive to build a house for just one son. And look: the guy on the right has muck boots with the pants tucked in and a utility farm hat as if he just came from the corral...the guy in the center has shirt, tie, vest slacks and a billed hat that looks something like a railroad engineer's cap.Not that this was probably NOT a professional photographer...No self-respecting photog would allow a photo to have a slanting horizon. Perhaps it was an amateur with the camera either hand held or resting on a wagon wheel to steady it. The professional card mounting might have been done by the photo processor. At least I think so. Perhaps it was a delayed shutter and that's the photographer standing in the middle...

meagain625 says:
I had noticed the look of the worker in him, perhaps he was widowed, or the other was? She appears to be older than the men, it could be "Mom's house"... One of the things that we won't know, and that *is* what makes it so interesting :)

anyjazz65 says:
Yes. Also there is also the underlying remote hope that somehow,someone might recognize the photograph.And yes, she does seem older than the men. Could be they are not related in any way too. I don't know. It is certainly very enjoyable to sit and speculate about it with the given clues.