Figure 1.--These German children attended an urban primary school. They look to be workingclass children. HBC estimates that they were photographed in the late 1910s. Note the variety of clothes. The one consistent fashion is that all of the boys wore kneepants and long stockings. Click on the image to see the full card with the Art Deco mount. |
Individual portraits also provie us useful insights on how boys dressed during any given period. A HBC reader has provided us this posed, but still charming portrait of a German boy abou 10-11 years old out for a stroll in the countryside. He wears a very smart knickers suit and flat cap. It is difficult to make out his tie and shirt collar. He has a walking stick in left hand from which he is has casually suspending his over-coat and he is also carrying container labeled ' Zeppellin II ' -- perhaps this was his lunch box. Of course the Zeppellin was a huge advance in avialtion at the time and still unconnected with warfare. Most German boys would have been very excited about it. The postcard is dated September 22, 1912. It apparently was part of a family collection of photographs of this boy. Particularly striking about the post card is the surrounding
Art Deco decoration . I have not noted a lot of post cards like this. It is a cellofix-postcard (patent of Kraft & Steudel 1889 in the German city of Dresden).
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