C&O Iconic Photos - Offering No. 1 (Order by Oct. 30, 2015)
Photography of William Rittase, C&O’s Winston Link. (Set of Six)
We are starting a new program, which is actually a restart of something we experimented with about 15 years ago. Periodically we will select a few images that we think stand out as "icons" of the C&O. These will be listed and thumbnail images shown. We will then accept orders for a limited time. At the end of that period, we will discontinue accepting orders and will produce the photos and ship them. They will not be available at this special price after that time.
They will be offered in 13x19 inch size, with the idea that the purchaser may want to have them framed. We will, in general, offer only those for which we possess a good negative from which an acceptable large-size print can be made. All prints will be made by digital process on glossy photo paper in the highest resolution we can attain. These are intended to be "collector item" prints.
The images being offered will be available for you to order through October 30, 2015. The cost is $19.95 (see SV-15-028 to order individually) each or $99 for the set of six as shown below plus standard shipping.
Before 1940 C&O did not have an official photographer on its staff, but used various professional studios to take photos as needed. However, in 1940 the Public Relations Department began a file of negatives created first by a select group of professional industrial photographers, followed soon by the hiring of professional photographers on its staff.
William Rittase (1894-1968) was an industrial photographer in Philadelphia who, who, along with a handful of others, defined the great age of manufacturing in the U. S. - His work often appeared in Fortune Magazine, in the 1930s-1940s, and he is today recognized as one of the great industrial photographers. He did work for several railroads including SAL, ACL, Erie, Reading, NKP, and Baldwin Locomotive. His work for C&O consisted of high quality 4x5 black and white negatives. His C&O work seems to have been done between 1943 and 1948. See the Holiday 2008 issue of our magazine for the story of his trip to Clifton Forge in 1945. Good as he was, Rittase did not receive the acclaim of many of his contemporaries though Lincoln Kirstein invited him to participate in an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York entitled "Mural by American Painters and Photospheres" in 1932.
We have selected six of the Rittase images that we believe illustrate his ability to capture the spirit of the railway and the age.
MEMBER DISCOUNT DOES NOT APPLY TO THE SPECIAL OFFER!
