Untitled from the "County Fairs" series

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Untitled from the "County Fairs" series
Untitled from the "County Fairs" series
Artist/Maker (American, 1901 - 1994)
Datec. 1931-1937
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsComposition: 4 1/2 × 6 3/8 in. (11.4 × 16.2 cm) Sheet: 4 13/16 × 6 5/8 in. (12.2 × 16.8 cm)
Credit LineGift of the artist
Object number1969.9.2
On view
DescriptionSilvia Saunders left her commercial photography career in New York City after the stock market crash of 1929 and returned to her hometown of Clinton to wait out the nation’s financial crisis for the next few years. During this period, she traveled locally with her 5x7 Eastman camera equipment and tripod to capture “countryside impressions” of nature and aging architecture. County fairs were a tradition for the Saunders family, as the artist’s mother, Dr. Louise Brownell Saunders, showed Scottish terriers at the Oneida County Fair as early as 1910. The County Fairs series is a social record of local people and their animals during the Great Depression. While the depicted fairs are unidentified, they likely occurred within a radius of Clinton on privately owned land, as the local government was unable to subsidize the Oneida County Fairgrounds in Rome after 1928 due to the impact of the recession.

Additional Details

Alternate Titles Untitled from the "Country Fair" series
Exhibition History 2024-2025
Clinton, NY. The Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art, Hamilton College. "Menagerie: Animals in Art from the Wellin Museum," September 7, 2024 –June 8, 2025 (no cat.). Work exhibited in first rotation only, Fall 2024 semester.

1983
Clinton, NY. Fred L. Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College. "Photographs by Silvia Saunders", June 18 - Aug. 14, 1983 (Extended to Sept. 15, 1983) (no cat.)

2007
Clinton, NY, Fred L. Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College. "Photographs by Silvia Saunders," June 21 - September 16, 2007 (no catalog).
Provenance 1969: Hamilton College, by gift of the artist
Markings Rectangular ink stamp [black] on verso, upside down at center: PHOTOGRAPH BY / SILVIA SAUNDERS / 37 EAST 28TH STREET / NEW YORK CITY
Untitled from the "County Fairs" series
Silvia Saunders
Date: c. 1931-1937
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Object number: 1969.5.6
Untitled from the "County Fairs" series
Silvia Saunders
Date: c. 1931-1937
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Object number: 1969.9.3
Untitled from the "County Fairs" series
Silvia Saunders
Date: c. 1931-1937
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Object number: 1969.5.3
Silvia Saunders
Date: c. 1931-1937
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Object number: 1969.7.7
Untitled from the "Pittsburgh" series
Silvia Saunders
Date: 20th century
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Object number: 1969.12.4
Photograph by John Bentham.
Silvia Saunders
Date: 1933
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Object number: 1969.11.5
Photography by David Revette.
William E. Williams
Date: 1981 (published 1985)
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Object number: 1992.1.2
Untitled from the "Falling House and Barn" series
Silvia Saunders
Date: c. 1931-1937
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Object number: 1969.2.1
Photo by Dave Revette.
Silvia Saunders
Date: c. 1931-1937
Medium: Gelatin silver print on paper
Object number: 1969.2.9
Photo by Dave Revette.
Silvia Saunders
Date: c. 1931-1937
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Object number: 1969.2.5
Untitled from the "Falling House and Barn" series
Silvia Saunders
Date: c. 1931-1937
Medium: Gelatin silver print on paper
Object number: 1969.2.4
Photo by Dave Revette.
Silvia Saunders
Date: c. 1931-1937
Medium: Gelatin silver print on paper
Object number: 1969.2.6