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A Load of Fancy Poultry

1909
Not on view
The tall-tale postcard was a uniquely American genre that flourished in the Midwest between about 1908 and 1915. The earliest master of the genre was William H. “Dad” Martin, a studio photographer in Kansas who established a successful sideline crafting photomontages of outlandish agricultural abundance. Intimately familiar with the tribulations of Midwestern farmers, including a fierce drought that parched the land for most of the 1890s, Martin lampooned the inflated promises of fertile soil, abundant rain, and hardy livestock that land companies used to lure settlers westward.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: A Load of Fancy Poultry
  • Artist: William H. Martin (American, 1865–1940)
  • Date: 1909
  • Medium: Gelatin silver print
  • Dimensions: Image: 8.4 x 14 cm (3 5/16 x 5 1/2 in.)
    Frame: 55.9 x 71.1 cm (22 x 28 in.) (Multiple postcards in frame)
  • Classification: Photographs
  • Credit Line: Gift of Charles Isaacs and Carol Nigro, 2007
  • Object Number: 2007.460.5
  • Curatorial Department: Photographs

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Great Sport Shooting Rabbits in Iowa, William H. Martin American, Gelatin silver print
Great Sport Shooting Rabbits in Iowa
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Harvesting Wheat in Iowa, William H. Martin American, Gelatin silver print
Harvesting Wheat in Iowa
William H. Martin
1909
A Unique Bungalow, William H. Martin American, Gelatin silver print
A Unique Bungalow
William H. Martin
1909
Carving One of Our Watermelons, William H. Martin American, Gelatin silver print
Carving One of Our Watermelons
William H. Martin
1909
Compass, Man Ray American, Gelatin silver print
Compass
Man Ray
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