The current issue of
Vanity Fair has an article about a photograph that turned up on Ebay three years ago, and the owner, a guitar cognoscente, is convinced it depicts Robert Johnson and Johnny Shines.
I haven't read it fully yet, but here's the link (note: there's a lot there; it's five pages long):
www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2008/11/johnson200811Jeez! He should be convicted. That's not Robert Johnson or Johnny Shines and I'm not even an
expert on the Blues legends or facial recognition. I have had an old postcard of Robert Johnson
(the photo booth portrait) staring at me on my desk for the past 20 years and I know the face
pretty well. Although the young man with the stringless, almost pegless joke guitar looks a little
like Johnson, I'm sure this can be said of many folks. Where is Johnson's perpetual bulging right
eye, arched brow, high-set ears, wide nose bridge, etc., etc. in this photo discovery???
Long fingers do not a Blues legend make. Yes, Johnson had very long fingers, but he supposedly
suffered from Marfan's Syndrome. This sometimes results in long fingers, eye defects, and other
more serious problems. I'm sure Johnson wasn't the only African American afflicted with this odd
disorder, although the owner of this photograph and the creator of the Vanity Fair article would
have you believe so. Actually the fellow with the alledged Mr. Shines seems to have even longer
fingers, when one measures the digits on his right hand, then compares them to Johnson's bent
fingers in the Hooks Bros. studio portrait. At least I see a pretty big difference. His shoulders are
also a lot broader than the real bluesman.
The photograph was supposedly described as a snapshot on Ebay, but it's obvious that this was
a mistaken description. It's clearly a crude studio portrait as the owner states that its dimensions
are 4 X 6 inches and has a sepia-tone, which is plainly seen in the copies. An apparent palm tree
and steps backdrop can be seen behind the supposed bluesmen, which gives the impression that
the portrait was taken in a semi-tropical area (California or Florida) of The States. The fact that
the photo is almost cabinet card size and a sepia-tone albumen print almost certainly dates the
photograph to no later than the 1920s as these photographic features went out of style around
this time period. I've collected old cabinet card photographs for many years, but I don't consider
myself an expert on the various processes for making images. I'm sure a scientist could pinpoint
the time period more accurately.
This supposed photograph of bluesman Johnny Shines looks nothing like the real man, unless Mr.
Shines darkened his skin, wore black contacts and put on a big pair of gapless false teeth in his
later years. There's lots of pictures of him on the internet. You can really see the differences in
these four men when you compare the full page picture in Vanity Fair (page 203) to the known
photos of Robert Johnson and Johnny Shines. Good night and I hope I havn't iritated you guys
with my legendary skepticism.
