Photographer_________

Joseph Woodson Whitesell, Bloomington, Indiana

Title:

Kojl Yamada and Willie Hoppe, Billiards Champions

Date:

c1906-1918

Medium:

Developing out paper on plain mount

Size of Image:

12 3/4 x 8 3/8 inches

Size of Mount:

16 1/2 x 11 1/2 inches

Condition:

Rich, warm tonal image shows light aging, tipped to original paper mount with penned edge-line around image.  Mount shows aging and soiling, edges/corners rubbed/bumped with some light staining at corners/edges, edges/corners rubbed/bumped, penciled notation on verso reads:  “Willey (sic) and Japanese Chapion (sic).  One of Whitesell’s favorite pictures brought with him from Bloomington, Ind.”

Other:

Quite uncommon large, beautiful portrait of William Frederick Hoppe (1887-1959) nicely posed with Koji Yamada (dates unknown)  at an unknown pool hall location (possibly Chicago).  Hoppe is considered by many as the greatest billiards player of all time winning his first world title at the age of 18 beating the French champion Maurice Vignaux in 1906.  By his retirement in 1952 he had won 51 world titles, written several books on billiards and in 1966 was inducted into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame. 

Koji Yamada was the Japanese champion of the day who toured the US several times in the early 20th century playing Hoppe in many exhibition matches across the country.  In 1913 Yamada and Hoppe faced off in the finals of the world championship at the Hotel Astor in NYC with Hoppe coming out on top.

We were able to confirm that Hoppe & Yamada played against each other in either tournaments or exhibition matches in Chicago in 1906 & 1914; New York in 1912, 1913 & 1915; Boston in 1915 & 18 and in Hartford, Connecticut in 1915.  There is no doubt that there were other dates as well.  Given Whitesell’s sketchy dates of living in the Indiana and Chicago region which falls roughly from around 1890’s until about 1917-18 coupled with the notation on the verso, this portrait may have been made in Chicago.

Joseph Woodson Whitesell (1876-1958) was born in Libertyville, Indiana and studied painting early on before turning his talents to photography.   He seems to have had two distinctly separate careers, one in the   Indiana/Chicago region where he appears to have worked as a studio photographer coupled with occasional news worthy coverage and documentary work.  By 1917-18 he moved to New Orleans where he eventually opened his own studio and became an important member of the Bohemian scene of artists and writers.  Mostly self-taught, he produced a vast inventory of imagery while in New Orleans with a large selection of his work being donated to the Tulane University, Howard-Tilton Memorial Library Archive.  He was known to many as “Pops” and “Wood” and is said to be the inspiration behind the eccentric character “Gramps Wiggins” in several of Earl Stanley Gardners murder mysteries.  Most of Whitesell’s work available today comes from his New Orleans years, making this portrait somewhat even more unusual.