Joseph Knaffl

Joseph Knaffl (October 9, 1861 – March 23, 1938) was an American art and portrait photographer, active in Knoxville, Tennessee, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

[2][3] After serving as a Union Army physician during the Civil War, Dr. Knaffl moved his family to Knoxville, where he practiced medicine.

[2] Knaffl was married to Lula May Atkin, the daughter of Knoxville hotel and real estate magnate, Samuel T.

[2] Samuel Knaffl died in 1969, and the business, which had evolved into a framing gallery on Kingston Pike, passed to his widow, Sarah.

"[4] During the mid-1890s, the Knaffls made a series of photographs that poked fun at negative racial stereotypes,[6] such as "A Skin Game" (1896), which depicts three African-American card players cheating at poker.

[6] Since Josephine, apparently frightened by the noise of Gay Street, cried continuously, it took three separate shoots to get the image Knaffl wanted.

The photograph was described as having been made in a 20-foot (6.1 m) by 40-foot (12 m) "operating-room," using a "single-slant" light style diffused with white curtains, and a Bausch & Lomb lens.