PINGPANK BARBER SHOP
413 Bleeker Street
MAY 18, 1938. ABBOTT FILE 300

Perkins Harnly, Pingpank Barber Shop, Watercolor Drawing

When Abbott photographed this shop window, August Pingpank was 87 years old, in business for over 50 years, and was said to be the oldest barber in New York City. On the verge of retirement, Pingpank remarked that "it's different now with the men shaving themselves every morning at home." Pingpank's shop, decorated with his customers' personalized shaving mugs, recalled the days before the invention of the safety razor. The Victorian interior--with its ornately carved breakfront, ground-glass screen, red velvet chairs, spittoon, and 1880s pinup calendar--was illustrated by Perkins Harnly for the Federal Art Project's Index of American Design.

Abbott's shopfront photograph presents a distilled image of Pingpank's world. Set up against a mirror are customers' shaving mugs, standing upon a multitiered, makeshift display stand. Given the place of honor on the stand is a Chinese porcelain jardiniere, a cut glass disinfectant jar, and a can of Jergen's talcum powder. Attached to the mirror is a photograph of the shop's interior, and on the left wall is a Victorian advertisement, in which an airborne angel proffers an open box of cigars. Reflected in the window is a horse-drawn cart, a fitting accompaniment to this representation of a bygone era.

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