Original Charles Guyette photographs have toned prints while later Irving Klaw reprints tend to be black and white with little or no toning. The toned prints are better at suggesting color but to get a better idea of the world Guyette’s photographs were taken in, the flooring in the studio photographs has a distinctive pattern.

It’s a Congoleum Priscilla pattern “rug.” Congoleum/lineoleum rugs were so called because they were meant to act as if they were rugs, covering only a portion of a floor. These rugs were popular before the second world war. They were meant to serve the same function in a room as a conventional rug, but easier to clean. This page showing the Priscilla pattern is from a 1936 catalog but the pattern probably dates from the 1920s or earlier. Around 1930 patterns shifted from a grid diagonal to the border to a grid parallel to the border.

An Irving Klaw reprint of an early Charles Guyette photograph taken in the studio. The photo shows the elements of the painted backdrop with pastoral imagery. Later studio photographs have a painted backdrop with architectural elements. The Klaw print is slightly larger than the 4 x 5 inch size he normally used — 11 x 12.9 cm.