Real Photo Postcard of African American Rodeo Cowboy and Performer Bill Pickett, Holding a Pistol

A real photo postcard of Bill Pickett, the African American cowboy, rodeo performer, and early motion picture actor, showing Pickett standing in a long overcoat and wide-brimmed hat, holding a pistol at his side, with a painted western landscape backdrop behind him. Bill Pickett was one of the best-known Black cowboys and rodeo performers of the early twentieth century. Born in Texas in 1870, he became famous for bulldogging, later known as steer wrestling, and worked in western shows and early motion pictures. This portrait shows him in a staged cowboy presentation, with hat, overcoat, pistol, and painted western backdrop, emphasizing the public persona of the rodeo performer as much as the working cowboy. We find no other examples of this image or of studio portraits of Pickett in auction records or the trade. Light wear and soiling, with some surface marks and age toning. Original real photo postcard on AZO stock, stamp box with four upward-pointing triangles dating it to ca. 1904?1918; likely 1910s. Unused postcard back. …