Originally published at: I'm a big fan of this umbrella with a window from 1935 | Boing Boing
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I just want one that doesn’t turn inside out in the wind 
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At first glance I took this to be a photograph of a real windowed umbrella, but…something seems “off” about the photo, in the window part…
Why is the area around the person’s head so light in color? It’s as if the umbrella has no back to it! (Or is the umbrella lined with a light color?) Why is the window so off-center in the panel of the umbrella? (Speaking as a designer, that would be unusual.) And the window has close-to-straight lines, that don’t follow the curve of the umbrella. (Not impossible, but would be unusual…)
Now I’m thinking it’s an “artist’s vision”, made in the darkroom.
Cool photo, though. I like it!
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Egads and by Jove, color me convinced!
Artistic chicanery does indeed seem afoot.
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Just a bit of “dodging”, i.e. different exposure times for the bit with the window in the umbrella and the rest of the picture. Which seems a bit lazy; they could have done the dodging in a way that it would just bring out the woman’s face better.
Possibly they did touch up the face a bit, though.
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Good old-fashioned collage, I’d say, but it certainly isn’t “real”.
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Or that.
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Props to the artist though for giving it the old collage try.
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Could be both!
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Yes, I was thinking it was collaged and then re-photographed. BUT was the originally-intended finished artwork the collage itself, or a photo of a collage? So, are we looking at a photo of a photo of a collage, or just at a photo of a collage? Ooh, my head hurts.
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Beyond 1935 technology, but an umbrella that had a screen of an imposing person making “eye contact” might impel other people to get out of their way. Have one in the back too, so tigers don’t sneak up on them.
ETA: it’d also be a good way to frame a music video, noir scene of people walking in the rain, screens popping up on the umbrellas with the singer/band.
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Somewhere I have a photo of a friend in his kitchen wearing a shirt with a screenprint of him in that same kitchen…
This stuff can drive you mad if you let it 
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I’m partial to this one.
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Clear plastic in 1935? I don’t think so.
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there’s always the senz
i had a friend who claimed they took theirs to the oregon coast ( think wind and rain, not sun or sand ) and had no problems
it’s shaped like a wing i guess
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That looks like it could take you to the Oregon coast, given a strong enough wind 
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from the article " " The new isinglass window eliminates . . . "
i·sin·glass
/ˈīznˌɡlas,ˈīziNGˌɡlas/
noun
noun: isinglass
- a kind of gelatin obtained from fish, especially sturgeon, and used in making jellies, glue, etc., and for clarifying ale.
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yeah. do not wear rollerskates
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But if the Ford Model T’s had them, then it did exist even earlier.
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