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An unidentified man in hundreds of photo booth images comprises a curious collection titled "445 Portraits of a Man," which is part of an exhibit, "Striking Resemblance," that is on display through July 13 at the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University in New Brunswick.

(Handout photo )

His selfies predate Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. In fact, they predate the internet. They have no fancy filters or captions, no likes or shares.

In some, the man pictured had donned a fedora; in others, he wore a tie — occasionally, in the shape of a bow. His hair, once thick and black, was, over time, thinned to a white widow's peak.

The unidentified man in the hundreds of photo booth images comprises a curious collection titled "445 Portraits of a Man," which is part of an exhibit, "Striking Resemblance," that is on display through July 13 at the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University in New Brunswick.

Little is known about the images, which were taken over three decades — from the Great Depression through the 1960s.

"As a historian, I knew this was very rare, but on a deeper level, I wondered, 'Why would somebody want to take almost 500 photos of himself in a photo booth?' " says photography historian Donald Lokuta, who owns the well-preserved silver gelatin prints.

STRIKING RESEMBLANCE

Where: Zimmerli Museum, 71 Hamilton St., New Brunswick

When: Through July 13. Museum is open Tuesdays through Fridays from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. Closed Mondays.

How much: $6 (free for Rutgers students, faculty and staff, and museum members); call (732) 932-7237 or visit zimmerlimuseum.rutgers.edu.

"There's quite an age difference in the photos. You see him as a younger man and then with a white, receding hairline and wrinkles," Lokuta says. "In appearance, (the photos) are unremarkable. They look like mug shots, but that's what makes them special: the sameness, the repetition."

Lokuta bought a few of the images at a New York City antique show in 2012. When he learned the antique dealer had hundreds more, he purchased them all to keep the collection together.

Nakki Goranin, author of "American Photobooth," also owned seven images of the man. Goranin and Lokuta tracked down the previous owner of the images and learned they traced back to a Michigan auction.

And that's about all they know.

Lokuta has a hypothesis, though: Each time the unidentified man snapped a shot of himself, he was testing the photo booth equipment after servicing it.

But Goranin contends: "It's not a given that the guy worked for the photo booth company. It could be that he's just a quirky personality."

"445 Portraits of a Man" is a collection being shown as part of "Striking Resemblance, " an exhibition on display at Rutgers University's Zimmerli Art Museum in New Brunswick.

Lokuta had the help of Zimmerli curator Donna Gustafson in preparing the collection. Gustafson was gathering works for the larger "Striking Resemblance" exhibition, which examines both the modern history of the portrait and its contemporary definitions.

"I wanted this collection in the exhibition because everyone is intrigued by photo booths, and these portraits were never intended to be shown in a museum," Gustafson says.

"The concept of the series has been going on in contemporary art since the 1970s. It's a very conceptual way of thinking. What struck me was that these portraits were taken as early as the 1930s and '40s, before many of us were thinking conceptually about photography."

Gustafson is hopeful the Zimmerli exhibit will expose the identity of the man in the image.

"We are hoping someone calls and says, 'That's my great grandfather or uncle,' " she says. "It would be nice to have a name to attach to that face."

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