| | | Carte de visite
Cultural curiosities and the novel idea
After reading E. Anne McCauley’s book Industrial Madness: Commercial Photography in Paris, 1848-1871 (Yale University Press, 2000), one comes away with a notion of the rigors that collodion processing for a mass market could induce. Busy studios, difficult clients, short supplies, bad lighting, it is no wonder some studios were doomed to be an establishment catering to the non–illustrious and rather pedestrian clientele for their hard earned bread. Few were able to be out in the wild photographing scenic landscapes or the ancient and exotic. For every Disderi, Silvy, or Nadar, there were thousands of dare-I-say-it Podunk little studios without the clamorous pockets of Napoleon the III or Prince blah blah Plon rushing through their doors. Nor were there the artistic elite, no Victor Hugo, No Rosa Bonheur, and certainly no political luminary like Abraham Lincoln. These studios ran a day-to-day business, but sometimes, just sometimes, they took the novelty of making an image so obtuse or funny that they justified all the other grand moments perhaps lost on snivelling royalty or women of dubious reputations from the Comedie Française.
It is my hypothesis that some of these gems were made for commercial album closers (the end of all things); some were definitely made out novelty. The image of a man whose nose is always first, or the woman who is being "Homeward Bound" by process alone alludes to a higher sense of comical and whimsical order. I have always strove to buy carte de visite discriminately and am very happy to share some of my bounties here.
Material such as this does not always have to be construed as Rare. Many of these images were intended for commercial use and 130 years later I can still pick up gems for under $10.00. It, like vernacular, is a passion of the eye. Some of these examples quite easily work into the mildewed corners of scholarly research. The Tahitian Beauty could be cross classified through Cultural studies, the Victorian male gaze, Tahiti and French Rule, Female Fronted photographic studio etc, But, my interest in these developed from a status of a higher order. Each of these Carte de visite radiates something more, whether it is contextual or simply aesthetic.
Please enjoy. These have never been shown before.
Brad Feuerhelm (March 2007)
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