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Backgrounds and foregrounds


 
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Explore the historical evolution and visual significance of this theme through the extensive archives of Luminous-Lint. By connecting rare images, scholarly research, and diverse photographic techniques, we provide a comprehensive framework for understanding how these visual narratives have shaped the medium across the 19th and 20th centuries. Dive into our networked database of over 130,000 images to discover the pivotal trends, individual masterpieces, and deep historical connections that define this field.

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Contents

Introduction
1Introduction to backgrounds and foregrounds
2Manufacturers and painters of studio backgrounds
Daguerreotypists and painted studio backgrounds
3Studio painted backgrounds for daguerreotypes
4Antoine Claudet: Backgrounds for daguerreotypes
5Salt prints: Backgrounds
6Ambrotypes: Backgrounds
7Cartes de visite: Backgrounds and foregrounds
8Cabinet cards: Backgrounds and foregrounds
9Tintypes: Backgrounds and foregrounds
10Real Photo Postcards: Backgrounds and foregrounds
Contemporary accounts
11Backgrounds
12Studio backgrounds
13How Nineteenth Century Studios used backgrounds
Examples of studio backgrounds
14Backgrounds used in nineteenth century photographic studios
Use of painted external walls as backgrounds
15William Notman: Use of the painted exterior wall of his Montreal Studio as a background
Designs for backgrounds
16Backgrounds - how to paint and arrange them (1859)
17David Knights-Whittome: Photographic backgrounds
18Surviving photographic backgrounds
Background holders and supports
19Background holders and supports
Revolving backgrounds
20Revolving backgrounds
Suppliers of backgrounds
21Advertising for manufacturers and suppliers of backgrounds
Paintings showing backgrounds in photographic studios
22Paintings showing backgrounds in use
Foreground and background themes
23Backgrounds: Domestic interiors
24Backgrounds: Transportation
25Studio backgrounds and foregrounds: Carts
26Studio backgrounds and foregrounds: Cars
27Studio backgrounds and foregrounds: Railways
28Studio backgrounds and foregrounds: Balloons
29Studio backgrounds and foregrounds: Aircraft
30Studio backgrounds and foregrounds: Space Age and missiles
31Studio backgrounds and foregrounds: Boats
32Studio backgrounds and foregrounds: Bars and saloons
33Studio backgrounds and foregrounds: Prisons and prisoners
34Backgrounds: Landscapes
35Water as an element in studio backgrounds and foregrounds
36Patriotic and military backgrounds for portraits during the American Civil War (1861-1865)
37Martinique: Studio portraits
Foregrounds
38Introduction to foregrounds
39Foregrounds: Windows
40Mummies and Sphinxes as foreground props
Incongruous backgrounds
41Backgrounds: Incongruous
Visibility
42The all to visible background
Street photographers
43Backgrounds: Street photographers
Case studies
44Jean-Philippe Charbonnier: The Biter Bit
45Ann Parker: Itinerant photographers of Guatemala (1970s)
46Philip K. Apagya: Aspirational backgrounds in studio portraiture
47Clarisse d'Arcimoles: Forget Nostalgia - A Little Theatre of Self (2012)
48Martin Parr: Autoportrait
Patents for backgrounds
49Patents for photographic backgrounds and foregrounds
50C.M. Coolidge: US patent No. 149,724, Processes of Taking Photographic Pictures (1874)
Conclusions
51Conclusions to backgrounds and foregrounds

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