Early Masters of Illusion

by Frances M. Ozur

Technical limitations in the nascent field of photography forced its earliest practitioners to become masters of illusion. Needing bright light, the first portraits had to be taken outside in direct sunlight with furniture pieces and simple backdrops simulating interior settings. New scientific advances soon allowed portraiture to move inside the studio. By the end of the nineteenth century, however, the illusion process had reversed itself: photographers simulated fantasy exterior settings inside studio walls through the use of elaborate props and backdrops. This entangled development of the photographic process and the phenomenon of illusion created by early photographers of the nineteenth century is illustrated by the daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and tintypes of the case Art collection of the Seaver Center for Western Research, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

The dominant application of photography lies in the human impulse to capture a memory by arresting time, coupled with the human urge to create a representation of a person or situation deemed worthy of commemoration. When photography was first discovered, the hope was that portraiture would be among its greatest utilities, but the original process required an exposure time exceeding twenty-five minutes. The poor resolution of early lenses and the lack of sensitivity to light of the photo-chemistry necessitated the rigid stillness of its subject in blazing sunshine.1 Because the medium required a great deal of light, early studio photographs were taken outdoors, often on the roofs of buildings where sunlight was unobstructed. Daguerreotypist John Werge described his first experience having his portrait taken at the McGhee daguerreotype outdoor studio:

Against a brick wall with a piece of old grey cloth nailed over it, I was requested to sit down on an old chair; then [the photographer] placed before me an instrument which looked like a very ugly theodolite . . . and after putting his head under a black cloth, told me to look at a mark on the other side of the garden, without winking or moving till he said done.²

Originally, the ultimate aim of the outdoor studio was to simulate the appearance of an indoor scene based on the traditions of the painted portrait. A simple sheet was hung behind the client in order to conceal distracting background material. Before long, more elaborate measures-such as the use of drapery, parlor chairs, and bookcases-were used in order to create the semblance of an interior drawing room or study.³

Eventually studios moved indoors to protect photographic equipment from the elements but the need for bright light to minimize lengthy exposures still existed. Photographers solved their lighting problems by building studios with glass roofs or by directing the sunlight through open windows onto the subject's face with mirrors.

Ubiquitous from the earliest days of photography was the use of studio props and accessories. A leather covered book held in the hand or placed on a marble-topped table, could represent an individual's status. And while late nineteenth-century photographers had limited means of managing studio lighting, they had total control of studio ambiance. Any number of fantasy scenes could be constructed with a few backdrops and studio props. Consequently, a conventional photography studio could be transformed into a "wonderland of different settings."⁴ Backdrops could be easily hung and changed to suit the client's mood or whim. A man could choose to be photographed seated against the backdrop of a library to give himself an erudite prestige or he could opt to immortalize himself leaning against a rustic fence in order to present himself in a less formal setting.

By the 1880's, the artificial worlds that could be created with the tintype had reached the limit of realistic possibilities. With the negativeless process, the only venue available to the photographer for creating illusion was in front of the lens - not behind. As soon as the negative could be utilized, the range of virtual reality became limited only by the boundaries of imagination and the technological knowledge of the photographer. While early negativeless processes continued to be used through the early twentieth century, the introduction of the inexpensive Kodak flexible film camera in 1888 allowed any amateur to become a photographer.

1. Robert Hirsch, Seizing the Light: A History of Photography (Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2000),11-13. 2. Colin Ford, ed., The Story of Popular Photography (North Pomfret, Vermont: Trafalgar Square Publishing, 1989), 23.
3. Heinz K. Henisch and Bridget A. Henisch, The Photographic Experience 1839-1914: Images and Attitudes (University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1994), 25.
4. Ibid., 20.

anonymous identity >>