Monday, May 10, 2010

VICTORIAN PHOTOCOLLAGE


A few weeks ago Tina and I went to the Metropolitan Museum to see Playing with Pictures: The Art of Victorian Photocollage. I had read a few things about it beforehand...and it sounded like it was right up my alley...but seriously?...it turned out to be one of the most inspiring exhibits I've been to in a while!  

In the 1860s, the popularity of the carte de visite (affordable tiny paper photos you could have taken and then hand out to whomever you please) started a kind of photocollage craze. Women would cut out these pictures of their friends and family and place them in hand-painted vignettes. What I found surprising about these collages was how thoroughly modern they seemed. They were so wonderfully weird and witty and playful and surreal. Not at all what you would expect from a bunch of aristocratic Victorian ladies! The show ended yesterday...so I decided to do a quick post with a few images from the exhibit for those of you who didn't get to see it.









2 comments:

  1. Hello Darbie,
    What i lovely little collection of photos you have displyed here i absolutly love them !
    Yes and you are so right dont they just seem so modern and "weird and witty and playful and surreal" they really really do, I love the first picture your main one the best but this bottom picture is .. well i really enjoy looking at it and to say this is from the hands of Victorian ladies. Do you have more from the exhibit ??
    Thanks so much Jim

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  2. jim,

    there is a book available that has many of the images from the show. you can get it from amazon.

    http://www.amazon.com/Playing-Pictures-Victorian-Photocollage-Institute/dp/0300141149

    that's where most of these pics i posted are from.

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