Two-Headed Man: Unknown, American ca. 1855 Daguerreotype

It is quite curious for us to look back at an age of visual practice which did not have the tools that we take as an assured presence now. From anonymous daguerreotypers (about 1855) to Oscar Rejlander (very often credited with one of the earliest articulations of manipulated photographs – 1857), the century that was to follow saw the imaginations and skills of myriad ‘trick photographers’ come to the fore. The George Eastman House and the Metropolitan Museum of Art have in their collection some of the early ‘imagineering’ that occurred much before the Knoll brothers changed the image making world in the latter half of the twentieth century. Take a look.

Cloud Study: Gustave Le Gray 1856-1857 Albumen silver print from glass negatives.

Aberdeen Portraits No. 1: 1857 by George Washington Wilson. Albumen print from glass negative.

Fading Away: Henry Peach Robinson 1858 Albumen silver print from glass negatives.

Man Juggling His Own Head: De Torbéchet, Allain & C. ca. 1880 by Saint Thomas D’Aquin. Albumen silver print.

A dog shows his wounds in this print dated 1885.

Unknown. Late 1880s.

A mummy comes to life in this cabinet card, dated 1885.

From the late 1800s, a manipulated photo of a ‘decapitated man’.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec as Artist and Model: 1892 by Maurice Guibert. Gelatin silver print.

A dream of Christmas: Dated 1897 by Strohmeyer & Wyman.

Ghost image. Unknown. 1905.

The Vision: (Orpheus Scene) 1907 by F. Holland Day. Platinum print.

A card enthusiast enjoys a game with his canine partner, in this photo from a postcard dated 1909.

Unknown, German School. 1910s. Gelatin silver print.

A trio dressed in Mardi Gras costumes in this image from 1911. (Den Bosch, The Netherlands).

Colorado Springs, Colorado: William Henry Jackson ca. 1913. Collage of gelatin silver prints with applied media.

Room with Eye: 1930 by Maurice Tabard and Roger Parry Gelatin, silver print

Man on Rooftop with Eleven Men in Formation on His Shoulders: Unknown, American ca. 1930. Gelatin silver print.

Dirigible Docked on Empire State Building: Unknown, American 1930 Gelatin. silver print.

Hearst Over The People: 1939 by Barbara Morgan.

Dream No. 1: ‘Electrical Appliances for the Home’ by Grete Stern ca. 1950. Gelatin silver print.