These 1800s Cartoons Poked Fun at Photography
Poet Edgar Allan Poe had glowing things to say about photography after it exploded onto the scene in the mid-1800s. Other commentators in those days weren’t so kind.
There are quite a few cartoons from the 1800s that show a more pessimistic view of photography and its emergence in the world.
This following two-panel cartoon was published in Punch’s Almanack for 1855. It shows a family posing for a daguerreotype portrait together, but the photo turns out horribly because movement has blurred and distorted the faces:
Here’s another one that was published in The New York Journal in 1854:
Photographers often used special headrests that would help keep subjects’ heads still while they sat in a chair. Cartoonists took jabs at these contraptions as well. Here’s an 1847 comic by French painter HonorĂ© Daumier. It shows a man with his head fixed in space, and the caption reads, “Recommended position for having a perfect Daguerreotype portrait taken”:
Daumier followed it up with another comic in 1856 — this one captioned “A new process used to achieve graceful poses”:
The arrival of photography meant that portrait artists had a major competitor to deal with. This 1843 caricature by Theodor Hosemann shows a photographer depriving a portrait artist of his livelihood:
An 1859 comic showing a photographer trying to elicit a pleasant expression from a subject by having him look at an unpleasant painting:
Other cultural stereotypes sometimes got mixed into the cartoons as well. This 1859 illustration imagines what photographers are like in the wild west of the United States:
Know of any other 1800s cartoons about photography? Let us know, and we may include them in this post!