In an era where thousands of glossy magazine covers peer down their nose at you from the shelves, each complete with countless hours of retouching, editing, cropping and enhancements, it’s easy to forget that photography wasn’t always so easily or as frequently altered. Worldwide we point and tap our Instagrammifications on an almost hourly basis, adding filters, colours and frames – it’s fun because it’s simple, but it’s not indicative of how photos use to be.
To create illusions & capture moments of magic, you didn’t use an algorithm created by a third-party, you simply had to rely on your talent alone. And that’s why we’re featuring this peculiar series of photographs, all created, edited and altered long before the rise of digital processing, let alone Photoshop. We’re talking as far back as the 1840′s and ts startling to think how the medium was being used and adapted as an art form even back then in those very primitive days of technology.
They’re part of an exciting new exhibition titled Faking It: Manipulated Photography Before Photoshop which is currently in its final weeks at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Interestingly enough, it’s the 1st show they’ve housed that is entirely dedicated to manipulated photographs & images – before the rise of the digital revolution.
You can find out more about the show and the 200 images featured right here, but in the meantime, enjoy this rather strange and compelling trip down memory lane…
1. Man on Rooftop with Eleven Men in Formation on His Shoulders (1930)
Unknown Artist, American School
Collection of George Eastman House
Photo Courtesy: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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2. Dream No. 1: “Electrical Appliances for the Home” (1950)
Twentieth-Century Photography Fund, 2012
Photo Courtesy: Galería Jorge Mara – La Ruche, Buenos Aires
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3. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec as Artist and Model (1892)
Artist: Maurice Guibert
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec as Artist and Model
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Gift of Henry P. Mcllhenny
Photo Courtesy: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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4. The Vision (Orpheus Scene) (1907)
Artist: F. Holland Day
National Media Museum
Photo Courtesy: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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5. Hearst Over the People (1939)
Artist: Barbara Morgan
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri
Photo Courtesy: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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6. Lenin and Stalin in Gorky (1949)
Unknown Artist, Russian
Ryna and David Alexander
Photo Courtesy: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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7. Man Juggling His Own Head (1880)
Artist: De Torbéchet, Allain & C.
Collection of Christophe Goeury
Photo Courtesy: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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8. Room With Eye (1930)
Artist: Maurice Tabard & Roger Parry
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1962
Photo Courtesy: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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9. Dirigible Docked on Empire State Building (1930)
Unknown Artist, American
Twentieth-Century Photography Fund, 2011
Photo Courtesy: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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10. The Two-Headed Man (1855)
Unknown Artist, American
Nelson-Atkins Museum
Photo Courtesy: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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11. Fading Away (1858)
Artist: Henry Peach Robinson
The Royal Photographic Society at the National Media Museum
Photo Courtesy: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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12. Aberdeen Portraits No.1 (1857)
Artist: George Washington Wilson
The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Fund, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 2011
Photo Courtesy: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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13. A Powerful Collision (1910)
Unknown Artist, German School
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Funds from various donors, 2010
Photo Courtesy: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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