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| DEATH
& HUMOUR IN EARLY VISUAL MEDIA
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'Death
and Humour' in Early
Visual Media are a wide overlapping
theme within the precursors
of Virtual Reality, Photography,
Pre-cinema etc. Many Visual
Media inventions, techniques
and subjects became popular
true entertainment purposes
and popular publications.
The
Ghost in photography
demonstrate the fascination
for death and the afterlife.
The discovery of X-rays by Röntgen
in 1895 unveiled the skeleton
inside us and caused a new genre
in the scientific medical cartoon.
Circus
and fairground
where often 'the places' where
the common public became confronted
with these novelty's such as
X-rays. This is also true for
the Peepshow, the Magic Lantern,
Physiques, Mechanics, Optics,
Conjuring arts, Photography,
Cinema, etc.
This page will show some interesting
examples of images where Death
becomes the main actor for humorous
results in different media.
The purpose of this page is
to invite visitors in providing
interesting and or hilarious
examples of Death
as the comedian protagonist.
On the right we see a wonderful
colour lithograph published
in the popular satire magazine:
l'
Assiette au Beurre.
Issue "Les
Refroidis" No.
156 - 1904.
Illustrated
by Jossot.
Browse through this issue.
"Nous
autres 'désincarnés'
nous ne coupons pas dans 'l'
Au-Dela"
See more of these images on
the bottom of the page.
This theme also became most
popular in 19th.
Century Ghost
photographs.
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l'
Assiette au Beurre No.
156 - 1904 Illustrations
by Jossot.
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Anonymous
photographer |
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The
French stereo Diablerie
tissue views where a most popular
set at the end of the 19th.
Century.
Diableries are wonderful examples
of death and humour in photography.
They where made with a lot of
imagination and humour.
To see more diableries from this
set click on the following blue
links:
Robert
A. Schreiber recently published
an article "Classification
of Diableries" where
the social satire of these images
is explained.
As can be judged in the stereo
image below, the popularity of
skeletons is not limited to stereo
diableries.
This group is formed of the skeletons
of notorious characters, who "left
their country for their country's
good" according the label
on the back of the albumin card.
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The
definitive book on Stereo Diableries
will be published on Halloween 2013
by
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'The Skeletons'
Carouse', or the Bon Vivants.
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From
the earliest beginning Death was
a major theme in Magic Lantern slides
as can be seen in the subsequent
Phantasmagoria links.
Do not miss any of the 12 Phantasmagoria
links as can be found on the first
'Dance
of Death' page.
The
photographical Magic Lantern slide
shows possibly a joke of a medical
student?
Obviously
the theme of Ghosts is also most
popular among children
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Skeletons
dressed in uniforms of public
figures to resemble political
characters are frequently
seen in humorous cartoon photographs.
Often, suchlike images are
a social satire of Louis
Napoleon Bonaparte
(Napoleon III French Emperor
of France 1852 - 1870) as
told by Robert A. Schreiber
in his recent article "Classification
of Diableries"
Schreiber's article was published
in Stereo
World, magazine
of the National Stereoscopic
Association Volume
30 number 4 |
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See
also other web sites: Haunting
Images &
The
Anatomical Wax Collection
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'Ghost
images' were a normal occurrence
in early 19th.
Century photographs due to
long exposure times and displacement
of the subject during this
process.
The latter, spontaneous, ghost
image can be seen in a detail
of a Félix Bonfils image on
the right.
Sir David Brewster kindly
suggested
"The
Ghost in the Stereoscope"
inspired by this occurrence.
See the image on the left.
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Below we see more colour lithographs
published in the popular satire
magazine: l'
Assiette au Beurre.
Issue "Les
Refroidis" No.
156 - 1904.
Illustrated
by Gustave Henri Jossot (1866
- 1951).
Browse through this issue
to see all
it's images on the humorous death.
l'
Assiette au Beurre
unifies art
and Satire
by caricatures
made by the most famous
caricaturist's of their time;
Steinlen, Jean Veber, Willette,
Forain, Caran d' Ache, Léandre,
Cappiello, Vogel, Faivre, Huard,
Jossot, Ibels, Grün, Chéret,
Hermann-Paul, Morin, Camara, Géo-Dupuis,
etc.
The magazine is most attractive
due to his strong political satire
but also thanks to the publication
of colour lithographs in all issues.
Lithography was invented by Alois
Senefelder (Bohemia) in 1798. Lithography
is the first new printing process
since the relief printing techniques
invented in the 15th.
Century. In the 19th.
Century multi-colored lithographs
became popular and know as Chromolithography.
The (Chromo)-lithograph
process is a new Visual Media technique
in it's own right and became a widely
used technique to popularize many
other new media. These include reproduction
of photographs
and pre-cinema
items. The majority of 19th.
Century posters is printed by (Chromo)-lithograph
techniques. See some examples (Benevol
& Fria-Ned) on the Conjuring
page. Conjuring books and especially
conjuring catalogues of the 18th.
& 19th.
Century are lavishly illustrated
with (Chromo)-lithographs.
Even the early projected image used
color lithography to print huge
quantities of Children's
Magic Lantern slides.
The images below, printed in l'
Assiette au Beurre show humorous
caricatures inspired by Death,
a theme most popular in photography,
pre-cinema and many other new media
born in the 17th.,
18th.
& 19th.
Centuries. For this, Lithography
in general became widely used to
spread information on new media
before the advent of photography.
The latter 'Mirror
with Memory' was preceded
by the by a special version of the
engraving known as Physionotrace.
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Surtout époussetez bien
mon thorax:
j' ai des toiles d' araignèes
a la place du cœur |
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Jadis, Azor, nous avions des
puces..
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En habit? Oui! jedois dire
La 'Charogne' de Baudelaire
dans une réunion spirite |
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Quelle
attitude méditative!
A quoi pense-t-il ?.. |
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Plus de dents!
I mpossible de manger les pissenlits
par la racine. |
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Et pourtant,..
Il y avait quelque chose là,.
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J' ai rêvé que
j' ètais vivant !!!
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As-tu du tabac?..
Cherche
danse mon cerveau: j'y fourre
des tas de choses..
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