Exposures - Annette Jael Lehmann

Transcription

Exposures
Stauffenburg Colloquium
Band 65
Annette Jael Lehmann
Exposures
Visual Culture, Discourse
and Performance in
Nineteenth-Century America
Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche
Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available
in the Internet at <http://dnb.ddb.de>.
For more informations about the author, please see:
www.annette-jael-lehmann.de
Cover image:
Pierre-Louis Pierson
Countess Castiglione (ca. 1860s)
Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Printed with the support of the Freie Universität Berlin.
© 2009 · Stauffenburg Verlag Brigitte Narr GmbH
P. O. Box 25 25 · D-72015 Tübingen
www.stauffenburg.de
All rights, including the rights of publication, distribution and sales, as well as
the right to translate, are reserved. No part of this work covered by the
copyrights hereon may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means
– graphic, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording,
taping, or information and retrieval systems – without written permission
from the publisher.
Printed on acid-free paper.
Printed in Germany
ISSN 0940-3795
ISBN 978-3-86057-165-1
For Noa Fanny
This book would have been impossible to complete without the thoughts,
suggestions and feedback of a large number of colleagues, students, and friends.
First and foremost I would like to thank my academic mentors and colleagues
for their deep and generous support, inspiring discussions and uncountable
advices. I especially thank Philip Auslander, Hartmut Böhme, Renate Brosch,
Erika Fischer-Lichte, Ulla Haselstein, Doris Kolesch, Sybille Krämer, Joachim
Küpper, Eberhart Lämmert, Sieglinde Lemke, Gert Mattenklott, Nicholas
Mirzoeff, W.J.T. Mitchell, Susanne Rohr, Jens Roselt, Rebecca Schneider,
Sabine Sielke and Philip Ursprung. They were all extraordinarily generous with
candid advice and encouragement and I remain deeply indebted to them.
Also I would like to thank for their immense support my colleagues of the
Sonderforschungsbereich Kulturen des Performativen at the Freie Universität Berlin, my students, who in many instances have inspired me, as well as
Matthias Dannenberg and especially Sabine Lange and the many others who
have helped along the way. Above all, I owe more than I can say Têtu and Noa
Fanny, who have endured all this in good heart and are my reasons for continuing.
&217(176
Prologue ......................................................................................................... 13
I. Exposing Likeness or Making Real (Magic) Images
Likeness at Stake. Daguerreotype as a Mirror
Lifelikeness as a Category of Visual Experience .......................................
Daguerreotypy in Dialogue in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s
The House of the Seven Gables .................................................................
Matthew Brady’s Illustrious Americans
Portraits as Mass-Cultural Icons ................................................................
Staging the Gaze in the Photographic Gallery ..........................................
Mise-en-scène and Exposure .....................................................................
Exchanges and Enchantments. Images as Reality ................................
21
25
33
46
56
65
II. Immersions. Participating in Visualised Events
Life and Death in Peep Boxes
Oliver Wendell Holmes’ Discourses on Stereoscopy ................................ 75
Eyewitnessing? Images of War: More to be Dreaded than Death ............ 88
Perceptual Mastery of the Real ................................................................. 98
Moving Panoramas. Taking Part and Taking Control
Scenic Narratives and Collective Visions ................................................ 105
Spectators Inside the Outside .................................................................. 112
The Poetics of Panoramic Control .......................................................... 121
III. Showtime. Performing the Appearance of Reality
Appearances of Reality. What P.T. Barnum Shows
Living Curiosities ....................................................................................
Joice Heth and the Feejee Mermaid ........................................................
Discourses, Visual Display and Spatial Order
What Is It? ...............................................................................................
Circassian Beauty: Narratives of Slavery and Colonialism ....................
Heterotopia. Visual Experience of Difference..........................................
IV. The Real World on Display at the Chicago’s World Fair 1893
Staging Total Visibility
Mapping: Showing It All ..........................................................................
Framing and Touring the Fair: Architecture as Event .............................
Arranged Scenes. Empowering, Entertaining, Educating the Visitor ......
White City. On the Exclusion of African Americans
Why Are They Not Taking Part? A Struggle for Visibility.......................
W.E.D. Du Bois’ Exhibit of the American Negro ....................................
135
145
157
167
177
187
196
204
219
225
10
Contents
V. Making it Real (hard). Image Illusion and Beyond
Vanishing Glories: Seeing is Not Always Believing ............................ 235
Eyes Wide Shut. Henry James and the Crisis of Visuality
At a Glance: Paradigms of Fiction and Visual Experience ..................... 243
Theatrical Gazes and Spatial Contexts in The Portrait of a Lady ........... 248
Real Trouble: The American Scene ........................................................... 259
Theaters of the Gaze in Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie
Managing the Material World: Consumption and Self-Image ................ 267
.................. 283
Epilogue: Images as Equivalents. Alfred Stieglitz The Steerage ....... 295
Illustrations .................................................................................................. 305
Bibliography ................................................................................................ 310
3URORJXH
“The second half of the nineteenth century lives in a sort of frenzy of the visible.
It is, of course, the effect of the social multiplication of images […] the whole
world becomes visible at the same time that it becomes appropriatable.”1 An
archaeology of our world of visual experience and the forms of reality constitution related to it begins in the nineteenth century amid what Jean-Louis Comolli
has memorably described as the “frenzy of the visible.” In Exposures I examine
the transformation processes of visual experiences in connection with the discursive contexts and performative processes in the USA since the mid-nineteenth
century. The shaping of new technologies of vision, the change in perception
during the nineteenth century, and the often illusionary power of images can be
associated with a pictorial turn: an iconocentric alignment of society in which
the constitution of reality takes place essentially through images. In my book I
hope to contribute substantially to increasing the understanding of the pictorial
turn, to extending the iconic turn in the sense of William T. Mitchell, who sees
cultural change as the predominance of the image over text. Fundamental to my
approach however is the discursive and performative dependency of visual practices and experiences; in view of those two crucial aspects, I try to understand
them as equal components of the modernization processes in the USA during the
second half of the nineteenth century. Thus I choose a direction of investigation
which Hubertus von Amelunxen regards as the “imaginationsgeschichtliche wie
auch epistemologische Bedeutung der Begegnung von Literatur und Medien.”2
According to my basic thesis, visual and textual culture are combined, not in a
competitive relationship, but rather in a relationship of reciprocal complementarity which is negotiated essentially through performative processes and acts.
The performative emphasizes the pragmatic dimension of the visual constitution
of experience. In other words, visual experience as a mode of cultural production is made legible only through discursive and performative contexts.3
My method is thus focused on the interdependent processes of representation, construction, and perception of a visible reality, which will be examined in
a comparative and coequal concentration on the developing visual, textual, and
material culture. The subject is the constitution of visual worlds, their discur1
2
3
Jean-Louis Comolli, “Machines of the Visible,” in: Theresa de Lauretis, Stephen Heath (eds.),
The Cinematic Apparatus, New York 1989, 122.
Hubertus von Amelunxen, Allegorie und Photographie. Untersuchungen zur französischen
Literatur des 19. Jahrhunderts, Mannheim 1992, 6.
As Mieke Bal has argued in Reading Rembrandt, “If we understand theory in its etymological
background (which is after all, visual), it ceases to be a dominating discourse and becomes
rather a willingness to step into visual thinking, and to make a discourse a partner, rather than
dominant opponent, of visuality.” Mieke Bal, Reading Rembrandt. Beyond the Word-Image
Opposition, New York, Cambridge 1991, 288.
14
Prologue
!
!!
self-image of this period. What does visual culture from this backdrop mean?4
"
#
$%
!
!&
!
!!
&
a common set of questions, rather than a canon of objects or a privileged group
of media.5 Some of my questions are: What information do discourses on the
visual provide about the understanding of reality during this period? How and
by means of which examples can the reciprocal constitutional relationships of
visualization strategies and identity-forming processes be established? Which
media and media differences play a decisive role in this connection? To what
extent do visuality discourses and the construction of an understanding of re&
'!
&*
$&
+
!
viewing creates viewers, how acts of looking are encouraged and circumscribed
culturally, and how those transformations lead to an altered notion of the “real.”
Visual production and models of visualization are by no means limited to
primary visual media, such as painting, lithography, or, in particular, the still
young photography. Even in the here selected novels of Nathaniel Hawthorne,
Henry James, and Theodore Dreiser a poetics of visibility develops which incorporates, helps constitute, and transforms the visual experiences of this period.
The analytical approach to the visual media focuses on the repertoire of visualization strategies, the exploration of perceptual processes, and the standard ideas
and historically situated anthropological concepts on which the developed and
generated images are based. Thus a further set of questions is: To what extent
does the medium of the daguerreotype become the stage for social action and
symbolic operations? Which theatrical qualities are characteristic of these processes, and to what extent does presentation prove to be a means of communication and constitution of representational practices? The precise role of performatively accentuated processes of incorporation and their distribution in the visual
mass medium will be studied. The prerequisites for these processes will also be
'&
/
dispositive and the constitution of a new visual type. The focus of the examination is ultimately the production and adoption of this visual type — the image
— as a cultural, sociohistorically effective phenomenon. The performative, i.e.,
4
5
Readers in visual culture are beginning to proliferate; one edited by Nicholas Mirzoeff (1998)
and another by Jessica Evans and Stuart Hall (1999) collect an impressive array of essays.
Jessica Evans, Stuart Hall (eds.), Visual Culture Reader. London, 1999; Nicholas Mirzoeff
(ed.), The Visual Culture Reader, New York 1998; Ibid., An Introduction to Visual Culture,
New York 1999.
Mirzoeff, An Introduction to Visual Culture, 3–4.
Prologue
15
execution-oriented analysis of mediality is thus understood as fundamentally
&
'!
&
<!alization strategies include the constitution of identity and the establishment of
cultural privileges (race, class, gender) of the white middle class. Thus, in the
foreground are not only discursivation practices. Visual production is bound to
embodiment practices; it is more than only surface politics of the body.
=
!
!
gies, such as photography, stereoscope, or panorama, as successfully done in
many recent studies, in particular by Jonathan Crary, I believe it is more important to see how a related group of strategies through which a subject is modernized as a spectator traverses a range of seemingly different objects and locations.
Here I will focus on the overlapping areas of entertainment and exhibition, the
different spaces and spheres of visual experiences of mass audiences rather than
the development of apparatuses or technologies. One of the most important categories of exhibitionary practice in the nineteenth century encompasses various
>!
&
!
&
&
ing an illusory reproduction or simulation of the real, regardless of what was
being shown. My central point through the course of the arguments in Exposures
is that one dominant mode in the visual culture in nineteenth-century America
was the tendency to enclose reality in manageable forms, to contain it within a
theatrical space, an enclosed exposition, or an immersion into a visual space,
such as the space of a panorama, an entertainment palace, or a photographic picture frame. The mid- to late nineteenth century saw, along with the emergence
of a modern visual culture, the consolidation of commodity capitalism and the
ascendance of materialism in the United States. It saw the rise and the crisis of
the middle classes to social dominance, and with them a new formation of the
&
@
!
!
hend and control, the world inside it could at least offer the illusion of mastery
and comprehension.
For photography and visual source materials I was fortunate to use institutions such as the Getty Archive, the collections of the Huntington Library, the
Library of Congress in Washington (Prints and Photographs Collection), and
the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, Washing
!&
!
@
Cornell University Library’s contributions to the Making of America (MOA),
a digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction. The collection is particularly strong in
the subject areas of visual culture, American history, sociology, religion, and
science and technology. This site provides access to 267 monograph volumes
and over 100,000 journal articles with nineteenth-century imprints. The project
16
Prologue
represents a major collaborative endeavor in preservation and electronic access
to historical texts and allowed access to a variety of source materials.
This book begins by investigating lifelikeness as a category of visual experience, a phenomenon occurring with the invention of the daguerreotype as a
photographic mass medium. Taking the example of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The
House of the Seven Gables and Mathew Brady’s photographic collection Illustrious Americans, the contours of the daguerreotypic model of visual experience
are outlined. The focus here is the discursively and performatively communicated experience of a correspondence of image and reality and the process of
becoming an image as the actual realization of existence. The idea of a universal
analogy of image and reality which was so important in the nineteenth century
&
Q
!
!&
bodies the magical model of an identity of being and appearance incorporated
in the image. Furthermore, this visual experience becomes clear as a process in
which representation is transformed into presentation. Chapter II, “Immersions.
Participating in Visualized Events,” deals with the experience of participation,
immersion, and availability of visual realities through the media of stereoscopy
and the panorama. Using the example of Oliver Wendell Holmes’s pioneering
and little examined discourses on the new medium and the use of the stereo
!
X
/
which this medium contributes to perceptual mastery of the real. The subsequent
discussion of the panorama is also concerned with the function of symbolic
!
!
/
appears to guarantee the availability of reality. The idea of a unifying common
vision is set forth, in particular through the use of literary examples such as the
poetics of Walt Whitman. The following portion of the book, which is devoted to
the exhibition and entertainment practices of P. T. Barnum in his American Museum on the basis of selected examples, deals with the representation of reality
&
!!
'
Q
!
/
is examined in the light of their authenticity (the central question is invariably
“Is it real?”), their plausibility, and their distinguishing qualities, and shown in
performances. Like the entertainment palace or the public gallery, the Chicago
World’s Fair exposition was a nineteenth-century invention that combined education and entertainment, framing within its halls an encyclopedia of objects, a
diverse encyclopedia of technological miracles that subsumed the individual experience under the aggregate spectacle. In this fourth chapter of my book I will
look at the performative processes of mapping, framing, and touring this event
to explain how this exhibition was able to produce a representational understanding of the world. Here again discursive as well as visual materials (in particular the rhetoric of catalogues) play an equally important role in my analysis.
Prologue
17
$
!
!
'
!
experiences are treated in the last chapter of Exposures. Taking the example of
the illusionistic effects of the popular trompe l’oeil !
the suspension of the dualism between pictorial and extra-pictorial reality. The
crises and opportunities in the communication of looking, image, and reality are
outlined in the context of scenic arrangements and performative identity models in the different poetics of Henry James and Theodore Dreiser. If a crisis of
representation (The Portrait of a Lady) and of modern perception (The American
Scene) can be found in James, then in the character of Sister Carrie Dreiser depicts
a model of successful visual consumption. Exposures
&
!
epilogue on Alfred Stieglitz’s The Steerage as a key example of the subjectivity
involved in taking a picture and exposing reality.
,([SRVLQJ/LNHQHVVRU0DNLQJ5HDO0DJLF,PDJHV
Somehow it gives me a desolate feeling to think of having my faded picture
tundled about some hundred years hence as worthless lumber, or being tolerated as
a thing of habit, rather than affection, in some out-of-the way corner.
R.H.E., Godey’s Lady’s Book, April 1867
/LNHQHVVDW6WDNH'DJXHUUHRW\SHDVD0LUURU
Lifelikeness as a Category of Visual Experience
“I don’t much like pictures of that sort — […].”1 Phoebe, a rather marginal
!
#
Z\
The House of the Seven Gables (1851),
turns her eyes away from the image she has just observed because she is uncomfortable with what she encounters there. She responds to the portrait of Judge
Pyncheon, or, to be exact, a daguerreotype of the judge, with a combination of
horror and fascination.2 The image is hard to watch because it has a certain am
'+
graph’s surface, and simultaneously the stiff, mask–like features of the judge’s
face: “they are so hard and stern; beside dodging away from the eye, and trying
to escape altogether. They are conscious of looking very unamiable, I suppose,
and therefore hate to be seen […].”3 The daguerreotype likeness appears to be a
living portrait trying to escape her gaze. The disturbing aspect of her experience
is that the daguerreotype conjures the presence of the person portrayed in a way
that makes this presence seem real. It is only later during the course of an extensive dialogue with the protagonist, the daguerreotypist Holgrave, that she comes
to better understand this likeness and how it is produced. For now, however,
she simply rejects the image: “I don’t wish to see it anymore.”4 Phoebe’s reaction is representative for the early reception of this new medium and its visual
&&^
_!&
!!&
!!
/`5
1
2
3
4
5
#
Z
The House of the Seven Gables, William Charvat et al. (eds.), The Cen&
{
X+
#
Z
!!
|}~
}|}
Alan Trachtenberg’s interpretation of this scene is very similar: “Uncanny sensations such as
/
!
!
+

'
mirror images — are detached portions of living creatures, their soul or spirit.” Alan Trachtenberg, Reading American Photographs: Images as History. Mathew Brady to Walker Evans,
#
+
|}}

Hawthorne, The House of the Seven Gables,
}
Ibid.
Alan Trachtenberg, in: Graham Clarke (ed.), The
Portrait in Photography,

|}}
|
22
Exposing Likeness or Making Real (Magic) Images
However, the uncanny reality effect of the photograph — i.e., that the portrait
seems indistinguishable from the person portrayed — marks only one of the
&
'/
!&
Figure I. 1: Women with daguerreotype (1850)
Another equally prototypical response to this new form of portrait was com&
\
/
&
&
the popular columnist Fanny Fern. “How I Don’t Like Pictures” is the title of
Fern’s passionate tirade against the standardized method of daguerreotypy in
|}6 Fern attacked the lack of life and likeness of the daguerreotype in comparison to the “original”, and complains about the stereotypical, un-lifelike stiffness in the features of those portrayed. “Oh, for goodness’ sake, give us a bit of
nature, kind sirs, or shut up shop.”7 At best, she attributes a certain entertainment
value to a visit to the photo studio: “Do you want to be amused? Go to our daguerreotype, halliotype, ambrotype, photograph and similar establishments, and
see how human nature comes out in frames.”8 But Fern’s polemic breaks down
at a decisive point, namely when she considers the issue of whether the portrait
6
7
8
The reference to Fanny Fern is from Shawn Michelle Smith, American Archives. Gender, Race
and Class in Visual Culture,
#
&
|}}}

Fanny Fern, “Taking Portraits”, in: New York Ledger, September 22 1860.
Ibid., “How I Don’t Like Pictures”, in: New York Ledger,
!
||
|}
23
!
+
^
_#
+
[…] and yet it is like, after all.”} The question of likeness is for Fern, as it was
for Phoebe, a point of fascination and simultaneously of insecurity concerning
the new type of image brought about by daguerreotype portraits. The key issue of likeness plays a central role in shaping the discourses and dialogue on
daguerreotypy in the mid-nineteenth century. This is because, as Hans Belting
states in his work on the anthropology of images, “Ähnlichkeit ist ein dehnbarer
!
!

{!
!
Inhalt gefunden hat.”10 The accompanying basic change in the visual experience of reality and the fundamental transformations in the relationship of image
perception and the perception of reality will be examined in this chapter, with
particular consideration given to the discourses and visual practices of that time.
At this point it is important to note, that the remarks by Phoebe and the columnist Fern articulate two prominent positions in debates on the lifelikeness and the
mirror-effect inaugurated with daguerreotype photography. They are exemplary
for the discourse typical among the middle classes on the quality of the new photographic portraits. “The photographic likeness was trotted out systematically as
a point of departure from which to distinguish the ‘true’ middle-class portrait as
an auratic work of art.”11
Hawthorne’s description of daguerreotypy as “taking pictures out of sunlight” refers to a common analogy in intellectual and popular discourses accompanying the development of this visual medium. The close association of
daguerreotypy with the medium of writing — as a pictographic way of writing,
as writing with light — has far-reaching and often contradictory consequences
for understanding visual means of recording. While it may be etymologically
+
!&
&
description neglects very important elements of the technological developments
in the history of photography. These developments are thus most closely linked
!!
!
!
'&
Q
!
!&
&
!
!
!
&
#
!
Q
&
|}
Q&
!
&
&
/
obscura, leading to the creation of a daguerreotype on a metal plate coated with a
layer of silver. This allowed for the exact visual reproduction of a slice of reality
}
10
11
Ibid.
Hans Belting, Bild–Anthropologie. Entwürfe für eine Bildwissenschaft, München 2001, 115.
Smith, American Archives, 56.
24
with a degree of precision that had previously not beenpossible.12 The invention
and distribution of the daguerreotype technique was accompanied by a plethora
%
'
&
above all the ability of the medium to accurately reproduce reality.13 Typical for
!
%
!!
jectivity of daguerreotypy as an authentic reproduction of a slice of reality. The
_&`
_!`
!
_totype” are often praised.14 “Daguerreotype became a common verb that meant
telling literal truth of things [...] with its subset of terms […], [it] provided a way
of expressing ideas about how the world can be known — about truth and falseness, appearance and reality, accuracy, exactitude, and impartiality.”15 The majority of debates about the new medium suggest a break with previous categories
of visual representation and emphasize the changed mimetic status of the new
images in comparison to conventional forms of reproduction such as portraiture
in painting or even lithography. This change, interpreted as radical both epistemologically and in terms of visual cultural history, is particularly manifested in
the assumption of photography’s fundamental superiority in relation to previous
means of creating images. Daguerreotypy is considered able to capture a nearly
identical double to the visual reality one perceives. The common denominators
found in the debates in photographic magazines are also referred to by Edgar
Allen Poe in his famous statement on the new medium. For him, the fascination
!tion. In his article “The Daguerreotype”, Poe is particularly impressed with the
mechanical process of creating photographic images and draws the analogy of
the daguerreotype as a perfect mirror-image — which, he notes, is impossible in
painting.

!
!&
&

!
&
&
!
&
&
!
@
we examine a work of ordinary art, by means of a powerful microscope, all traces
of resemblance to nature will disappear — but the losest scrutiny of the photogenic
drawing discloses only a more absolute truth, a more perfect identity of aspect with
12
13
14
15
&
!&
&
!
#
The History of
Photography,
#
+
|}
#
=!
"
X
Z&
&
#
+
|}}
=
Q
Photography and the American Scene,
#
+
|}}
Prominent examples can be found in “Prospectus” or “Introduction” in: 1,
Boston 1847, 5.
Alan Trachtenberg, Photography. The Emergence of a Keyword, in: Martha E. Sandweiss
(ed.), Photography in Nineteenth–Century America,
#
+
|}}|

Ibid., 18.
25
the thing represented. The variations of shade, and the gradations of both linear and
aerial perspective are those of truth itself in the supremeness of its perfection.16
Poe emphasizes the superior technology of the daguerreotype and compares it
!
painting. The daguerreotype is considered an autonomous copy of the object represented, in which the abilities of the eye and the hand are replaced by the more
perfect mechanics of the photographic apparatus. The basis of Poe’s assessment
is the identical mirror-image reproduction of that which has been seen: “identity
of aspect with the thing represented.”17 His emphatic insistence on the nearly
identical reproduction made possible with photography and his analogy between
the image and a mirror implies that he ascribes to both these media the same ca&
_
'
in a positively perfect mirror, we come as near the reality (of the daguerreotype)
as by any other means.”18 The ability of photography to mirror reality makes the
idea of likeness and the mimetic endeavor of artists seem obsolete. Poe’s view
thus corresponds to the popular conviction during his time that daguerreotypy
!
!
+
!
portraiture, in an even more perfect way. Mechanical reproduction is considered
superior to manual reproduction. According to Poe, daguerreotypy has not cre
&
!
!
The suggestion of a correspondence between the object and its image that predominates in the rhetoric of “likeness” or “lifelikeness” is interpreted by Poe as
a mirror-image relation of identity. This widespread but contested insistence on
the technological superiority of daguerreotypy in relation to all other forms of
image making led one of the main American proponents of the daguerreotype
technique, Samuel F. B. Morse, to claim that the new medium had “perfected
Rembrandt.”|}
Daguerreotypy in Dialogue in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s
The House of the Seven Gables
In Hawthorne’s novel, daguerreotype portraiture is addressed as a central theme
reaching beyond the debates about likeness and the criterion of similarity. Like
+
"
=
16
17
18
|}
Edgar Allan Poe, “The Daguerreotype”, in: Alexander’s Weekly Messenger, January 15 1840, 2.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Samuel F. B. Morse, “Letter”, in: The New York Observer,
"

|}
26
cultural transformations associated with the visual medium and leading to the
change in the view of reality, which are of interest here. Ultimately it is understood as a medium for determining and then transforming familial relations. The
special function of the portrait in The House of the Seven Gables is developed
!
!
!&
Holgrave, in part as a means of resolving Phoebe’s discomfort with the new
medium. Hawthorne’s novel has the basic narrative structure of the popular
Gothic melodrama. Its plot and main motifs center around an old, dilapidated
house and its family history, both of which are cursed by a past crime and by
!
!
&
&
Q
'
the end through events that bring about a genealogical renewal.20 In his study of
Hawthorne, Henry James pointed to the typological aspect of the novel’s charac
_"

!

&
!
persons.”21
Q
&
!
the novel to develop social and historical themes. “They are all types, to the
author’s mind of something general, of something that is bound up with the history at large, of families and individuals.”22 In the novel Hawthorne relates the
development of daguerreotypy to the idea of social change. The daguerreotypist
&
appears as a competent conveyor of what is called, in the novel’s romanticized
rhetoric, “a wonderful insight in Heaven’s broad and simple sunshine.”23 The
!
Z
Z\
description of himself:
_`
Z
_@
+
+
of refreshing myself with what little nature and simplicity may be left in it, after
men have so long sown and reaped here. I turn up the earth by way of pastime. My
sober occupation, so far as I have any, is with a lighter material. In short, I make
pictures out of sunshine; and, not to be too much dazzled with my own trade, I
have prevailed with Miss Hepzibah to let me lodge in one of these dusky gables.
It is like a bandage over one’s eyes to come into it. But would you like to see a
specimen of my productions?” “A daguerreotype likeness, do you mean?” asked
20
21
22
23
See Alfred H. Marks, “Hawthorne’s Daguerreotypist: Scientist, Artist, Reformer”, in: Seymour

#
Z
The House of the Seven Gables,
#
+
|}~

347; Thomas Brook, “The House of the Seven Gables: Reading the Romance of America”,
in: Publications of the Modern Language Association (PMLA) }
$
|}
|}||
Bernard Rosenthal (ed.), Critical Essays on Hawthorne’s The House of Seven Gables,
#
+
|}}
Henry James, Hawthorne |}
@
|}~
}}
Ibid.
Hawthorne, The House of Seven Gables,
}|
27
Phoebe, with less reserve; for, in spite of prejudice, her own youthfulness sprang
forward to meet his.24
Here Phoebe vehemently articulates her rejection of the daguerreotype as discussed above, only to be given an elaborate lecture by Holgrave on the origins of
her dislike:
“If you would permit me,” said the artist, looking at Phoebe, “I should like to try
whether the daguerreotype can bring out disagreeable traits on a perfectly amiable
face. But there certainly is truth in what you have said. Most of my likenesses do
+
!
!
&
!
@
&
!
are so. There is a wonderful insight in heaven’s broad and simple sunshine. While
we give it credit only for depicting the merest surface, it actually brings out the
secret character with a truth that no painter would ever venture upon, even could
Q
'&
&
!
#
+
@
+
!

the original wears, to common eyes, a very different expression. It would gratify
me to have your judgment on this character.”25
Holgrave’s statements here illustrate in nuce the typical enthusiasm for the
unique and purportedly superior features of the new medium. Daguerreotypy is
imagined to offer an undistorted record of the invisible foundations of a given
character, “it actually brings out the secret character,” regardless of whether the
results are considered attractive. Phoebe is gradually introduced to the nexus of
daguerreotype likenesses through her association of the subject of a contemporary daguerreotype with one of her own ancestors, and through her confusion
between the daguerreotype and a painted portrait of the ancestor.
He exhibited a daguerreotype miniature, in a morocco case. Phoebe merely glanced
at it, and gave it back. “I know the face,” she replied; “For its stern eye has been
following me about, all day. It is my Puritan ancestor, who hangs yonder in the parlor. To be sure, you have found some way of copying the portrait without its black
velvet cap and gray beard, and have given him a modern coat and satin cravat, in
+
@
\
+
&
&!
`
_!
would have seen other differences, had you looked a little longer,” said Holgrave,
laughing, yet apparently much struck. — “I can assure you that this is a modern
face, and one which you will very probably meet.”26
The case of mistaken identity confusing Judge Jaffrey Pyncheon with her distant
relative, an aristocratic Colonel named Pyncheon, is later resolved when she
meets the judge. But it is clear that the association would not have been made
24
25
26
Ibid.
Hawthorne, The House of Seven Gables,
}|}
Ibid.
28
!
!&
the resemblance between the two men. Phoebe’s horror at the portrait is also
thus explained, given that the daguerreotype is presumed to capture none other
than the essence of a personality, in this case a criminal character. The reality
effect of the photograph and the experience of a “visible truth” not only lead to
an explanation for the instance of mistaken identity, but also to insights into a
genealogical connection.
Then, all at once, it struck Phoebe that this very Judge Pyncheon was the original
of the miniature which the daguerreotypist had shown her in the garden, and that
the hard, stern and relentless look now on his face was the same that the sun had
'/&
!
X
&
!
however skilfully concealed, the settled temper of his life? And not merely so, but
was it hereditary in him, and transmitted down, as a precious heirloom, from that
bearded ancestor in whose picture both the expression, and, to a singular degree,
the features of the modern Judge were shown as by a kind of prophecy? A deeper
philosopher than Phoebe might have found something very terrible in this idea.27
\
&
'
&
!
!
the daguerreotype makes visible both character traits and the ways in which
they are inextricably related to family lineages and genealogy. The popular belief that personality traits and one’s character are inherited must be understood
in the context of the eugenic discourse as well as an obsessive preoccupation
with the ancestry of the “Anglo-Saxons,” both of which were dominant at the
time.28
@
!
!
/
sight conveyed by the visual medium of daguerreotypy is thus associated with
the inheritance of evil, in this case murderous greed. But the plot of the novel
is structured such that the daguerreotypist is able to break free from his family
lineage and its questionable heritage. Holgrave, “Hawthorne’s soon-to-be-middle-class hero,”} is imagined as a man of modernity and positioned as an artist
'/&
&
+
conditions by developing individualist strategies. From the viewpoint of another
!
Z%
&
an inscrutable political movement who commands little trust.
But, on seeing more of Mr. Holgrave, she hardly knew what to make of him. He
had the strangest companions imaginable; — men with long beards, and dressed in
!
!

temperance-lecturers, and all manner of cross-looking philantropists; — commu27
28
}
Hawthorne, The House of the Seven Gables, 351.
In the following chapters I address in more detail the relevance of this discursive background
}
nity-men and come-outers, [...]. As for the Daguerreotypist, she had read a paragraph in a penny-paper, the other day, accusing him of making a speech, full of
wild and disorganizing matter, at a meeting of his banditti-like associates. For her
own part, she had reason to believe that he practised animal-magnetism [...]!30
Ultimately she concludes, “I suppose he has a law of his own.”31 Besides al!
Ralph Waldo Emerson’s famous notion of the “self-made-man” and the American ideology of “self-reliance.” In the central chapter of the novel titled “The
Daguerreotypist,” this personality type is the focus of the description.
Left early to his own guidance, he had begun to be self-dependent while yet a
boy; and it was a condition aptly suited to his natural force of will. Though now
but twenty-two years old, (lacking some months, which are years, in such a life,)
&
!&
/
!&
store; and, either at the same time or afterwards, the political-editor of a country
Z
!>!&
#
{
as a peddler, in the employment of a Connecticut manufactory of Cologne water
and other essences. In an episodical way, he had studied and practised dentistry,
&
'
!
&
&
&
!
"
!!&
+
packet-ship, he had visited Europe, and found means, before his return, to see Italy,
and part of France and Germany. At a later period, he had spent some months in
a community of Fourierists. Still more recently, he had been a public lecturer on
Mesmerism, for which science […] he had very remarkable endowments.32
Z
!
!
&
!
+!
in a particular profession who pursues various endeavors depending on the occasion at hand, thereby occupying various, shifting social positions. He is not
bound by class or other social ties, nor by conventionally internalized roles. His
way of living is characterized by individual decisions, geographical mobility, and
social climbs alternating with social decline. Because of his multi-dimensional
professional activities, the novel’s protagonist can be temporarily positioned in
several different social spheres. His ability to adapt to the given economic circumstances does not, however, have a destabilizing effect on his identity and
individuality. In this context Hawthorne does not entertain questions of insecu&
_`
!
@
!&
!
!
&
issues, someone who gives the process of individualization a positive spin.33
30
31
32
33
Ibid.
Q
!
'/&
>!
!
30
His present phase, as a Daguerreotypist, was of no more importance in his own
view, nor likely to more permanent, than any of the preceding ones. It had been
taken up with the careless alacrity of an adventurer, who had his bread to earn; it
would be thrown aside as carelessly, whenever he should choose to earn his bread
by some other equally digressive means. But what was most remarkable, and perhaps showed a more than common poise in the young man, was the fact, that, amid
all these personal vicissitudes, he had never lost his identity. Homeless as he had
been — continually changing his whereabout, and therefore, responsible neither
to public opinion nor to individuals; putting off one exterior, and snatching up
another, to be soon shifted for a third — he had never violated the innermost man,
but had carried his conscience along with him.34
Z
!&
!&
the hegemonial social norms. In the chapter “The Flower of Eden,” the loving
relationship between Phoebe and Holgrave allows them to overcome the past:
she is released from her family’s legacy, and his previously oscillating social
position is stabilized. “Through the union of Phoebe and Holgrave, a legacy
of ancestral evil is overcome and a middle-class family is born, blessed with
all the spiritual purity of a new Eden.”35
#
&
Z
+
Phoebe’s hand in marriage immediately following a photo session with Judge
Pyncheon, who has just died. The daguerreotype photograph of the dead Judge
&
one he showed her. The likeness of the two daguerreotypes is striking, thereby
closing the circle of similarities.
In the novel The House of Seven Gables, Hawthorne creates a portrait of a
society in which traditional genealogical ties are loosening up, thus paving the
way for modern lifestyles. Daguerreotype portraits take on a key symbolic role
because they function as an epistemological instrument for initiating a positive
break with tradition in a changing world where notions of reality are also undergoing change. Among the novels of the American Renaissance, the text is unique
in its recourse to popular discourses on visual modes of recording. In the novel,
as in the popular discourse of the time, the daguerreotype functions as a medium
that imparts insight and truth. It mirrors the relationship between physiognomy
and character as well as between the present and the past, making these sym-
34
35
!&
!
&
Q
would contradict Richard Sennett’s historical analysis in: The Corrosion of Character. The
|}}}
@
context from a sociological point of view is the collection of articles in: Herbert Willems, Alois
Hahn (eds.), Identität und Moderne,
+!$
|}}}
31
Q
'!
!&&
!
poetics of Hawthorne’s novel, in which the genres of the novel and the romance
are intertwined. According to Hawthorne, the novel is “presumed to aim at a
&
!
&
&
!
&
course of man’s experience,”36 while the romance is intended to have the effect
of an “atmospherical medium” in order to “bring out or to mellow the lights and
deepen and enrich the shadows of the picture.”37 In synthesizing these two concepts in the novel, Hawthorne intended the daguerreotype as a “truth detector,”38
as a reliable indicator of social change and a medium through which it becomes
visible. Convinced of the unbeatable quality of the daguerreotype as a means
of recording reality, Hawthorne wishes “[that] there was something in the intellectual world analogous to the Daguerreotype [...] in the visible — something
which should print off our deepest and subtlest, and delicatest thoughts and feelings, as minutely and accurately as the above mentioned instrument paints the
!
#!`}
@
#
Z\
The House of the Seven
Gables, the daguerreotype is emphatically celebrated as an instrument for recording the optical truth and as a perfect reproduction of reality. It is at the same
time considered a magical practice related to mesmerism and mystical theories
of light. This popular understanding of a magical method of “light writing” annuls, on the one hand, the tension between the visual perception of reality and
the capabilities of the recording medium. And, on the other, the novel exempli
!
!
!!
+
function, ultimately becoming not just a medium of representation but also a
medium for the construction of identities.
36
37
38
}
Ibid.
!
^
$+
_Z\
!&`
}
#
Z!"#$#%%%&'* in: Thomas Woodson, L.
#
#
Z

The Letters, 1813–1843, The Centenary Edition
X+
#
Z
|
!!
|}

Z\
attributed the quality of a true-to-life recording to his representation of society in the novel.
Herman Melville spoke of an “intense feeling of visible truth” imparted by the novel. And Oliver Wendell Holmes, who discovered the stereoscope, asserted that the book “[was] pointing
out a hundret touches, transcriptions of nature, of character, of sentiment, true as the daguerreo&`
Z
$
Q
#
Z
"
|~
||
^
$
=
X
H. Gilman (eds.), The Letters of Herman Melville,

#
Z
|}~
|
Wendell Holmes, quoted in: George P. Lathrop, A Study of Hawthorne, Boston 1876, 232.
0DWKHZ%UDG\·V,OOXVWULRXV$PHULFDQV
Portraits As Mass-Cultural Icons
The enthusiasm for new technological and mechanical possibilities of image
production proved to be a main motor for the artistic as well as commercial
!
!&&
@
!
Great World’s Fair.
The Crystal Palace Exhibition in England in 1851, the following was written
about the daguerreotypes exhibited by Americans, among others Mathew M.
Lawrence, Mathew B. Brady and John A. Whipple:
Q
"
!
!
!
%!&
!
!
/
Q
+
&
!&
#
+
&
!&
processes have originated in that country. The success with which the art is practiced, and the degree of perfection to which is has been brought, may be estimated
by the specimens exhibited by various artists. The brilliancy and sharpness of some
of these are highly remarkable.40
Despite this fact that the techniques involved in the daguerreotype process were
quite elaborate, as we see in this quote, it rapidly became popular. Within a few
years daguerreotypy had developed into the dominant medium of visual culture.
@
|
!
!&
!
!
#
+
Brooklyn, and it is estimated that three million daguerreotypes were produced
across the country each year, most of them portraits. Soon the structure of this
new profession became more differentiated. “During the 1840s, two kinds of
daguerrean practices developed side by side: that of the rural and small-town
itinerant, in any cases a former limner of miniaturist traveling the countryside;
and the city entrepreneur with an established gallery, hired hands, and the desire
for recognition as a ‘professional’.”41 From 1844 to 1880, Mathew Brady was
one of the most prominent representatives of daguerreotypy, and the type of portraits he created had political and social relevance. “In the crafting of the mythos
of the public portrait, which included a public image of the image maker, no
American played a greater role than Mathew Brady.”42 In Brady’s understanding of himself and his profession, art and commercial interests were intertwined
40
41
42
Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, 1851, Reports by the Juries, London,
1852.
Trachtenberg, Reading American Photographs, 22.
Trachtenberg delivers above all a detailed historiography and a biographical portrait of Brady
in the context of his time. See Ibid., 34.
34
and mutually legitimated each other. In his “Address to the Public” in 1853, he
declared of himself in relation to his competitors:
Being unwilling to abandon any artistic ground to the producers of inferior work,
I have no fear in appealing to an enlightened public as to their choice between
pictures of the size, price and quality which will fairly remunerate men of talent,
science, and application, and those which can be made by the meanest tyro. I wish
to vindicate true art, and leave the community to decide whether it is best to encourage real excellence or its opposite […].43
The type of photographs he became known for, “public portraits,” were developed as the result of Brady’s focus, in the period up until the Civil War, on a
certain target group: the powerful and successful in society, politicians, actors,
generals, judges and ladies. In short, he concentrated on “soliciting celebrated
sitters. Like his predecessors among painters at royal courts, Brady sought and
'
&
practice of European aristocratic art to a new medium and a republican society.”44
&
+
photographs by taking portraits of criminals. The most famous of these portraits
appeared in 1846 as a woodcut illustration in the book Rationale of Crime written by the British phrenologist Marmaduke Sampson.45
Q
the role of Brady as a leading chronicler and archivist of his time was as uncontested then as it is now.46
Z
!
photographic documentation of the American social and political elite. In 1848
#
+
% The Knickerbocker reported the following con
!
!
&
&\
&^
There is scarcely a prominent man in the country, from the past and present Presidents, their cabinets, and families, and high political magnates […] to the distin!
&
!
!
and precisely ‘to the life’.47
43
44
45
46
47
New York Tribune, April 10 1854.
Marmaduke Sampson, Rationale of Crime, and Its Appropriate Treatment (1846), Montclair
|}
“He reveled in his role as entrepreneur, celebrity, and impresario, and viewed his gallery as his
most important creation — a collection of portrait photographs, paintings, prints, and negatives
that together formed a record of America as it appeared in the middle decade of the nineteenth
century.” Mary Panzer (ed.), Mathew Brady and the Image of History, Washington, London
|}}
|
The Knickerbocker, September 1848, 267.
35
Q
!
&
!
!
was also the result of how well they were known at the time. Their popularity
did not annul the collective norms of the social hierarchy, but it did allow the
norms to recede into the background. It is thus not surprising that spies such as
!
!
=
\#

!
&\
portrait gallery.
X+
X
#
+
&
&
>!
of all the men and women whose names came before the public. As he added new
portraits to his existing archive, Brady created a stunning cumulative historical
display, in which Presidents, politicians, actors, businessmen, artists, military men,
clergy, scientists, and entrepreneurs joined in a pictorial celebration of the American Union as stable, lasting, and full of purpose.48
The selected elite and yet also the broad spectrum of society captured in Brady’s
&
guerreotypy. The standardization of iconic elements can be traced to two factors:
the still relatively limited technological possibilities within the medium and the
conventional rules of the portrait genre. Daguerreotypes were not able to capture
movement. In addition, they were limited to a certain size and could only be
viewed under particular lighting conditions. These same limitations, however,
were also found in the medium of painted portraits as practiced by artists such as
Charles Willson Peale or John Singleton Copley. Painted portraits were likewise
characterized by a frontal pose, a limited array of colors, and a limited spectrum
of posture and hand and body gestures, as well as a certain facial expression,
namely a very serious mien. This austere countenance is a constant element in
Q
&
&
/
“sentimental sincerity” that embodies the values of the white middle class in
nineteenth century America like no other posture or bodily gesture. “The sentimental ideal of sincerity that shaped the norms of middle-class conduct in the
!
!
class culture during the most critical period of this development.”} The subjects
portrayed embody the social, symbolic and political values by serving simultaneously as the agents and the objects of those values.50 Brady’s photographic
!
48
}
50
Panzer, Mathew Brady and the Image of History, 15.
Karen Halttunen, +$$$/0"$$$2
America, ||
#
Z
|}
/
On the notion of embodiment see Thomas Csordas (ed.), Embodiment and expereince. The
/
!
!!
|}}
{+

Horn, Matthias Warstatt (eds.), Verkörperung, Tübingen 2001.
36
!&
!
!&
&
!
painted portraiture.
How can we explain the distinctiveness of Brady’s daguerreotypes and the
fascination they held for his contemporaries? One important aspect is the particular qualities found in his photographs. The lighting and more importantly the
depiction of space in his daguerreotypes, including the generous space around
!
!>!
&\
Q
!
in front of a dark and seemingly three-dimensional space with apparent depth.
Some direct their gaze straight into the camera, but their bodies are positioned
with a slight angle to the camera. But most of those portrayed rest their gaze
!
'
&
!\
ing the rest of their bodies in the shadows and thereby emphasizing their eyes
and their countenance. The play of light and shadow, of opacity and illumination, produced a certain sculptural effect in his daguerreotypes.51 In addition, he
used photographic techniques that allowed him relative freedom concerning the
number and size of the prints. Starting in the mid 1850s, Brady was able to create several prints from a single glass plate negative, and the prints could also be
enlarged. The so-called “Imperial Portraits” were 20x24 inches, which further
emphasized their sculptural character.52 The striking quality of the Brady portraits clearly contributed to their auratic effect; they became socially and historically relevant, however, because of the overall concept behind their presentation
and distribution. Making the political and social elite visible implied much more
!&
'
!
Q
ularly true for the series titled Illustrious Americans. Brady considered the Gal2
lery of Illustrious Americans to be nothing less than a national historicization of
@
!
a new system of visual reproduction and distribution.
As Brady began to pursue the men (and few women) who led the Union, he collaborated with painters and printmakers to create a new form of heroic portraiture that
could combine the accuracy of a photograph with the dignity of an oil painting. He
provided portraits for reproduction in the illustrated press, which reached thousands
of readers. He sold his negatives of photographes and cartes de visite to publishers,
and his portraits entered the private albums found in every middle-class home.53
51
52
53
A proximity to the historical classicism of the late eighteenth century can be recognized here,
for example as found in artists such as Benjamin West or Jacques-Louis David.
The background was also decorated with elements such as columns, brocade curtains or a chair
and table. The references to the contemporary styles of middle class interiors do not yet play a
role, however.
37
The didactic function of the portrait is foregrounded in the conceptualization
of the Illustrious Americans, which is intended to serve an educational purpose
not unlike a biography. The portraits were considered an expression of and an
instrument for spreading national and patriotic ideals. Starting at the beginning
of this series’ inception, the plans for mass distribution of the series played a de
!
!&
|
|}
Intelligencer reported: “An artist by the name of Mathew Brady has recently
X
#
+
!
!type portraits of all distinguished men who may be present at the approaching
Inauguration.”54 In the following year Brady worked together with the lithographer Francis D’Avignon and the journalist Charles Edward Lester on a book
publication in which twelve of these daguerreotypes served as the template for
large lithographs and which were accompanied by biographical essays. In Lester’s introduction to this publication, which was titled The Gallery of Illustrious
Americans, the intention to historicize the present is explicitly mentioned:
Q
!&
&
!
hastening on, bringing we know not what mysterious changes. We contemplate the
past with gratitude and exultation, because it is secure. And we wish before those
great men who have made it illustrious are gone, to catch their departing forms,
that through this monument of their genius and patriotism, they may become familiar to those whom they will never see […]; and it is hoped that it marks an era
"
"

&
55
Lester’s exposition clearly states that a consideration of the past will strengthen
\
!&
\
56 Portrait photography plays an important role in stabilizing the nation socially and culturally. In

Z!\
&
_!
`57 the
!!
+
!
culture have a very similar function to that of the portrait collection. In addition to its normative aspects, the concept behind the Illustrious Americans also
includes a historicizing perspective aimed at imparting trust in the social elite
of antebellum culture on a mass cultural basis. The captions also inform basically about the new transfer between old and new media: “Daguerreotypes by
54
55
56
57
3
!&
|
|}
Charles Edwards Lester, Introduction, in: Gallery of Illustrious Americans,
#
+
|
Q
_
`
'ted in Alexis de Tocquevilles diagnosis concerning the disappearance of uniforms and other
signs demarcating class; they signaled “a loss of signs of greatness and superiority.” Alexis de
Tocqueville, 033
#
+
|}
~
Halttunen, +$$$ 3.
38
Brady — Engraved by D’Avignon.” Moreover, the seamless transition from
the exhibition practice in the gallery to distribution in the private sphere as a
popular book proved to be an effective strategy for making the portraits widely
accessible.58 This intermixing of two different media, the daguerreotype and the
lithograph, guarantees a thriving circulation of the portraits in the many reprints
in both books and the media, whereby the photograph has the status of being the
original in comparison with the lithograph.
Lester advertised the Gallery by promoting it as a new monument to national
identity and modern history, all the time celebrating its advanced technology. He
#
\
!
!

#
!
!&
&
of Illustrious Americans would bring new, high standards to an old task, and endow its portraits with ‘vital energy and living truth’ that earlier efforts had lacked.}
Aestheticizing, historicizing and idolizing the political elite went hand in hand
with the publication of the visual archive created by Brady, who wanted his
portraits to circulate as a “democratic trade” with the intention of popularizing
them. This new mode of producing and distributing images implied both that
politics were personalized through visual representation and that a new form
of public political participation was being created. In any given reproduction in
&
&
&
&
!
>!
@
the Gallery of Illustrious Americans, the general structure and the social typology were governed by axiomatic organizing principles. Famous personalities
were grouped according to different categories: presidents (Taylor, Fillmore),
senators (Calhoun, Clay, Webster, Wright), generals (Frémont, Scott, Cass), artists (Audubon), historians (Prescott), intellectuals and poets (Channing).60 The
portraits were distributed monthly with biographical commentary in Fly Leaf of
Art and Criticism, a semi-monthly journal published by Lester. It is worth noting
that the main controversies of the time, i.e., concerning slavery, the rights of the
individual states, or territorial expansion, are not mentioned in the biographical
+
Q
!
!
'
new quality of patriotism grounded in the nation’s unity. But what was decisive
for the portraits’ strong effect, whether at their reception in Brady’s gallery or
as they were received in the reproduced versions in other media, was that they
could impart an auratic experience of participation in the national public sphere.
58
}
60
On the relationship between these two techniques, see: Estelle Jussim, Visual Communications
$40
/5
#
+
|}
The names in parentheses are meant to be representative but not exhaustive.
Figure I. 2:
John C. Calhoun Daguerreotype (1848)
}
Figure I. 3:
John C. Calhoun Lithograph (1850)
Brady’s photographs of men like Webster, Clay, Calhoun, and Taylor preserved
likeness and inspired strong feelings; his viewers understood that these men forged
a living link to the generation of the Founding Fathers, and their photographic portraits, in turn, established ties between the heroes and the viewers.61
The mass publication practice did not weaken the auratic effect of the portraits.
It was in particular the implied genealogical references that strengthened the
character of the images. My central point is here, that the type of image Brady
!

&
!
effect was experienced. The aura as a symptom of the way in which the images were experienced implies that the images conjured the immediate presence
of those portrayed. Their visibility coincided with the experience of their immediate presence. In a reversal of Walter Benjamin’s famous and often quoted
theses concerning the lack of aura in mass reproduced images, in this case the
images created a unique feeling of proximity to the subject, despite the fact
that their physical presence was likely very far off.62 The daguerreotypes tran61
62
@
~}
Here the lines are quoted once again for the sake of setting a record : “Einmalige Erscheinung
einer Ferne, so nah sie sein mag.” Strangely enough, the formulation leaves open what the aura
is, the distance itself or its appearance. Walter Benjamin, 6
7
technischen Reproduzierbarkeit, in: Illuminationen, Ausgewählte Schriften I,
+!$
40

&
/
_`
which also implied the historical index of the portrait. The visual immanence
experienced in the reception of the images is thus auratic, as is the presence of
the social and national values made visible in the portraits. In other words: the
&
!
&
!
#
guerreotypes themselves nor their mechanical reproduction provoked a loss of
their aura.63 In his Illuminationen, Benjamin hinted at an expanded notion of the
aura in reference to the contact between the image and the spectator. “Die Aura
einer Erscheinung erfahren, heißt, sie mit dem Vermögen belehnen, den Blick
aufzuschlagen.”64 George Didi-Hubermann has posited in regard to this Benjamin passage that it determines “eine zweite Grundeigenschaft der auratischen
Erfahrung […]. Eine Phänomenologie der ausgetauschten Blicke ergänzt die
Phänomenologie der erscheinenden Distanz.”65 An unusual account describing
the experience of viewing the images in Brady’s gallery bears witness to this
kind of a reciprocal exchange of looks between the spectator and the subject
portrayed. A few verses from Caleb Lyon of Lyonville’s Stanzas, Suggested by
a Visit to Brady’s Portrait Gallery represent the kind of wild enthusiasm for
the portraits in the Illustrious Americans collection that seems amusing from
today’s perspective:
X
Q

!\
+

\
#

!

&
!!
=!\

%

X
&
\

"
&
&

+

Q&
%

"
@
&

X
!
&

"
@
+

!
+
*

{

!

&
its alchymist Daguerre —.66
63
64
65
66
|}
|
"
\
!
\
thesis Bühnen des Begehrens. Studien zur Theatralität und Performativität von Emotionen,
September 2001, 74.
In his Kleine Geschichte der Photographie Walter Benjamin is known to have assessed the
phase of the daguerreotype as esthetically valuable, preindustrial photography prior to its supposed descent into mass production. Walter Benjamin, Kleine Geschichte der Photographie,
in: Gesammelte Schriften,
@@|
=
Q
Z
¡!

+!
$
|}
~
Walter Benjamin, Über einige Motive bei Baudelaire, in: Charles Baudelaire. Ein Lyriker
7 $
8
4
"
@
=
Q
Z
¡!

+!$
|}
Georges Didi-Hubermann, Ähnlichkeit und Berührung. Archäologie, Anachronismus und Mo2
dernität des Abdrucks,
¢
|}}}
|
Caleb Lyon of Lyonville, “Stanzas, Suggested by a Visit to Brady’s Portrait Gallery”, in:
02;1, January 1851, 63.
41
Lyonville’s clichéd verses describe the auratic effect of the portraits as a living
!
&
+
!
the past within the portrait and down at the viewer. The common impulse to
&
!
/
effect — the recognition effect — of the photographs. Photographs capture a
moment of time in the past which has been tacked onto the present in the form
of a connection that is alingned to the process of becoming visible. This connection opens a further temporal dimension in the act of looking at the image.
The photograph’s reference to a past moment of the present constitutes the daguerreotype as a fundamentally historical medium. As Roland Barthes posited,
photography lends the past a presence and simultaneously it offers hard evidence that “>ça-a-été<.”67
Figure I. 4: Composite of the 1860 Senate
This prototypical effect of the portraits is due to their highly standardized iconic composition. The unusual collage %&<= " in which
several dozen heads with partial busts are arranged together, demonstrates the
%
&
Illustrious Americans. Here the homogenized physiognomies and clothing styles become quite apparent through the
serial repetition. The standardization of the portraits extends to the clothing (“in
plain republican garb of dark coat, waistcoat, stiff white shirtfront, collar and
67
Roland Barthes, La chambre claire : Note sur la photographie,
|}
|
42
scarf, and no hands showing [...]”68) and the above-mentioned characteristics
of the physiognomies. The historicizing framing and the iconic standardization
were a result of the clear message intended by the project. “Like Roman statues,
the Gallery’s faces project a public space, a space for viewing men the guise
!
!^
`~} The facial expressions embody
the symbolic value system. Elements of an individualized representation are
limited to a residuum of personal characteristics within an overall framework
of a compulsory, collective system of values. The recurring comparison of the
!
=
=!
'
portrayed with an image from collective memory. The collective imagination
plays an important role in the historicizing experience of these images. Comparing them with portraits of forefathers, the daguerreotypes appear to take on a
dynastic legitimacy, yet without having to demonstrate familial relations. They
connect an idealized past with the future and guarantee the continuation of the
values embodied. According to a New York Times
|~}
+
retrospective look at the collection, the spectator is drawn into a historical way
of seeing, a historical perspective. The spectator is able to
in imagination project himself into an historical point of view. It is not merely what
these representations are to us, but what they will be to those who come after us;
and to whom the scenes that have passed before us will be visible only through the
purple haze of history. It is because […] we desire to see the large and valuable col
$
&

&
/70
The Illustrious Americans project created a standardized visual system of representation for the social and political elite of antebellum culture that oscillates
between the historical and the contemporary and thus allows its audience a mul
The fascination with likenesses of national importance, which lasted for sev
!
/
&
orientation and simultaneously as a form of participation in public life for large
segments of the population. Brady’s success is not least due to the fact that his
+
!
&
!
!
&
The distinctive feature in the idea of preservation — particularly in museums
— that Brady associated with the Illustrious Americans is the notion of creating
a visual archive that is universally accessible. Thus the distribution of Brady’s
portraits through reproductions in paintings and, more often, lithographs in Gra2
68
~}
70
Ibid., 48.
_&\
&
#
!
@
`
^
The New
York Times,
$
|
|~}

43
ham’s Magazine in 1854, in Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper in 1855 und
in Harper’s Weekly in 1857 was praised as an overwhelming success: “millions
!
!
&
&
!
the Union, most (of which) have been executed from originals derived from his
collection.”71 Unlike anyone else before him, Brady exploited market and mass
distribution for icons of national identity and national history: “In commercial
galleries on Broadway, in the prints and paintings produced for the Art Union,
in illustrated books, and in popular lithographs and engravings, images devoted
to American history drew crowds and sales.”72 But in one aspect Brady’s archive
'
Z
!
&
!&
of his subjects, and all further plans to historicize could no longer be realized
in the immediate post-Civil War period. In the years following 1870, patriotic
portraits were in disfavor and represented an unwelcome reminder of a past that
was thought to have been overcome. The New York Times mocked Brady’s montage portrait of the 1860 Senate as a collection of “has-beens.” “Large pictures,
of no artistic merit whatever [...] merely collections of faces, massed together
without any attempt at arrangement.”73 Over time the status and renown of the
!
&
Q!
/
{

!
"
$
!
Metamora or the gladiator Spartacus, was eventually forgotten. In addition,
Brady’s desire to see his portraits used as a new form of monumental historical
!
_&
+
!
!
ety of historical paintings, from colorful portraits to elaborate tableaux, such as
the huge ‘cyclorama’ paintings that still stand in special structures in Gettysburg
and Atlanta.”74 Beginning in the late 1860s, Brady tried to sell his archive to
#
+
Z
&
!
&
&
|
American Congress buy a large part of his collection.75
71
72
73
74
75
“M. B. Brady”, in: Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper,

!&
|
|
}~
“Historical Photography”, in: New York Times,
$
}
|~

'
&
In 5 8
%&'* !
#
Brady’s work as industrial mass-produced images. Berenice Abbott contradicted this judgment
&
|}
"
&
!&
&
"
X
#
until after the Second World War was Brady rediscovered as a visual chronicler of his age. In
|}
#
+
Q
!&^
_

!
generals; here are dead boys gaping at the sky; the burned bombed cites of the South, dazed+
#
+
!
` The New Yorker,
!&

|}~

"
%
!^
_@
!
+
%
/
&
"
44
The paradigmatic meaning of Mathew Brady’s Illustrious Americans can be
found in the fact that in this portrait project, the development of a new type of
image coincided with the establishment of an archive, and at the same time new
forms of media distribution and image circulation were introduced. Brady’s se
!
!
&
&&
'!
!
&
white middle classes for centuries. Mathew Brady’s daguerreotypy production
&
!!
&
an era, it’s previously undervalued relevance lies in the fact that a whole new
type of image was created. Brady’s daguerreotype portraits are mass cultural
icons. These were publicly circulating images of prominent persons who thereby gained ubiquitous visibility in modern mass culture.76 “Brady’s daguerreotypes and photographs gave a public face to their sitters,”77
&
!
&
!
to publicize them. Brady’s portraits constitute an auratic visualization of the
political and social elite, who must be understood as closely associated with
the democratization of culture. His hybrid role as daguerreotypist also explains
why he was so successful at producing effective images. “The Brady self-image
fused picture making with entrepreneurship, exhibition with showmanship: a
distinctly antebellum amalgam through which appeared the contours of a new
public life of images.”78 The mass cultural icon serves as a medium for representing social values and power relations, which can be conveyed particularly
well by the daguerreotype because of its magical quality — i.e., the magical
likeness between the image and its original subject. The Illustrious Americans
/
!
!
&
!
!
@
!
archives in which this type of image is homogeneously represented.
My thesis is further, that Brady’s archive has yet another eminent social function, given that another aspect of the social order is mirrored in it. The Illustrious
Americans collection bears a relationship to other photographic archives from
the same period, though this connection is initially hard to see. Allan Sekula
has uncovered a normative dynamic that developed out of the mutual attraction and repulsion between the archives of the middle class and the archives of
76
77
78
society or the very last embodiment of a pre-modern American public, still homogeneous, still
!
!&
#
+
&
`
%
Mathew Brady and the
Image of History, 53.
As for the terminiology of image icons see Marita Sturken, Lisa Cartwright, Practices of
Looking. An Introduction to Visual Culture, Oxford 2001, 5.
45
criminal and racial others and which can be described as a mapping of social
order.} The sublime mutual relationship between these two different kinds of
archives results in a binary distinction between margin and center, i.e. between
social and ethnic groups which are positioned either in the center or in the margins, depending on the given power relations. In this context, the little known
daguerreotypist Samuel G. Szabó deserves mention. Between 1857 and 1861
%¥
_!
`
social outsiders in the United States. This archive contains 450 photographs
of criminals, arranged and inventoried according to categories such as “lifter,”
“wife poisoner,” “sneck thief,” “cracksman,” “burglar,” “highwayman,” “counterfeiter” or “abortionist.”80
"
%¥\
of themselves impart information about the status of the persons depicted. It is
!
_
$#!

Z!++
+`
us about their social standing. The titles of the portraits, and not the iconic conventions of the images, permit a clear positioning within the given discursive
/
"
!
+
!
+
!
|
thus coeval with the “mug shots.” The natural scientist Louis Agassiz and the
daguerreotypist J.T. Zealy worked together in South Carolina to create a “zoological” and “racial” typology of slaves born in Africa, who were then compared
with their descendents in America on the basis of anthropometric studies. In
!
!
&
such studies, here it is also the typological captions that form the normative
discursive matrix. The given discursive framework and the mutually constituted
normative boundary that ensures the functioning of the archive are clearly indispensable also in the case of Brady’s Illustrious Americans. But this only partially explains their social and political relevance.
In comparison to painted portraits, in the words of Brady the daguerreotype
is able to achieve “a concentrated truth of counterfeit presentment.”81 The popu
&
!
/
character to its essence as it’s magical likeness is transferred to the surface of a
&
'
!
!
&&
&
Q
!
of this type of portrait had a far-reaching effect because such a large segment of
the American middle classes could identify with the message of the images. This
}
80
81
See Allan Sekula, “The Body and the Archive”, in: October,
}
X
|}~
~
!

%¥
Z&
&

{
Z!
#
+
|}}
~
Quoted in: Panzer, Mathew Brady and the Image of History, 4.
46
&
public participation in the social ideology of the images. Reading the images
meant recognizing the unambiguous symbols: “The making of portraits was to
embody that idea in visual form, to launch images into the world as tokens of
an ideology so secure as to seem natural: the ideology of American success.”82
@
!
aginary participation in the social position symbolically realized in the image.
=

&
+
&
thus perpetuates the hegemonic norms of society — does not entail merely deciphering the characteristics of certain types of physiognomies. Rather, the trans
!
!
portrayed can be traced to performative processes which are of fundamental sig
!!
+
Q
portrait daguerreotypy is a result of the intricate intertwining of identity-forming
processes, performative image pragmatics and a cultural dynamic for which the
following statement by Judith Butler is also true mutatis mutandis: “The source
of personal and political agency comes not from within the individual, but in and
through the complex cultural exchanges among bodies in which identity itself
is ever-shifting, indeed, where identity itself is constructed, disintegrated, and
!
&
/
&
!!
`83
In this context it is now important to further investigate the extent to which
$
&\
&
+
!
/&
&
!!
&
!
'!
identity-formation processes among the white middle classes and the formation
!
/
#
+
&
mid-nineteenth-century.
Staging the Gaze in the Photographic Gallery
@
!&
#
+\
&
&
a real center of modern capitalist development in the United States. Along this
strip, next to trade and business centers, hotels and churches, new cultural institutions were also established. Two prominent representatives of this trend
were Mathew Brady’s Photographic Gallery and Phineas T. Barnum’s American
Museum.84 In the enthusiastic descriptions of Broadway from this period, the
82
83
84
Judith Butler, Gender Trouble, #
+
|}}
|
On the social history of Broadway see Edward K. Spann, The New Metropolis: New York City,
47
impression most often expressed is that of dynamism and animation. In Henry
\
#
+
&
/
_
!
and the artery, the joy and the adventure of one’s childhood, and it stretched,
and prodigiously, from Union Square to Barnum’s Great American Museum by
the City Hall.”85 The author locates the roots of modern American society on
Broadway, though he at this very point in time does not share in the early manifestations of irritation and cultural critique aimed at this place of cultural and
economic expansion.86 In the contemporary popular descriptions of this center
point of activity, more so than in James’ retrospective view it is striking that
Broadway is characterized as a stage for images and for the experience of manifold images. Broadway takes on “the pictorial presence of an absent place,”87 the
visual impressions of which are most often evoked through the medium of texts.
An imaginary image of this place is already a part of the mental world of the
reading audience (photographs and woodcuts usually serve to supplement the
illustrations in the text) and circulates as a symbolic image of the society in the
collective imaginary. Journalists and columnists in particular have contributed
to the creation of a public image of Broadway that accentuates the representative
character of this place for all that happens in the social world. Broadway functions as a paradigm for the transformations of the social order and visual culture
beginning in the second half of the nineteenth century.
In The Pen and Ink Panorama of New York City from 1853, Cornelius Mathews portrays Broadway as “a great sheet of glass, through which the whole
world is visible as in a transparency.”88 But at the same time the scenery seems
_
!

&
#tive to keep his foothold and point of observation.”}
Q
&
'!!
+
!
85
86
87
88
}
||
#
+
|}|
Henry James, A Small Boy and Others,
#
+
|}|
~
James Fenimore Cooper, here a critic, wrote in 1838 in Home as Found: “All principles are
swallowed up in the absorbing desire for gain — national honor, permanent security, the ordinary rules of society, law, the constitution, and everything that is usually so dear to men,
are forgotten, or are perverted in order to sustain this unnatural condition of things.” James
Fenimore Cooper, 8
>$/
?8$#$@
|
#
+
|
35. Criticism also came from Hermann Melville in a series of literary sketches for Putnam’s
Magazine. In stories such as 555
$;
he described how individuals
who are not successful remain invisible to those who are successful and wealthy. Hermann
Melville, The Two Temples (unpublished in Melville’s lifetime), in: Great Short Works of
Hermann Melville, X

#
+
|}
Z
$
_&
=`
in: Harper’s New Monthly Magazine,
#
|
See Belting,D$20 62.
Cornelius Mathews, 5$32Q#
+
|

Ibid., 15.
48
perspective. The kaleidoscope, a common trope in this period, offers a model of
!
&
&
a cultural apparatus rather as an analogy for the changes in visual culture.} The
goings-on around Broadway are paradigmatically described in a leading photography journal as “a kaleidoscope succession of appeals through the eye.”}|
This suggests that what is conveyed is constant movement, during which secure points in the images are fragmented and the objects of human vision are
presented in unstable and changing constellations. It is well known that drawing an analogy between visual experience and an optical instrument becomes a
paradigmatic model of modernity for Charles Baudelaire; the kaleidoscope is
not only a model for a certain kinetic experience, it is also a metaphor for the
consciousness of the modern city dweller.} In the depictions by columnists and
journalists and in photography magazines in the United States during this period, the trope of the kaleidoscope is mostly used to refer to modes of perception
#&
&
understood here as the materialization of different types of images, suggesting
that the experience of images is analogous to an optical apparatus:
There are always pictures enough in Broadway for those who have eyes to see
them; pictures which few painters take the trouble to put upon their canvas and
fewer connoisseurs to enjoy as they pass in panoramic succession before their
&
!
!
#
!&
#
+
!
Z
as touching as Edward Frère ever imagined — quaint, stirring, saddening — a
kaleidoscope succession of appeals through the eye to all that feels, judges and
enjoys within us.}
In this palimpsest-like projection, Broadway is seen as a medium for images
that can be attributed to various artists. The perspective on this slice of city life
reveals what is already largely familiar. It’s reception seems to be analogous to
that of the panorama as well as the kaleidoscope. The structure of the collective
&
'!&
&
!
a model for perceptual orientation. Commercial and artistic success on Broadway was undoubtedly contingent upon one’s ability to intervene in the circulation of images and language belonging to the collective imaginary. The career
of Mathew Brady was thus due not just to his skill as a daguerreotypist, but was
}
}|
}
}
On the history and meaning of the kaleidoscope see Jonathan Crary, 5
X#
2
ver. Vision and Modernity in the Nineteenth Century,
|}}
||
“Pictures on Broadway”, in: $>0;
#
|

See Charles Baudelaire, Le peintre de la vie moderne, in: Oeuvres complètes,
|}~|
||~|
“Pictures on Broadway”, 344.
}
also contingent upon his ability to strategically position himself in the network
of power relations on Broadway.
Throughout his career, Brady paid close attention to the location of his studio. The

&
!\
!
&
Z
+
a grand, pillared building that housed the business of publisher and art collector
Daniel Appleton; steps away from P.T. Barnum’s American Museum; and near the
city’s best hotels, including the Astor House.}
His studio gallery was always in an area with maximum exposure and in close
proximity to other important buildings, such that it was highly visible at the
main centers of power. This strategic positioning was a response to the prevalent
awareness of social power relations on Broadway; it was an attempt to claim a
!>!
!!
&
&
&
&
&
&
'
city’s development. He placed importance on securing a visible proximity to
P.T. Barnum’s entertainment venue, the American Museum, through which he
hoped to highlight his claim to a symbolic counter-stance with his manufacture
of photographs. “Counter acting the tawdriness of freaks and curiosities on view
in P.T. Barnum’s American Museum across the street and the ambiguity of the
characters one chanced to meet on the side walk, at ‘Brady’s of Broadway’ the
viewer was offered the visible shape of the noble soul.} Within the visual topography of Broadway, this was also a nod to the diametric distinction between the
“highbrow” and the “lowbrow” cultural spheres. Within the cultural economy
of Broadway, Brady’s gallery strove for a position within “high culture.” Sig&
&
%
setting of his gallery. His studio gallery was always located in a place that acce
!
!
!!
&
Q
!
#
+
X
_
&
tor of the popular temperature — the quicksilver (in) the Broadway-manometer

!
!
&
&!
&
#
+
`}~ The location on Broadway is a
part of what can be called a topographical mise-en-scene strategy that attempts
to shape the visual experience of its audience. The world of metropolitan experience appears as a scene and as a stage upon which visual consumption is fused
with the processes involved in the constitution of identities.
}
}
}~
Panzer, Mathew Brady and the Image of History,
}
Maria Morris Hambourg, 5Z[
>
Z"
the Paper Company Collection, Q
$
$!!
"
#
+
|}}
||
8;
"!!

|}
|
50
The daguerrean galleries of this city are among the primary objects of interests
to visitors, and the collections here presented are incomparably superior to any
to be found in a European metropolis, without exception. Many of them, too, are
adorned with portraits of the most eminent of our citizens, statesmen, jurists, soldiers, physicians, and men of letters, whilst in others, fac-similies of well-known
scenes are to be found.}
Figure I. 5: Methew Brady’s Photographic Gallery
The correspondence between the social spheres in the world inside and the
world outside Brady’s gallery manifests itself in the interior design of the gal&
Q
&
!
&
$
&
|}
&
#
+
&
!
!/!ous interior, its generous size and its elaborate technical equipment. The studios were showcases for the newest developments in furniture design, rugs and
décor. Extravagance and luxury were ostentatiously on display. A reporter for
8[
;wrote in 1853 after a visit to Brady’s large exhibition hall
for his daguerreotypes:
Q
'
'
Q
Q
frescoed and in the center hangs a glittering glass chandelier from which ‘prismatic
drops sparkle like stars’ in the gaslight. Curtains of important needlework hang
at the window. The furniture is of rosewood, the deep rich wood imprisoning the
glow of the chandelier. The reception desk is large and off to the left of it are easy
chairs and marble topped tables with showcases of pictures. Gazing down at the
luxurious rooms from the frames of gold and rosewood are the kings, statesmen,
emperors and American leaders living and dead.}
}
}
“Photography in the United States”, in: 02; June 1853.
8[
; 5, 1853, 1.
51
This hypertrophic décor went over well because it suited the tastes of its middle
class audience by celebrating the accumulation of wealth, in particular with its
exquisite materials, including precious metals and jewels. Its maximum agglom
&&
/
&
!/!!
fabrics, décor and lighting. The interior represents economic success as a key
index of social value in the middle class public sphere. The positioning of the
daguerreotypes corresponded perfectly to the symbolic structure of the interior
decoration. Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper mentioned the “countless ex>!
!
&
`}} And in fact the
density of the exhibition and its serial character were astounding — the numerous photographs of varying sizes displayed in glass cases, including in particular
the life-size photographs created starting in 1853. Brady’s arrangement of the
daguerreotypes on the walls, i.e., his particular mode of exhibiting the works,
was based on a certain model, namely the museum.
Charles Willson Peale’s American Museum, which opened in Philadelphia in
1822, “depicts the conceptual world of art into which photography would appear
seventeen years later — a world in which art seems comfortable in its task of
providing exact copies of visible nature.”100 In his selfportrait The Artist and His
Museum (1822), Peale presents himself as an impresario, airing the curtain for
the exhibition hall as if it were a stage curtain for a stage on which stuffed and
mounted animals, a few dinosaur bones as well as dissection instruments, but
also the brushes of a painter are found. His conceptualization of the museum entails the idea of a place of study where objects are exhibited in a realistic manner
&
!
%&101 Peale placed special
emphasis on this kind of a strictly taxonomic organizing system: “The master key
of a grand Pallace by which we can step into each of the apartments and open any
of the Cabinets to become acquainted with their contents.”102 The museum appears as if it were a representative ordering system in which the elongated space
Q
&
packed row of horizontal and vertical glass cases and is bordered on the top by a
row of busts and portraits of the heroes of the American Revolution. Peale’s role
as impresario consists in presenting this representative ordering system as a place
for encountering living beings and elements of reality on display. If they were not
}}
100
101
102
_&\
#
&`
^
Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, January 5
1861, 106.
For a more detailed discussion of Peale’s conceptualization, see Susan Stewart, $!
in that Order, in the Works of Charles Willson Peale, in: Lynne Cooke, Peter Wollen (eds.),
\
ZD$0
#
+
|}}
|
Peale quoted in: Trachtenberg, Reading American Photographs, }
52
able to be displayed as originals, the exhibition objects at least carried the status
of replications, i.e., good imitations, authentic imitations of real objects. But it
was not just mounted animals that could be seen. One anecdote contends that
Peale ended up chasing down and shooting a grizzly bear that had escaped from
its cage. The museum served as a place where the natural world was mirrored in
an orderly and taxonomic way, where an aesthetic of replication was merged with
a highly controlled space where the natural world could be experienced. As Miles
Orvell has argued it is important to understand the function of this concept:
One dominant mode in popular culture in the late nineteenth century was thus the
tendency to enclose reality in manageable forms, to contain it within a theatrical
space, an enclosed exposition or recreational space, or within the space of the picture frame. If the world outside the frame was beyond control, the world inside of
it could at least offer the illusion of mastery and comprehension.103
Brady’s concept was close to Peale’s in terms of both the basic concept of this
particular exhibition practice and to the role he played as exhibition director.104
The greatest point of similarity between Brady and Peale lay in Brady’s notion
that the photo studio could be a museum that is both educational and at the
same time entertaining. The ideal of a lifelike presentation as well as a form
of lifelike preservation played an important role in Brady’s museum concept
in so far as it was aimed at a re-creation and replication of reality for the purpose of creating a symbolic visual model of the social order. The standardized
%
&
&\
&
&
!

&
in Lester’s monthly journal. The non-hierarchical arrangement of the portraits
on the walls, which — in contrast to their distribution via lithograph — were
not categorized according to social group or profession, corresponded to the
democratic self-understanding of the young republic. The success of a singer
was comparable to that of a politician. The principle of varied repetition realized
in the daguerreotypes must also be understood as a practice intended to create
a normative standardization. The status of those portrayed is perpetuated in this
exhibition practice, and within the sphere of public visual communication, the
portraits served as an iconic legitimation strategy for society. Brady’s exhibition
practice can thus also be understood as an elementary part of the educational and
civilizing agenda of American Victorianism.105 The gallery was conceptualized
103
104
105
Miles Orvell, 5 5Z 3 $ 0 0 %&&=]%*^=
Z

|}}

“Brady cast himself in the role of producer and impresario, stage manager of a new kind of
theater.” Trachtenberg, Reading American Photographs, 38.
See Winfried Fluck, 3_Z`>
$
53
as a re-creation of life, as a true-to-life mirror and a showcase of the person
&\
!!
^
!
ment industry, politics and the business world constituted both its visitors and
the subjects of Brady’s portraits. It served as an institution featuring the lifelike
!
positions of seeing and being seen.
It is no wonder that this gallery should be thronged constantly, and that it should
&
=
Q
#
+
+
&\
&
&
&
!
men grouped together there, but that they may see themselves as others see them.106
Mathew Brady’s Photographic Gallery was thus a public space for the representation and self-representation of its middle class audience also in large part
because it organized the images such that they manipulated the audience’s way
of looking, for example the direction they looked in and their focus. In an article in the D` in 1846, Walt Whitman describes his visit to
the daguerreotypy gallery owned by John Plumbe, another famous Broadway
daguerreotypist.107 His article titled “The Gathering of the Forces” addresses
the circulation among the gazes, the images and the visitors at the gallery, thus
&
!!
^
!

&
!
!
!ty [...] than in any spot we know of [...] what a spectacle! In whatever direction
you turn your peering gaze, you see naught but human faces! There they stretch,
'

!
"¨
X
!
!
¨
Z
!
&
outdone by fact […] a great legion of human faces.108
Like Lyonvilles, Whitman attributes a particularly strong effect to the gaze of
the person portrayed, who looks out from the daguerreotype at the audience:
_{&
%
&
!
/&
!
&!`|} The eerie illusion that they are
living evokes “an immense phantom concourse — speechless and motionless,
!
&
!

!
106
107
108
|}
%j*=]%*==
+!$
}|
“Gossip”, in: $>0;
!&
|
}|
Trachtenberg offers extensive information on Walt Whitman’s relationship to Brady and his
references to photography in Leaves of Grass. See Trachtenberg, Reading American Photo2
graphs, 60–70.
Walt Whitman, The Gathering of the Forces, =

+

#
+
|}
||||
Ibid., 116.
54
mute as a grave.”110 What is expressed here is the silent controlling function of
the gaze, which serves as a normative entity of surveillance. By directing their
gaze out from the image toward the spectators — this is a typical projection of
the scenario — they can watch the spectators as they are looking; they do not
serve as mere objects of the audience’s looking, but instead they turn the tables
and reinforce their own social position of power. The dynamic in this exchange
of gazes can be understood as part of a communicative social practice related
to images, according to which the regulatory regime of the gazes merges with
daguerreotypy reception.
The imagined crossing of the spectator’s gaze with the gaze from the daguerreotype portrait suggests that the person in the portrait is a living being,
which has several additional consequences. In his trivial novel 52
type Miniature; or, Life in the Empire City111 from 1846, Augustine Joseph
Hockney Duganne creates a bizarre and frivolous plot to relay the story of a
young man who has fallen in love with the daguerreotype of a noblewoman.
The fact that the daguerreotype, which he wears as an amulet around his neck,
ends up saving his life is a welcome but ultimately uninteresting byproduct of
the cliché-ridden plot. What is relevant here, however, is the way in which the
text describes social interactions as a complex series of looks between the people who frequent Broadway. Verbs such as “gaze,” “behold,” “look,” “survey,”
“glance,” “view,” “penetrate,” “detect,” “inspect,” “stare,” “scrutinize,” “appear” or “disappear” are used to describe the exchanges between the different
&
!^
_`
_`
_!`
_
`
_&`
_`
_'!
!san,” “merchant’s daughter” or as “half-dying seamstress,” all of whom are said
to be “watchful and observing, glancing at each and all.”112 Like Whitman, Duganne describes Plumbe’s gallery as a place where social events are carried out
in an educational setting. The portraits displayed — with the same intention as
Brady’s and with the same ideological function prevalent at the time — serve
as role models. They offer “a perfect study of character” and establish a hierarchical relationship between those portrayed and the spectators, which is also
manifest in the gazes: “statesman, the renowned soldiers, the distinguished litterateurs of the, who look down, life-like from their frames.”113 According to the
exhibition concept employed by Peale and Brady, the daguerreotypes are “life110
111
112
113
Ibid.
Augustine Joseph Hockney Duganne, 5{!`
City, Philadelphia 1846.
Ibid., 5.
Marcus Aurelius Root, The Camera and the Pencil, or The Heliographic Art, Philadelphia
1864, 35.
55
like presentments”114 that suggest a real presence and the possibility of an encounter. Duganne also repeats the popular dichotomous differentiation between
!
!
!
/
which can be admired in the gallery, and the world of deception and appearances, rigorous economic competition and the monetary logic of exchange,
which are found in the contingency and transitoriness of life on Broadway. The
gallery thus serves as a visual corrective to a social reality the moral stability of
!\
/
&
tography galleries took on an educational and civilizing character in American
Victorianism.
My thesis is, that the public reception situation in the showroom connects
the activity of looking at images with forms of social interaction that can be
!!
@
!
!
that reciprocal social recognition is also linked to experiencing the images:
the audience, the visitors in the showroom, perform a habitual imitation of the
role-models they see in the portraits, and the success of this emulation is tested
through the eye contact among them. Both the regime of gazes between the audience and those portrayed and the circulation of gazes among the audience are
Q
!
educational function of the exhibition thus entails the experience of participating in the social sphere of the famous and successful people of the time. The
showroom proves to be a place where theatrical processes are carried out, given
that it is here that activities such as showing and observing, performing, enacting and perceiving a visualized social codex are practiced. Observing the images stimulates among the audience an impulse to put themselves on display for
the public’s eye.115 Brady’s portrait gallery serves as a medium for constituting
and symbolizing social power relations, and it makes possible a form of image
reception that was intimately linked to the experience of status and prestige. The
&
!
!
!%
!!
namely that it should serve to create a sense of community and identity. But the
viewing experience tied to the reception of the images was not the only thing
that contributed to this goal. The performative act of constituting identities was
&
!
+ing of the daguerreotypes — despite the fact that the reception of the portraits
114
115
Ibid., 43.
This implicit constitutional form of the public was inconsistent with Richard Sennett’s theory of
the decline of public life. Point of departure for concrete processes in public behavior, clothing,
language, appearance as symptomatic. Externally controlled, that is, people’s decisions depen
\
#
+
!&
Z&
!
as linear history of decline. Richard Sennett, The Fall of Public Man,
#
+
|}
56
may have evoked a strong desire among the spectators to be photographed themselves. I will further show, how the process of performative identity formation
is closely tied to practices involving the taking of photographs and the posing
and mise-en-scene that precede the shots. These took place in a particular place
within the Photographic Gallery.
Mise-en-scène and Exposure
The room where the daguerreotypes were shot was referred to as the “Operating Room.” Like the darkroom and the workshop for framing, it was spatially
!!&
'
building. This “Operating Room” is the place where the creation of the images
took on an aesthetic mise-en-scène, as the subjects were posed here with a variety of theatrical props. The equipment and props in the room constitute the spa
!
+!
!
!
&
to the purported authentic character of the photographs. The daguerreotypes
shot in the studio were enthusiastically received from the very beginning and
praised for their true-to-life character. An article in Knickerbocker |}
claimed: “We have little room to speak of ‘interior’ views. We can only say,
in passing, that they are perfect. Busts, statutes, curtains, pictures, are copied
to the very life; and portraits are included, without the possibility of an incorrect likeness.”116 The interior and the props were supposed to create a nearly
perfect illusion and evoke the immediate presence of documented reality. The
attempt was to symbolically represent the everyday environs of the subject, the
re-construction of which constituted one of the basic technical operations in
the manufacture of the daguerreotypes. It was technically possible to capture a
visual record of a static portion of the room arranged with a few select props.
Those who undertake Daguerreotype portraitures, will of course arrange the backgrounds of their pictures according to their own tastes. When one that is quite
uniform is desired, a blanket or a cloth of a drab colour, properly suspended, will
be found to answer very well. […] It will be readily understood, that if it be desired
to introduce a vase, an urn, or other ornament, it must not be arranged against the
background, but brought forward until it appears perfectly distinct on the obscured
glass of the camera.117
The arrangement of these scenes, the mise-en-scène, can be described as a simu116
117
“The Daguerreotype”, in: The Knickerbocker,
|}
“Professor Draper on the Process of Daguerreotype and its application to taking Portraits from
Life”, in: Philosophical Magazine, September 1840.
57
lation, in that it creates a model of reality that is intended to appear as an exact
&
&
@
constructs and also constitutes a slice of reality, which is then presented in the
form of the photographic image as an identical double of reality. The creation
of such an image-reality implies a radically new form for its construction, given
that it breaks with the principles of mimesis in the sense of a visual-pictorial imitation and takes on the character of a simulation. Simulation as a construction of
and simultaneously as a rendering of reality results from the interplay between
technology and perceptual dispositions. This interaction was often concisely
expressed at the time as “a need for make-believe.”118
"
decades, photography rapidly developed into an industry of its own, producing
in addition to the images themselves also the backdrops and the studio props
for indoor photography. Advertisements for a variety of objects were found in
early photography journals, such as, for example, “Interiors, Landscapes, Cot
X
!
"
=+`||}
_"
@&
"
Vines and Rustic Accessories,”120
!
+
outdoor photographs, for example the boxing scenes from 1863. With the fur
!&&
&
!

/
&
!
fake snow. A particularly odd prop captured much attention, namely a prosthetic
^
_"
&
>!
%
adjustable joint or joints, and to be attached to the person so as to appear to be
a third leg.”121 This was more than just a bizarre invention, it demonstrates the
potentially illusionistic character of the simulated reality. Photography makes it
seem as if having a third leg is at least possible. The scenarios arranged for the
camera are models of an imaginary reality that can be understood as an early
form close to what Jean Baudrillard called simulation.122 The fact that this illusory impression of being real worked on spectators has to do with the habitualized mode of perceiving photography. The photographic way of seeing does not
put the authenticity of the documentation process into question; the immediate act of transforming reality into an image is not challenged. To the contrary,
the photographic record authenticates the reality status of its subject, it realizes
this status. Due to the function of the backdrop and props, the closed and sepa118
||}
120
121
122
Henry P. Robinson, Pictorial Effect in Photography, Being Hints on Composition and
Chiaroscuro for Photographers,
|~}

Ibid., 85.
Ibid., 86.
Ibid., 87.
Jean Baudrillard, "|$
|}}
58
rate room of the studio takes on a proto-virtual character. Elizabeth Grosz has
described virtuality as a place linked to a reality effect and which comes into
being through a phantasmagoric transformation: “The very term virtual reality attests to a phantasmatic extension [...] an equivocation in and of the real.
An apparent rather than an actual ‘real.’”123 In this context, the studio or the
“Operating Room” constitute a place where reality is re-enacted, where liminal
threshold situations are produced. They function as a transitory place, a place of
transition from a simulated material reality into a medium that is perceived as
an authentic presentation of reality. The photographic technique connoted magic
during the early phase of its development. Both it and the places associated with
it met the need of the viewer and the subject portrayed to engage in a hallucina&
&
Q
©
served to create a simulated self-representation, which found it’s climax in the
excesses of costume and theatrical sceneries of all kinds.
The mise-en-scène practices in the “Operating Room” focused most intensively on the subjects of the portraits. Their poses and above all their facial
expressions were the centerpiece of the mise-en-scène, which was shaped quite
prominently by the daguerreotypist himself.
In this isolated space, the operator’s work consisted of making a series of subtle
decisions. He arranged the light, posed the sitter, elicited the proper expression,
and removed the lens cap from the camera to make the exposure. Most operators
placed a metal stand behind their sitters, to hold the head and body still.124
The daguerreotype technique required a considerable amount of time and demanded that the sitter be disciplined enough to sit still. Often a metal contraption
was used to make sure the sitter did not move his or her head. Henry James, who
Brady photographed with his father when James was twelve, reported: “It had
!
'
>!
!
never exactly cursed by it, I became aware that I at least felt so as I stood with
my head in Mr. Brady’s vise.” 125
Q
>!
/
&
!
>!
er developed, was apparently not perceived as running counter to the popular
discourse of photography as a lifelike record of real events. The use of handbooks for the production of portraits likewise appears not to have interfered
with the dominant understanding of photography. Such books were conspicu123
124
125
Elizabeth Grosz, Architecture from the Outside. Essays on Virtual and Real Space, Cambridge
2001, 80.
James, A Small Boy and Others, 52.
}
Figure I. 6: Herny James Sr. and Henry James Jr.. Daguerreotype (1854)
ous in the plethora of detail offered about the appropriate posture, pose and
facial expression for sitters, which established a normative standard.126 In these
instructions, facial expression and the look of the subject were addressed with
particular emphasis. Recommended was an expression that was convincing as
a statement about the character of the person being portrayed. The aim was
!
\
Q
popular notion of capturing the essence of a person in a photograph is grounded
in the discourses on physiognomy and phrenology dominant at the time. These
discourses espoused a correspondence between the external appearance and the
internal essence of each individual.127
@
/
iconic typology and the social conventions of physiognomic portraits served as
reference points.
The challenge of the intractable countenance, the face which would not relax or
mellow or glow with ‘expression,’ formed the core of an emerging middle-class
discourse on the daguerrean portrait, a discourse of instruction and advice to both
operators and sitters: how to arrange the body, where to allow the light to fall, what
background and furniture to provide, what to do with sitters’ hands and legs and
eyes, with linen and wool and lace.128
126
127
128
On the sociohistorical relevance of guidebooks, especially on dance, fashion, and behavior, see
Halttunen, +$$$Z
Phrenology attempted to derive evidence on people’s character by means of a “print” of the
brain in ridges, bumps, and furrows on the surface of the skull. A characteristic morphology
and cartography of the human being.
60
The explications of the photographer Albert S. Southworth provide an illustrious example of this kind of discourse. Southworth’s instructions for people
having their photograph taken were printed in popular magazines of the time:
Expression is everything in a daguerreotype […]. A little practice, with a friend
to prompt, before a mirror, will save time, and very likely be the means of much
increasing the satisfaction of those for whom the likeness is made.|}
In addition to details about the uses of and the possibilities for arranging hair,
jewelry and clothing, he also appealed to the mental state of the subject. The
desired practice for embodying one’s own character demanded contemplative
cooperation in developing physiognomic expressions and the overall pose. The
Victorian educational ideal of applying a civilizing discipline was particularly
aimed at areas that were presumably hard to control, such as the body and mind
of women, of whom a rather subdued constitution was required. The fact that
the disciplinary measures were mostly aimed at women shows how sensitive the
surface of people’s character was thought to be. This surface was subject to a
!
&
!
'!
that could throw it off.
Having disciplined the feature of the face until controllable, select an hour for sitting when you may be in your best mental as well as physical condition [...]. The
hour of departure on a tour of travel, a few hasty moments snatched from a shop
/!

+&
!&
and quiet mood to yield to the hints the Artist may desire to throw out expressily
\

"
"
130
Belief in the photographic process as an art form seemed to depend most upon
the character of the daguerreotypist. The production of images is thus tied to
the authority of the artist and to his role as creator because he was largely in the
position to control the quality of the images. His work as director and his ability
to pose the subjects as he wished determined the success of the photographs.
Also important was the social interaction and the subtle role-play between the
daguerreotypist and the subject.
But it soon became clear that the most important manipulation took place between
the operator and his subject. And the most successful daguerreotypists were the
ones who knew how to please their customers. From a scattered set of clues, one
|}
130
Albert S. Southworth, “Suggestions to Ladies Who Sit for Daguerreotypes”, in: Lady’s Alma2
nac, 1854. See also online: “The Art of the American Daguerreotype”, Smithonian American
"
$!!^
^!/+*//ª
Ibid.
61
can also recognize the ways in which Brady and his peers understood the theatrical
nature of their enterprise. When Brady performed the role of the ideal middle-class
man, he elicited a similar performance from his subjects, and so together they created a new, public identity for the sitter.131
"
!&
enhance the status of his clients. The success of the mise-en-scène and the performance of the subjects depends upon him. The transformation of a person’s
character and his or her social reality into an image, and the recurrence of this
reality in the image as the subject’s own self, mark the qualitative aesthetic task
associated with the daguerreotype. The artistic activity entails intervening so
as to create an illusion while at the same time guaranteeing the reality effect of
what is shown. Already in the early years of photography, conscious manipulation was considered a constructive method of creating reality, and it is this
!
&
^
But the artist, even in photography, must go beyond discovery and the knowledge
of facts; he must create and invent truths and produce new developments of facts. I
would have him an artist in the highest and truest sense applicable […] to pictures
of every kind.132
Daguerreotypy is just as much an artistic medium as other artistic means of producing images. The stylization and idealization accomplished by the photographer, plus the verisimilitude ascribed to the medium, are combined to become an
advertising slogan inviting viewers to have trust in the daguerreotype method:
Z
"
@
&
+
!!
!tible of the expression of feelings and emotions which have been awakened in the
mind of the Artist, and more nearly realized in his own conceptions. He must have
the power to embody the beauties and perfections of his subjects, and at the same
time make clear resemblance and identity. He must keep ideality uppermost, and
thus infuse it into the mind of the beholder so that he be not degraded to a servile
copyist, and his Art to a mere resemblance.133
An extraordinary example of portrait production in the public sphere is Brady’s
daguerreotype of Henry Clay, which along with three other portraits was described at length by Colonel T.B. Thorpe in an edition of Harper’s Monthly from
131
132
133
"
!
_"
"
#
"

States, Delivered at Cleveland Ohio, June 1870”, in: The Philadelphia Photographer, 8, October 1871, 320.
@
_
#
"`
^
The Philadelphia Photogra2
pher, 1873.
62
|~}134 Thorpe’s description presents a special case of mise-en-scène. The distinctive feature of the scene depicted is on the one hand the fact that it was shot
outside the studio, which meant that the act of taking the photograph became a
public event with a large number of spectators. To what extent does this constellation epitomize the performative character of creating an imaginary image of a
person? The act of shooting a photograph as well as the mise-en-scène involved
become part of the collective public reception described so well in this report in
a general interest magazine. The making of the portrait of Representative Clay,
taken shortly before his swearing-in to Congress and attended by a number of
his admirers, is described as follows:
Mr Clay, however, suddenly waved his hand, which had the effect to command the
utmost silence; then dropped both hands before him, one grasped within the other.
While the process of taking the picture continued, which was for some seconds,
many of the spectators, unaccustomed to mental discipline, grew pale in their efforts to subdue their interests in what was going on, or from fear of being rude by
some unfortunate interruption. Mr. Clay all the while seemed to be perfectly at his
'
&
!
+
&
!
/
!
!
+&

X
the click of the instrument announced that the affair was ended, an enthusiastic but
subdued demonstration was made by the spectators.135
What is curious in Thorpe’s description is not only the explicit differentiation between the actors and the spectators, i.e., the theatrical way in which he reads this
mise-en-scène, but above all the focus on the physical events and the reactions
among both the audience and the subject being photographed. The act of taking
the photograph in itself is enough to effect strong physical reactions that can
hardly be controlled, for example blushing or turning pale, and it demands such
disciplined behavior that it is only the subject of the portrait himself who can
deliver it. The apparent fascination with the act of taking a photograph extends
!
!
as well as the success of the end product. Daguerreotype production is perceived
as a spectacular public event that elicits affective reactions among the spectators, making the entire scene into a public happening. During the brief moment
in which the shot is made, the mise-en-scene has its own theatrical aesthetic. The
aesthetic is shaped by the recurring paradox inherent to the situation given that
complete stillness is required of the subject due to the photographic procedure,
&
&
!!&
134
135
Colonel T. B. Thorpe, “Webster, Clay, Calhoun and Jackson: How They Sat For Their Daguerreotypes”, in: Harper’s Monthly Magazine,

$&
|~}
}
Ibid., 788.
63
of his character. The stillness is the precondition for creating an iconic image.
The spectators’ fascination, their absorption, their physical affect at witnessing
this photographic event does not stem from enthusiasm for the new technology,
which is still in its infancy and still rather cumbersome. The tension and excitement among the spectators result from their disquiet over whether the subject
will be able to hold his pose and deliver a suitable facial expression. This performative aspect induces affect among the audience, primarily stemming from
their wonder at whether or not the subject will succeed in his performance. But
it is also related to their sense of taking part in a meaningful event. The portrait
of Clay accomplishes the following: it makes visible his central characteristics
and simultaneously preserves them for the coming generations.
The procedure is thus essentially a medium for creating iconic and symbolic
meaning. In the process of taking the photograph, a scene is transformed into a
lasting mode of visual representation, whereby this moment reveals the mutually constituting relationship between materiality and mediality. The scene itself, and not the end product, proves to be an oscillating projection hovering
between the imaginary process and the material-technological media practice.
The aesthetic of photographic mise-en-scène developed in conjunction with daguerreotypy sheds light on the extent to which the medium of photography contributes to the construction of identities. The formation of identities is intricately
entwined with the production of images. The mise-en-scène opens up a space for
symbolic construction, for creating illusions, and for the work of the imagina
&
!
&
the authenticity ascribed to the images themselves. The hypostatized verisimilitude of the medium creates a new mode of experiencing reality. The concrete
place where images are produced, i.e., usually the photo studio, is a space in
/
!
of the image. Trachtenberg is right in calling the photo studio “a theater of desire, the gallery had become a new kind of city place devoted to performance:
the making of oneself over into a social image.”136 A basal, cultural and aesthetic
practice is anchored in this new medium, namely, “die grundsätzlich und immer
«!!!
!!
¬
andere.”137 Daguerreotype production serves as a mass medium for recording,
&
!
&
@
!
Jan Assmann in that images are possible only in such a “situational context,”
136
137
Hans-Georg Soeffner, `} ~
Z _
7 $ $
Politik, in: Herbert Willems, Martin Jurga (eds.), Inszenierungsgesellschaft. Ein einführendes
Handbuch, |}}

64
!
@
^
Z&
&
!&
|}
a “culturally institutionalized framework” of practices through which images
can be meaningfully integrated into social interaction and can be produced, activated and understood as images. I refer to the social practice by which images are constituted as images during such a “situation” as image acts.138 Thus I
!
situational context form images through their actions, are seen as images, and
perceive themselves as images, and in fact, in principal, regardless of whether
a secondary image (photograph) of the event itself is produced which captures
it as an image — although the existence of such documents of course develops
an iconographic repertoire which is a constitutive part of the situational context
of performative images. And this takes place within the perimeters of a communicative circulation of images between the public and private spheres of the
middle classes.
138
See Jan Assmann, “Die Macht der Bilder. Rahmenbedingungen ikonischen Handelns im alten
Ägypten”, Visible Religion

|}}
|
([FKDQJHVDQG(QFKDQWPHQWV,PDJHVDV5HDOLW\
The period between the invention of the daguerreotype process and the end of
the American Civil War is considered the era of daguerreotypy in terms of both
the history of photography and the history of visual culture. In the mid-nineteenth century, each year millions of daguerreotypes and carte de visite photographs were produced, which then circulated in the public and private spheres
#
"
Q
!!
!&
dynamic of mutual constitution between the symbolic order of images and the
media in which they are produced. This dynamic encompasses the process of
both production and reception of this image type, and with the increasing presence of images it leads to the permanent updating of individuals and their image,
as well as the exchangeability of them.
The near-universality of the experience of sitting for one’s daguerreotype circulated throughout America a new regard for visibility, for one’s own image as a
medium of self-presentation. The millions of surviving daguerreotypes, mostly
!
&
+
&
selves in the eyes of others, seeing oneself as an image.|}
This mise-en-scène process and the production of images allow for the crea
&
/
of the symbolic order. These processes also serve as a foundation for the hierarchies and value systems that run along the lines of race, class and gender
by reproducing and disseminating them en masse. The daguerreotype process
thus proves to be an important medium in the symbolic exchange between the
!
#
!
communication through images and about images.140 The recipients’ gaze is tied
to social norms that intimately shape the visual arrangement, the poses and the
facial expressions of the subjects in portraits. The portraits set in middle-class
interiors are aimed at increasing public exposure and dissemination, i.e., at vis&
!
\
!
Q
!&
!
!
the discourses on the visual circulating in the collective imaginary a ubiquitous
|}
140
Trachtenberg, Reading American Photographs, }
Ernst H. Gombrich In his The Image and Its Role in Communication Ernst H. Gombrich paved
the way for connecting image theory and pragmatism, as found in Gernot Böhme, for example.
Ernst Hans Gombrich, D$$0Z"$}
$#$
2
lung,
!
|}
||

¢
Theorie des Bildes,
$¬
|}}}

66
&
Q
'
&
formation of people into images as a dimension of cultural self-understanding.141
How can with the increase in communication via images, displacement and
mutual saturation be observed between the private and the public spheres?142 As
a mass cultural phenomenon, daguerreotype production includes the process of
!
>!
|}
innovation of the carte-de-visite. This technique allowed for the production of
small-format copies of the large-format Imperial Portraits, which could then be
sold in photo studios, print shops, newspaper stands, bookstores and at general
stores. For example, cartes-de-visite portraits in a series titled “Brady’s Album
Gallery” were widely distributed. One of the most popular and famous cartede-visite of this period is the portrait of Abraham Lincoln during his Cooper
Union Address in 1860. It was only with this technological innovation that the
industrial mass reproduction of portrait photography could really begin. Reproductions of photographs through woodcut illustrations also contributed to their
mass distribution, as well as to the drop in appeal for gallery visits. The new
small, handheld format of the daguerreotypes and the carte-de-visite meant that
they were more intimately accessible and more personal. Whether as a portrait
in the family photo album, as an exhibition object in a gallery, or as a reproduction in the mass media, photographs exist within a communicative context of
social and experiential transactions.143 The object character of the daguerreotype
plays a special role in this: the daguerreotype photograph is “a solid, palpable
object, an image on a copper sheet polished like a hand-mirror and typically
set under a gold-plated mat, contained within a small wooden or leather case
adorned with tiny brass clasps.”144 The immediate and haptic presence of the image suggests eye contact between the portrait’s subject and the viewer, allowing
a sense of personal intimacy to develop between them, turning the portrait into
a role model. This imagined eye contact reinforces the viewer’s projections onto
the image. Aurelius Root described this effect in 1864 in The Camera and the
Pencil, or, The Heliographic Art:
141
142
143
144
See Bernd Busch, Belichtete Welt. Eine Wahrnehmungsgeschichte der Photographie,
$¬
|}}
“With the rise of photography, visual representation achieves the same kind of reproducibility
as the printed word [...]. Advertising has achieved what no artistic or literary genre could:
making the private body a subject of everyday public discourse, especially visual discourse.”
Peter Brooks, D$/X#
$
|}}

See Böhme, Theorie des Bildes,
}
"
Q
_+
@&^
='
!
$&>!`
^
Clarke, Graham (ed.), The Portrait in Photography,

|}}
«
67
But not alone our near and dear are thus kept with us; the great and the good, the
heroes, saints and sages of all lands and all eras are, by these lifelike ‘presentments’, brought within the constant purview of the young, the middle-aged, and
the old. The pure, the high, the noble traits beaming from theses faces and forms,
- who shall measure the greatness of their effect on the impressional minds of those
who catch sight of them at every turn.145
Q
!
!&
&
!
important medium for collecting photographs: the photo album. In 1864 John
Towles, the editor of 8[
; wrote:
Everybody keeps a photographic album, and it is a source of pride and emulation
among some people to see how many cartes de visite they can accumulate from
their friends and acquaintances [...]. But the private supply of cartes de visite is
nothing to the deluge of portraits of public characters which are thrown upon the
market.146
As daguerreotypes and cartes-de-visite increasingly became objects that were
routinely collected, pragmatic methods for collecting and showing them were
developed, starting with prestigious storage boxes for daguerreotypes and albums for collecting and organizing carte des visite. Showing and exchanging
items from photo collections can be understood as a form of exhibition on a
miniature scale, i.e., the circulation of images in a private setting within one’s
/
Q
!
ence of the subject portrayed. It also constitutes a visual communication practice
serving to gain recognition and heightened visibility for the person portrayed.147
If the communicative model of image practices is applied to daguerreotypes
and cartes-de-visite, the main cultural function of the images becomes apparent,
&
&
!
&
$!!
recognition and familiarity become much more than a function of remembrance,
these are central elements in collective communication through photographic
145
146
147
Aurelius Root, The Camera and the Pencil, or, The Heliographic Art, Philadelphia 1864,
26–27.
John Towles, “Photographic Eminence”, in: 8[
;|~
!
|
|~
}
In terms of deixis Gottfried Boehm says precisely: “Wer zeigt, hebt etwas heraus, macht es
sichtbar, indem er es in seiner anschaulichen Einbettung isoliert. Die zeigende Geste repräsentiert einen Fernsinn, sie weist hin, ohne greifen zu müssen. Sie hat, im ursprünglichen
Sinne, eine theoretische Potenz und Orientierung, sie zielt auf etwas, schafft dem Blick eine
neue Bahn, tut, was sie tut, mit einer eigentümlich betonten Aufmerksamkeit. Die Erkenntnis öffnende Kraft der Deixis wird am deutlichsten daran, daß der gezeigte Gegenstand sich
zeigt. Er wird ‘als solcher’ (als er selbst) erkennbar.” Gottfried Boehm, “Bildbeschreibung.
Über die Grenzen von Bild und Sprache”, in: Gottfried Boehm, Helmut Pfotenhauer (eds.),
Beschreibungskunst – Kunstbeschreibung. Ekphrasis von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, Mün
|}}
}
68
X
!
instrument for social positioning. It is only within this system of interactive
circulation that photographs come to serve as a medium for determining social
positions. Visual communication through images cannot simply be understood
as an interactive context between individuals and society. It must instead be
understood as a comprehensive visual cultural practice with which constitutive
social functions are associated.
In the short period between April 18 and July 17, 1846, the correspondence
between Ralph Waldo Emerson and Thomas Carlyle shows that communicative
!
!
>!&
+

!
148 Judgment was made
on the basis of the degree of correspondence between the photograph and its
subject, whereby the criteria for judging verisimilitude depends upon recognizing the character traits of the subject in the photograph, as discussed earlier. The
principle of this kind of recognition is associated with a characteristic interplay
between surface and depth. The depth and inner truth or essence of the subject is
\
!
/
This process, which has connotations of being magic, is summed up by Carlyle
as a “phantasmagory of a fact.” On April 30, 1846, he wrote in a letter to Emerson: “If your Photograph succeed as well as mine, I shall be almost tragically
glad of it. This of me is far beyond all pictures; really very like […]. My Wife
has got another […] and even liker! O my Friend; it is a strange Phantasmagory
of a Fact, this huge tremendous World of ours, Life of ours!”|} In his reply in
May of the same year, Emerson initially reports his failure: “I was in Boston
the other day & went to the best reputed Daguerreotypist, but though I brought
home three transcripts of my face, the housemates voted them rueful, supremely
ridiculous. I must sit again […].”150 A little later, however, the desired result was
accomplished: “The photograph came safely to my thorough content. I have
what I wished. This head is to me out of comparison more satisfying than any
!
@
&
®
@
+
^
life.
Thanks to the sun!”151 The passages from their letters exemplify the communicative and processual comparison of image and reality until the greatest possible correspondence is met. The verisimilitude of the photograph is only asserted
when it is thought to mirror the traits and features said or thought to be typical of
the subject.
148
|}
150
151
Joseph Slater (ed.), The Correspondence of Emerson and Carlyle,
#
+
|}~
Ibid.,`
0'=%&^<
}~}
Ibid., `
%^%&^<}
Ibid.,`
'%%&^<400.
~}
As an innovative mass medium, daguerreotypy has been an important and privileged medium for visually constructing Americas’ cultural understanding of it
@
!
!
!
#+
Luhmann consists in providing a common presence of objects and events to
which the majority of members of complex societies can refer.152 In comparison
to all other media, including textual and visual media such as the novel or (portrait) painting, from its very inception the daguerreotype is granted the unique
status of having almost perfect verisimilitude. The true-to-life character usually
attributed to daguerreotypy in popular discourses is due to the disavowal of its
medial dispositiv, that is, the sum of its material, mechanical, discursive and
institutional prerequisites. The fact that the image is ascribed this verisimilar
character in the sense of a “phantasmagory of a fact,” that is, a convincing real&
!
correspondence between image and subject. In the reception of daguerreotypes,
&
&
a certain corrective way of looking that does not allow for doubts concerning
the verisimilitude of the photograph.153 This way of looking is thus also part of
the media practices connoted as magic. It masks certain properties of the photographic image and complements others. Daguerreotypes cannot adequately
record movement, nor do they record color. Concerning these two important
points, the difference between the product and the perception of reality is quite
obvious. In the early phase of daguerreotype production, there was already explicit mention of such aspects of imperfection that led to apparent “distortions”
in the photographic record. Concerning a daguerreotype photograph, Samuel F.
B. Morse reported the following:
152
153
#+
!
=¡
$
|}}~
On the term “iconic difference” Bernhard Waldenfels writes: “Das Bild zeichnet sich zunächst
!
%
X
!
!
¯
"
!
"
Maße und auf bestimmte Weise ähneln: x sieht aus wie y. Das, was abgebildet wird, müssen
nicht materielle Eigenschaften sein, es kann sich auch um topologische, stukturale oder funkti
{
<
%
+
!+

!det sich die genrelle repräsenative Funktion, die darin besteht, daß etwa im Bilde vergegenwär
^
/
&
+
+

!
!
%
%
Abbildendem und Abgebildetem, die sich als asymmetrische Relation darstellt. Man kann die
Differenz zwischen dem, was als Bild aufgefaßt wird, und dem als was es aufgefaßt wird, als
‚ikonische Differenz’ bezeichnen. Das Paradox einer Verähnlichung im Bilde besteht darin,
daß dieser Prozeß nur gelingt, wenn er nicht völlig gelingt. Wie schon Platon im Kratylos uns
einschärft, ist die Unähnlichkeit dem Prozeß der Abbildung inhärent, weil mit ihrer Austilgung
und der Steigerung der Ähnlichkeit zur Gleichheit die ikonische Differenz hinfällig würde und
das Bild selbst zum Verschwinden käme.” Bernhard Waldenfels, Sinnesschwellen. Studien zur
_$
>$'
+!$
|}}}
||
70
Q
!
&
ing throng of pedestrians and carriages, was perfectly solitary, except for an individual who was having his boots shined. His feet were compelled, of course, to be
stationary for some time, one being on the box of the boot-black and the other on
!
>!&
!
!
body or head, because these were in motion.154
Morse thus pleads for improvements in the technology in order to do away with
!

!&
\
mirror of reality is not merely dependent upon technological improvements in
its ability to render reality. The same is true in the case of recording color. The
lack of color is a factor that apparently disrupts the lifelikeness of daguerreotypy,
and this was an imperfection that later methods of photography were also not yet
able to correct. One means of overcoming this was the development of elaborate
!
!
Q
“overpainting” was used to describe various methods, from covering the plate
with half-translucent pigments to a partial coloring by hand to applying oil-based
Q
>!
!
attempt to effectively match photography to human visual perception, but they
also did not decisively affect the experience of the images as true-to-life. The
reality effect, or the fundamental experience of lifelikeness in daguerreotypy, is
mostly due to the imaginative potential of the recipients, who are able to ignore
or correct the “distortions.” The ability of daguerreotypy to function as a magical mirror of reality depends upon this corrective function of the imagination.
The examples given here also illustrate that contradictions are inherent to the
presumed reality status of the photographic image, particularly when the rhetoric
posits the new technological medium as an instrument that functions independent
of the subject. They also point to the later insight that the invention of photography does not imply that the real can be recorded and reproduced, but rather that
it is constructed. Photography is thus not the reproduction of a visual experience,
but the very invention of it: “L’invention d’un regard.”155
The import role of the imagination in establishing the criteria for the verisimil!
&
&
#
Z\
The
House of the Seven Gables. In the novel, photographic images are transformed
into three-dimensional mental images for the viewer, suggesting to him or her
154
155
Samuel F. B. Morse quoted in: William Welling, Photography in America: The Formative
Q
%&'*]%*==08
#
+
|}

See: ![$[$%&'*]%*%&Z$ Exhibition
!
$!±
\&
/
&
²
Z!

$
#!
|}}
71
the immediate presence of the subject. This process, however, is not considered
the feat of the viewer, but is instead attributed to the power of the medium. In
the age of daguerreotypy, the medium itself, the apparatus and its technological
method, were ascribed magical qualities. The purported proximity of daguerreotypy to hypnosis, to spiritualist methods such as mesmerism and other forms
of black magic, explains why photographs at the time were popularly imagined
as “mysteriously transmuted materials, transmitted emanations and mesmerized
attention.”156 In the discourses on daguerreotypy, the views then contemporary
+
!
!
were amalgamated with ideas about the ability of the medium to express the essential character of its subjects. These notions were the productive prerequisites
for the positioning of daguerreotypy as one of the main media for representative
visualization and the essentialization of identity in American culture during the
nineteenth century.
156
Q
"!
_"
^
#
<

Q
!&`
^
Godey’s Lady’s
Book
|}
II. Immersions. Participating in Visualised Events
It is a Leaf torn from the book of God’s recording angel.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Atlantic Monthly 8, July 1861, 18.
/LIHDQG'HDWKLQ3HHS%R[HV
Oliver Wendell Holmes’ Discorses on Stereoscopy
@
!
!&
!
/
!
/
!
!^
Q
!!
&
stems on the one hand from its importance in perception practices of the nineteenth century, and on the other from its widespread use in conjunction with
millions of photographs produced during the period. A form of optical illusion
originally introduced in 1838 by Charles Wheatstone, the stereograph derives
from the fact that human beings see the world through two eyes, each of which
sees a slightly different view. When the brain receives and combines these two
images, the result yields a perception of the world in three dimensions. In the
late 1850s, photographers created special cameras with two lenses that reproduced the vision of two separate eyes. These cameras produced two negatives,
side by side, on a single piece of glass. After the negatives were printed, and the
resulting photographs mounted on special cards, these cards could be placed in
a viewer, where they reproduced a startlingly lifelike image in three dimensions.
Figure II. 1: American stereoscope
76
Immersions. Participating in Visualised Events
The “American stereoscope,” developed by the American inventor Oliver Wen
Z
/
!
!!&

/
|
@
!
&piece to protect against light falling in from the sides. Although usually made
of wood, many different models of this popular stereoscope were manufactured,
!
Z
'!
reception of the stereoscopic images, not only through his design for a cheaply
produced stereoscope, but also through his published essays in The Atlantic
Monthly during the 1860s.
Oliver Wendell Holmes’ article “The Stereoscope and the Stereograph”1,
which was published in The Atlantic Monthly in 1859, offers one of the most
!>!
'
!
/
tions in visuality in the nineteenth century. The purpose of this article was to
correct popular notions that the stereoscope was nothing more than an amusing toy, and to instruct the public in its appreciation and correct use. Although
Holmes deals at some length with theories of vision and the technical alignment
/
+
most of the multiple sets of possibilities made available by the stereoscope as a
!
/
Q
!
Z\
!&
!
!
/
!
inspection of self-portraits of friends and correspondents, entranced by the revelations of character to be read in the furnishings of their homes. Holmes also
/
!
/
of the image offers a new way of understanding walking; he holds up, to the
view of one eye, one half of a stereo card, while with the other eye he looks at
the scene originally stereographed, and discovers a perfect match between reality and image. He takes his readers on a tour of American and European scenes
(beginning with Niagara Falls); he notes the incidental minutiae recorded by the
image, the traces of authenticity — clotheslines, marks on a drumhead, fragments of London street signs — that will sensitize generations of artists to the
&
!
$
/
!
Z\
!
/
Q
&
&
!
/
&
\
!ly delves its way into the very depths of the picture. There incidental discoveries
are possible and the incidentals quickly assume a greater importance than what
is sometimes called the ‘preferred meaning’ of the image. This distinctiveness of
1
Oliver Wendell Holmes, “The Stereoscope and the Stereograph”, in: The Atlantic Monthly 3,
June 1859, 738–748.
77
the lesser details of a building or a landscape often gives the viewer incidental
truths which interest Holmes more than the central object of the picture.2 The
detachment of the eyes and the consciousness from the viewing body in order to
&
!
&
Z
&
/
But Holmes wants his reader to move beyond the fascination of a more or less
!'
!
/
_
!
&
ordinary act of vision.”3
Step by step Holmes reveals that which determines the core of the fascination
/
Q
&
scope is a prerequisite for capturing the verisimilitude of life, which became
!
/
function. To leap to photography and to show how Democritus’ image of the ef'!
!
!&
/
!
Z
^
The man beholdeth himself in the glass and goeth his way, and straightway both
Q
!
/!
+
!
/
!
!
&
when it is withdrawn.4
X
!&
/
_
'
!
illusions, that which the apostle and the philosopher and the poet have alike
used as the type of instability and unreality.”5 And after the daguerreotype, the
photograph or sun-picture “has completed the triumph, by making a sheet of pa
'
like a mirror and hold them as a picture.”6
{'!
copies but things in their own right; impalpable and insubstantial in themselves,
&
/
&
&
Q!
foremost instrument for copying the world, has a limited applicability. Having
done its job of helping the reader place the photograph in the history of thought
and appreciate how “audacious, remote, improbable, incredible” this “triumph
of human ingenuity”7 is, the mirror gives way to the picture, to the actual representations Holmes will focus his attention on.
Holmes takes the truthful quality of photography to be indispensable to the
functioning of the stereoscope. When the viewer looked at a stereoscopic view,
2
3
4
5
6
7
Compare here Barthes distinction between punctum and studium in: Roland Barthes,
La chambre claire: Note sur la photographie, Paris 1980.
Holmes, “The Stereoscope and the Stereograph”, 738.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
78
he or she was looking at a perfectly true replica of reality itself. This ultimately
!
_!
!
`
&
corded by stereography. Holmes noted three essential qualities which allowed
the necessary mental detachment and the truthfulness of the stereoscopic representation. They are: the fact that the stereoscope makes surfaces look solid;
the stereoscope renders objects as large as they appear in nature and the photo
Q
!
ens the illusion of reality, of being present to a scene, and thus adds a further
!
&
&
!
the principle of stereoscopic perception derives from normal three-dimensional
vision, “our two eyes see two somewhat different pictures, which our perception combines to form one picture, representing objects in all their dimensions,
and not merely as surfaces.”8
"

&
_
due solely to the superimposition of the two plane pictures by the optical apparatus employed, and to the distinct and instantaneous perception of distance
&
/
!
!
which the stereoscope has united.”9 It has nothing to do with the conventional
methods of creating perspectival effects in drawing and painting. In his review
of Brewster’s history of the new invention, John Murray also comes to the conclusion that “the spectator does not see in the Stereoscope a model of the object
situated in a short distance from him, but, as it were, the object itself, as its true
distance, and of its true magnitude.”10
The stereographic image could immerse the viewer in the full three-dimen
'

Z
observed, the object appeared not as a miniature, but as life-size. But the stereograph of course required a special viewing mechanism; for the more traditional
'
!
!
&
&
overcome the reduction of image size. Thus the commercial galleries commonly
featured life-size enlargements of portraits, which might be hand colored to enhance the illusion of the image, and could thereby compete with the painted portrait. The photographer was less able to compete with the painted landscape; at
great pains, mammoth plates were carried into mountainous landscapes in order
8
9
10
Ibid., 734.
Sir David Brewster, The Stereoscope: Its History, Theory, and Construction, London 1856,
2–3.
John Murray in a review of: “Sir David Brewster, The Stereoscope: Its History, Theory, and
Construction”, in: Photographic Notes 1, London 1856, 140.
79
Figure II. 2: Up Broadway from Barnum’s Museum – The City Hall Park on the Right of
the series Anthony’s Instantaneous Views (1875)
to render a sharper, more detailed image than was possible with an enlargement
&
Q

!
!
!
&
&
+
/
produced illusions of reality in the form of replicas. The stereoscope allows the
photograph to be seen with such enhancement of detail, in “frightful amount,” as
Holmes put it, that “the mind feels its way into the very depths of the picture,”11
an effect he described as “half-magnetic” and “dreamlike.”12 The eye activates
the mind to “feel” what it sees, to know the scene not through abstractions of
'
!
&^
+
!
/
of life.
In the stereoscope the photograph became a perfect simulacrum, the reality
itself transposed into a living image, and the viewer into a spectator of an illusory, detached, and immaterial world. Yet while one side of Holmes’ mind is
thus entranced by the literal, descriptive power of the camera, its ability to make
the viewers appreciate the concrete thingness of reality, to “duplicate” the world
before them, another side of his imagination responds to a rather different quality
of the stereograph, namely its capacity to transport him or her, away from the lit
+
_+
/
!`13 that leaves the body
behind. Describing actual stereo images, Holmes drops the language of represen
+
!
!
/
11
12
13
Oliver Wendell Holmes, “Sun-Painting and Sun-Sculpture; With a Stereoscopic Trip Across
the Atlantic”, in: The Atlantic Monthly 8, July 1861, 14–15.
Ibid.
80
Q
+
!
!prise such as no painting ever produced. The mind feels its way into the very depth
of the picture. The scraggy branches of a tree in the foreground run out at us as if
&
!
!
&
!
Q
!
+
us almost uncomfortable. Then there is such a frightful amount of detail, that we
!
/&
#!
!14
This illusion of material presence — Holmes avoids the word copy — is based
in fact on a dematerialization of the actual photograph. While the daguerreotype
possesses weight and mass of its own, the stereograph is the thinnest of cards,
something like a skin itself. It merely carries the image, or the potential of the
full dimensional image that is waiting to be formed in the brain once the eyes
have perceived it through the mechanical viewer. In “Sun-Painting and SunSculpture” Holmes very remarkably describes the effect precisely as a loss of
body:
At least the shutting out of surrounding objects, and the concentration of the whole
>!
!
+
/
we seem to leave the body behind us and sail away into one strange scene after
another, like disembodied spirits.15
In addition, these features combine to produce an effect which is of the real
&
!
!

+
Q
/
!
/
and intimate way. The eyes and mind seem to detach themselves from the body
allowing the spectator to wander freely inside and across the three dimensional
picture planes.
Some stereoscopes are more effective than others in this respect, and the
most effective of all is the device that Holmes invented himself. His viewing
device had a number of advantages over its competitors in terms of soliciting an
\
!
@
+
!&
&
\
!
reducing the friction and awkwardness apparent when looking through the unyielding, binocular eye-pieces of models inspired by Brewster. Isolated from the
/
\
&
in front of him, illuminated by unobstructed light falling across the open stereoscope body. This three dimensional focus is not always immediate or sudden.
Q
'
Q
helps to produce the shock, or surprise that Holmes notes. Once used to discover
14
15
Ibid., “Sun-Painting and Sun-Sculpture”, 14–15.
81
a hidden third dimension, the array of lifelike objects seems to demand close
!
Q
&
/
&

/!\
photographic representation; the display of crisp detail was very much enhanced
by the large scale of nineteenth-century stereographs.
Z
&
&
!
/
'&
/
a movement through space:
The stereoscopic views of the arches of Constantine and of Titus give not only
every letter of the old inscriptions, but render the grain of the stone itself. […] Here
is Alloway Kirk, in the church yard of which you may read a real story by the side
!

@
banks of the Charles to the ford of the Jordan, and leave my outward frame in the
arm-chair at my table, while in spirit I am looking down upon Jerusalem from the
Mount of Olives.16
Here Holmes describes viewing the images as a stroll through the space within
the image. This optical tour through the archive of visual forms of cultural objects from around the world leaves the viewer’s body behind and transforms
perception into a state of mental dissociation. This allows the viewer to take
part in a far-away reality, conveying images full of transparency and clarity that
/
"
_
stereographic trip, — describing, not from places, but from the photographic
pictures of them which we have in our own collection.”17
Holmes even takes the narrative position of a tour-guide:
Figure II. 3: The Horse Shoe Fall, from a Point near Table Rock (1865)
16
17
Ibid., “The Stereoscope and the Stereograph”, 745.
Ibid., “Sun-Painting and Sun-Sculpture”, 16.
82
We are bound for Europe, and are to leave via New York immediately. Here we are
in the main street of the great city. […] Here is the harbor; and there lies the Great
Eastern at anchor. […] Here are the towers of Westminster Abbey. […] That is St.
Paul’s, the Boston State-House of London. […] Here we are at Athens, looking at
the buttressed Acropolis and the ruined temples. […] The Great Pyramid and the
/¨

+
&
$!
+
lines which run in graceful curves along the horizon are the same that He looked
upon as he turned his head sadly over Jerusalem.18
Broadway and the Battery in New York, Niagara, Charleston, Charing Cross
and London Bridge, the Shakespeare House, Tintern Abbey, the ruins of Rome,
and so on are almost presented in an imitation of the Grand Tour — which con
_`
!!
!&
!
allows the common viewer to participate in scenes once only visible to heroes
and saints:
This is no toy, which thus carries us into the very presence of all that is most inspiring to the soul in the scenes which the world’s heroes and martyrs, and more
than heroes, more than martyrs, have hallowed and solemnized by looking on. It is
no toy: it is a divine gift, placed in our hands nominally by science, really by that
inspiration which is revealing the Almighty through the lips of the humble students
of Nature.19
Other images invite a voyeuristic gaze, providing a vivid realization of stereotypical male fantasies:
In the lovely glass stereograph of the Lake of Brienz, on the left-hand side, a
!&
!
&

side of the picture she is not seen. This is life; we seem to see her come and go.
"
/
'
!
!
!
featureless, yet more profoundly real than the sharpest of portraits traced by a human hand.20
In most instances the stereoscope serves as an empowering device for the viewer, even just as a useful tool, documenting the value of potential property, or, as
Holmes writes: “Damascus makes but a poor show, with its squalid houses, and
glaring clayed roofs. We always wanted to invest in real estate there in Abraham
Street or Noah Place […] but are discouraged since we have had these views
of the old town.”21 This remark, however, reveals something more fundamental
18
19
20
21
Ibid., 17–28.
Ibid., 28.
Ibid., “The Stereoscope and the Stereograph”, 745.
Ibid., “Sun-Painting and Sun-Sculpture”, 28.
83
!
!
/
^
seeming images constitutes an act of ownership, of taking possession — an
imagined proprietorship of the world.
Z
&
/
/
scopic image: an appreciation of its ability to direct the close attention of the
viewers to “the real thing” and of its simultaneous capacity to estrange them
&
/
aesthetic world of the image. This illusory effect of being immersed in a world
of images is only disrupted when the process of seeing is accompanied by a re'
&
/
Z
Z%

{!
/

!&
/
/ence:
Jetzt weiß ich, daß ich vor mir an der betreffenden Stelle kein wirkliches Object
habe. Aber ich habe doch denselben sinnlichen Eindruck, als ob dort eines wäre,
und diesen Eindruck kann ich weder mir selbst noch anderen bezeichnen und charakterisieren, als dadurch, daß es der Eindruck ist, der bei normaler Betrachtungsweise entstehen würde, wenn dort ein Object wäre.22
X
!&
!
!
!&&
nature imparting itself, i.e., an objective method of recording nature, is here
!
&
'
with reality and still holds onto its status as a simulacrum of the real, but it is
!
/
@
&
!
&
Herrmann von Helmholtz during this period. In Helmholtz’s physiological theory, the subjectivization of seeing is the consequence of a perception that both
constructs and constitutes the outside world.23 According to Helmholtz, with the
help of the stereoscope this perception can create a pure and above all formal
effect of recognition and familiarity:
Die Naturwahrheit solcher stereoskopischer Photographien und die Lebhaftigkeit,
mit der sie die Körperform darstellen, ist nun in der Tat so groß, dass manche Objekte, zum Beispiel Gebäude, die man aus stereoskopischen Bildern kennt, wenn
man später in Wirklichkeit vor sie hintritt, nicht mehr den Eindruck eines unbekannten oder nur halbbekannten Gegenstandes machen. Man gewinnt in solchen Fäl22
23
Hermann von Helmholtz, Der optische Apparat des Auges, in: Ibid., Populäre wissenschaftliche Vorträge 2, Braunschweig 1871, 94.
R. Steven Turner, Consensus and Controversy. Helmholtz and the Visual Perception of Space,
in: David Cahan (ed.), Hermann von Helmholtz and the Foundations of Nineteenth Century
Science, Berkeley 1993, 154–204.
84
len durch den wirklichen Anblick des abgebildeten Gegenstandes, wenigstens für
die Formverhältnisse, keine neuen und genaueren Anschauungen mehr, als man
schon hat.24
Looking at stereoscopes today, we are retrospectively confronted with the foreignness of another view of the order of things. The images do not at all seem as
if they were a simulacrum of reality, but rather the backdrop and props of a the
!
!
&
&
'
!!
!
ranged within the space of the image. The individual objects seem as if they
were thin paper cut-outs without volume. The stereoscopic space appears as a
!
!
/
&
!
&
@
!
Z\
the stereoscope’s reality effect with reality as we understand it today according to
our modern conventions of perception. As Jonathan Crary observes, the stereoscope produces a distinctly planar effect — the objects in the three dimensional
!
smoothly according to the type of perspective familiar to the conventions of seeing in the nineteenth century. This tends to produce a kind of “cardboard cut-out”
effect for objects viewed through the stereoscope. In fact the recommended 2”
lateral movement between the two photographic shots that constitute a stereograph produces very little effect in terms of “solidity,” as such. It simply results
!
'
&
located in relation to each other. It is this planar dislocation which simulates the
third dimension. A stereograph is almost invariably shot with a sharpness and in
deep focus, so that all planes of the picture are sharply in focus. This too could
account for the apparent “falseness” of the stereoscope in relation to the conventions of human perception. But this universal sharpness is required by Holmes,
who goes on to claim that one of the liberating features of the stereoscope is the
/
/
/&
oritize incidentals. The magic effect — what Holmes calls the “surprise” — of
looking through a nineteenth-century stereoscope is not only produced by the
clarity, scale and depth of its three dimensional effect, but also by the previously
discussed planar distortion. The reference to reality is stimulated by the epistemological forces at play in the nineteenth century that promoted a technology
!
!
&
!
/
stereoscopic truth. Holmes and his contemporaries were engaged in a quest to
secure an elusive reality so that they could visually grasp it, participate in it and
master it.
24
Hermann von Helmholtz, Handbuch der physiologischen Optik, Leipzig 1867, 641.
85
In Holmes’ theory, the crucial aspect of participation and mastery has a decisive,
!
+
>!
&
in which the separation of form and substance leads to the development of an
ideal image. In contrast to the common interpretations of his time, Holmes ini&
/
{curean, Democritean and Lucretian theory of the eidola, an image of any given
object which detaches itself from the object and thus allows the object itself to
be discarded. The eidola theory serves Holmes as the grounds for positing a material correspondence between the image and the object. The object materializes
in the image and takes on a timeless form. Photography is the image form of the
object that separates it from the object and thus makes the object itself obsolete.
Holmes draws drastic conclusions from this theory and ultimately calls for the
foundation of an archive of the entire world that would replace the world itself.
If the object and its materiality have been absorbed by the image, then we no
longer need objects in and of themselves.
In “The Stereoscope and the Stereograph” Holmes also writes with an unprecedented speculative fervor on the possible future of photographic images.
The stereograph endows the picture not only with a power equal to that of language, but superior in that the picture becomes the very thing it represents. Images ultimately undergo an amazing transformation:
Form is henceforth divorced from matter. In fact, matter as a visible object is of no
!
&
/
!

!
negatives of a thing worth seeing, taken from different points of view, and that is
all we want of it. Pull it down or burn it up, if you please. We must, perhaps, sac
!/!&

!
things, and even color can be added, and perhaps by and by may be got direct from
Nature.25
Holmes calls “the divorce of form and substance” achieved by the photograph
the “greatest of human triumphs over earthly conditions,” and foresees no end
to the “transformations to be wrought.”26 The metaphor of the imprint is related
&
!
/
!
@
ages serve to retain the form of objects in reality, which frees them from their
material substance and thus provides universal access. Somewhat contradictory,
however, is the idea that in these visual surfaces material essences of the world’s
phenomena become manifest. Holmes cannot resist elaborating his marketplace
^
_$
!
&
/

25
26
Ibid.
86
and transportable.”27 The designation of visual essences as material form is also
associated with the idea of universally accessible and ubiquitous models of reality. These essences ultimately permit a comprehensive archivization of the real,
akin to the much later suggestion by Susan Sontag that an anthology of images
be created, the implication of which would be a new mode of accessing and
ascertaining reality.28 Holmes still associates a mimetic function with his idea
of visual form. The stereoscope apparatus shows human beings the world as it
would appear to them if it were right in front of them. The stereoscopic library
&
human beings, who thus appropriate it. According to Holmes, the forms of all
objects in the world, which are also metaphorically referred to as the “skin” of
things, challenge mankind to passionately collect them, to embark on a great
hunt for photographic images, which have only become available to a mass
audience in the twentieth century. Holmes’ prophecy is fanciful:
Every conceivable object of Nature and Art will soon scale off its surface for us.
Men will hunt all curious, beautiful, grand objects, as they hunt the cattle in South
America, for their skins, and leave the carcasses as of little worth.29
His speculation reaches its zenith in the idea of a visual and indeed poetic archive
of the world that preserves the visual phenomena of reality in their particular
+
!
!!
!
>!&
&
30
!
@
!
&
¨

{&
#!
"
!face for us. [...] The consequence of this will soon be such an enormous collection
&
+
are now. The time will come when a man who wishes to see any object, natural or
@
#
&
&
for its skin or form, as he would for a book at any common library.31
&
Z\
/
!
materialism with a visual idealism, resulting in a notion of stereoscope as providing perfect models of reality. The growing visual archive is further embedded
!
&
/
!^
27
28
29
30
31
Ibid., 748.
Susan Sontag, On Photography (1977), New York 2001.
Ibid.
See Bernd Stiegler, Philologie des Auges. Die photographische Entdeckung der Welt im
19. Jahrhundert, München 2001, 58–71.
Ibid.
87
as a means of facilitating the formation of public and private stereographic col
!
&
/
there may grow up something like a universal currency of these bank-notes, or
promises to pay in solid substance, which the sun has engraved for the great Bank
of Nature.32
Holmes mentions a traveling salesman taking orders from stereographic views
of furniture — another prophecy of the coming role of photography in fabricating a world produced by consumer capitalism in which images emerge as the
enchantment of commodity-objects.33 The media poetics discourse of Holmes’
“The Stereoscope and the Stereograph” suggests an understanding of photogra&
!
&
+
!
!taneously an essentialist counterpart, i.e., as a visible manifestation of material
objects. Stereoscopic images created by light thus document how the distinction
between subjective seeing and objective reality is dissolved and the viewer is
&
!&
/
!
and reality in the act of seeing.
Figure II. 4: Stereoscopic Slides. Harper’s New Monthly Magazine
32
33
Ibid.
See Harvey Green, Paste-Board Masks: The Stereograph in American Culture, 1865–1910, in:
Edward W. Earle (ed.), Points of View: The Stereograph in America, A Cultural History, New
+
|}}
|}||
"
+!
_Q
`
^
Art Journal 41, Spring
1981, 21–23.
88
Eyewitnessing? Images of War: More to be Dreaded than Death
Oliver Wendell Holmes reported about his journey to the site of the Antietam
battle during the American Civil War34 in The Atlantic Monthly in December
1862 in an essay entitled “My Hunt after ‘The Captain.’” It described his journey through a landscape ravaged by war and contains vivid descriptions of death
and devastation:
"
&
&
!!
ful to gods or men. I saw no bird of prey, no ill-omened fowl, on my way to the
carnival of death, or at the place where it was held.35
Z
&
battle-scenes, eyewitnessing the material remains of those who have perished:
We stopped the wagon, and, getting out, began to look around us. Hard by there
was a large pile of muskets, scores, if not hundreds, which had been picked up
and were guarded for the Government. A long ridge of fresh gravel roses before
us. […] The whole ground was strewed with fragments of clothing, haversacks,
/
!

@
saw two soldier’s caps that looked their owners had been shot through the head.36
"
+
ago, he decided to collect material evidence of the scene and took some strange
tokens, serving as ambivalent remains or souvenirs of this horrible event.
I picked up a Rebel canteen, and one of our own, — but there was something
!
!
@
+
the table of some hideous orgy left uncleared, and one turned away disgusted from
its broken fragments and muddy heel-taps. A bullet or two, a button, a brass plate
from a soldier’s belt, served well enough for mementos of my visit […].37
This process of eyewitnessing and the collection of remains and material evi
+
!
!
from Civil War scenes. These pictures or remains, mostly in mass-produced
34
35
36
37
The catastrophic dimensions of the Civil War become clear by looking at the overwhelming number of casualties. From a national population of around 31 million people in 1860,
some 2.1 million men served in the Union army, while 800,000 joined in the defense of the
Confederacy. These 2.9 million men in uniform suffered over one million casualties and at
least 623,000 deaths. Casualties between 1861 and 1865 were more then in all other American
wars combined.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, “My Hunt after ‘The Captain’”, in: The Atlantic Monthly 62,
December 1862, 745.
Ibid., 748.
Ibid., 749.
89
stereographic views, brought to the people at home a sense of the actual presence of war. Holmes, further writing on “Doings of the Sunbeam” in an Atlantic
Monthly edition from 1863, points at this function of photography in commenting on some of the views taken by Mathew Brady after the Battle of Antietam.
Q
&
/
!
sometimes fearful interest. We have now before us a series of photographs show
"
!!
!&
&
great battle of the 17th of September. […] These terrible mementos of one of the
!&
'
$
&
#
York.38
@
!
!&
/
!
!
rather than showing casualties of war, in particular in scenes after the actual
'
!
Q
Z
&
^
@
&
+
+
/
&
!
rags and wrecks, came back to us, and we buried them in the recesses of our cabinet as we would have buried the mutilated remains of the dead they too vividly
represented. Yet war and battles should have truth for their delineator.39
No other war in American history up to that point in time had been so copiously documented in visual images as the Civil War was. Photography had been
!
!
!
'
$/
X
(1846–48), but the people, events, and places of the Civil War were recorded to
&
!
/
$
!
!
raphers produced tens of thousands of images in urban studios and locations in
Q
&
X
mass-produced stereographic views and carte de visite portraits of leading pol
&
!
!
equipment of various kinds constitute a smaller category of images, and even
>!
+
&
&
40 The
&
!
%
X
&
"
'
were usually buried within two days by the forces that retained control of the
contested area. Thus photographs of unburied battle casualties could only be
38
39
40
Ibid., “Doings of the Sunbeam”, in: The Atlantic Monthly 12, July 1863, 11.
Ibid., 12.
E. & H. T. Anthony & Co. (ed.), New Catalogue of Stereoscopes and Views, New York,
November 1862, in collection of George Eastman House, Rochester, New York.
90
made by cameramen arriving almost immediately after hostilities concluded,
&
!
&
!
@
surprising that such powerful scenes were recorded on only half a dozen differ
!
!
&
'
Figure II. 5: Mathew Brady Incidents of the War
&
&
|~
!
!
series of album cards, mounted prints, and stereographs: Brady’s Photographic
Views of the War, Brady’s Album Catalogue, and Incidents of the War.41 In the
same year, the New York Times
/
&\
Civil War photography, noting the “terrible fascination” of the views encountering images of dead bodies:
Mr. BRADY has done something to bring home to us the terrible reality and earnestness of war. If he has not brought bodies and laid them in our dooryards and
along the streets, he has done something very like it. At the door of his gallery
hangs a little placard, “The Dead of Antietam.” Crowds of people are constantly
!

&!
!
+
&
!
+
!
!
bear away the palm of repulsiveness. But, on the contrary, there is a terrible fas41
Mathew Brady, Civil War Photographs, 1861–1865, A selection from negatives in the Mathew
Brady Collection in the Prints & Photographs, Library of Congress, Washington 1961. Webb
Garrison, Brady´s Civil War: A Collection of Civil War Images Photographed by Mathew
Brady and his Assistants, New York 2002; George Sullivan, In the Wake of Battle: The Civil
War Images of Mathew Brady, München 2004; Mathew Brady et al., Civil War Photo Postcards, Mineola 1999. Benson J. Lossing, Mathew Brady’s Illustrated History of the Civil War
%&<%]<$
5!$4 New York 1994. Elizabeth Van
Steenwyk, Mathew Brady: Civil War Photographer, Danbury 1997.
91
cination about it that draws one near these pictures, and makes him loth to leave
them. You will see hushed, reverend groups standing around these weird copies of
carnage, bending down to look in the pale faces of the dead, chained by the strange
spell that dwells in dead men’s eyes […].42
Figure II. 6: Mathew Brady Contrasts
Once again the sharpness of detail contributes to the verisimilitude and life-likeness of the photographs, which can be brought into focus by a magnifying glass.
The ground whereon they lie is torn by shot and shell, the grass is trampled down
by the tread of hot, hurrying feet, and little rivulets that can scarcely be of water
are trickling along the earth like tears over a mother’s face. It is a bleak, barren
plain and above it bends an ashen sullen sky […]. These pictures have a terrible
distinctness. By the aid of the magnifying glass, the very features of the slain may
be distinguished.43
Harper’s Weekly published engravings of these images and the accompanying
/
_!&
+`
>!&
!
+^
_$!
as are the features of the dead, and unrecognizable by the naked eye, you can,
by bringing a magnifying glass to bear on them, identify not merely the general
!
!
!
/`44
@
!&
|~
"/

X

Q&
\!
&!
!
!
!
!
/&
Photographic Sketchbook of the War
(1866).45 The published album offered another possibility of reception and was
42
43
44
45
Anonymous, in: New York Times, October 20 1862, 5.
Ibid.
Anonymous, in: Harpers’s Weekly 6, October 18 1862, 663.
"/

Gardner’s Photographic Sketchbook of the American Civil War
1861–1865 (1866), New York 1959. (The volume has no pages.)
92
&
/!
46 Gardner and
/&
&/
!
!

X+
>!+&

!
!
&
!
containing corpses, because they had earlier found success with a series showing the dead at Antietam. This act of taking pictures resulted in the devotion of
!&
&
!
&
!
"
"
/
&
&
^
/&
graphic format and eight as single-plate eight-by-ten-inch views and at Gettys!
!
&
&
/&
Figure II. 7: Mathew Brady Incidents of the War
What appeared to be the pure documentation of the scene included, in fact, some
carefully selected elements of composition in the process of taking the pictures.
Common to the composition of most of the war photographs is a strong resemblance to genre paintings or drawings; there are staged scenes showing an artillery battery at work, or soldiers working in camps. It is now well known that
Civil War photographers often orchestrated scenes of daily life in the camps to
convey an impression of informality, or posed groups of soldiers on picket duty;
this manipulation of the scenes even included moving corpses into more advan!
!
Q
&
/!
&
!
Q
!
"/
\
!
Rebel
Sharpshooter /
/
'
tween documentary and aesthetic purposes. Gardner’s team deliberately moved
46
/
$

Photography in Nineteenth-Century America, Fort
Worth 1991.
93
and arranged the body of a Confederate infantryman killed at Gettysburg for
!&
~
|~
Q
_`
accompanied in the Sketch Book
&
/
"
!
&
&!
!
in a secluded spot, a sharpshooter lying as he fell when struck by the bullet. His cap
and gun were evidently thrown behind him by the violence of the shock, and the
blanket, partly shown, indicates that he had selected this as a permanent position
from which to annoy the enemy. How many skeletons of such man are bleaching
to-day in out of the way places no one can tell.47
And on the following Plate 41, called “Home of a Rebel Sharpshooter,” the suggestive speculation goes even further:
Was he delirious with agony, or did death come slowly to his relief, while memo
*
X
&
&
&
¨
X
voices may he not have heard, like whispers beneath the roar of battle, as his eyes
grew heavy in their long, last sleep.48
&
/
!
!

!
!/!
/&
!
visual presence require language to make their viewers see and understand. The
/
&
+
as a verbal equivalent of a visual representation.49 In Gardner’s Sketchbook the
narrative in fact dictates the viewer’s reading of the image. And what this suggests most notably is that Gardner was playing upon his audience’s belief in
&
!
+
!
'/
of photographic practice, whereby the manipulations of the photographer were
/!
&
@
+

/
_
fearful struggle” images of “localities that would scarcely have been known,
and probably never remembered” but are now celebrated and “held sacred as
!
&
!
!
&
!`50 Gardner proposes a quasi heroic
_`
&
!
47
48
49
50
"/

_"

`
^
Sketchbook of War, Plate 40.
Ibid., “Home of a Rebel Sharpshooter”, Plate 41.
See William J. Thomas Mitchell, Picture Theory, Essays on Verbal and Visual Representation,
Chicago 1994, 151–165; and the classic Murray Krieger, Ekphrasis: The Illusion of the Natural
Sign, Baltimore 1992.
Gardner, Sketchbook of War.
94
ing. He describes here the reception of photographic images as mourning, and
by thus memorializing events and places, the photographs help heal the nation.
The implicit concept of collective mourning is in a sense an attempt to make images commensurable as well as giving them an important social function. When
/
!+
/
/
!&
^
supposedly intelligible political and moral event.
"
+
/
&
ly constructing a heroic narrative can by analyzed in Plate 16, “Inspection of
Troops at Cumberland Landing, Pamunkey, Va., May, 1862.”51 It presents an
&
+
^
/
anti-heroic detail of the image with heroic meaning. Consequently, the descrip
&
!
_
&`
!
_`
_

by magic, into an immense city of tents.” “From the hill above Toller’s house,”
the viewer is instructed, “the scene was truly grand,” including a river which
'
_+
`52 The photography by itself does
&
@
/
reading of elements of the image that can not be seen and offers a supplementary
perspective:
Our picture, interesting as it is, gives but a small portion of the gorgeous whole.
The prominent object is a mud-bespattered forge, the knapsacks and blankets of
the farriers carelessly thrown on the ground beneath. In the middle-ground are
some mules picketed around the wagons, hard-working, much-abused creatures,
and so humorous in their antics that they are often termed the comedians of the
army. Further on, a guard, their muskets stacked and knapsacks laying around.
+
+

New York Volunteers, Warren’s Zouaves, have encamped, and in front of them a
regiment of infantry are drawn up in column of companies. As these are formed
in open order, it is most likely that they are on inspection drill. Such pictures carry
one into the very life of camp, and are particularly interesting now that that life
has passed away.53
The importance of ekphrasis as framing the meaning of the image is even more
/
!
!
&
!
@
/
!&
+\
famous picture, perhaps the most frequently reprinted of all Civil War photo51
52
53
Ibid., “Inspection of Troops at Cumberland Landing, Pamunkey, Va., May, 1862,” Plate 16.
Ibid.
Ibid.
95
graphs: Timothy O’Sullivan’s “A Harvest of Death, Gettysburg, July, 1863”.
Q
&
and even mythological statement:
Such a picture conveys a useful moral: It shows the blank horror and reality of
&
Z
!
¨

preventing such another calamity falling upon the nation.54
Q
/
+
!
!
/&
!
/
&
%
"
/
dicates, the O’Sullivan picture embodies the central motive of the Sketch Book
— to transform scenes of war into sacred memories, into monuments. On the
/
}
_"
!
&
Z
Va., April, 1865,” offers a more complete reading of the picture:
This sad scene represents the soldiers in the act of collecting the remains of their
comrades, killed at the battles of Gaines’ Mill and Cold Harbor. It speaks ill of the
residents of that part of Virginia, that they allowed even the remains of those they
considered enemies, to decay unnoticed where they fell. The soldiers, to whom
commonly falls the task of burying the dead, may possibly have been called away
before the task was completed. At such times the native dwellers of the neighborhood would usually come forward and provide sepulture for such as had been left
uncovered.55
Z
&
/^
!
+
/
_Z
`
Figure II. 8: A Harvest of Death
54
55
Ibid., “A Harvest of Death, Gettysburg, July, 1863,” Plate 36.
Ibid., “A Burial Party, Cold Harbor, Va., April, 1865,” Plate 94.
96
The ekphratic concept of narrative was central to the photographic aesthetic of
war images of the mid-nineteenth century. Successful photographs promoted
understanding, empathy, and moral insight, while allowing viewers to establish
connections between themselves, the events shown, and a shared set of cultural
!
"
/!
!
/&
!
photograph lay in its ability to stimulate an emotional response in the viewer,
as well as the sense of participation and an understanding of symbolic values.
Sentimentality and morality are sometimes even confused with poetry,
Z
hesitated to seal and stamp their convictions with their blood, — men who have
'!
!
!+
are truths dearer than life, wrongs and shames more to be dreaded than death.56
/&
+
!
_&`
images that was once rendered incommensurable. Photographic images, no mat
>!&
/
!
'ing the cultural ideology of heroism and even progress. The Sketch Book was
thus an “intensely National work.”57
Nonetheless, a number of stereoscope images of the American Civil War ful
&
!&
!
instructive or educational purpose for the viewers. Most of those are scenes of
actual labor, construction or destruction crews frozen in the performance of an
/
part of a larger picture of the construction of a railroad system. The pictures
visualize steps in certain procedures — the industrial skills and transportationcommunication infrastructure by which the North eventually wore down the
less industrialized enemy in the South. This kind of stereoscope proved how
X
!
/
!
in organizational systems and overturning older patterns. Many sought in these
images a comprehensive visual record of what later viewers understood as the
heart of the war effort: a radically innovative system for the production, transportation, and storage of unprecedented quantities of supplies. However, the
!
!
abstractions: quantities of men and materials, speed of production and engineer
!!
&
Q
&
raphy made it particularly useful for documenting such information. Military
pictures performed a consistently didactic function. Students and professional
56
57
The New York Times, October 20 1862; quoted in: Trachtenberg, Reading American
Photographs, 85.
Anonymous, in: Philadelphia Press, February 26 1866.
97
+
!
!
/
!
&
!
and artillery batteries were important because they demonstrated accepted techniques of construction and deployment. The military use of photography in the
X
!
/
+
Q
!
function: the purpose of precisely recording military data.
Q
!
&
!
>!
/ments of various kinds was not limited to the Department of Engineers or other
technical departments. The U.S. Army Military Medical Department used the
!
!
!
&
!
@
&
!&
documented the nature of this new war and the effectiveness of their methods of
coping with its demands. To aid this historical and analytical effort, the Surgeon
General of the Medical Department established the Army Medical Museum in
1862 to collect and study “all specimens of morbid anatomy, surgical or medical, which may be regarded as valuable; together with projectiles and foreign
bodies removed, and such other matters as may prove of interest in the study of
military medicine or surgery.”58 In 1866 the editor of the Philadelphia Photographer visited this department and described his operations:
The principal work of the photographer is to photograph shattered bones, broken
skulls, and living subjects, before and after surgical operations have been performed on them. Of course, all these subjects were created by the war. In most
cases the fatal ball is plainly visible in the bone that it had caused to be shattered
and broken. […] These bones are photographed principally to aid the engraver
in making wood-cuts for the illustrations of works upon army surgery. We were
shown some photographs of the wounded, before and after operations had been
performed on them, and certainly photography is the only medium by which surgery could so plainly make known its handiwork. We saw a picture of one poor
!
&
"
!&
/
+
!
+
!
&
!
/
+
X
passed hastily through the Museum of mounted bones and shattered limbs.59
X
&
&
subjects, who are usually displayed as dispassionately and objectively as pos
Z
_`
>!&
!
Q
&
58
59
Stanley B. Burns, “Early Medical Photography in America (1839–1883), VI: Civil War
Medical Photography,” in: New York State Journal of Medicine, August 1980, 1452.
Anonymous, in: Philadelphia Photographer 3, July 1866, 214.
98
!
/
&
!
!
_!!
@
{/
Z
#+
Q
Right Femur.” Unlike any other genre of Civil War photography, medical views
are characterized by the immediacy of the close-up, producing an odd pictorial
combination of emotional detachment, an unnerving physical intimacy, and a
vision of formal and often physical fragmentation.
Perceptual Mastery of the Real
@
!
/
!&
!
graphic images were less important than the possibility of eyewitnessing and
thus participating in events, which in most cases took place in the private space
of the Victorian home. As Alan Trachtenberg has pointed out: “In their frag&
!
/
blurred vision of the whole, the photographs may have conveyed a subliminal
/

!
&
legend.”60 Photographers and publishers took into consideration the fact that
&
/
!
Whether translated into wood engravings and lithographs in the daily press or
offered for sale as freshly made prints, mainly in stereo card or carte de visite
format, the images were destined for home consumption. Stereographs brought
the war home to Americans more effectively than other photographic modes,
precisely because their illusion of closeness allowed the war to be commensura
/&
viewing. Accordingly, Harper’s Weekly remarked on the tremendous detail and
veracity of those stereographic images, yet it was a more intimate involvement
^
_"
&
private hearts as well as their public hopes will see with curious satisfaction the
which are the familiar daily objects to the eyes of their loved soldier boys.”61
In his epistemology of the spectator, Hans Blumenberg has shown that interest
in catastrophes, violence and disasters are the product of a certain intellectual
curiosity. His metaphor of a shipwreck witnessed by an audience implies that the
audience watching the terrifying event remains at a safe distance from it.62 The
60
61
62
Anonymous, “Photographs of the Virginia Campaign,” in: Harper’s Weekly 8, August 6, 1864,
499.
Hans Blumenberg, Schiffbruch mit Zuschauer. Paradigma einer Daseinsmetapher, Frankfurt/
Main 1979.
99
reception of Civil War stereoscopy in the private sphere constitutes a viewing
!
&
!
Q
!
images themselves. They basically serve as souvenirs, as tokens and material
evidence to be collected by the eye, giving the illusion of witnessing the events.
Moreover, the stereoscopic souvenir reduces the public, the monumental, and
the three-dimensional into the miniature, that which can be easily appropriated
by perception, or into a two-dimensional representation, which can be appropriated within the privatized view of the individual subject. The photograph
!
/
'
instant in time through a reduction of physical dimensions and a corresponding
!
&
Q
!
!
&
/
+
!
+
/
&
all the more poignant. For the narration of the photograph will itself become an
object of sentimentality, if not nostalgia.
In the medium of stereoscopy, the nostalgic illusion of witnessing is essen&
!
&
Q
&
&
/
+
Q
/
peep show and the camera obscura and thus connote visual perception as an ele
Q
/
&
Z
as if one were placed directly within the space depicted, is related to the change
/
!
objects are three dimensional against a backdrop of the space within the image, which appears as if organized by the central perspective.63 Representation
from a central perspective made way for the two-dimensional representation of
a homogeneous space: the impression imparted by the image is determined by a
framed slice of reality, an open window that allows the eye, which has been put
at rest, a perception of space based on the central perspective.64 Given that it is
!
+
!
63
64
Michael Kröger, “Begrenzter Raum — erfahrene Zeit. Der stereophotographische Blick im
19. Jahrhundert”, in: Fotogeschichte 7, 1983, 19–24.
“Die Verräumlichung und Verzeitlichung des Bildes folgt deshalb auch nicht dem simplen
Linearismus der Schrift, als des Schattenrisses der sich entrollenden Intention der Sprache.

+%
!+
%!¬+
!
Bedeutungen in einem freien Schematismus, für den Horizontale und Vertikale, Diagonale,
Seitenparallelen, Links und Rechts etc. zu maßgebenden Vektoren werden.” Gottfried Boehm,
Zu einer Hermeneutik des Bildes, in: Gottfried Boehm, Hans-Georg Gadamer (eds.), Die
Hermeneutik und die Wissenschaften, Frankfurt/Main 1978, 466.
100
!
/
&
!
point is less important than the spatial-dimensional depth. The impression of
&
!
/
two identical images displayed in the stereoscope. The shorter distance from the
eye to the closer image leads to a depth effect that is more pronounced than that
of the central perspective. It is this illusion of three-dimensionality that leads to
the impression that the elements in the image are material objects, which suggests to the viewer that he or she has control over the space and the objects seen
there.65
Q!
&
!
but more importantly they allow an autonomous reality to be developed which
then serves as a model. Rosalind Krauss has said of this fundamental dimension
of perspective for the viewer in photography that they are “raised to a higher
power,” because the attraction for the viewer results from perceiving “what happens when a deep channel of space is opened before one.”66 Stereoscopy proves
!
/
jects are preserved and verisimilarly reproduced. The regenerative capacity of
the medium proves further to be relevant particularly within the perimeters of
/
!
!
&
!
/
'
&
&
Q
!
suggests a tactile relationship to the objects it represents. Reception takes place
not only on the level of visual perception and mental contemplation, but also on
a level suggesting that the image presents us with a reality that can be haptically
grasped and which can also touch us in return. The illusion of a spatial depth
/
&
!
prototype of models of virtual reality, given that three-dimensional effects can
be recaptured from a two-dimensional image. This proto-virtual reality is linked
to the illusionistic effect of participating in, of having a physical presence in the
Q
!
!
!
/
!
own corporeality and the visual reality we see.
Q
/
!&
time, which is presented for the viewer. Especially the late, closed-bodied stereoscopes produce the effect of looking at “still-life images,”67 a condition which
Z
/!
!&
!
65
66
67
“Die suggestive Räumlichkeit der stereoskopischen Bilder erzielt den Effekt, dass sich ihre
Betrachter nachgerade in diese inkorporiert wähnen.” Ulrike Hick, Geschichte der optischen
Medien, München 1999, 276.
Rosalind Krauss, “Photography’s Discoursive Spaces: Landscape/View”, in: Art Journal 42,
Winter 1982, 314.
Norman Bryson, Looking at the Overlooked, Four Essays on Still Life, London 1990.
101
!
/
&
because what the viewer is looking at appears as a model of reality rather than
&
Q
/
+
&
^
_Q
&
&&

\
!
jects does not frame another world so much as it enters the frame of this world,
!
/
!
objects.”68 Thus the immobile and absorbed viewers, interfacing with the stereoscopic image-space, anticipate one of the primary pathways that popular culture
will follow out of the eighteenth century into the nineteenth and eventually even
into our own time, because they push forward the privatization of vision. This
/
&
X
Benjamin’s account of the reader of the novel as a new, isolated consumer of a
mass-produced commodity. The privatization of vision is a powerful model of
what would come to characterize dominant forms of visual culture in Europe
and North America — that is, the relative separation of a viewer from a milieu
of distraction and the detachment of an image from a larger background. The
&
&
!
&
!
insularity of the viewer, as well as a pervasive privileging of vision over the
senses such as touch or smell. Mikhail Bakhtin indicates that, after the disap
/
!&
>!
_
chamber” character for an enclosed and privatized subject disorder of the premodern fairground, its profuse grotesquerie and strangeness is transposed onto
the attractive still-life model of the stereoscope as the multifaceted festival participant is turned into an individualized and self-regulated spectator.69 And this
+
_
`
/
in the nineteenth century, where the stereoscopic model of looking describes
!&
!
lived embeddedness in a given social milieu. The still-life effect is thus not only
/
!
!
&
in the visible world, but also with an individualized, contemplative appropriation of images that is, as Holmes describes, hallucinatory and dreamlike. Thus
/
ing immersed in images and thereby alternating between the poles of detached
!
!
Q
!
/
&
!
/
and become indistinguishable in the re-presentation of reality.
68
69
Susan Steward, On Longing: Narratives of the Miniature, the Gigantic, the Souvenir, the
Collection, Durham 1993, 30.
Mikhail Bakhtin, Rabelais and his world, Cambridge 1968.
102
Q
!&
&
!
!
/
+
/perience of being present that goes beyond the mere effects of accessibility and
appropriation. Participation in the visual scene, however, initially suggests an
/
!
&
X

!
&
ing this important function of photography, he wrote: “Tagtäglich macht sich
unabweisbar das Bedürfnis geltend, des Gegenstands aus nächster Nähe im
Bild, vielmehr im Abbild habhaft zu werden.”70
@
+
!
/perience of the stereoscope is important for the diversity of “reality effects” that
occurred within it. The now classic term L’effet de réel from the work of Roland
Barthes, who insisted that a new discursive model of reality takes shape in the
nineteenth century, indicates that “the real” itself as modernity was invented
then.71
&

nineteenth-century literature that had to do with the function of the so-called
/

!
&
/
!
&
&
/!
+
emergence in the nineteenth century of modern assumptions about history that
were manifested in the development of the realistic novel, the private diary,
!&
!
!!
/
ancient objects and the massive development of photography, whose sole pertinent feature is precisely to signify that the event represented has really taken
place. I would suggest that from the mid-nineteenth century until the twenti
!&
!
/
ter “reality effect.” It concerns the illusion of reality’s capacity to reveal itself,
which allows the viewer to participate in an event in an unmediated way as an
!
&
!
/
/
become indistinguishable. The stereoscopic image-space in which the viewer
becomes immersed not only allows reality to be enclosed in a manageable form,
!
/
&
Z

!
emphasized that in the distinction between representation and presentation, two
&
/
&
&
!ture that always appear as a combination of both types: the culture of meaning
and the culture of presence.72 And this is particularly true with reference to the
70
71
72
Walter Benjamin, Kleine Geschichte der Photographie (1931), in: Gesammelte Schriften, II/1,
Rolf Tiedemann, Hermann Schweppenhäuser (eds.), Frankfurt/Main 1974, 379.
Roland Barthes, “L’Effet de Réel” (1968), in: Essais Critiques IV, Le Bruissement de la
Langue, Paris 1984.
Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, Produktion von Präsenz, durchsetzt mit Absenz. Über Musik, Libretto und Inszenierung, in: Joseph Früchtl, Jörg Zimmermann, Ästhetik der Inszenierung, Frankfurt/Main 2001, 66.
103
!
/
^
_X
¡
Erfahrung am Ende entdeckt, sind Situationen der Spannung und des Oszillierens zwischen Wahrnehmung und Sinn, zwischen der Dimension von Präsenz
und von Absenz.”73
@
!
!
&
&
/perience of presence as an illusory impression of the lifelike, which through the
individual involvement and participation of the viewer simultaneously creates a
modern model of perception.
73
Ibid., 76.
0RYLQJ3DQRUDPDV7DNLQJ3DUWDQG7DNLQJ&RQWURO
Scenic Narratives and Collective Visions
Figure II. 9: Panorama Interieur View
The Panorama is a continuous narrative scene or landscape painted to conform
'
!
+!
!!
!
and which became a popular form of entertainment in nineteenth-century America. Widespread in the late eighteenth and throughout the nineteenth centuries,
the panorama is considered by many to be an antecedent of large-screen moving
pictures or even virtual reality.74
Q
/
large cylinder, where the viewer, who stands on a platform in the center of the
&
/
!
&
zon. The effect of being surrounded by a landscape or event may be heightened
by the use of indirect lighting to give the illusion that light is emanating from the
painting itself. By the mid-nineteenth century, the rolled or moving panorama,
a kind of portable mural, became a popular amusement and educational device.
Accompanied by a lecture and often music, the painting, on canvas and wound
between two poles, would slowly be unrolled behind a frame or revealed in
sections. Sometimes theatrical realism was utilized in the form of real steam,
smoke, and sound effects. At the same time, within any discussion of reality
effects, it is important to stress that the panorama was a distinctly non-photo-
74
/
Z%
!
Panorama, Diorama, Photographie: Entstehung und
Wirkung neuer Medien im 19. Jahrhundert, München 1970; Hick, Geschichte der optischen
Medien; Oliver Grau, Virtual Art. From Illusion to Immersion, Cambridge 2003.
106
&
!
/&
painting. The panorama is a key visual medium of the nineteenth century that is
/
&
/
&
Q
!
>!
!
/
!
&

&
/&
!
changes in modern visual culture and considered the panorama as one of the
!&
%
!
/
occurs.75 Unlike Crary, who focused his work on the subjectivization of seeing,
@
!
+
!
/
!
/
&
/
!!
&
Q
!
!
/
of time coinciding very closely with the nineteenth century itself, possessing
historical durability at a time when constant innovation and rapid change were
already integral parts of cultural production and consumption. The hypothesis I
!
+
/
!
&
!
/
strong sense a tool for establishing a common vision, contributing to the homogenization of visual culture.
By imitating the view available to aeronauts, the panorama reproduced a fun&
/
^
&
a full circle without obstruction, of having a broad overview, seeing beyond the
previous limits of the horizon.76 By contrast, ordinary viewpoints did not allow
for the perception of landscapes that could not be grasped or conquered simply
by climbing to an elevated point and surveying the horizon. The painting of
the panorama, however, was circular and in motion, and it thereby appeared to
adequately offer a viewing position from which a total view and perceptual mastery could be gained. This idea of representation in the panoramic painting must
/
!
!%
%

!
|
aerial balloonists found vistas that radically changed the landscape perspective)
and the ‘cult of immensity’ in painting, where scale was a factor in the concept
!
&
Q
/
associated with the basic process of symbolic perception, which illuminates, in
particular in the case of landscapes and battle scenes, the process of cultural self
Q
!!
!&
75
76
Crary, Techniques of the Observer; and Ibid., Suspensions of Perception. Attention, Spectacle
and Modern Culture, Cambridge 1999, 134–137.
See Stephan Oettermann, The Panorama, New York 1997, 20.
107
!
/
!
&
has a productive and creative potential for appropriating and representing the
&
Q
!
+&
/
The painter Samuel Adams Hudson achieved the greatest success with his
moving panorama of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.77 The panorama featured
all the main cities and towns along the route, with landings and houses, southern
plantations, an Indian encampment in Indiana, the mouths of tributaries, forests
and plains, hills and hollows, mountains and caverns, plateaus and lowlands. It
'
down to the humblest rafts and canoes. The journey it illustrates began in Pitts!
=
'!
"&
and Monongahela Rivers, and depicted the most interesting scenes of its almost
thousand-mile course until it joins the Mississippi; from there the journey continued all the way to New Orleans, through ten degrees of longitude and latitude
Q
$!
&
_&
&
!
`
"
_
&
&
`
/
_tures to places of natural curiosity or historical interest.” If one can believe the
newspaper accounts, the painting was as accurate as if the scenes had been “re'
!
!`
!
Z!
had “transferred to the canvas things as God and man had shaped them.”78
For all the quantity and variety of panoramic fares in America, real public
hype for it did not arise until 1846. That was the year an itinerant scene-painter
named John Banvard brought his “three-mile picture” of the Mississippi River
from the frontier town of Louisville, Kentucky, where he had painted it, to Boston. By the time the painting had completed its tour in New York, London and
even in Paris, an estimated two million people had seen one or the other of two
versions of the subject that Banvard eventually produced. Banvard’s work had
“program notes” printed that included a list of the thirty-nine scenes the viewer
would see. The title itself indicates the route of the imaginary journey: “Description of Banvard’s Panorama of the Mississippi River, Painted on Three Miles
/
<
!&
|
$

/
from the Mouth of the Missouri River to the City of New Orleans, being by far

!
/!
&
$`79 In the newspaper and magazine
articles on circular (static) panoramas up to about 1840, it is striking how the
reviewers, after laboriously listing all the relevant facts and statistics, stress over
77
78
79
John Francis McDermott, The Lost Panoramas of the Mississippi, Chicago 1958.
Quoted in: Oetermann, Panorama, 325.
Ibid., 328.
108
and over again that the written word fails to do justice to the variety and wealth
of detail in the paintings. Repeatedly they end their descriptions with some vari
_!
&!
&!
%
¨`
A particularly interesting description of Banvard’s panorama appears in the
Examiner in December 1848, entitled “The American Panorama” and written by
Charles Dickens:
"
&
/&
/
{&
Z
&
!
title of “Banvard’s Geographical Panorama of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers.” […] It may be well to say what the panorama is not
@
+
art (nor does it claim to be, in Mr. Banvard’s modest description); it is not remarkable for accuracy of drawing, or for brilliancy of colour, or for subtle effects of
light and shade […] But it is a picture three miles long, which occupies two hours
in its passage before the audience. It is a picture of one of the greatest streams in
the known world, whose course it follows for upwards of three thousand miles. It
is a picture irresistibly impressing the spectator with a conviction of its plain and
simple truthfulness […] It is an easy means of traveling, night and day, without any
inconvenience from climate, steamboat company, or fatigue, from New Orleans to
the Yellow Stone Bluffs […] and seeing every town and settlement upon the river’s
+
&
'
!
80
Figure II. 10: Banvard Panorama of the Mississippi
Dickens’ description differentiates between what was interpreted to be a weak
quality of the painting and its rather powerful suggestive effect. The picture
unfolds a visual narrative with an immense suggestive power and an impressive
“truthfulness” or verisimilitude. It allows more than a simple eyewitnessing of
80
Charles Dickens, “The American Panorama”, in: The Examiner 16, December 1848, quoted in:
Michael Slater (ed.), The Amusements of the People and Other Papers: Reports, Essays and
Reviews 1834–51, Vol. 2 of Dickens’ Journalism, London 1996, 135.
109
landscapes and events but moreover direct participation in the events and adventures of a journey.
Few can fail to have some interest in such an adventure and in such an adventurer,
&
&
&
Q
/!
&
in the latter, which is very prepossessing; a modesty, and honesty, and an odd original humour, in his manner of telling what he has to tell, that give it a peculiar relish.
The picture itself, as an indisputably true and faithful representation of a wonderful region — wood and water, river and prairie, lonely log hut and clustered city
rising in the forest — is replete with interest throughout. Its incidental revelations
of the different states of society, yet in transition, prevailing at different points of
these three thousand miles — slaves and free republicans, French and Southerners;
immigrants from abroad, and restless Yankees and Down-Easters ever steaming
somewhere; alligators, store-boats, show-boats, theatre-boats, Indians, buffaloes,
/

turned up to the night sky, lying still and solitary in the wilderness, nearer and
nearer to which the outposts of civilisation are approaching with gigantic strides
to tread their people down, and erase their very track from the earth’s face — teem
with suggestive matter.81
Usually, a lecturer stood by the picture as a tour guide, describing the peculiar
features and the history of the scenery as it passed. This stresses the impor
&
!
!
/
!
_
/
!
$

/
!
tive with Jonathanisms and jokes, poetry and patter, which delight his audience
mightily.”82
\
!
/
the Mississippi; his picture illuminated the settings of the frontier adventures
!&

!!&
/
#
ous visual art form had ever been accompanied by such copious printed material as the panorama. The orientation pamphlets — packed with topographical
/
!
essential if spectators were to understand what they were seeing — were as
!
/
!
&
like with any other medium of the nineteenth century, in the re-presentation and
!
/
!
+&
effective staging of the panorama’s reality effect. If anything, the moving panorama could dispense with words even less than the static circular paintings, but
+
Q
!
!
/
!
81
82
Ibid., 136.
Anonymous, “Banvard’s Panorama of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers,” in: Illustrated
London News, December 9 1848, quoted in: McDermott, Lost Panoramas, 43.
110
centerpiece of the show was the lecture accompanying the presentation, pickled, if possible, with jokes, bon mots and other bits and pieces of entertaining
information.83 Both versions of the Mississippi panorama were but two among
the hundreds, perhaps more than a thousand, of such productions that toured
the English-speaking world from about 1845 until nearly the end of the century.
Most of them were portraits of vast territories, represented in linear sequence
giving the viewer the impression of traveling over the landscape, often by boat
or train. Many other North American landmarks became panorama fodder — the
Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River, the Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, even the
western prairies — but a host of moving panoramas of the Old World testify to
the rising interest in travel to Europe and beyond among many Americans who
>!
/
>!
Q
part of the audience for such pictures were immigrants who longed for reminders of the homelands many of them had reluctantly forsaken.
The taste for subjects like the Holy Land illuminate not merely Americans’
!&
!
'/&
!
citizenry still predominantly Protestant in the mid nineteenth century. The newly
rediscovered Panorama of Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress (1850–1851)84 was an
eight-foot high by 850-foot long canvas mounted on wooden rollers that unfurled the painting in 15 to 30 foot sections. Each viewing of the panorama was
/&
!
!
!
!
!
!
Shown in meeting houses and barns, the panorama is believed to have been
83
84
Oettermann gives a sample from Risley and Smith’s London pamphlet: “In no other painting
in the world is to be witnessed so amply the diversity of the human race nor the variableness
of scenery. Man, from the lordly ruler to the slave, moves before us engaged in the various
!
Q
@
!
'
&
effect, the tawny mariners are grouped with visages of Nubian blackness, and thus present to
&
&
/
!
/
!

!
!
habits, and carrying the mind of the spectator to the far lands of which it is a denizen. We see
\
&
#!

!
!
/
!
&
!&
!
&
!
!
!
!
&
!!
!
/
condition. Floating past this, the Indian wigwam, scarce built with the skill displayed by the
beaver in the formation of its home, rears itself in clusters like an emmet’s settlement athwart
!'!&
Q
and the city — the mountains and the plain — the swamp, forest, prairie, cataract, and tributary
stream succeed each other in almost endless changeableness, and whilst storing the mind with
!
!&
/
/
`
Panorama, 331–332.
The Panorama of Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress was presumed lost for a century until it was
rediscovered in the basement of the York Institute Museum in Saco, Maine in 1996.
111
&
|
!
&
Pilgrim’s Progress is
a seventeenth-century morality tale written by Puritan preacher John Bunyan,
!
+
/

Protestants in the nineteenth century. It is a traditional tale of good versus evil in
'
&
!
&
&
!
!
!pealing places as the Slough of Despond, the Valley of the Shadows of Death,
and the Cave of the Giant Despair. En route, the pilgrims endure arduous tests
!
/
!
Q
may have been familiar to the audience as well, since most were based on paintings by notable American artists such as Thomas Cole, Frederic Edwin Church,
and Daniel Huntington. In the presentation of Panorama of Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s
Progress, the narrator would have described John Bunyan’s seventeenth-century allegory. Although Bunyan’s religious intent is not in keeping with our own
secular era, his parable can be interpreted more generally as the voyage of life
itself, in which good triumphs over evil.
Figure II. 11: Panorama of Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress
"
!
!
&
&
!
@
or religious pictorial narratives, a perspective operating on the concept of mani
&
!
!!
in part of the nationally connoted collective imaginary.85 In particular, landscape
representations are associated with the symbolic function of taming the wild
and demonstrating a culturally legitimate triumph of the civilizing progress. The
concept of manifest destiny reconciles romantic ideals with ideals of civilization
and integrates both in a stable symbolic concept. Decisive for the success of the
85
See John L. Marsch, “Drama and Spectacle by the Yard: The Panorama in America”, in:
Journal of Popular Culture 10, Winter 1976.
112
!
/
!
neously linked to a perceptual and symbolic control over reality and that it is
possible for the eye to register totalizing sequences of nature and national or
!
&
%
&
Panoramas thus constitute a common vision, a common world view and self
&
86 It is a balance between
!
/
!
/
scape can serve as evidence of a certain understanding of the underlying historical processes. The panorama allows the national or cultural collective imaginary
%
/
/
!
&
&
in visual and narrative sequences. With the help of visual and discursive elements, the symbolic appropriation of reality is afforded by bringing together
!
&
/
Q
/&
the panorama, however, does not only depend on the possibility of providing a
framework for a convincing perception of the collective imaginary. It ultimately
succeeded because it enhanced the illusion of living impressions, in other words,
/
Spectators Inside the Outside
!
!
/
&
ers becomes clear in the enthusiastic Daily Transcript review of Paul Philippo!/\
_&

&!`
|
Q
Daily Transcript
declared:
@
>!
!
out of the little passage into the midst of the picture. It is something as it would
seem were one to become of a sudden a part of a picture. […] In short, one feels
>!
/&
!87
Q
/
!
truthfulness or reality effects, focusing instead on the complete immersion of
the viewer in a homogeneous image space. The viewer undergoes the physical
86
87
See Ernst Peter Schneck, Bilder der Erfahrung. Kulturelle Wahrnehmung im Amerikanischen
Realismus, Frankfurt/Main 1998, 85–87.
Anonymous, “Art Notes,” in: Daily Transcript, December 30 1884. This review is quoted in
!
/^
Cyclorama of the Battle of Gettysburg, by Paul
!/

X
+
The Arts of Deception. Playing with Fraud in the Age of
Barnum, Cambridge 2001, 229.
113
/
!
between image and reality have been blurred and replaced by the presence of an
illusionistic environment.
It would seem as though all these queer impressions might be at once met and settled by the simple consideration of the fact that it was only a picture. But that is
just it: it is impossible to accept the thing as a picture. Not because it is absolutely
natural, but because there is nothing by which to gauge the thing, one has no idea
whether the canvas is ten feet distant or a thousand. And so, all means of rational
judgment being removed, the spectator must remain, dazed and helpless, feeling
much like the little girl in “Alice in Wonderland,” when told she was but a thing in
the dream of the sleeping king.88
This stunning effect, here so fascinatingly compared to Alice in Wonderland
and her state of being “a thing in the dream of a sleeping king”, becomes more
!
&%
/
\
reception. After purchasing entry, a spectator usually entered into the rotunda by
means of a staircase that led one out onto the central viewing platform. The interior was darkened in such a way that only subdued light entering indirectly from
the top of the building illuminated the painting on the walls of the structure,
leaving the rest of the interior in relative obscurity. Such lighting conditions
made the painting seem to radiate its own light, leaving the presentation apparatus invisible. A scene was transformed through the manipulation of daylight,
which shifted the temporal mood. However, it was sometimes found that on
bright summer days the light would be too strong — enough so that the seams
of the separate canvas became visible, revealing the painting’s constructed character and thus disrupting the illusion. These lighting techniques had a prominent historical predecessor. Especially the ‘magic lantern’ devices of Athanasius
Kircher, Johannes Zahn, and others introduced a form of projected entertainment
spectacle that relied on controlled light projected through glass slides: drawn
!
+
!
Q
!canny effects produced by these luminous projections established an early link
between two potentially competing systems of subjective interpellation: religion
and optics. Kircher concealed the lantern from his audiences by placing it on
the other side of the screen. He could change the distance of the lantern, or vary
%
!
Q
&
— shadow plays, phantasmagorias, lantern displays — relied on dark rooms
and projected light. In hiding the apparatus, the panorama falls into the general
&
&
Q
X
"

88
Ibid.
114

$/89 Adorno used this adjective to describe any form or process
!
&
!
!
Part of the phantasmagoric effect has also to do with the undisrupted continuity
of the screen itself — no doorways could interrupt the continuous surface of the
$!
\
&
&
the presence and potential interruptions of the apparatus.
Being elevated on a viewing platform also meant that spectators could never
cast shadows on the image, the effect of which would obviously be antiphantasmagoric, disclosing it to be merely a two-dimensional surface. Forms as
seemingly different as Daguerre’s Diorama, Wagner’s theater at Bayreuth, the
Kaiserpanorama, or the cinema as it took shape in the late 1890s are other key
!&
/
!!
!!
attraction, whose apparitional appeal is an effect of both its uncertain spatial loca
!
"
!
to create a spatial remove from the image, with a moat-like area surrounding the
Q
+
'
!!
or gallery-type interior to assist in a subjective rationalization of the intervening distance between eye and image. There are accounts indicating that audience
members occasionally tossed coins at the image as a way of determining how
far away it was. This is one aspect of how the panorama can be related to the
peep-show model discussed earlier: it involves a detachment of the image from
&
!
!
!
about the literal location of the painted surface as a way of enhancing its illusions
of presence and distance. At the same time, the panorama is another instance of
&
&
!
!
!
!
/
!
!
!
/
!
!
!>!
!
^
unlike other forms, it presents an unbounded image, an image that is to the viewer
endless. It has no frame and in this certainly departs from the peep-show model.
Strictly speaking, it does have upper and lower boundaries. But as one moves
one’s eyes, head, or body laterally, the image appears as a continuous unbounded
Q!
!
&
&
of realist techniques of perspective and scale with a mode of viewing that placed
the spectator in the center of a darkened room surrounded by a scene lit from
above. In the course of the history of the panorama as a medium,90 a perfection of
the illusion was continuously attempted by improving the apparatus.
89
90
Theodor W. Adorno, Versuch über Wagner, Frankfurt/Main 1974, 107.
See Hick, Geschichte der optischen Medien.
115
The logical consequence was the further development of the form from round
panorama to the “moving panorama.” The moving panorama anticipated, in art,
the speed of travel which the railroads would soon make a reality. In the American
moving panorama viewers were no longer surrounded by a canvas that only appeared to present an open vista on all sides; rather they saw the vast landscape of
their continent unrolling before their eyes, as if they were traveling westward in a
covered wagon.91
Q
&
^
tator was immobile, at the center of the building, and the ‘views’ were mobilized
as the entire building with its pulleys, cords, and rollers became a machine for
changing the spectator’s view. The panorama did not physically mobilize the
body, but provided virtual spatial and temporal mobility, bringing the country to
the town dweller, transporting the past to the present. The panoramic spectator
lost, as Helmut Gernsheim described, “all judgment of distance and space and
in the absence of any means of comparison with real objects, a perfect illusion
was given.”92 The panorama offered a spectacle in which all sense of time and
space was lost, produced by the combination of the observer in a darkened room
(where there were no markers of place or time) and presentation of ‘realistic’
views of other places and times. The panorama thus fundamentally enables a
form of seeing that entails quiet contemplation as opposed to mere motor activity, i.e., movement localized only within the viewer’s eye. The perceptive pattern
&
!/!&
transcends the everyday act of seeing as a motor activity and as a part of bodily
communication. This limited stylization of seeing as quiet contemplation, to the
neglect of motor activity and bodily communication, constitutes an important
aspect in the modernization of seeing. Thus the panorama and also the diorama
became apparatuses with a clear objective: designed to transport — rather than

!
Q
!
poral mobility — if only an illusionistic one. But the panoramic observer was
deceptively accorded an imaginary illusion of mobility. In Walter Benjamin’s
much quoted demonstrative rhetoric, cinematic spectatorship functioned as an
/
_&
«+!`
‘prison-world’ (“Kerkerwelt”) of nineteenth-century architectural space.93
91
92
93
Oettermann, Panorama, 323.
Helmut Gernsheim, Alison Gernsheim, L.J.M. Daguerre: The History of the Diorama and the
Daguerrotype, New York 1968, 6.
Walter Benjamin, Das Kunstwerk im Zeitalter seiner technischen Reproduzierbarkeit, in: Ibid.,
Allegorien kultureller Erfahrung. Ausgewählte Schriften 1920–1940, Leipzig 1984, 428.
116
The rapid dissemination of the panorama in the nineteenth century offered a
!
&
/
!
\
=&
&
/
cariously through images, which were able to impart not a diminished but an
/
/
!&
&&
gorias, panoramas, dioramas — devices that concealed their machinery — were
dependent on the relative immobility of their spectators, who enjoyed the illusion of the animated presence of various sceneries. These apparatuses produced
an illusion of unmediated referentiality in motion. As the ‘mobility’ of the view

>!

photograph) realistic images, as mobility was implied by changes in lighting
(and then cinematography) — the observer became more immobile, passive,
ready to receive the constructions of a illusionistic reality placed in front of his
or her unmoving body.94 This illusionistic mobility is the key for the emergence
of the model of the passively participating observer. Thus the panorama was the
central medium developing an active-passive viewing position. And in a larger
sense, a major component of the evolution of nineteenth century visual culture
was the education and training of both the individuals and the collectivities for
!
/
!
Q
%tion of visuality was accompanied by implicit imperatives for various kinds of
self-control and perceptual restraint, particularly for forms of attentiveness that
require both relative silence and immobility. The many ways in which this occurred included the self-disciplining of the spectator as an occupant of or visitor
!
/
paradigmatic way the formation of modern audiences.
@
!
%
!
/ences because of its reality effects. From early on, the panorama was considered
a device that mimics reality in a way that at the same time entertains and overwhelms the senses:
At leisure let us view from day to day,
As they present themselves, the spectacles
Within doors: troops of wild beast, bird and beasts
Of every nature from all climes convened,
"
/
The absolute presence of reality
{/
And what earth is, and what she hath to shew –
94
For a complete study on mobility itself see, Harro Segeberg, Die Mobilisierung des Sehens,
München 1996.
117
I do not here allude to subtlest craft,
&
!
But imitations fondly made in plain
Confession of man’s weakness and his loves.
Whether the painter — fashioning a work
To Nature’s circumambient scenery.95
As William Wordsworth notes here in 1805, the panorama was not the ‘subtlest craft’ for presenting ‘the absolute presence of reality.’ But its ‘spectacles/
Within doors’ of ‘every nature from all climes’ used ‘circumambient scenery’ to
emphasized that the lure of these entertainments was not in their verisimilitude
&
!
+
&
&
er has not questioned the ability of panoramic paintings to “capture historical
moments,”96 but stressed a point of great importance for the understanding of the
&
/
!
+
&
!
!&
$&
!^
Q
!
!
/
!
!
of a performative suspension — the staging of perception through the apparatus
— of binary oppositions. These binaries are primarily located within spatio-temporal categories. The blurring of oppositions such as mobile and immobile, here
and there, were used as satisfying a perceptual desire or curiosity — a desire
to have visual mastery over the constraints of space and time. The technology
&
!
!
/!
&&
Q
panorama furthermore subverts a clear distinction between absence and pres
with a notion of journey that is present simultaneously. Overall the audiences
&
/
!
!
!^
&
&
!
&
&
!
!
Q
!
&
!
reality in the twentieth century, but also indicates an epistemological shift in the
understanding of the real itself.
"
&%
/
!
&
+
!fold a panorama with a particular display of its visual material. One of the most
95
96
William Wordsworth, The Thirteen-Book Prelude (1805), Mark L. Reed (ed.), Ithaca, London
1991, 121 (emphasis added).
Dolf Sternberger, Panorama of the Nineteenth Century, New York 1977, 13.
118
!>!
/
!
&
|
!
called Panorama of the Hudson, Showing Both Sides of the River from New York
to Albany,97
&
!
!
&
!!
&
!&
eight hundred consecutive photographs. In this period the technical limitation of
the viewing angle was overcome through the development of panoramic photography. The basic operation here was to combine several plates into a single
larger whole to produce a sweeping vista — of the city or wilderness — that was
!
+
/
!&
@
though the Hudson River varies from a half mile to four miles in width, the river
depicted remains uniform. With each photo showing both sides (printed so as
to blend in the water), the reader is required repeatedly to turn the book upside
down to get the opposing bank right side up; the technique produces some awkward perspectives when bridges must be photographed, but there is no problem
showing boats — they have been drawn in — and virtually every page shows at
!
'
!
!&
>!
a considerable suspension of disbelief: the viewer accepted the book-apparatus
+
!
!
_`
!
Q
!
/
&
'tions of a theorist on photography, Henry P. Robinson. With the publication
/+
Pictorial Effect in Photography,98 Robinson became among the
'!
&
!&
the one hand, Robinson advises against the purely fantastic — cherubs or mermaids — claiming that “photographs of what it is evident to our senses cannot
&
/
!
`

!
/
_&&
`
The photographer should be free to construct an image using studio accessories
!
&
!
+

might also pose his models to represent some particular dramatic moment, and
he might add together different elements from two or more negatives to create
what was called a combination print. Robinson basically tried to prove that photography could be an art form. He also applied the aesthetic theory of painted art
to photography, insisting that the process should begin with a compositionally
balanced sketch of the intended photographic scene. Because the sketch had
no immediate referent in reality, he was then obliged to adopt a method which
rendered photography plastic enough to accommodate the features of the sketch.
97
98
Wallace Bruce, Panorama of the Hudson Showing Both Sides of the River from New York to
Albany, New York 1910. Collection of the New York Public Library.
Henry P. Robinson, Pictorial Effect In Photography, Being Hints On Composition And
Chiaroscuro For Photographers (1869), Pawlet 1971.
119
His solution was combination printing, a technique that allowed several nega
&
/
single photograph, with the various elements being sutured in a way that concealed tell-tale joints. This pre-cinematic montage technique allowed the input
!
=
!
true representation of nature — not of nature as it necessarily was, but of how
!
!
Q
!
Pictorial Effect:
"
!!
!
&
/!
!
@
&
>!
!
!
of imitation that constitutes a veracious picture. Cultivated minds do not require
to believe that they are deceived, and that they look on actual nature, when they
behold a pictorial representation of it.99
As generally understood and practiced, Robinson’s notion of pictorial photog&
+
_
`
&
&
strategies in the panoramic display of images. Despite the description of being
overwhelmed, the audience has a certain awareness of immersion and was thus
conscious of illusion at work. Yet the panoramic model of perception provides
/
"&
=
&
+^
_X
!
know that it is a deception before we can enjoy it; it must be a gentle surprise,
and not a delusion.”100
@
/
>!
&
!antee a basically unquestioned and even heightened verisimilitude over such a
lasting period of time. It did so for one major reason, namely because it gave —
verbally and visually — calculated attention to detail. In Roland Barthes’ essay
on L’Effet de réel,101
/
/
&
he himself describes with the word “panorama.” Barthes has derived his argu
/!
/
!
!\
Madame Bovary,
&
{
+
!
to Rouen to see her lover. She has made the coach ride to Rouen often enough
so that she knows every turn in the road, every landmark along the way, including the crest of a hill from which the entire city of Rouen spreads in full view
below. Then, all at once, the city comes into view. Sloping downward like an
amphitheater, drowned in mist, it sprawled out shapelessly beyond its bridges.
Thus seen from above, the whole landscape had the static quality of a painting. The rest of the paragraph is an accumulation of details — about the boats
99
100
101
Ibid. 127.
Ibid.
Barthes, L’Effet de réel, 171.
120
anchored in the Seine, the distant gray hills, the factory chimneys, streets lined
with bare trees, roofs wet with rain, and so on. Thus Flaubert himself introduces
/
&
!
circular or round (an amphitheater) and which is like a painting. Important here
+
and in literary realism; it is a pretending or seeming to transcribe the world in a
scrupulous fashion while avoiding the trap of what Barthes calls the vertigo of
notation, whereby an authentic realism would seem to demand the deliriously
impossible inclusion in representation of everything present to sight. This is
/
level of minutiae, of narrative irrelevance, is given, then the world is being seen
in its completeness, its reality.
The panorama proved also to be a successful medium for appropriating reality, thereby essentially empowering the viewer because it offered the opportunity of mastering a totality. This new format was novel because it surrounded
viewers with an image and lacked a perspective with a vanishing point, thereby
simulating an apparently self-evident totality that the viewer could easily appropriate. The overriding way in which a related impression of completeness, of an
/!
!
!
~
format of the image. Like the name itself, the setup of the panorama presumes
to present a total view, characterized by a seemingly self-evident wholeness.
"
!
nineteenth century is the notion of a full 360-degree view that has no obstructions, nothing blocking an optical appropriation of it. This particular proliferation of an illusionistic reality in the nineteenth century coincided also with the
!
&
had in a variety of ways posed an imaginary reconciliation of the limitations of
a human observer with a full possession of a perceivable world. The panorama
&
!&
/
growing fragmentation of the perceptual reality of the modern world and offered
!!
&
/
though it implicitly acknowledges the partiality and incompleteness as constitutive elements of human vision. This is because the panorama establishes only an
&
!
!
/
point of the spectator in relation to reality. It simulated, however, a perceptual
&
Q
!
posed a view of a motif, whether a landscape, a city or a historical event, that
&
!
&
/
!
&
of a spectator to grasp it. In one sense it became a degraded simulation of the
!
!
!
/
121
was transformed into the accumulation of information, of details, of visual facts
&
&
Strictly speaking, the panorama was able to provide an imaginary unity and co
/
!
&
!
apparatus. The viewing platform in the center of the panorama rotunda seemed
to provide a point from which an individual spectator could overcome the par&
!
>!
!
/
!
while seeming to provide such a simulation of perceptual mastery and identifying the real with that sense of coherence, the panorama was also in another
sense an empowerment of the individual’s viewpoint. Panorama painting and
photography, with both its cancellation of the vanishing point in the work and
the reciprocal loss of a localizable point of view, suggested the congruency be
!
!
&
!
!
/
&
@
!
&
&
beyond the reach of a human subject and only possible within the realm of an
illusionistic setting. Thus the panorama served as a spatio-temporal apparatus,
&
%
!
_!
erything can be taken in by a single glance from the mental eye which illuminates whatever it contemplates.”102
The Poetics of Panoramic Control
If one looks closer at the epistemological career of the word “panorama” in the
!&
+
&
!
'!encing cultural discourses, especially in the literary aesthetic of novels, guidebooks, feuilletons or poems. The word “panorama” was initially used to signify
~
!
/
&&
!!
"
!
!
/
|
!
panorama was not used until 1791, and by 1800 numerous panoramas were
operating in large European cities.103
Q
{
=
+
used the term to describe his invention of 360-degree paintings. Barker’s invention, which was the birth of the panorama as an apparatus, required a specially
designed building in which the paying spectator could stand in the center of a
circular space, turning around to see the whole of this circular view hung on the
!!
+
>!
/
\

Square and opened for business to great success in 1794.104 Thomas Hornor fol102
103
104
Henry Lefebvre, The Production of Space, /
|}}|
|
Oettermann, Panorama, 5–47.
Ibid., 99–105.
122
+
&
+&
detailed circular painting of 1821 London as seen from the rooftop of his small
house, which provided a stunning representation and celebration of immense
London while it evoked the courage and dedication of the panoramist.105 From
this viewing position, the totality in view encompasses an all-embracing space
of representation. This demonstrates the trust that was placed in the panoramic
way of seeing as a synthesizing force that serves as a motivation for the transla
/
!
>!
@
&%
&
/
/
!
!!
/
!
@
&
consider whether the representation of an act of perception and the portrayal of
/
sus of perception, according to which the obligatory pattern of perception also
implies a culturally binding view of reality.
By the mid-nineteenth century the word “panorama” came to mean not only
~
!
&
+
!&
&
pass the whole of a large subject. The word was no longer used to describe paint
!
&
!
/
@
drawings and illustrations, most often the panorama was a steeple or bird’s-eye
view of a city that stretched itself almost impossibly to include the whole of its
vast subject, whereas panoramic narratives often allude to, and try to mimic, this
!
/
"!
!
&
!
!+
!
!
!
_`
_\&
`
a collection of anecdotes of modern towns, especially New York, mostly written
for visitors and tourists in the rapidly growing cities. This literary panoramic
paradigm in New York narrative pervades many genres: guidebooks, journal
&
_`
_`
+
!
+
!
&

ing the city often include a single description imitating a panoramic illustration,
but they create a panorama in prose by relating a series of urban encounters
between a single observer and parts of the city.
Q
!
&
'´!
Z
%
+
/
its metaphoric use in various descriptions. In Charles Baudelaire’s famous essay
“Le Peintre de la vie moderne,”106
'´!
+
/
105
106
See Richard D. Altick, The Shows of London, Cambridge 1978, 134–47.
Charles Baudelaire, “Le Peintre de la vie moderne”, in: Écrits esthètiques, Paris 1986.
123
&
&!
!
'!
&
position, which allows for a certain detachment from the chaos of modern life.
@
!
_'´!`
/
!
who strolled through nineteenth-century New York, in a wider and slightly different sense than that made familiar by Walter Benjamin’s comments on “Über
einige Motive bei Baudelaire.”107 Terry Eagleton, writing on Benjamin, thinks
!
'!
_
`
_&
!
city, loitering without intent, languid yet secretly vigilant.”108
Q
'´!
“relic” in the sense that he is a premodern observer trying to make sense of the
!
/
!&
!
/
&
&

!!
!
_`
/
Q
'´!
walks at the edge of a distinction between premodern and modern and his mobile gaze creates a fundamental shift in the understanding of the subjectivity
!
/
Q+

&\
&
&
!
'´
@
emergence of a corporeal subjectivity in its relation to modern visuality, where
&
_
!
/`
109
The tone of the newspaper series (constantly published in penny newspapers
since the early 1850s) on modern cities like New York110 is often that of the genteel
!
'´!
!
&
!/&
!
Q
\
!
!
condition; and the implicit promise to investigate, to reveal the full truth, is what
gives the subsequent installments their purpose. Each article is about a single part
of the city, but all the installments taken together become the equivalent of a pano
+
'´!
!
+
!
!
/
+
!+
'´!\
+
!
seriousness, because it responds to the “problem” of the new city. In contrast to
'´
!^
&
'
on impressions of the city as thoroughly as possible and try to give guidance or
even provide concise information such as that found in guidebooks.
107
108
109
110
Walter Benjamin, “Über einige Motive bei Baudelaire”, in: Ibid., Charles Baudelaire. Ein
Lyriker im Zeitalter des Hochkapitalismus, Rolf Tiedemann u. Hermann Schweppenhäuser
(eds.), Gesammelte Schriften I/2, Frankfurt/Main 1972.
Terry Eagleton, Walter Benjamin; or, Towards a Revolutionary Criticism, London 1981, 25–26.
Crary, Techniques of the Observer, 4.

/
New York in Slices in the Tribune or Solon Robinson’s bestseller Hot
Corn: Life Scenes in New York Illustrated, New York 1854.
124
Figure II. 12: New York and Environs (1859)
The most widespread panoramic narrative form was the factual guidebook.
!+
&
_!
`
!
#
+
guidebooks purportedly show the new immigrant, the tourist, the out-of-towner
how to tour the city, what to see, how to see and what to watch out for. But, like
the illustrated, they have another important function — to boost the commercial
city, to sell the new product. Herman Melville describes the 1840s New York
guidebooks in Redburn as follows:
The New York guide-books are now vaunting of the magnitude of a town, whose
future inhabitants, multitudinous as the pebbles on the beach, and girdled in with
'+
!
!
all our Broadways and Bowerys as but the paltry nucleus to their Nineveh. From
far up the Hudson, beyond Harlem River, where the young saplings are now growing, that will overarch their lordly mansions with broad boughs, centuries old; they
&
/
!
+&
&

"!
!
!
&
/!
the present Doric Customhouse, and quote it as a proof that their high and mighty
metropolis enjoyed a Hellenic antiquity.111
Melville takes a critical approach toward the guidebook’s enthusiastic descrip
!
&\
/
/
%
!
&
'
&
/
>!
$
!
!

“the obscure and smoky alleys” — ordinarily used for the heart of the slums to
111
Herman Melville, Redburn, His First Voyage, Chicago 1969, 149.
125
describe Fifth Avenue and Fourteenth Street and reverses the guidebook wisdom
&
&
/
!
&
!/!!
&
New York life into its dangerous slums. Melville criticizes here a common dis!
!
!!
!
!
%
!
/
&.
The basic pattern of guidebooks is also undermined in several women writ\
!
+
/
&
&
$
\
'!
short newspaper pieces were the Letters from New York written to the Boston
Courier after Child started to live in New York and were later republished as
two books.112 The series begins with the premise that a solitary individual liv
#
+
!&
/
&
%
can write back to Boston and describe it. The “great Babylon” is still the same,
where “wealth dozes on French couches […] while poverty camps on the dirty
pavement,” but her conscience has made her newly careful about what she sees:
Q
!
&
+
'
!
&
!
amusement of an hour. But now, I have lost the power of looking merely on the
!
{&
@
@
@
@
/!
*
@
&
!!
'+
!
!
+

!
&
&
with thoughts about mutual helpfulness, human sympathy, the common bond of
brotherhood, and the mysteriously deep foundations on which society rests; or
rather, on which it now reels and totters.113
@&
!
!&
'´!114
who is not a pedestrian just looking at surfaces and thus an easy prototype of the
consumer. Child opposes wandering through urban space in a daze of distraction. She knows that New York must be understood not just from its surfaces:
she forces herself to realize that the vulgar market society cannot remain simply
!
/
&
!
in her terms, a witnessing of the ideal. The emanation of her transcendent longings, of her clear, liberal Christian faith must be found in the street of quotidian
life. The series of sketches that follow this initial observation touches on sites all
&
'´!
!
+
docks to Five Points to the place where a woman was murdered. Child is quite
112
113
114
Lydia Maria Child, Letters from New York, New York 1844.
Ibid., 14.

&
'´!
/
!

Anne Friedberg, Window Shopping. Cinema and the Postmodern, Berkeley 1993, 32–37.
126
_&`
&
!
!
!
%
!
/
!

+
!
&
/dinary and convincing.
&

!!
!
|
&
'&
encountered, could also be considered a New York panoramist in some of the
sketches she wrote for the weekly New York Ledger. She was quite aware that
her brief essays were like the French feuilletons, so much so that she titled her
collections Fern Leaves from Fanny’s Portfolio in 1853 and 1854. Fern prob%
!
ing through the city and through urban life as freely as possible. She essentially
'´!
It is a great plague to be a woman. I think I’ve said that before, but it will bear
repeating. Now the wharves are a great passion of mine; I like to sit on a pile
of boards there, with my boots dangling over the water, and listen to the far-off
‘heave-ho’ of the sailors in their bright specks of red shirts, and see the vessels
unload, with their foreign fruits, and dream away a delicious hour, imagining the
places they came from; and I like to climb up the sides of ships, and poke around
generally, just where Mrs. Grundy would lay her irritating hand on my arm and
/

X
+
&!*\
115
Hardly anything seems to stop her in her determination that women should share
in the freedom of the streets, no matter what the representative of polite female
society would say. She needs her own encounter with the streets, with their wide
variety of sights, as the structuring principle for many of her sketches. The safe
haven for her mobilized gaze was not shopping at the department store as a
socially respected leisure activity for women in public space, but the very core
of market activities at a trading place such as a dock, to eye-witness labor activities in a capitalist society. Fern clearly links the concept of the panorama with
an empowerment of the gaze as the potential to encompass the whole picture,
a privilege often reserved for the male observer. This aspect of empowerment
is in fact further used to represent urban space in arrangements of social and
political power.
"
!
"
%
&
!
#
+
/
&

+
!
Broadway Journal (January 4, 1845) how important New York was to his conception of the ability of
115
Fanny Fern, Some Things in New York, in: Ibid., Folly As It Flies, New York 1868, 190.
127
American culture to compete internationally.116 His notion that New York “is
fast becoming” America is stimulated by cultural and commercial hegemonialism. The idea that a panorama of New York could be the part that stands for the
&
!
/
that the Young Americans thought the literary culture of New York could become the culture of the nation. Cornelius Mathews, Melville’s editor at Yankee
!
!
"
&
mid-1840s. Mathews uses the panoramic tour-of-the-town form in several of
his books, but it was his Big Abel and the Little Manhattan117 that attempted to
+
!
&
#
+
!!
$
+
'´!
&
&
&
&
/
!&
commercial self, and watching it with an attentive voyeurism, which is part of
&
"
'´!
Big Abel and the Little Manhattan the voyeuristic gaze obscures the nature of
social relationships in the city at the same time as it provides some of the most
interesting descriptions of Bowery life at that time. At the end of the book Big
Abel and Little Manhattan walk on the Banking House roof, and Big Abel takes
panoramic control of what is clearly his city:
As though it had been the very top and ridge of all the world. He called the company to look upon the city (his city, now […]) spread below. Could any eye there
+
*
!¨
Q+
+
!
X¨
"
&
+
{¨118
Like the prototypical viewer of a panorama, Big Abel imagines himself at the
“top and ridge of all the world” and imagines that he, at this ecstatic moment,
+
!
!
/
In the 1840s and 1860s Walt Whitman was writing for a great number of New
York newspapers and periodicals,119 a period where in 1855 his famous Leaves
of Grass
!
"
&
!
Whitman’s symbol of democracy and it is even to be considered the source of
116
117
118
119
Quoted in: Thomas Bender, New York Intellect: A History of Intellectual Life in New York City,
Baltimore 1987, 161.
Cornelius Mathews, Big Abel and the Little Manhattan, New York 1845.
Ibid., 79.
"
!
/^
X
X
The Gathering of the Forces: Editorials,
essays, Literary and Dramatic Reviews and Other materials written by Walt Whitman as editor
of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle in 1846 and 1847, Cleveland Rodgers, John Black (eds.), New
York 1920. For a precise study see Ezra Greenspan, Walt Whitman and the American Reader,
New York 1990.
128
his basic panoramic as well as democratic education.120
X
'´!
who perceives urban street life as representative of all life, good and evil, and as
such a symbol for democratic variety. In the “Broadway” sketch for the “New
York Dissected” series in Life Illustrated Whitman concludes:
Such is the procession of the street, to the outward eye. A dreamer would not fail to
see spirits walking amid the crowd; devils busily whispering into scheming ears;
!&
'
and mingling eagerly their suggestions in the hot, seething atmosphere of human
plots and devices; and angels, too, among or above the hurrying mass, seeking to
lift some soul out of evil ways, or to guard it from imminent temptation.121
=
X
{\
'!
X
distinction between the “outward eye” and the inner eye. But in this and other
cases, especially in his poetry, a potentially problematic discontinuity between
the inner eye and the outside world was not a problem that was hard to solve.
Q
%
%
'
!
+
&
&
!
/
into life, a process which in the 1855 preface of Leaves of Grass was almost an
_'
as with vast oceanic tides.”122 This poetic myth of an all-encompassing collection of life involved nevertheless a panoramic strategy of organization, even a
panoramic aesthetic as a means of fusing perception and imagination. The panorama is the underlying poetic as well as structural principle of the poem. Miles
Orvell has precisely analyzed Whitman’s Leaves of Grass as following a basic
%
!
/^
@
%
&
'
disorganized encyclopedia, Whitman had found the literary equivalent for one of
the key patterns in nineteenth-century popular culture, the organizational principle
!&
&
/

&
/
!
123
Whitman is therefore a distinctly modern poet, because he intentionally drew
!
/
!
!
'
120
121
122
123
See Betsy Erkkila, Whitman the Political Poet, New York 1998; as well as Miles Orvell, The
Real Thing, page 20–23.
Walt Whitman quoted in: Ralph Adimari, Emory Holloway (eds.), New York Dissected, New
York 1936, 123–24.
Walt Whitman, Preface, in: Ibid., Leaves of the Grass, Richard Bridgeman (ed.), San Francisco
|}~
/
Orvell, The Real Thing, 28.
129
relationship between part and whole that a mass civilization would establish, a
form that could contain within the realm of poetic representation the rich particularity and clashing contradictions of American life. The particular immediacy
of “contact” Whitman wanted is based upon the new photographic immediacy
of re-presenting the reality directly before the camera lens that had become, by
the 1850s, a common feature of urban life, and at the same time one that was
changing the way the world was perceived and structured. But more importantly
the poetry relates to the sense of movement one may encounter in a panorama.
By moving the reader’s eye in Leaves of Grass from scene to scene, Whitman
imitates the unrolling of the painted panorama before the viewer’s sight, giving
shape in his geographical catalogues to the new sense of American space that
had already found popular success in the moving panorama shows all over the
country. Thus the eye of his poetic person is able to see and encompass urban as
well as rural life. The famous Section 33 of “Song of Myself,” begins: “I skirt
sierras, my palms cover continents, / I am afoot with my vision” and spans the
vast continent in verses such as, “Where sun-down shadows lengthen over the
limitless and / lonesome prairie / Where herds of buffalo make a crawling spread
of the / square miles far and near,” to again “Looking in at the shop-windows of
&

'
'
&

+
glass, or / Wandering the same afternoon with my face turn’d up to the / clouds,
or down a lane or along the beach.”124
What Whitman sees is determined by an endless series of visual perceptions:
impressions of nature, the effects of light, shadow and color, street scenes, cityscapes or portraits of people and faces, all of which present themselves to the
&
!!
'
&
are incessantly transformed into new images. This re-visioning of isolated moments is accompanied by a dynamic succession of impressions, the organization
and meaningful registration of which are accomplished by the type of percep
&
Q
!
/
&
panorama enables the viewer’s participation in the entire spectrum of phenom
<!
/
!
&
!
&
'

X
!
/
+
!
!
!!
&
&
Q
!
&
/
becomes for Whitman the foundation for a democratic vision in which visible
differences — created by social and cultural conditioning — are simultaneously
revealed and dismissed. In contrast to Emerson’s transcendental poetic vision,
124
X
X

^
"!
Q/
X
Z
"
Sculley Bradley, Harold W. Blodgett (eds.), New York 1973, 61–88.
130
X
>!
!!
/
!
/
aesthetically valuable variations within the panoramic diversity of life. He also
seeks to perpetuate these differences in his poetry as potential points of equality
!
/
!!
Z
!
/
!
X\
vision appropriates cultural and social space through images and conveys the
transitoriness of modern reality is based on the subjective and poetic internalization of a popular mass medium of his times. Ernst Peter Schneck is accordingly
critical in his assessment thereof:
Die Katalogisierung sichtbarer Differenzen, deren Funktion als Demarkation
sozialer und kultureller Abstände Whitman in ihrer Ästhetisierung aufhebt und
egalisiert, folgt der Logik einer kulturell produzierten Form des Spektakels, der
reproduktiven Vereinnahmung des Sehens durch die Visualität affektiver Bildlichkeit im Panorama, im Diorama, in der Photographie und im Stereoskop.125
According to Schneck, the synthesizing force of Whitman’s visual poetics can
be understood as characteristic for the tendency in American art to attempt to
resolve the tension between historical transformation and cultural stability, be
!
!&
/encing the world and the conditions implied therein. This resolution is sought
in the form of a representation in which word and image, effect and discourse
merge in a moment of symbolic terseness. Particularly worth mentioning in this
/
!
!
/
its meaningful representation in poetry. As in the case of stereoscopy, this can
be conceived of as an attempt to strike a balance between an understanding
of culture oriented around presence and one oriented around representation.
Whitman’s suggestion of creating a common view of the world seems appropriate when both perspectives, the sensual and the symbolic, can be reconciled
!&
&
!
/ence. In this sense, American realism “entwirft […] eine gemeinsame Form der
Wahrnehmung, eine common vision, mittels der verläßliches Wissen über die
Welt erlangt werden kann.”126 According to Winfried Fluck, one of the most important accomplishments of American realism lies in the construction of a type
of perception that is effective on both the aesthetic and the social levels, and thus
also appears legitimate. American realism represents “einen bemerkenswerten
125
126
Schneck, Bilder der Erfahrung, 138.
Ibid., 124.
131
!
!+
<!
%
!
¡
"¬
!
+/
Weise miteinander zu vermitteln.”127
X\
socially binding pattern of perception into a symbolically binding and simultaneously comprehensive view of reality. He makes recourse to the panorama
!
/
Q
function of the panorama for Whitman lies in providing a ubiquitous pattern
/
!!
!
/
&
@
/
X\
!
&
&
can thus apply “den Begriff der common vision im wörtlichen Sinne als gemeinsame Form eines Sehens”128 in order to show how desperately a social and
cultural bond through seeing was desired. The panoramic form and structure of
this common vision is intended to create the collective stock of perception upon
which a shared world view can then be built. This guarantees coherence among
!
/
!
the form of a common image, but rather as a visual model that structures visual
perceptions in an analog fashion. This mutual agreement on a common, binding
pattern of perception with which cultural and social reality can be structured analogously represents a remarkable convergence of a mass medium of visual communication and the realization of a democratic ideal found in Whitman’s work.
127
128
Winfried Fluck, Inszenierte Wirklichkeit. Der amerikanische Realismus 1865–1900, München
1992, 16.
Schneck, Bilder der Erfahrung, 85.
,,,6KRZWLPH3HUIRUPLQJWKH$SSHDUDQFHRI5HDOLW\
$SSHDUDQFHVRI5HDOLW\:KDW37%DUQXP6KRZV
Living Curiosities
If the whole world of animated nature — human or brute — at any time produces
&
!

"=#$
"=#$
!
&
'!
of Yankee land, was born sole heir to all her lean men, fat women, dwarfs, twoheaded cows, amphibious sea-maidens, large-eyed owls, small-eyed mice, rabbit
!
+
!
Z
/
/!
&
!
&
1
Q
|
!
Z
$
Q
!
!&
!!
!
&
+&
!
/
!!
&
!
!
!!
Q
highly ironic passage, which, unlike the altogether admiring articles in daily
newspapers such as the Herald and Sunday Atlas, does not speak of “marvelous
novelties,” “breath-taking splendors,” or “wilderness of realities,” but instead
!
/
&
!\
_"
$!!`
!&
and Wunderkammern2
Q
&
!\
!
/
/
/
%
Q
"
$!!
!%
/
!
X
!
!
!3
$
!
!
_

!\`4 and concurred with his predecessor on the “paral
&
`5 During
|~
||
!
!\
$!!
!^
_"
|
1
2
3
4
5
"&!
/
!
Z
$
^
Yankee Doodle

!&
|
|
|~
Z
+
Antikensehnsucht und Maschinenglaube. Die Geschichte der Kunstkammer
und die Zukunft der Kunstgeschichte,

|}}
"^

$
Artful Science.
Enlightenment, Entertainment and the Eclipse of Visual Education,
|}}
^
@
Devices of Wonder: From the World in a Box to Images on a Screen,
&
=
@!
|
{
"/
_$
$!
$^
"
{/
{!
{&
"
$!!`
^
X
Q
"
Mermaids, Mummies, and Mastodons.
The Emergence of the American Museum,
|}}
|
@
|}
@
136
Showtime. Performing the Appearance of Reality
!+
@&
X`6
_
`
!
!
&
!+
!
+
!
!&
&
Q
!!
$!!\
!
_`
&
!
'
"
/
!

+
!
<
!&

&
!

_%`
<!
!&
{
!
=
"
@

+
!

!

!\
!
!
&
@
!
$

and four cases of shoes from various nations and periods (as another feature of
\
!!
Q
!'
&
!/
&
/
/&
_
!&
!
"
!
`7
@
/
!
Q
!
'
&
/
!
>!
Z&
&
!

|~
!
_

`
!
X
X
voted to one hundred ninety-four “cosmoramas,” in effect peep shows, through
whose apertures visitors raptly gazed at famous scenes and buildings around the
8
@
_
!`
with “face-sized windows, each opening onto an individual, lighted-up scene,
@&
{&
=!
!
+
!
6
7
8
@
|
@
Catalogue or Guide Book of Barnum’s American Museum, New York, Containing Descriptions
and Illustrations of the Various Wonders and Curiosities of This Immense Establishment […]
#
+^
&
X&+
Z+
®
Q

"
!
!+
>!
\
_
Q&
!`
!
!
$!!^
Sights and Wonders in New York; Including a Description of the Mysteries, Miracles, Marvels,
Phenomena, Curiosities, and Nondescripts Contained in that Great Congress of Wonders,
Barnum’s Museum; also, a Memoir of Barnum Himself, with a Description and Engraving of
His Oriental Villa
#
+
|}
137
|}
`}
!
_
!
&
/`
!
!ther saloons included stuffed and live animals as well as “his Indian artifacts,
!
`10 The fourth saloon was the so-called
_">!
`
/
&
!
!
Q
!
'
!!
!
_$
!
=`
!
X
&
!
!\
_!
&`
!&
\
!
!
/
!
!
&
"
'
!
+&lights, beside a bubbling illuminated fountain, and beneath the rooftop aerial
&
!\
Z
_Z&
&`
&
%%&
_
+
`
!
+
!

|
!
!
!
&
!
!
/
!
@@@
|^
"
$!!
@!
%
/
"
$!!
!&
&
%
#!
&
/&
+
music-hall type acts, acrobats, and a wide range of curiosities had one central
}
10
@
|
@
138
!^
!11
Q
"
$!!\
!
the presentation of attractions is related in particular to the Wunderkammer
"

+
/
&
/
|~
|
!
_X!+
!
/
>!
/>!
+
!

%%
+`12
!\
!!
&
/
&
^
_Wunderkammern stunned
`13
"
magical effect of astonishment, it is typical for the dividing lines between natu
&
!
/
_#
&
Wunderkammern
&
!
&
&
!
objects that combined art and nature in form and matter, or that subverted the
&
+
!
!`14
Q
"
$!!
!
!!
&
/
and the Wunderkammer, although not in the sense of a historical continuity, but
!
/
!
!!
&
!!
"
!&
!&
mid-seventeenth century15
/

!
_
!&`16 served less to
!&
and entertainment effects per se

!
+
!
amusement, enjoyment, and consumption were the primary effects that were
!
!
/
Q!
&
/
&
&
&&
a multitude of performances, which were staged in particular with the living
!
11
12
13
14
15
16
_`
Q
!
_Q
"^
{&

@
"`
^
Q
{
Early Cinema: Space, Frame, Narrative,

|}}
~~

+

Wonders and the Order of Nature 1150–1750,
#
+
|}}
~
@
~
@

This was a period in which “the passions of wonder and curiosity interlocked in natural philo&

$!
!
!&

!cessive moments of seventeenth-century clichés describing how passions impelled and guided
!
`
@

@
|}
Q
_!&`
_
!&`
>!&
!
&
&
!\
&
"
$!!
>!
!
@
_!
!
\`17
!&
!
&
&
+
_`^
=±
!
!
soul which makes it tend to consider attentively those objects which seem to it
/&18
X
!
!
/
ture and the natural sciences, which were located at the boundaries of the norma
/
/
X
symbolic order their localization could in principle be reduced to the formula
_
`|} The presentation of wonders does not serve to
+
!
!&
!
Q
presentation strategies of these objects were centered on the magic triangle of
!&
!20
@
!
!
&
!
!
_
prima
facie candidates for doubtful facts and suspect observations,”21
/
_!`
!&
"!
!
!\
&
presentation and construction were accompanied by deliberate manipulation,
particularly in the form of narrative elements in advertisements and during the
/
!&
Q
lecting thus had as much a procedural character as the generation of discourses
/
Q
"
$!!
!&
!
!>!
^
_
&
&
&
>!
and possessing things removed from ordinary use and perceived as part of a set
/`22
"
!
_
/
!

-
17
|}
20
18
21
22
@|
@
@

+
!&
&
{&
$
^
_
!

admitted a spectrum of emotional tones or valences, including fear, reverence, pleasure, ap

'
>!
^
{
/
Bewunderung and Staunen in German,
±
`
@
|~
@

=!
X
+
Collecting in a Consumer Society,

#
+
|}}
~
140
!
`23
/
&
%%
!
!24 The
!
&
&
!>!
Q
'/
_/&`25 which can be supplemented
&
!
/
%
!!!&
!/
26
@
+
+
!
_!
^
\
+\
!\
!!!\
/&\
!\
!!\
+
`27
@
!\
!
+
&
&!
^
>!
!
/
/
@
&
could be characterized as a small “technology of wonder,” in the sense of Daston
+
_+
!
!
!
&
the psychology of wonder, drawing their emotional effect from their rarity and
&!
+`28 In
/
&
!
!&
_Q
+
!
&

!
`} This
/
>!
&
+
+&
!
"
$!!
Q&

_
/
+
\
`30
!\
&
"
$!!
!&
>!
!
!
/
&
/&
&

/
+
!
_%
!!
'
&
!
&
!
!
`31 The display of overweight and obese
23
25
26
24
27
}
30
28
31
+
Wonders

@

+
Collecting
|
/

_=
X`
^
@

Exhibiting Cultures: The Poetics and Politics of Museum Display,
X
|}}|
~
+
Wonders
|
@
}
@
}|

_
"
!!`
^
=!
!
$

Out There: Marginalization and Contemporary Cultures,
|}}
|||~}
"!
Z
/
P.T. Barnum. The Legend and the Man,
#
+
|}}

141
!!
/
&
&
Q
!
_

&`
!
|
_#
+

&`
|
_
X
&`
|~
_@
Z
`
Q
!
&
<
$+
!
!
/
Q
_
&
`
_!&
`

+
'
!!
&
+
!&
!
%
!/
@
!
"
&
!
/&
Z
!
+
_"
+
+

/
|

%
\

!
+\`32

|
a separate feature that never failed to intrigue children and their parents was the
_Z&
&`
!

+
+&
and an armadillo thrown in for good measure — that had been trained to tolerate
!
!
!
!osities — humans with a corporeality which deviated from the norm, such as gi
/
&
Z
!\
presentation of these people differ from typical freak shows?33
"!
cases the representation of abnormal bodies and the embodiment of the abnormal are based on very similar criteria, a differentiation between freak and living
!&
&
/
!
!
=

Q
/
/&
between the concepts of the monster, the freak, and the living curiosity, which
!
/&
!&^
#
!
|
+
&&!
!
&

X
!
!!
&
monsters shift into the category of curiosities
!&
!
>!
>!
&
!!
/&
&
32
33
@
||
=

Q
_@!^

X
{

"
&
+
!
$&`
^
@

Freakery. Cultural Spectacles of the Extraordinary
Body.
#
+

|}}~
||}
142
the ownership of such bodies from God to the scientist, whose Wunderkammern,
!
!!34
@
!
"
$!!
+&
!
"
+
!\
!&
!
/
!&
!
&35
$
!\
!!
_`
tering to the worst and most corrupt classes in the city and utterly lacking sci
!\
_!
!
!
/
`36
!\
&
/
_+`
!ed a very sophisticated strategy of show business, targeting the social status of
!

&
%
&
/
!
!&
!\
/
Q
!
"
$!!
founded on a special sociocultural orientation in which possibilities for social
!
&
!
^
&
!&
!
&
&
!
!
!
!
&
!
!
/
!!
!\
&
&%
!
&
!
!
37
Q
!
!
!
!\
!
!
Q
!
&
\
&
/
urban entertainment served an important social function and guaranteed its suc^
Those with the economic means could demonstrate their gentility through the trap
&
!
&
+
+
and others near the class margin unable to afford the costumes and rituals of the
34
35
36
37
@

$
!!
Die Ordnung der Dinge. Eine Archäologie der Humanwissenschaften
|}~~
+!$
|}}
||
New York Times
|~
>!
^

!
P.T. Barnum. America’s Greatest Showman
#
+
|}}

{
%
_Q
!\
Q
#!&
!!
{/`
^
Q
Freakery
}
143
emergent culture had to look elsewhere to convince themselves and others of their
&

"
&
!
on one side or the other of the class line, museums drew their audiences from
!

Q
!!
/

!
!/!
!
!
!!38
"
!!\
!
/
design of the rooms mentioned earlier — the symbolically coded spatial-archi!

!
/
!\
&
Z
of social status played a crucial role, namely, as an “environment of business
&`}
!
/
!
!
Z
!!
artifacts, stuffed animals, and mechanical marvels with many of the attributes
Q
&
!
/
&
&\
&^
_
!!\
&
!
&
&
>!&`40
{/
!
mentation and presentation in which the interior is both a model and a projection
Q
&^
&
!
>!
&
@
"
$!!
!
!
&
%
_
!
`41
@
/
²
"
$!!
!
!
^
Z
!
!
'
'
&
&
!!
"
'
!\
/
!
!
balcony, upon which guests could take in the air and at the same time inadver&
!
!
"&
&
!
!
!
&\
=
&
&
!
\
!
'
!
38
}
41
40
!
"
$
_$!!
&`
^
=
{
Q

$

The American Stage: Social and Economic Issues from the Colonial
Period to the Present, $"
|}}
~~
@
|
@

!
@

144
&
&
!
+

!!
\

!\
&
|
!!\
!
!&
!!
42
@
!\
the separation of highbrow and lowbrow cultural spheres which applied during
!&
!
!&
"
$!!
&
/
&
&
!
!
+
!
!
!+

|
&
$
!
=
!
@@@
^
"
$!!
$
!
Q
!
!
Q
!+
=
!
and the 1853 adaptation of Uncle Tom’s Cabin
_
!!!

Q`
Q
!istic settings and special effects, was represented by such plays as The Workmen
of New York, one scene of which was set in an iron foundry with working ma&
!!\
The Octoroon, with its burning steamboat at the
!
X
!
|~
!
+
_\
`

!
!
!&
onstage, could be projected onto inclined sheets of invisible glass — was at
the height of its popularity, a number of plays were presented that featured this
!
&
42
!
Q
! America’s Greatest Showman
~
145
"
!\
!!
&
!
%
&
!&
/
!&
!
!
>!
%
!
!
!!
!
!
!&
!
_`
!\
/
+
&
nineteenth century, relied on the direct stimulation of performance and appeal
of display, the inciting of visual curiosity and pleasure, and the solicitation of
attention through surprise and astonishment, as in magic acts or shows of giants
/
!&
"
/&
!&
!&
!
>!
&
!
&
&
!&
!
!
_`
Q
/
the manner in which they were presented provided the stimulus for a confronta
&
/
!

!
!
Q!
>!
_@
=*`
/
&
&

{
Z&
+
!
+&
>!
&
+
^
_@
&
&
!

X
&
Z!\
!

+
Q
!

"
'
#
+
&
\
Q
+
!
\
/
"
|
Q
!
&
!
#

\

"
+
'
!\
!>!

@
!!*\
+
$
!
Q\
!
>!
&
&
&
!
\`
43
Joice Heth and the Fejee Mermaid
&
!&
Q
!
!!&
/
!osities offering the audience the lure of speculations about their appearance as
well as their verisimilitude, which provided the foundation of their attraction at
"
$!!
@
!
&
!
&
43
{
Z&
+
After the Storm; or Jonathan and His Neighbors in 1865–6

|~~

146
+
+&
/
@
!
+
/
!
!
living curiosities and their performances were key elements of what could spe&
@
!
!
/&
&
&
!
!
!
@@@
^
Z
"
!\
!&
!
|
&
!

Z
&
|~|&
!&

X\
!
!
/
/
!^
!
!
&
&
&
!
!

/
!
+
!
&
health and spirits, but former disease or old age, or perhaps both combined, had
!

!
!
/
!
&
&
&
!+
+
&
!
+
!&
&
Z
&
147
Q
&
/
Q
!
!
!
/
Q
!
+
&
>!
44
This account basically conforms with the approach of racial discourse of this
time regarding black bodies, and especially an old female one, entirely acces
%
!
&
Q
/
!
&
/
!
!
ralysis of several limbs, is supplemented by bizarre details on the length and
+
X
!!&
!
!
&
>!
&
$+
+\
&
>!
"
X
&
>!
&
!

&

^
To begin with, the classical statue was always mounted on a plinth which meant
!
@
pedestal the classical body signaled a whole different somatic conception from
>!
&
!!&
!

!
&
&
&
!
of a transcendent individualism, “put on a pedestal,” raised above the viewer and
&
X
%
!
!
X
&

%
&
&
!

Q
!
>!
!
+
%
!
!
&
!+
Q
>!
&
%
!
!
!
/
&
/
Q
&
+
45
Q
>!
&
&
!
!
/
@
&
!&
&
&
&
_`
Q
&&

&
!
_`
Q
>!
&
!
&
&
/%
!
&
44
45
Q
!
The Life of P.T. Barnum, Written by Himself |
#
+
|}
||}
"

&
!
Struggles and Triumphs: or, The Life of P.T. Barnum, Written by Himself |~}
#
+
|}
/
&
"
X
The Politics and Poetics of Transgression,
@
|}~

148
&
X
!
!
>!
&^
_!&

/

&
+
!
/&
!
!
!
&

&
!

&
!\
&
&`46
_!
`
/
!
/
!
&
_
`
!
%
!
/&
!
&
Q
body seems to burst at the seams under the pressure of a recalcitrant physicality,
+
!
!
/
&
!
%
%
>!
&
+
&
!&
/!
&
!

/!
!
\
_
!
±`47
Z
!
/!
/
!&
&
'!
@
&
!
!&

_`
"
!
inside and outside, clean and unclean, proper and improper — lines of demar
!
!
&
&
!
Z
!
!
whelming effect of abjection, rendering the the embodiment of the deviation
&
!
Q
>!
&

Z
!
&
!\
&
!
!
!
!
+
!
!
/
"
Z\
!
&
!
#
+
#
{
48
Z\
!
&
!
46
47
48
@

!

Pouvoirs de l’horreur,
|}
_|~|
{"=

Q
/
!
&
|~|
&
&
X
&
X
&
%

she was then in that place attracting crowds of visitors, ‘as the greatest wonder now to be seen
\
Z

Z
Q
%
!
!
!
@

&
&
"!!
X

X
!
&
{
"
|
/
!
&

!&
!&
!

&
&
!

!
!
!
&
|}
of a narrative associated with the display of her body during and outside of the
@
!
!
time, which went beyond the physical characteristics mentioned and presented
&
!^
>!
!
\
!
!
_
`

Z\
>!
&
_`
&
X
>!
!/position, especially from the backdrop of the role of physical images of George
X\
&
!
!!
@
&
&
&

Z
&
X\
Q
&
+
&
&
!&
!
"!!
!
!
!
!
+
woman is nevertheless enhanced by her role in history, and, as a former slave
#
!
_X

Z
!
!
+

&%
!
marked the ironies of a nation that subscribed to the notions of the Declaration
@
&
!%
"
"
&`} Yet still other
&
!
Z\
&
!
!
!
!
Z
!
&
!
above all promoted public speculation,50 namely, “to potentially challenge the
!
!
&
`51
X
!\
+
<
/
*
!
/&
!
/
&
races? Does she have a particular patriotic value because of her attachment to a
!
*
!
*
!
!
/
!
^
={"Q
"QQ="Q@#
"Q
#@\

#"="{{
#{<@Q

=
QX
"
#{=

@
>!
/
@{
Z{QZ
#={

X"Z@#Q#
#\

!
+
!
!
/!
!
$
#

!
@{
Z{QZ

Z
!>!&
}
51
50
`

{
Q
!&
~
|
>!
^

=
The
Showman and the Slave. Race, Death and Memory in Barnum’s America

|
|
{
%
_Q
!\
Q
`
^
Q
Freakery
|
=
The Showman and the Slave
~
+
Wonders

150
!&
¨
"!!
X

X
!
sic] on
the unconscious infant who was destined to lead our heroic fathers on to glory, to
&
Q
!
!
+
&!

X
_Z{
="@{
Z@$¨`

Z
$
"
&
|~
>!&
#{
Z#={
®
@µQ#{
{"=¨¨¨
!
=Q@µ
#
&
&
!
!
!
&
sings numerous hymns, relates many interesting anecdotes of the boy
X
the red coats
®
!
&
+
Z
&
&
%

!
one hundred
and sixteen years ago, and takes great pleasure in conversing with ministers and
!
Q
!
>!&
+
beholder with amazement, and convinces him that his eyes are resting on the oldest
&
&
!
!
!
&

Z
&
52
Q
Z
/
&
>!
!

_&`
_
/
>!`
_
&`
&
/
!
!
Z
&
X\
_
`
Q
!
!!&
&
/!
object of nostalgia and longing, and whose body evokes both rejection and fas
!
&
\
_&
!
&
!&
/!
`53 Despite the importance of an accompanying discourse, it is
through images of the body that one can read the process — for the body is the
_`
@&
!
Z
/
!&
$+
_
#!
#
!&
X`
!
!
!&
_
`
!&
&
"!!!
X

X\
Q
&
!
&
+!
!
!
&
52
53
New York Sun
"!!
|
|
&
X
Transgression
|}||}
151
!
!
/
{
!
!
&
%
!
&
!
Q!
/
/
!
{

Z
&
!
!&
"
!&
body and ultimately her age was estimated to be 80 years, a fact which merited
the following headline in the daily New York Sun^
_

Z

!
Z!!
/`54
Q
>!
!&
/!
!\
/
&
!
Q
!!
+!
_/`
!&
"
!
!!
"
/
&
!!&
!
!
X
+
!
/
/
>!
!
!
!\
&
!!
!
/
=
"
+\
$
Z/55
X
\
!
/56
"
{
"
_$
Z/`
!

_
Z@Q
&
{#"Q@#`57 — which was disseminated in a series of newspaper articles
!
!
|
@
+
&

Z
!
"
"
+
Z
thus established nothing less than the fact that the moon was inhabited by a
!
!
"
numerous illustrations, appeared, in addition to buffalo- and goat-like creatures,
'&
54
55
56
57
New York Sun
!&

|~
{
"
_=
"
+`
_Q

#
+
&
#<@`
tober 1846, Godey’s Lady’s Book
|}|~
X
#

Q
“Moon
Story,” its origin and incidents; with a memoir of the author, and an appendix containing, I. An
Authentic description of the moon; II. A New Theory of the Lunar Surface, in relation to that of
the earth, #
+
|
+
$
\
The Story of The Sun.
#
+
|}
|~

=
_Q

$
Z/
|`54+X#

||
<
µ<@@
#
|}
|~|
&

The Moon Hoax, Or, A Discovery That The
Moon Has A Vast Population of Human Beings

|}

+
!
&
/^
_

!
&

!
!

!
'
%
/
!
&
!
!+
`

X
+
The Arts of Deception. Playing with Fraud in the Age of Barnum,
Z
|

_=
"
+`
|~
152
!
!
Q
_<`
!
+
%%&
_Q&
!
&
tures, notwithstanding some of their amusements would but ill comport with our
!`58
&
!
!
/
!
!!
@
!
!
!
/!
/
+
+
!
_Z!!&
"\
!
!`}
!
above all capitalized on the formula of “humbug-as-amusement”60 against the
+
Q
&
>!
!!
!
!&
/
_@
!&
&
!
!
®
attract attention to a show`
!
!
|~
!
_@
\
!
!\
!
@
®
`61

&\
!!
!
nipulative presentation and construction of bodies and objects, a strategy which
!
!\
/
_
$`
Z
&
_!
!
!
!&`62

!&
!
&
&
/
!
^
Engaged for a short time, the animal (regarding which there has been so much
!

{{{
${=$"@¨
&
&
+

@
&
&
&
!
&
!
!
/
&
!
&
Q
&
&
!
appearance of
&
&
&
!
+

!
when doctors
*
"
!
+
nature
or art, it is decidedly the most stupendous curiosity ever submitted to the public
@
!
!
art has
&
!
@
!
!
QZ{
={"Q{Q
=@@Q
@#
QZ{
X=63
58
60
61
62
63
}
!
+
$
\
The Story of the Sun
#
+
|}
|
+
The Arts of Deception

@

/
Barnum
||
+
The Arts of Deception,
}|
!
^
/
Barnum
|
153
Q
/
!
!
!
!
Q
!
&
!
!&
/
!
_
&`
&
+&
Q
&
!&
&
Q
/!
!\
!&
!

&
Q
!
+
&
!
+&
@
!&
!
/
!
!&
^
Q
+&
&
!
&
!
!
Q
a straight and apparently unbroken line to the base of the skull — the hair of the
!
!
!&
!
&
&
Q
hands differed materially from those of any monkey or orang-outang ever discov
&
+
!64
!
@@@
^
@
$
=
/
!&
/
&
+
effect, although this hybrid formation was probably more a chimera than a mon
Q
&
entirely to making the improbable appear possible, thus undermining the clas
/
"
_
&`
/
/
<
!!
!
/
!
!&
^
&
64
!
The Life of P.T. Barnum

154
"
/
!
&
+
X
!
>!
!
Z
!
!
!

!
#
+
!
Q
itself was assigned its own “proprietor,” presented as a visiting English natural
\
&!
#!
Z&
#
!
%
!&

$
/
&
!
/
65
Q

$
+
Z
!
!
&
!
&
!
&
/
!
&
!!
_`
/
!
newspapers, often including documents and evidence which emphasized the ac!
/

!
+
'!
/
!
&
!
&
!
Z
&
!
/
!
/
!
!
!&
!&
&
!
<!
!
&
!
!
&
!\
!&
!
!&
!
tion in a double sense, both as trying out the unknown and as seduction through
!
@
/
!
!
/
+
&
!
!
&
!
Interestingly enough, the effect of authenticity resulting from this process con!
!
!
"
!
!
!\
!!
65
+
!
&
_
+
&^
&
!
&
!
+
/
!
!!
&
&
encouraged its consumers to bring the distinctive epistemological dilemmas of antebellum
/

Q

$
&
antebellum market relations in a cultural setting — it was a publicly scrutinized form of those
`
+ The Arts of Deception
||
155
!
!
zen could discover the nakedness of the slave and the undisturbed functioning
¨
%
Q!
+&
&
!
&
_Q
Z!!`
!
tion of the “Yankee trickster” and clearly emphasizes his manipulative approach
!
_
!

&
\
#
+\
&
to distinguish illusion from reality is no longer an epistemological conundrum
!
&`66
66
{
%
_Q
!\
Q
`
^
Q
Freakery
}
'LVFRXUVHV9LVXDO'LVSOD\DQG6SDWLDO2UGHU
What Is It?
!
&
_X
@
@*`
Q
however, did not foreground speculations around the “appearances of reality,”
!
^
Q
!

!
&\

!
!
/
&
@
@
!
+
!
!\
not only a site of pleasurable entertainment but also a site of cultural negotia
'
!
!
&
!
&
!
Q
>!
!
&
'
!
"
&
!
!
&
&
+
!
!
!
!\
67
Q
_X
@
@*`
!\
!!
!+
&
!
"
X
@
!
/
&
!
which supposedly represented the missing link between man and monkey in
\
&
!
Q
>!
_X
@
@*`
&
show was meant to elicit a decision by the audience between the categories of
man, monkey, or something “in-between,” perhaps the missing link that Darwin
!
!
Q
_X
@
@*`
particular consideration, because it refers to a humanlike being in an objective
manner and thus not only accords it a subhuman status, but also involves the
key criteria of an ideological and normative evaluation of both the “racial” and
!
!
&
Q
&%
!
%
&
!
&
=
ous, for instance, where the “connecting link” is supposed to represent the low
!&
!
!
&
_
67
+
!
!
&
!
/
_"
!
&
issues of sectional politics, racial science, and social respectability began to serve as topics of
!
!
`
+
|}
=
"
Sideshow
U.S.A.: Freaks and the American Cultural Imagination
|
158
!
@@@
^
"
_X
@
@*`
"`
Z
&
#
!&
a result of their evolution, but not intentional racism (which does not make the
!
&
68 Thus the basis for the ideology of slavery was
!&

X
+
^
_
>!
+\
\
\
+\

and then used these distinctions as the basis for condemning blacks to a per
&`~}
Z
!
_X
@
@*

/

&

!&
+
#
!
|~`70 Yet the overall tendency of the advertisements for the shows is more
/
!
!
@
/
%
!
!
'
&
+
X
Q
&
68
~}
70

!

!
The Inhuman Race: The Racial Grotesque in American Literature and Culture
#
+
|}}
@
|
@
|
|}
!&
\
!

%
+
Q
!
|~
^
_Z
&!

&
&
!`
@
!
±
“good nature” of the black “man monkey,” then the last three characteristics
mentioned emphasize the entertainment aspect, which is supposed to become
_!&
!
`71
Q
!
"
$!!
!
/
_X
@
@*`
!
/
/
/
@
!
/
&
&
!
supposed to lie in the fact that the audience is confronted with a calculable risk
of categorical ambiguity and is incorporated into a game with the blunt edges of
@
!
&
!
!
&
@
!
_X
@
@*`
so-called “man monkeys” were presented, with an orangutan passed off as a
+
+&
Q
_
+&`
$
&
&
{
&
!
!
of the key advertising practice which had already proved effective, particularly
/

Z

$
Q
/
!
!
!
&
>!^
XZ"Q
@
@Q*
@
$"#*
$#{*
#
¨
@
&
!
QZ{
$Q
$"=<{
={"Q={
@<@#
@
!
"
&

&

="#
Q"#
#Q{#"#{
Z$"#
{@#72
!
!
+&
!
/
&
!
!
"

!
!
!&
Z&

&
&
!
!
!^
_Q
&
&
/
X
+
®
71
72
@
|~
Q/
&
!
@
_!\
&
X
#
|`
|~
#
~~|

#+
Z
&
160
!
@@@
~^

X
@
@*
!
X
!
!
`73
@
!
&
+&
&
_X
@
@*
_
@
%
&
/
!&
/
"
/
&

!
_X
@
@*
_
_X
"!
`74 as the missing
+
!
!\
!>!&
consisted in the attempt to make an evolutionary biological hypothesis appear
'

!
"
$!!
!
+
X
Z&

"
+
!
_«`
@
&
|~
!
&
!
!
!&
The illustration shows well-dressed white visitors standing relatively close to
_X
@
@*
_
"
+
Q
_$
$+&`
-
73
74
!
The Life of P.T. Barnum
||
@
}
161
&
+
!
Z
is grinning and his gaze is averted from the audience and seems to be directed
!
Q
\
+
+
!
!
!
!
&
!&
&
or cage appear in the picture that would act as a spatial separation and line of
!
Q
&

\
!
&
!
&
Q
&
_
`
is introduced here, a participating observation which is placed in direct and ac
/
Q!
!
&
75 The success of this
show was nevertheless linked with the promise of always offering well-ordered
observational situations, so that a visit to the connecting links of every sort in
"
$!!
&
!
+

/
!dience could safely assume that the creature, allegedly captured naked, would
&
!
#
!
!
/
!
!
&
Q!
!
/
!
"
+
!
&
/
!gested by accompanying discourses, but a precise mode of observation is also
!
Q
&
_X
@
@*`
>!
!
!
!
/
/
"
&
/
!
@
!
!
!%
!\
These and similar advertisements not only stimulate interest and anticipation,
!
/
!
/
!
!
!\
Q&&
>!
!
/
!
XZ"Q
@
@Q*

=
_$"#
$#{`
This is a most singular animal, with many of the features and other characteristics
Z$"#
=Q{
@
!
"
&
!
!

Q
75

&
Techniques of the Observer. On Vision and Modernity in the 19th
Century
$"
|}}
}
162
!&
"
!
!&
&
@
a connecting link
X@
#"Q@<{
"=@"#
"#
QZ{
="#
Q"#
Z
&!

&
&
pleasing, interesting, and
amusing76
/
!
!
&
/
!
!
_
+&`
Q
!
_+&\`
&
&
!^
_@
tions, the sound of its voice while laughing and crying, approach as closely
!

@
!
+
&
`77 The geographical details about
_
+&\`
!
!!
!
"
!&
_
&
`78
Q
/!
&
!
&
!
!
!
&
!
concentrate in a striking manner on the anatomical and physiognomic charac
/^
Its features, hands, and the upper portion of its body are to all appearances human,
&
!
&
@
&
/
'
!
@
&
%
!
>!
}
{
'!
!
&
racial sciences, especially eugenics, evolutionary biology, and ethnology, are
X
+
!
!
+
'!
&&
&
@
/
&&
&
&
!
Q
"
!
Q
!
!
!
!
!

Q
Q
@¨
Q
Z
X
@
@
&
Q
ears are set back about an inch too far for humanity, and about three fourths of an
76
77
78
}
Q/

X
@
@*
!&
!
$!!
!
<
!
!

@
!
+
|
New York Herald
$
|}
|~
|
163
!
Q&
!
+
!
"
&
&
!
+!
!
"80
Q
!
!
$
!
!
!
/plicitly calls for eyewitness testimony and assumes the readability of the visual
!
@
!
+!
!
_+
&`
Z
>!
&

&
!
&
>!
!
"
+
/&
!
!
@
!

!

!
!
!
!&
!
!
semiotic and symbolic orientation of the visual act, which, as a result of its abil&
_&`
>!
&
/
!&
!
&
Q
&
%
&
/
Q!
!
!
/
!
!
Q
/
!
&
&
allowing it to develop an impression in the imagination which can later be com
&
Q
!
Q
!
!
!
/
/
!
!
%
Q
!
!\
=
%
^
!
!
!
!
/
a recognition effect for a range of visible characteristics which have previously
&&
Q
_X
@
@*`
!
&
_
+`
Q
!
/
+
/
$
&\
which date from the 1860s, document the central elements in the presentation
of Johnson, who posed in an animal hide with a staff against a backdrop which
!
+&
!
&
a set of elements which had long been used as conventionalized signs of an
/
X
\
!
80
@
164
tion of his body in a black animal hide, was used in a conventionalized way in
>!
!
/81 The popularization of the
missing-link performance occurred essentially through the mass dissemination
of photographs, thus guaranteeing a medium-term presence for the event in the
_"
$
&\
traits, which were produced in the cheap carte-de-visite format, for sale as sou
+
!
"
photography historians have noted, such portraits of living curiosities comprised
a standard entry in new middle-class photo albums, often appearing in the same
&
`82
@
/
!
!
performance, the interplay of discursive, visual, and performative levels once
!

!
&
&
“Giving him a long staff to hold, as if the effort of standing alone on two legs
were too great for him, and shaving his head to accentuate the long, sloping
!
!

+
!
!\
!!&`83
!
&
!/
&
Q!
/

+
!
+&
!
+
!
&
!&
@
&
!

&
!
"
!
Z
!
+
!
!
!
ner of articulation which was pointed out to the audience as an indication of
>!
&
!
!&
Q!
!!
%
_X
@
@*`
&
based on a reciprocal interplay between visual and linguistic symbols which
Q
!!
&
showing guarantees the presentation of a conceptual framework which delin
&
/
Q
!
+
/&
!
!
In principle, the action of the show — the merging of performance and commentary — can be perceived as the interplay of discursive and physical-material
Q
!
_X
@
@*`
81
82
83
X
/
&
!
X
$
X
$!!
!
|}}
+
|~
@
|}
165
&
&
!&
&
&
/nation of the connection of speculative processes and binary oppositions which
!\
"
!!
X
Q
!
+!

\
Origin of Species — for an understanding of the show is undisputed but
/
Q
term popularity of the show with Johnson can be attributed both to the notoriety
&
!
&
!
@
/
&
!
!
!
an interplay of visualization and discursive strategies in order to encourage
!
&
!
&
/
+
/
!
!
+
/
"
$!!
_Q!
&`
_$!
X`
_"
$`
_
`
_
&`84 These hybrids between
man and animal, wildness and civilization, differed from Johnson, alias “Zip,”
and the other embodiments of missing links with respect to their status, how
Q&
!
!
!
!
!
!
!&
!
!>!
&
!
!!!
%
Q!
/
&
_X
$`
!!!
The success of the performance was based precisely on the vagueness — for
!
&

the speculative curiosity of the audience was supposed to be aroused again and
{
!
X
@
@*
&
+&
!

"
$!!
!
|~
!
!
!
!
!^
_`85 The term “nondescript” supported the rhetorical
&
&
!
!
84
85
/
Q
!^
Q

$
~
+
^
_
!
!

\
{
!
!
&
!
+`
+
_
$
$
+
#`
^
Q
Freakery
|
166
/86
"!
!\
to the shows there were repeated allusions to the hybrid or liminal status of the
_!`
&
!

+
!
&
!
!
!
_X
@
@*`
Q
!
&
/
!
&
%
&
!&
!
_#`
!
&
/
!

+
!
&

#
/&
&
&
!
!
!&
a distinct line of demarcation is successfully drawn between the characteristic
and the unknown, and once again as the category of the subhuman (as earlier, in

Z
_
`
_X
@
@*`
!
&
!
&
!
&
!
!+&
!
+
%
Q
the living curiosities which referred to their intelligence, eating habits, or details
of their physical appearance, such as their style of clothing or hairiness, were in
&
&
!!!
Q
&
were maintained and only thus guaranteed the functioning of the show, however,
!&
/
+&
@
the repeated and highly detailed description of the eating habits of the supposed
connecting link, reference is made to both the blurring of the demarcation line
!
&
!
%
@

|~
!
&
^
_@
'&
!
!
!
&
!

+
+
`87
"
&

!
|~
^
_X
&
86
87
+
!
&
!
|~
#
+
!+
&
!
!!
Q
+
^
“Sights and Wonders in New York; including a description of the mysteries, marvels, phenomena, curiosities, and nondescripts, contained in that great congress of wonders,
Barnum’s Museum.” Philadelphia Public Ledger

|}

"

Times
}
"!!
|~
"
!
&

&
#
|
<
~~
167
!
®
&

!
bread, cake, and similar things, though he is fonder of raw meat, or that which
+
`88 The adaptation to human eating habits and pleasures is
Z
%
}
@
/
+
_$+&
$`
_!
#`
_X
$
X`
!
how the boundaries between the natural and human order become previous to
'!
&
!!
+
!\
!
the living curiosities embody characteristics which appear to be possible and at
_!
&
!
^
!
!!
'!
!
/`}
+\
!
!
!
\
/
+!
X
!
credibility of their discourses and presentation strategies is rather that, although
!
!!!&
&
tions, these nevertheless form the indisputable epistemological basis for their
&
Circassian Beauty: Narratives of Slavery and Colonialism
Q
_
!&`
!
/
!\
|~
&
!
!&
!\
Q
!&
_/
`
!
/&
dangerous life either geographically or chronologically far away from white
"
/
_!
`
!

+
"
/&
!%
!
_+`
!
!!
world, and therefore, the myth continued, was in great demand in the slave trade
Q!+
!
Q
!
88
}
}
!
!
/
+
^
Q
#
+
Herald
$
|}
|~
!
!
The Raw and the Cooked
#
+
|}~}
_
&
&
!!
representation of hybrid black identity” and as a “test case through which to speculate on the
!&

"\
`
+
_
$
$
+
#`
^
Q
Freakery
|}|
168
!!
!
!
&
/
&
!!&
{!
Q
&
&
X
!
_
&
&!
%%&
!
Q!+
«!
"

{\
X
&

/!
!
!
!

!&
!`}|
$
/
!
&
&
/&
!
!
@@@
^
!&
&
&
$
&
@
!
!
/
/
!
+
%
Q
\
sentation and were disseminated at the same time as pamphlets, for instance,
under the title Zoe Meleke: Biographical Sketch of the Circassian Girl

the mid-nineteenth century onward both serials and dime novels were published
!
_Q
`
!\
!&
Struggles and
Triumphs: or Forty Years’ Recollections of P.T. Barnum, Written by Himself }
}|
}
@
||
Q
!
Struggles and Triumphs: or Forty Years’ Recollections of P.T. Barnum, Written
|~}
!
!

!
&
!&
"
!
!
&

Q!+
costume and learned a few Turkish words in order to gain access to the slave
trading as well as the harems, where he “ran a risk of detection many times every
&`
#
_
!
!!
`} The adven!

/
>!
Q!+
!
&&
!!
&
$
&
&
&
X
&
Q!!
!
!
!
>!
{
!
±
X
!
!
!&
&
\
_!&
&
&
!&
+`}
!
&
!
!
!!
&
&
Q
!
/
&
&
!!
&
+
+
X
&

+
!
_
!
`
!!
!\
&
&
process where women become objects of a gaze, in particular of a voyeuristic
%
!
&
+} The narrative
/
!
/&
&
&
!
\
&
!

!&
>!!
!
!
+
curiosity, a practice he supposedly opposed in his own country at this time, nev
!

!
!
_!&`

!
!
!
Q
!&\
!
!!
!
!
!
}
}
}
by Himself
|~}
!
Struggles and Triumphs
|
{
Orientalism
#
+
|}

$&
"
$

X

Re-vision

"
|}
|

%
!
$!&
<!
!
#
\
Screen
|~
"!!
|}
~|

Q
&
!\
}
!
|}}
|
170
!
!&
&
!
!&

«!
"
!
!
!&
!
!
X
!&
&
the Turkish harems, but was rather about to be sold when Greenwood arrived on
_!`
Z
_`
«!
&
&
!
!
"
=

&
&
!
!>!
!
!&
!!
!
@

!
!
&
_!&`
!}~
&
\
+
!
!
!
!
!
/
&
cassian, and he hired a young women with bushy hair, appropriating her dress,
!
!'

!\
!&
_!
&
+`
&
!
_
&
!
"
$
!
&`}
!
!
!
/
!
|
Zoe Meleke: Biographical Sketch of the Circassian
Girl, in which her place of origin, capabilities, manners, and other details of
/
&
'
!
!&
!
} Designed to comple
\
!
!
/
Q
«
$+
&
!
!
/
\
!
!
/
"
>!
/
{
+
!
&
\
\
!
!
&
tended to stimulate the colonial imagination of the reader, Zoe Meleke indicates
!
!
!&
«
&
"
!
!
!
&
&!
%^
_"
}~
}
}
=

>"/
8X$$
0
$+Z
|}

@
}

_Q
!&
^

@
"
!
{`
^
Q
Freakery
|
171
"
&
!&
&!
!!
`}}
«\
ticular talents are that she is well-versed in those “charms” that amplify “female
!&
`
_
`
&
_!&
`
!
_!&
&
!tion and classical culture,”100
!
«
&
/
!
!&
!&
!
&
"
&
X
!!
metaphorically speaking, an unclaimed territory which was once invisible and
%
>!
%^
The steady onward march of civilization will probably reveal […] amid the spurs
!

!
the product of her womb, may, even within the present century, be plowing the
&
101
Q
_!
`
!+&
&
_!
`
!
!
!
!&
&
&
&
Q
!&
ated here with the possibility of transforming the barbarian into the “civilized,”
!&
&
&
X
!!
>!
"
of these descriptions invariably invoke the rhetoric of colonization, of manifest
&
!&
_%`
"
!
Q
rhetoric aligns colonialist and paternalistic discursive strategies, ultimately con!
!
!
%
!
"
!
/
!
&
"
&
&
!&
!&
!
&
&
&
||
&
_!
$!&`
$!
$!&
!
The Circassian Slave: or,
The Sultan’s Favorite: A Story of Constantinople and the Caucasus102
$!&
%
/
&
!
}}
100
101
102
@
|
@

@
}

_$!
$!&
!`
^
$

Publishers for Mass
Entertainment in Nineteenth-Century America

|}

172
The Circassian Slave is in part such a tale, but it is also a
!
!
"
<
/
/
&
!&
$!&\
&
_
!&
!`
+
^
_Z
{&
!
"
!
&
/

`103
$!&
!
_
&+`
!
/
&
&
_&
as delicacy would sanction, yet leaving enough visible to develop charms that
Q!+
`104
&
&
!
/&
&
!
@
$!&
&
!
&
!/!&
Q!+
!
%
!
&
!\
!
+
^
!&
&
!
!
miracles of female loveliness, and whose level plains are the vivid scenes of such
!
!>!
&
&
=!
!
though the children of such brave sires, are yet taught and reared from childhood
to look forward to a life of slavery in a Turkish harem as the height of their am105
The Circassian Slave promotes an ideology of slavery which suggests that those
!
&
Q
&
%&
!/!!
Q
!
&

+
_
`
!
^
The costly and graceful lounges, the heavy and downy carpets, the rich velvet
+
!
!>!
&
!
slaves that laughed and toyed with each other, mingling in pleasant games, the rich
!
&
!
!
%%
!!
&106
103
104
106
105
!
$!&
The Circassian Slave: or, The Sultan’s Favorite: A Story of Constantinople
and the Caucasus

||
}
@
|
@
|
@
|
173
Days and weeks are depicted in the same routine of fairy-like scenes, where the
!\
&
&
!
&
!/!
@
\
_!`
!
!
!
'
107

!
"
<
womanhood, even though she is displaced and at the same time appealingly
&
/^
&
/
how frail and dependent is woman, while she bore in her face that sweet and win
/
&
%
!
!
/
!
+
!!108
Q
!&
!
%
!
_%`
'!
X
!&
"
!!
/
!
Q
!&
!
!&
/
!&
"
!!
!&
body and its control in order to secure their position as a colonial commodity in

/
%
!!
!
!&
Q
!&
!
&
!
!
/
<
"
Q
!
/
!&
/
!&
"
!
!!
'
Q
!
_`
!
%
/
!
!
!
!
!
!
"
!
!
!
!
&
{!
_`
!
!
Q
!
!
!
&
!!
/
!
_Q
!!
!&
!&
#
/&
!
/
!&
`|}
Z
!&
&%
107
|}
108
@

@
||~

_Q
!&`
^
Q
Freakery,

174
of an “endangered-yet-rescued whiteness,”110 which was at the same time linked
_
!&`
=
!&
%
!&\
!&
+
&
_!`
!
!
&
!!
!
the most primitive stock of the white race, but also a kind of cultural ambassador
!
!
&
&
=!
_`
Q!+
@
&
&!
#
\
"
&
&
_+`
!&
_!`
!
!
@@@
^
!&
&
&
$
&
Q
!&
!
&
%
!
!
!
&
_
&`111 The
poses and settings of the performances and cartes-de-visite photographs have an
/
!
&
&
&
!
+
Circassian Beauties and
sold and circulated in the latter part of the nineteenth century represent these
&
Q
!
!&
&
%
!
/
!
110
111
@
@
175
say about her, that she is charming, delicate, intellectual and most important&
!
!
<
"
X
&
!&
!
!
=
&
&
&
!
&
%
±
/
!
!
^
!
!&
Q
&

&\
!
!&
/
!
Q
!&
&
!
/
!112
Q
!
!
&%
however, but part of a hybrid amalgamation of various discourse strands, par!&
!
_""
\
!!
/!ality” as “mythic cultural stereotypes that nineteenth century audiences would
&
!
`113
"
+
+
!\
visual colonialism functions above all on the basis of the amalgamation of various discourses, resulting in the construction of an object representing racial and
!!
"!
/
!
<
&
!
&
!
!
&
&
Q
&
!
!\
!
Q
&%
!
!
!
!
&
Q
!
&
!
!
/!%
/
!
!
+
!
!
&
Q
!
!&
!
'/
perpetuum mobile which could evoke a wealth of as
!
Q
!&
!!
<
"
&
!&

%
<
"

%
""

&
!&
!\
!
!
!
+
X112
113

+
}

_Q
!&`
}
176
&
|
&
+
"
!raphy, Struggles and Triumphs
|~}
!
/
&
%
_
#`
_{
`
Q
an apparently encyclopedic interest in representing all possible ethnicities and
^
_
#`

!
&
@
!
could be procured, from every accessible people, civilized and barbarous, on the
@
!&
{!
+
!
_`
!
{
@
/
!
!
&
114
Q
&
/
&
^
#
!!
!\
&
!

=
Z
#
+
&
|
{
!
|
!

/
!
|
|
@
Q
!\
|}|
!
!
!
!
!
"
!&
/
115
&
!
$
&
'
&
+
!
!
&
!\
human attractions were the ornate wagons and cages that carried them, whose
sideboards bore giant mirrors framed with intricately carved and gilded allegori
!
{
!
/
>!
!!
&
&
\
Q
/
!
These late spectacles highlight a remarkable coincidence between perfor
>!
&
X
!
P.T. Barnum’s Roman Hippodrome Advance Courier
|
^
_Q
persons chosen to represent the royal and celebrated individuals in this vivid
pageant are selected with great care, so that each shall closely resemble in face
114
115
!
Struggles and Triumphs
|
!
"
_"
!!
$
{
Q
!
Z
!
||}|`
^
American Literary History
|
|}}~
~
177
&>!
`116
X
!
!
&
{
X
!
!
++
Q
#
!
!&
!
!
{
!
X

{
&
%
Q
!
%
!
!

+
Eastern rulers over the bodies of women representing for instance harems are
!
&
&
\
>!
X
!
#
+
|
New York Tribune
!
\
tal costumes to indicate that there was something disturbing about the white
>!
@
\
_
`
#\
&
&
@"^
$&
!
&
tives of distant countries, and their downcast eyes and uncertain gait might have
been attributed to sad memories of native lands far away, but that their occasional ejaculations evinced a surprising familiarity with the vernacular albeit tinged
&
!117
Q
&
!
X
their downcast eyes, these “Eastern rulers” are the ridiculed objects, rather than
&
!
!\
%
+
\
_`
&
+
_
Q!+`
!

&
+
!
!
'
!
!\
Q!
&
{
white male body, and the ideology of manhood it symbolized, had an almost
/\
&
!
Heterotopia. Visual Experience of Difference
@
"
!!
!&
"
$!!
/
!!!
/
&
!
&
!
116
117
P.T. Barnum’s Roman Hippodrome Advance Courier
!
|

_"
#
`
New York Tribune

#
|
|
178
Q
/
+
!!
>!118 since it functioned both
!
+
/
&
'
@

\
!
/
/
||}
@
!!\
&
&
!!
&

/
and that are formed in the very founding of society — which are something like
counter-sites, a kind of effectively enacted utopia in which the real sites, all the
other sites that can be found within culture, are simultaneously represented, con
+
!
!
&
&
!
!&
&
'
+
!
@
&
&
!
120
"
+!
"
$!!
!!
/
space in which the boundaries between reality and illusion are blurred again
and again, and the public can unfold its speculative curiosity about the reality
!
/
+
!\

&\
!
&
>!
/
between deceptive and genuine — or deceptively genuine — perceptions of re&
&
&^
!
!&
&
'
!
&
"
"
$!!
!
participated in public debates on slavery and the biological and cultural status
#\121
Z
\
/
!&
&
!
!
!
"
"
!%
&
!
&
!
!
!
/
Q
!
"
$!!
&
118
||}
120
121
$
!!
_
`
|}~
^
#
$%

The Visual Culture
Reader

#
+
|}}
|
@
'!
_<+¢!
"¡\^
+
!!
|}
!`
^

Z
X

Verkörperung
}
!!
_
`
}
_!\
!
\
!
!
!!
"
`
+
The Arts
of Deception
|
|}
%
@
!
!
/perience does not depend on the use of apparatuses, but is tied to the processes
&
!
!
/
Q
!

&
&%
!
the nineteenth-century observer,122 a shift to a “corporeal subjectivity” where
&
_
!
/`123 The movement
!
!\
!
!
&
!
%
%
+
Q
%tion of looking takes place as a non-linear movement from object to object,
&
Q
!
/
!
/
^
/
&
'´!
+

%
/
@
'´
visual practice historically coincident with — but in one central aspect antitheti

%
+
&
'´
!
!
!
%
&
'!
&
%
"
!
%
%
"
$!!
!
!
/
Q
!
objects gain new value not simply through their performative mise-en-scène, the
+
/
&
!
!
!
/
Q
/
!
looking, or stronger, scopophilia, that is both curious and speculative, and in this
&
!
!
Z
>!
%
"
$!!
!\
!
/^
$&
/\
+&
!
!
/
+
The audience — and this is clearly the goal of the staging strategies — is confronted with an object of speculation that calls out for the projection of a range
&
!
@
!
!
!
&
+
Q
!
!
&
the visual and the discursive level and encourages the switching of viewpoints
!
!
'/
/

@

+
/
@
122
123
&
Techniques of the Observer

@

180
!

!\
&
ures, but especially as unthreatened surfaces for the projection of a speculative
%
Q
%
!
!
!
nally contradictory evolutionary, racial, and political discourses of the day onto
!
/
X
!\
!
&
>!
&
&
&
/
!
Q
!
%
becomes particularly clear if we consider the construction of the “nondescript
`

&
/
/&
!
!
@
!
+
&
!
!\
&
\
permanent trace and tabula rasa write themselves and thus occupy the territory
!
!
Q
%
!+
the surveilling or voyeuristic gaze, is able to appropriate and control the objects
@
{
&
%
!
=
%
!
/
&

&\
/
+
&
\
%
!
%
+
/
!
@
projective gaze, pleasure in looking is united with speculative processes, rec
/
&
Q
!
&
X
!
!
_'!
!
`124 The projective gaze as the crucial form of the modernization of
"
$!!
!
!&
%
X{
!
\
/
_!
!`

!&
%
_
+
!
&`125
"
&
!
ject, and projection surface, the acts of projective looking also shed new light on
the relationship between strategies of discursivization, embodiment, and visual%
!\
/
!
discursivization and visualization, along with embodiment practices, are inter+
!!&
@
/!\
Q
>!&
!
&
!
!
narrower sense play a special role in the initiation and management of recogni124
125
&
X
Transgression

X{
!

The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches
#
+
|}
|
181
tion effects, appropriation strategies, and imaginary processes — in short, in the
/
$
!!
proach to understanding the dynamics of discursive practices in L’archéologie
du savoir
Z
!
!
!
!!
!\
+
!
&
+
@
&
&
conditions according to which a practice is carried out and according to which
!&
126
@
!
!\
&
+
!
&
/
!!
!!&
>!&
Q
&
&
©
&
/

!\
&
!
!%
!%
Q
!
&

/!

!
&
tions, where the deployment of discourses is marked by a variable dynamics of
Q
and the discursive formations is neither dominant nor subordinate, but one of
!!
&
Q
!
!
!
!%
{
implies a shift from a logic of representation to a logic of presentation, even if
&
!
@
!&
!\
&
!
%
!
!
'!
+
&
Q
!
!&
&
!
&
!!
!
Q
"
$!!\
!!
!
/
!
!!
!&

"
$!!
+
!!
&
!
!
!
!
ranged scenarios in which the problematic of addressing differences is opened
!
&&
!
!!
{
!%
/
/
!
!
/
Q
!
/its becomes a cultural practice when discourses to describe the symbolic order
+
&
126
$
!!
L’archéologie du savoir
|}~}
|
182
!\
&
&

!
/
"
!
sense, including the potentials of imagination as well as the act of seeing in the
%
Q
!
/
%
!!
!
&
!
Q
/
+
'
'
!!
!
'
/
Q
!
+
+
!
/
!!
!
/
difference, which generates an ambivalence of fascination and resistance, attrac
!
!!
'
Q
"
$!!
!
!
self and other which ultimately helped the white middle classes reassure them
!
/
127 In
Tropics of Discourse,128
Z&
X
!
&
_`
&
\
/
/
&
!
/!
+
%
!!!
X\
"
&\
!!
!&
+
_
&
`|} The program of civilization, as the central ideological program of collective identity formation in the second half of the
nineteenth century, fostered this mechanism of identity formation processes by
/!
Q
!&
!
!!
Q!
&
&
/
!

&
!
&
130
127
128
|}
130
@
=
_
"
"
!
%`
^
¢
Z!
"
$
$¬

Die Wiederkehr der Anderen
@$!!
¬
!
«¬

«¬
|}}~
~
Z&
X
_Q

X^
"&
@`
^
@
Tropics of Discourse. Essays in Cultural Criticism

|}
||
@
|
"
+
!^
_Q
/
!
!
!
lent statement after another — precisely what the new middle class had denied itself so agres&
^
&
\
&
!&
\
`
+
Arts of Deception,
|~
X
!&
!&
=
&
%
!
constituted only in the “heroic struggle” against the “inherent,” “dark” desires in the transgres-
183
Z
!
!
!
"
$!!
!
!
'!
and other, but a terrain of the construction and mise-en-scène of commensurable

&
!
objects of speculation and curiosity, and not as a potentially scandalous pub

/

@
!\
&
/ence somewhere between shock and aura, offering the pleasing opportunity to
/
Q
tertainment allows a pattern of the cultural perception of difference to take shape
which remains indebted to ambiguity and thus to an imbrication of distancing
¶
/
Q
/
!\
"
$!!
!
!
&
/
!
!!
the interaction between perceptions of self and perceptions of the other — and
!
!
!

!\
/
elaboration may be traced back to premodern societies (whose foundations, like
in the case of the Wunderkammer, are historically situated in the seventeenth
!
&!
&
!!
Z
&
main means of collectivization of an imaginary — a common and homogenized

!&
"
"
+
/ples of shows analyzed, this process of homogenization takes place by gradually erasing the differences from within so as to accentuate the differences from
!
!\
&
!
@
/
each viewer is ultimately compelled to identify his or her particular belong
&&

!
!\
&
!
!
!

!
!!
!
!
/
&
/
as a project which seeks to enable the viewer to separate and distinguish be
_\`
"
!
&
/&
!
>!
>!!
&
!
&\
!
!&
/!
^
=
&
White. Essays on Race and Culture
#
+

|}}

184
$
&
^
&
!
!
>!
!
@
&
&
!
&
!

Q
&
!
!
&
!
!
>!
!
&
!
!
&
^

These nonhumans possess miraculous properties because they are at one and the
same time both social and asocial, producers of natures and constructors of sub
Q&
+
&131
Z
!\
/!
!&
!&
!
&
!!&
&
!
/
!
Z&
>!
>!!
&
ply with the “measured” abstraction of the ideal yet largely invisible picture of
X
!\
"
$!!
>!
+
^
/
&
*
!^
!
!
>!
/
!*
Z&
&
/
+
negotiations, mediations, and intermediate organizations between the particular
!
!
!!
X
!
/!
!
!!&
+
&
own right, develops an aesthetics of negotiation which is the temporary locus
&&

/
@
however, to keep in mind the contingent and contradictory nature of the negotiations of difference it underlies (because of their attachment to often stereo&
!
!!&
!
+
!
!
X
"
$!!
of repulsion and attraction, yet not attachment, ultimately establishing a clear
distinction between “us” and “them,” and thus following the basic paradigm of
%
131
!
!
X Have Never Been Modern, Z
|}}
|||
IV. The Real World on Display
at the Chicago’s World Fair 1893
6WDJLQJ7RWDO9LVDELOLW\
Mapping: Showing It All
The World’s Columbian Exposition, held in Chicago in 1893, was a landmark
event in American history and culture. Named in honor of Christopher Columbus, the Fair was a means of celebrating the 400th anniversary of Columbus’
discovery of the New World and promoting the progress of man in science,
industry, and culture since that historic event. The Fair was immensely popu

!
!!
!
!
Frederick Douglass, Ida Wells, Eadweard Muybridge, Henry Adams or W. D.
Howells. People from various backgrounds all over the country participated in
what was promoted as the greatest cultural and entertainment event in the history of the world. The frontier was closing, immigration, technological advances,
and the railroads had changed the face of the country, and suddenly “American`
!
"
'
America in the 400 years since Columbus, the Directory sought to present a
"
!&
!!
commercial, and technological leader.
This positive national ideology is not unusual in the history of the country,
but the 1890s were a restless decade — the upbeat spin was a positive face on
the frightening social changes at the end of the nineteenth century. The 1890s
were a time when Americans were undergoing the sometimes painful shift from
an agricultural to an industrial society, bombarded with images and the reality
&
!
Q
\
&
large part, an attempt to assert a sense of American unity as a bulwark against
the fear of change through pride in the country’s accomplishments. It attempted
"
!
&
themes and artifacts still prevalent in American life: the connection between
technology and progress; the predominance of corporations and the professional
class in the power structure of the country; the triumph of the consumer culture;
and the equation of European forms with “high culture,” as well as the more
lowbrow legacy of Juicy Fruit Gum, Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer, Ragtime music
or Quaker Oats.1 The World’s Columbian Exposition was the perfect vehicle to
explore these immense changes while at the same time celebrating the kind of
society America had become. Memorialized in songs, books, buildings, public
1
See Lawrence W. Levine, Highbrow/Lowbrow. The Emergence of Cultural Hierarchy in America. Cambridge 1988.
188
The Real World on Display at the Chicago’s World Fair 1893
statuary, city parks, urban designs, and photographs, the Fair was intended to
frame the world view not only of the hundreds of millions who attended this
spectacle, but also the masses who encountered the Fair secondhand.
Figure IV. 1: Map of the Fair
This monumental attempt at a paradigmatic ordering and a totalizing representation of American reality manifested itself most clearly in the overall design of the
grounds. The concept and the mapping of the exhibition is basically sustained by
the ideal that it is able to constitute a coherent representational universe. Thus
/\
^
the metonymic displacement of part for whole, item for context; and second,

and time in such a way that the world is accounted for by the elements of the
exhibition. Decontextualization and displacement allows the objects to exist all
at once and all in one place, a constellation which could not otherwise exist. Obviously what must be suppressed in this case is the privileging of context of origin, for the elements of the collection are, in fact, already accounted for by the
world. Display in its representativeness is a repeated metonymic displacement
of fragment for totality, object to label, series of objects to series of labels, that
produces a representation somehow adequate to the modern nineteenth-century
universe. Such an ideal is the result of an overwhelming belief in the notion that
189
ordering and classifying, that is to say, the spatial juxtaposition of fragments,
can produce a representational understanding of the world. The model is thus the
realization of an essence forged into a visual experience that would synthesize
and transcend its fragmented character.2 Starting from assumptions of a possible
equation in re-presentation, the topography of a map stands in mimetic relation
to the larger “corporeal” universe. The concept of mapping — the use of a topographical and spatio-temporal arrangement as a model of the whole — implies
another key example of interplay between performative and visual strategies.
In the following I would like to set out the special role of architectural dispositifs and discursivizations around the World’s Fair, and to sketch the Fair’s
construction as a city of experience. The design of the grounds as a representative model of reality implies a comprehensive strategy of construction, mise-enscène, and aestheticization of sites in the city of experience. Spatiality here plays
a decisive role in the way the exhibits appear, both in the grounds of the Fair and
in the architecture of the individual buildings. The site as a whole is composed
&
&
!!&
relationship to the symbolic order. This attempt to propose a model ordering
that allows comprehensive orientation within the symbolic order makes reality
seem intelligible and potentially governable. At the same time, the operations of
displacement and re-placement — for example quite simply as the shifting of
dimensions of magnitude — determine the principles of symbolic ordering and
Q
\
!
&
!
&
possibilities of visual perception. This is because, within the model, the work of
symbolic appropriation is carried out by means of the eye, or more precisely by
means of an encyclopedic gaze obsessed with the notion that all phenomena can
be fully grasped and represented through visual experience. This is, not least,
a manifestation of the much-cited “frenzy of the visible,” indicating that the
whole world becomes visible in as much as it becomes appropriatable. This also
means: reality becomes appropriatable in as much as it becomes visible. What I
want to stress is the organizational and regulatory work of the Fair’s design as
a model of reality that offers a framework for action in which perceptual processes are carried out as cultural practices. The design of the Exposition thus
2
There is a parallel for instance in: “A monumental reproduction of the Garden of Eden. In

X
\
&
!&
sanctuary of nature. Founded just after the Civil War and dedicated to popular education and
"
$!!
#!
Z&
!+
genesis, this regeneration.” Donna Jeanne Haraway, “Teddy Bear Patriarchy: Taxidermy in the
Garden of Eden, New York City, 1908–1936”, in: Primate Visions. Gender, Race, and Nature
in the World of Modern Science, London 1989, 26.
190
!
/
visitors to experience the world represented in a spatio-temporal image.
The grounds of the Exposition incorporated two of the city’s public parks
and were bordered in the east by Lake Michigan. This was considered an advantage in terms of both transportation and architectural opportunities: the open
lake could be used as a backdrop to the prestigious exhibition architecture and
demonstrate openness to the world, even though the city had no direct access
to the sea. The chief architect was Daniel H. Burnham, already well-known in
Chicago through several ambitious skyscraper projects. In contrast, his vision of
the Exposition — the overall design of the grounds and buildings — ran counter
to this background, drawing instead on the urban design ideals of French classicism. Burnham’s idea was to combine zones of different characters within
the framework of the fairground as a whole. The central section of the grounds
is Burnham’s “White City,” where he wanted to locate the great buildings on
technology, science, and industry immediately adjacent to the entrance area.
Burnham set out strict formal guidelines for the design of the buildings. They
were to have uniform white façades, their ornamentation expressed in a classical formal language, and to culminate in a single cornice height. Their positions
&
!
!
Q
'
surrounded by a strip of lawn, and around that ran straight, avenue-style paths,
separated from the water and lawn by low balustrades. The basin, together with
the “Court of Honor” to its west, formed a west-east axis between the main
entrance and Lake Michigan. Around the basin were grouped the buildings, in
!
of the participating countries were to be exhibited. To the north of the basin were
the Mines Building and the Electricity Building, as well as the Manufacture and
Liberal Arts Building (the largest in the Fair). To the south of the basin were the
Machinery Hall and the Agriculture Building, with one annex each. In the west
this ensemble closed with the Administration Building.
To the east of the basin stood a series of colonnades which formed a semiopen boundary to the White City. Further to the east came a casino and a music
pavilion directly on the lake shore, then a pier with a moveable sidewalk, another technological attraction of the Fair. At the eastern end of the basin was a
huge gilded sculpture, an allegory of the Republic by Daniel C. French. At the
!
!!\
'
!
!
&
The Court of Honor that adjoined the basin hosted large-scale events such as the
welcoming ceremony or festivities to celebrate Chicago Day. In other words, the
Court of Honor was repeatedly made the location of superordinate events in the
World’s Fair and thus became its spatial and symbolic center, where the unity
of the grand spectacle was demonstrated and assured. The architecture formed
191
an appropriate framework for this kind of synthesizing effect: within the White
City different dimensions prevailed from those in other parts of the Fair, as the
space opened up into wide vistas and the buildings’ gigantic size suggested the
historical authority of an apparently suprahistorical classical style. In contrast to
the buildings in other sections, in many cases distributed in an ‘unplanned’ way
or tightly packed together (as was the case of the individual state pavilions in the
northern part or the innumerable small buildings on the Midway Plaisance), this
section of the grounds was marked by unmistakable stylistic cross-references
between the buildings. The human masses who arrived here might cause crowding, but an impression of chaotic profusion was unlikely to arise, thanks to the
clear axial segmentation of the space, the intelligible structuring of the grounds
through a hierarchy of main and secondary buildings, and the creation of additionally segmenting visual axes. Here, too, we can thus describe Burnham’s
intention as the production of controlled diversity framed by the superordinate
unity of his architectural manifesto.
In other sections of the grounds, Burnham’s plans followed different principles. Various water features had been set into the site before building work
began; apart from the basin in the Court of Honor, with its straight edges, in the
!
&
!
(‘natural’) banks, and a branching system of canals. An island was built in the
lagoon, housing a Japanese garden. At the level of the lagoon there were several buildings (the Horticultural Building, Woman’s Palace, and the U.S. Government Building) architecturally oriented on the neo-classical architecture of
the White City — but the group was smaller in scale and stood apart from the
center-piece of the Exposition grounds. To a certain extent, the prestigious air
of the White City buildings was here transmuted into natural idyll: pictures of
the Palace of Fine Arts on one ‘lake shore,’ for example, can be directly com
!
'
!
Z
@
the north, however, the buildings were ringed by open lawns instead of railed-in
areas, and ‘gentle embankments’ instead of cement enclosure. The variations on
the water motif and the stylistic echoes of the White City buildings belonged,
like the associated gradations from pomp to romanticism between the different
areas, to the overall design concept and as such created a calculated impact.
In the north of the grounds, Burnham deployed the existing routes through the
park to the same effect. This is where the pavilions of individual countries and
states were located. The general aim of their architecture was a ‘characteristic’ representation of the countries involved (so that, for example, the German
Pavilion was built in half-timbered style), and irregular paths through the area
determined their relationship to each other and to the visitor. The state buildings
!
!
192
pathway ran right through the site, branching off in the eastern part of the area.
Burnham was evidently aiming for visitors to explore the grounds in the form
of a relaxing walk: instead of highlighting individual items, the area invited the
visitor to stroll past the mass of buildings. The use of paths, along with the preference for small-scale segmentation, points to the tradition of English landscape
gardening, which Frederick Law Olmsted also applied in other park designs.
One of its premises was that park landscapes should be designed to seem as
‘natural’ as possible, including the production of ‘interesting’ vistas into and out
of the park, for instance by means of meandering routes. Individual monuments
or buildings were supposed to be discovered as if by accident and the fact of
careful architectural planning to be concealed. On the banks of the ‘North Pond,’
a small offshoot of the lagoon, there were two larger buildings in the northern
area, the Palace of the Fine Arts and the Illinois State Building. Both picked up
the design principles of the White City, and in the context of the northern section’s smaller state buildings they were impressively staged as foregrounded
‘showpieces.’ They were larger than the surrounding buildings and stood apart.
The arrangement of the structures around them (for example in the Palace of
the Fine Arts area) was subordinated to the symmetry of the ensemble, unlike
the more ‘chaotic’ distribution of the northern section’s other buildings. By producing a contrast between palatial architecture and ‘wilderness,’ an opposition
of ‘architecture’ and ‘landscape’ was posited along a hierarchical scheme: the
‘natural’ environment seemed actually to be ‘giving way’ to the grand buildings.
Along the western edge of the Exposition grounds, almost perpendicular to
its main axis, ran the mile-long entertainment boulevard ‘Midway Plaisance.’
The area was divided up into plots dedicated to the various public attractions.
These included, for example, ‘cities’ or ‘countries’ like “Little Vienna” or “A
Caucasian Village.” Among the most popular with the visitors were a mosque,
a replica Bedouin camp, and “Cairo Street” — a reproduction of an Egyptian
shopping street. Many of these portrayals were highly exoticizing; in some cases

/
!!
presentation and ethnological exhibition), while in others the public was enticed
by an authenticizing mise-en-scène (e.g. the simulation of everyday practices of
the Caucasian village’s ‘inhabitants’). In comparison with other areas, this sec
!
!^
&tic program dominated the architecture and the grounds were not specially laid
out (unlike the paths which offered a stroll between the government buildings
in the northern part of the main grounds), but followed a simple segmentation
into plots. As Thomas J. Schlereth describes the racialized spatial logics of such
exhibits on the Midway Plaisance at Chicago’s Columbian Exposition of 1893,
“ethnic” displays were arranged along the periphery of the fairgrounds, around
193
the center of the Exposition, which celebrated Western European triumphs in
science, industry, and art.3 Outside this Greek- and Roman-inspired Anglo-Saxon “White City,” ethnic displays in the Midway Plaisance were arranged according to their imagined proximity to Anglo-Saxon culture. The Teutonic and Celtic
races, represented by German and Irish exhibits, occupied the Midway territory
closest to the White City center of the Exposition, while the Mohammedan and
Asian worlds stood farther away, and the “savage races,” including Africans and
North American Indians, remained at the farthest reaches of the Midway. The
architecture of the Midway was marked most of all by variety, and peripheral
areas were more closely integrated into the design of the attractions than in the
other parts of the Exposition. Halfway down the boulevard was the Ferris wheel,
one of the Fair’s greatest crowd-pullers.
It seems useful here not just to examine the individual sections of the grounds
in terms of their different design principles, but rather to consider their interaction in the framework of the overall plan: evidently, the Columbian Exposition
was to be realized on a site that offered distinct zones to serve as backdrops to
different kinds of exhibitions and events. Burnham’s plan can be described as
a combination of landscape design and prestigious exhibition architecture. His
notion of an ‘ideal city’ (as it would later be set out in his plans for redesigning Chicago) involved a unity of buildings as the site’s center, while this strict
regularity would be balanced by the more free and ‘picturesque’ design of the
peripheral sections. Schematically laid out, carefully constructed ‘urban’ areas
alternated with an apparently natural landscaping. The individual sections were
dramatized in very different ways, yet remained fully integrated into the overall
concept; Burnham’s plans thus created a site that was at once both varied and
!
\
+
'!
&
{
gardening, which focused particularly on the creation of interest, for example
by means of meandering pathways that offered a gradual and surprising exploration of the grounds. The central section (the area around the lagoon, above the
White City) also takes the shape of a combination of landscape experience and
architecture.
The central zone clearly illustrates the fundamental conception of Burnham’s
designs. The overarching idea includes both landscape gardening and presti3
It should be mentioned that there is almost no description of this area in contemporary accounts
of the “Columbian Exposition.” Even comprehensive descriptions deal primarily with the attractions of the fairgrounds in this respect. In connection with the “Midway,” for example, Our
World’s Fair shows illustrations of staged scenes or “picturesque” moments with appropriate
captions (such as “The Samoans in front of their hut” or “The house with the Bedouin camp”),
whereas in all other areas accounts of the fairgrounds are kept distinctly separate from a description of the exhibition objects/public attractions.
194
gious architecture; the use of different architectural principles in different areas
allows a strongly contrasting dramatization of the various ‘areas of experience’
(an example would be the imposing grandeur of the White City contrasted with
the lagoon island and its dreamy gardens) — something that is achieved in a relatively limited space. The lagoon island was laid out as a Japanese garden and a
rose-garden, and opposite it the Horticultural Building dominated the space. The
structures around the lagoon were larger than those in the northern part. They
were discrete buildings, in some cases with their own grounds, arranged around
the lagoon but without forming an architectural ensemble as did the pavilions of
the White City. The spatial connection between them was created mainly by the
water — and thus apparently ‘naturally,’ in contrast to the explicitly architectural schema of the Court of Honor area. To the north of the Horticultural Building was the Woman’s Palace, also on the lagoon shore and considered by many
visitors to be the most beautiful and well-proportioned building in the grounds.
Some buildings in the central zone can be counted as part of the White City ensemble (such as the U.S. Government Building, which stood on the eastern bank
of the lagoon and to its south gave directly onto the Liberal Arts Building, one
of the main structures of the Court of Honor). To this extent, we can describe the
central zone as a skilful synthesis of ‘natural’ design with small-scale segmentation, which predominated in the north, and the prestigious architecture around
the Court of Honor. The motif of imposing architecture on the water is picked
up here as well (in the Horticultural Building, the U.S. Government Building,
the Fisheries Building, the Woman’s Palace). The central area (the lagoon and
its surrounding buildings) thus forms a transitional zone between the prestigious
exhibition architecture of the White City and the more landscaped design of the
northern section.
To the south of the White City was the agricultural exhibition area, whose
stables and pigsties took up little space and cannot really be counted as part of
the overall architectural plan. The agricultural zone demonstrates once again
that the Exposition grounds could embrace such divergent ‘statements’ as the
classical regimentation of the Beaux-Arts palaces and the cow-sheds right next
door, the demarcation between the two evidently remaining clear despite their
spatial proximity. It was the different dramatization strategies that made such
stark distinctions possible: the White City’s easily grasped uniform style made
it recognizable, yet as an architectural ensemble it was closed off — even if
particular compositional principles, such as the symmetry of the buildings or
the neo-classical idiom, were picked up in other parts of the grounds (for example, the cattle pastures are laid out in a symmetrical grid). Overall, certain
!
"
!
+
195
symmetrical versus irregular; schematic or laid out versus ‘natural’; standardized versus free; unity versus variety. James Gilbert, in his comments on the
White City, describes this as a strategy: the conception of the Fair in Chicago
consisted not least, he says, in a presentation of “controlled variety.”4 That is,
the style of Exposition presented a cultural ideal (in the form of the ordered,
rationally laid-out White City), but at the same time also consciously integrated
contrasting areas. The juxtaposition of the European-style Court of Honor with
the vernacular state and foreign buildings, as well as the eclectic Midway, essentially conforms with the spatial and ideological layout of the Fair. This contrast
is a calculated result of the underlying exhibition strategy. The organizers’ ideal,
the design of a perfected city along uniform principles, was a counter-model to
the urban reality outside the Exposition, with its social and ethnic tensions. One
of the many contemporary reviews of the Fair stated: “[...] she is at least the
typical American city, the point of fusion of American ideas, the radial center of
American tendencies.”5 And above all the World’s Columbian Exposition is the
!
"
!!
production towards the end of the nineteenth century: the project of creating a
model of total representation of culture and society as a whole. In The Society of
the Spectacle, Guy Debord suggests:
The origin of the spectacle is the loss of the unity of the world, and the gigantic
expansion of the modern spectacle expresses the totality of this loss: the abstrac
&
!
are perfectly translated in the spectacle, whose mode of being concrete is precisely
abstraction. In the spectacle, one part of the world represents itself before the world
and is superior to it. The spectacle is nothing more than the common language of
this separation. What ties the spectators together is no more than an irreversible
relation at the very center which maintains their isolation. The spectacle reunites
the separate, but reunites it as separate.6
4
5
6
James Gilbert, Perfect Cities. Chicago’s Utopias of 1893, Chicago 1991, 121.
Charles Clough Buel, “Preliminary Glimpses of the Fair”, in: The Century, February 1893, 615.
Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle, 29.
196
“Well, Susan, it paid, even if it did take all the burial money.”
Fair Visitor 1893
Framing and Touring the Fair: Architecture as Event
The intention of the spectacular re-presentation of the ‘whole’ was not to museumize the World’s Fair, which was demolished and partially burned down
after the event in 1895, but to exhibit the contemporary world as real life. A
successful presentation depended on one important condition: it had to actively
guide the spectator, and the guidebooks to the Fair thus played an extraordinarily important role.7 The methods of the guidebooks were the same as those of the
travel guides, for all these works posited a homogeneous discursive community
where the reader or user was treated as the perfect audience, receptive to the
assumed transparency of a text that proposed to lay out an objective geography
as a means to experience and to comprehend the Exposition. These guidebooks
pointed out the highlights of the Fair to the visitor and guided their very way
of moving through the exhibition. The suggested movements and the commentated descriptions were very closely correlated. In the illustrated volume Dream
City, the lengthy picture captions contain discursivized instructions that provide
!
/
/
architectural environment.8 As has been indicated in the previous chapter, narrations and discourses construct the experiential context and shape the attitude
of reception. The central function of this supplementary narrative discourse is
in underpinning the imagined and suggested authenticity of the experience. The
7
8
See for example: Columbian Art Company, The Artistic Guide to Chicago and the World’s
Columbian Exposition, Illustrated, Chicago 1893; John J. Flinn, The Best Things to be Seen
at the World’s Fair, Chicago 1893; Stanley Applebaum, The Chicago World’s Fair of 1893:
A Photographic Record, New York 1890 and most importantly Charles Halsey, World’s
#`
X+, Chicago, 1893. As a reliable source for materials
see: The Book of the Fairs: Materials About World’s Fairs, 1834–1916, in the Smithsonian
Institution Libraries. Chicago, American Library Association, 1992.
But few claims for the mimetic capacity of photography could surpass the one made in 1894
by James William Buel, in advertising his record of the Chicago Exposition. When Buel announced his plan to publish The Magic City: Portfolio of the Chicago World’s Fair, a series
of consecutive weekly numbers consisting of sixteen to twenty photographs, he billed it as a
“permanent re-opening of the Grand Columbian Exposition.” “In some respects,” he claimed,
“this splendid portfolio is better and more to be desired than an actual visit to the Exposition,
for through the magic agency of photography the scenes are transferred in marvelous beauty
and permanent form to the printed pages, while the accompanying historical descriptions make
plain and clear myriads of intricate and wonderful things, many of which were not comprehended by those who saw them.” James William Buel, The Magic City: Portfolio of the Chicago
World’s Fair, Chicago 1894, (no pages).
197
guidebooks and illustrated volumes on the Exposition do not, however, serve
only to intensify and steer attention; in the accompanying texts symbolic re
&
/
/
discursive order, a context that is collectively binding.9 But however important
the charging of the material portrayal with mythological and symbolic meanings
and the stabilization of the national imaginary in the setting of the Fair, I believe
it is even more interesting to examine the performativity of the fairgoers’ movements, along with the spatial, visual and architectural experiences generated by
those movements. I would argue that the concrete aspect of touring brings together spatial and visual dimensions, the architecture of the groups of buildings
contributing greatly to the event character. In particular, the staged relationship
!
!
!
!tion-bound nature of perceptions of the Fair. From today’s perspective, however,
it also brings to light the divergence between perceptible and described reality. The visualization of spatial perception that can be reconstructed from the
!+
!
&
!
movements to the touring public. The conquest of the Exposition’s space is thus
essentially achieved through a bodily visual experience that can be described as
a kinesthetics of looking. In the following, I will focus particularly on the ways
that architecture affected the gaze, by examining one tour through the Fair.10
Visitors arrived on the fairgrounds in one of three ways: through the street
entrance on the Midway (now the University of Chicago), on the Lake Michigan pier to the east, or the huge railroad terminus to the southwest. While some
took the scenic route by steamship from downtown Chicago and landed on the
&
Q
/
grounds was surprisingly overwhelming: the Administration Building. The large
(55,000 square feet) domed building served as the headquarters for the chief
{/
Q
"
!
!
high point of the Court of Honor. Its dome towered above the cornice height of
the surrounding buildings, and was considered a feat of artistic skill that could
compete with St. Peter’s in Rome. The building was a kind of gateway to the
fairground for all those who approached from the west, mainly from the railroad
!
@
/
an object of exhibition, whereas in previous fairs the administrative role had
9
10
In Imagined Communities Benedict Anderson includes a section on museums, showing how
the “museumizing imagination” enables the iconography of the nation, of a national imaginary
&
!
!
%
!

"
3$
/
$
$
, London, 1999.
For the tour I used a volume of approx. 1000 pages: Hubert Howe Bancroft, The Book of the
Fair, Chicago, San Francisco 1893.
198
been carefully concealed as far as possible. The fact that the organization and
administration took priority over other human achievements — whether indus
!!

/
&
\
%\
program, which was to be demonstrated to the watching world.
Figure IV. 2: Administration Building
The architecture of the Administration Building followed an octagonal plan,
!
Q
lossal Doric columns, so that they seemed like one single base story. Above
this was the third story, an eight-sided hall of Ionic columns, which in turn supported the dome. The individual stories were visually separated by balustrades
!
!
@
building were numerous mosaics, reliefs, inscriptions (the names of the nations
taking part; narrative accounts of historical events, discoveries, and people) and
!
!
Q
!
!!
allegorical formations of the façade ornamentation, the pilasters and columns
of the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders were barely recognizable individually, and probably not designed for their separate effect but rather to suggest a
!
!
!
!+
focused on the façade and its ornate decorations. The experience of the façade
of this public monument is described as intensely personal; this structure is one
of North America’s spaces for joining the duality of self and community. The
whole effect of the surface of the building was described as “lofty,” “majestic,”
“awesome,” even “sublime.”11 This language echoes the aesthetic vocabulary
11
Ibid., 342–343.
199
commonly employed in nineteenth-century descriptions of the most dramatic
aspects of nature: Niagara Falls, the western mountains, and the wildest, most
rugged features of the American landscape. In its American usage, this vocabulary still retained some of the religious overtones that Edmund Burke ascribed
to it in the eighteenth century, but in its application to the architectural setting
it quickly came to take on proprietary values for those who had constructed
record-setting spaces and towers, just as it had earlier been employed to bolster
a sense of American national pride. To nineteenth-century contemporaries, the
!
Q
"
!ing served as the chief introduction to the main architectural theme of the 14
“great” buildings of the Fair, the Beaux-Arts style, claiming the achievement of
cultural parity with Europe. The use of the Beaux-Arts idiom was an emphatic
^
"
!!
Europe. Some observers were quick to make the connection:
Q
+

X
&
for if he is at all susceptible to these emotions which are excited by creations of
art, he will be so overcome with astonishment and admiration as to make it a dif!
&
/
the wonderful assemblage of palaces in order to enter one of them […]. The head
of one of the foremost art institutes in Europe recently wrote from Chicago to his
home newspaper that the aspect of the White City called up in his mind some of
Claude Lorrain’s landscape.12
The dreamy, utopian vision of Lorrain seemed a perfect comparison for those
who were enamored of the feeling of high culture that the Grand Court displayed. Nearly every account gives praise to the beauty of this collection of
buildings; the monumental Court of Honor was the most publicized aspect of the

!&^
Beautiful groups, beautiful perspectives, a stupendously beautiful architectural

!
@
"ica has had in the art of building well on a great scale; and it will show us how, on
a smaller but still sometimes a very large scale, our permanent streets and squares
ought to be designed. 13
All of the main buildings were of a uniform height and covered in the same
!
!
!
&
!ing of buildings. In this particular case the analogy of whiteness and beauty
had a fundamental normative and symbolic relevance. Robert Herrick observed
12
13
Charles Clough Buel, “Preliminary Glimpses of the Fair”, in: The Century, Feb. 1893.
M.G van Rensselaer, “The artistic triumph of the fairbuilders”, Forum 14, 1893, 527–540.
200
years later that the “people who could dream this vision and make it real, those
people […] would press on to greater victories than this triumph of beauty —
victories greater than the world had yet witnessed.”14 The overwhelmingly positive response to this visual representation of beauty and unity was widespread;
visitors were ready to make this experience. Over and over again, journals, letters, reminiscences all celebrated the beauty and serenity of the World’s Columbian Exposition. The impressively clean Fair had well-maintained streets,
well-behaved crowds, the most advanced sanitary and transportation systems.
Most importantly, it was beautiful because it was so unlike the gray and dusty
cities many of the visitors had come from, because of its white surfaces. That
these visions of beauty were only architectural models, temporary Beaux-Arts
²
!&
!
&
+

the overall effect, the fact that the fascinating yet intimidating buildings were
composed of lowly metal frames, covered with a plaster-like substance, had little impact. The history of the building’s construction was relatively well-known,
and press coverage of the Fair had allowed the population to participate in the
‘myth of origins’ right from the start. An article entitled “The Picturesque Side”
emphasizes the reality-effect this generated: “To me [...] the City is never evanescent nor unreal; never like a house built upon the sands. It is, when I look at
%
&
&
!
!
which it resembles. It is too vast, and the elements of atmosphere, perspective
and proportion enter too largely into its ensemble to make it appear other than
genuine.”15 Another visitor describes precisely the illusory nature as a special
quality of the Fair’s architecture:
there is no broken column as an eye test, there are only superb facades, reaching
skyward, and great stretches of columns and arches, relieved by gilded domes
and sculptures. They are never close to you — no comprehensive view is possible
nearer than two hundred feet, and who can tell ‘staff’ from marble at that distance
— but far away, across the shimmer of the Lagoon, or over the massing of foliage
or clustered roofs.16
The buildings of the White City are even considered a heightening of ‘original’
classicism. The classical impression seemed to possess a claim to eternity, and
!
>!&
&&
!
discouraged any over-close visual approach. Implicitly the White City represented itself as a construction, an admitted fake — a construction, however, it
14
15
16
Robert Herrick, Memoirs of an American Citizen, 1905.
F. Hopkinson Smith, “The Picturesque Side”, in: Scribener’s Magazine, November 1893, 602
(emphasis in text).
Ibid.
201
suggested, which held a truer vision of the real than world outside in the near
distance beyond its grounds. Through its simulacrum character, the architecture
&
!!
+
^
_Q
/
this aesthetic replication — though by no means the end of it — was [...] the
whole of the Chicago Exposition of 1893.”17
Figure IV. 3: The Grand Basin
Continuing the tour, visitors inevitably wandered past the Administration Building to the Court of Honor proper. The centerpiece of the Court was the Grand

'
$$
!
and the immense gilded statue of the Republic. These sculptural elements were
framed to the east by the Peristyle, an arch placed to balance the grouping of
exhibition buildings to the north and south of the basin, and as an entrance point
for visitors arriving from the pier. As the sound of the Columbian Chorus or
+
!
&
of 200 buildings on the grounds: the Machinery Hall. The Machinery Hall was
!
&

!form facades of the main buildings gave way to an interior reminiscent of a
combination of a department store and an airplane hangar. The interiors were
generally one large room (in this case, 435,500 square feet) with high ceilings,
crammed to the walls with exhibits. The Machinery Building not only contained
exhibits such as Whitney’s cotton gin, sewing machines, and the world’s largest
conveyor belt, but also the Fair’s power plant, with 43 steam engines and 127
dynamos providing electricity for the Fair. The monumentalism of the Hall’s
17
Miles Orvell, The Real Thing, 34.
202
!
!
&
!
!^
!
pate in the experience of growing social power, and especially in technological
and economic progress. Distinct from the crammed showrooms of Barnum and
the exhibitional practices of his museum, the accumulation of publicly displayed

&
%
@
/
&
material products of society, and in particular of the progress of modern life,
within a milieu of the abstract authority of the architectural frame, focusing on
the overwhelming effect on the individual viewer in the face of the architectural
sublime. The gigantic dimensions of this frame also determine the imposition
of central authority and, at the same time, the persistence of the classic tradition
in the face of and in the service of that authority. Interestingly, all experiences
&
/
whelming scale. This mode of exaggeration of ornaments, creating a spectacle
/
&
&
Once visitors were introduced to the monumental dimensions and the accumulation of display on the fairgrounds, they continued to walk past the Grand
Basin and the Machinery Building, and could there perform some more serious
sightseeing. The Agricultural Building was the epitome of the excess of exhibits.
Not only were there weather stations and farm building models on display, there
were animals, machines, tools, and 100 discrete tobacco exhibits. Ostriches
were found near a map of the United States made entirely of pickles and not only
one but two Liberty Bell models, one in wheat, oats, and rye, and one entirely
in oranges! Canada’s “Monster Cheese” (22,000 pounds) competed for attention with the Egyptian cigarette booth. This accumulation of disparate exhibits
generated a constant alternation of sensory impressions whose ordering could
no longer be stabilized from a secured — spatially and temporally identical —
center of perception. Here, the processes of dynamization and fragmentation
themselves bring about particular forms of cultural perception: the traveling or
!
'´!\
&!\
%
/
&
>!
of scenes or a fragmentary spectacle. Touring, moving through exhibition space,
and this is my central point here, parallels the experience of spectacle and overturns a distinction between spectator and performer. This blurred distinction is
possible not only because of the inversions of high and low at the Fair, but also
because touring allows the consumption of diverse and heterogeneous forms,
suggesting an appealing mix of sensory modalities, the tactility of bodies mingling, sounds and smell, all at least coequal with the visual experience. But at
the same time it is obvious that the aspect of spectacle, the pleasurable challenge
of a carnivalesque world, had in the Exposition been relegated to the ordersuggesting terrain of the fairground.
203
Passing before the Peristyle as they headed north, fairgoers were greeted by
the enormous expanse of the Manufactures and Liberal Arts building. Covering
a vast terrain of exhibition space, the George Post-designed building brought
together exhibitors from all around the world. There was a dual purpose to this
building, as its name implies. Manufactured goods were displayed, with price
tags for comparative shopping, next to exhibits which could roughly be categorized as being part of the humanities. Typewriters and Tiffany & Co. stained
glass were under the same exhibition roof with the University of Chicago’s
telescope and Bach’s clavichord. Goods pavilions, which contained everything
from clothes to phonographs, were erected within the building by America, Germany, Japan, or Russia. Furniture from the palace of the King of Bavaria was
displayed, as was the manuscript of Lincoln’s Inaugural address and Mozart’s
spinet. This was the most eclectic of exhibits, combining goods for sale with
items of historical and artistic interest. It was no accident that these two aspects
of American life were brought together under one roof. The intermingling of art
and manufactured goods was an excellent symbiotic and ideological relation
^
!!
!
goods, their producers, and their consumers, while the presence of manufacturing lent credence to the idea that art, increasingly like the rest of American life,
could be consumed.18
The Court of Honor gave way on the north to the U.S. Government building, a small structure containing displays by the departments of War, State,
Q!&
@
!
"!!
{/

Washington, carrier pigeons, international currency, and a huge California redwood tree were the highlights of this building, often ignored by visitors on their
way to the Fisheries building. The Fisheries’ two acres of exhibition space was
well balanced with the designed lagoon to the west and Lake Michigan to the
east. The highlight of the display was widely agreed to be the double row of
'
>!
!
Q
!
&
&
!
!/
Arts form of the Court of Honor, focusing instead on walls of delicate glass
!
'
"
/
!
Sullivan’s Transportation Building. Standing apart from the Court of Honor, it
was free of Burnham’s strict formal prescriptions, but in view of its size and
18
The excessiveness of exhibitions had a great impact on American life and culture, marking
the “home” as domestic space to replicate the power of empire and creating a female consumer who in turn domesticated empire in new ways. In such a space, Victorian interior design
emerged, which in its crowded style simulated the juxtapositions of objects in museums and
exhibitions.
204
the maintenance of the classical idiom in other parts of the grounds, Sullivan’s
!
_X
&`
The building’s façades were mainly brownish red, and were decorated with various ornaments. Its great arched entrance was a public attraction, framed in gold
and reminiscent both of Richardson’s Romanesque style and a Gothic cathedral portal — though in this case statues of saints were replaced by geometric
ornamentation which, so to speak, displayed its own industrial manufacture.
Sullivan’s building did not follow the ideological pattern of architecture concentrating on European inheritance as a conservative force of classical values.
Miles Orvell writes on the ideological implication of the Fair’s architecture:
The architecture of the Chicago Exposition itself was the most emphatic statement
of where elite values lay at the end of the century: with its huge palatial structures
festooned with statues and decorative embellishments, the whole looked like a fantasy of Imperial Rome, if not a three-dimensional stage set out of Thomas Cole’s
The Course of Empire. The White City (so called because of the color of the chief
building material, staff, which was selected for its speed of construction and ease
of destruction) became a national symbol of America’s coming of age on the world
scene, a dreamed self-image of might and power interpreted to the populace by an
illustrious team of Eastern architects. It might also be read as a sign of America’s
continued rivalry with, and consequent submission to, European standards; this in
effect was the view of Louis Sullivan, who contributed one of the few consciously
“American” designs and would later say that the Columbian Exposition had set
back American architecture for generations.19
Arranged Scenes. Empowering, Entertaining, Educating the Visitor
Not only did the World’s Fair offer paradigmatic experiential values by virtue of
its overall layout and architectonic elements, in a series of arranged scenes it offered visitors the visual experience of model constellations of reality. My central
thesis is that reality at the World’s Fair is primarily staged as a model. Thus, the

'&
%
!
/
>!
how this is related to the experience of the realness and authenticity of the objects
on display is particularly relevant in this context. Here I proceed from the assumption that the scenic arrangement holds the key to the construction of visual
experience. As a rule, these are either scenes providing an overview of a multitude of individual phenomena or focusing the attention on individual objects and
constellations of objects. The comprehensive view of such models of reality was
meant, with varying degrees of priority, to empower, entertain and educate the
19
Miles Orvell, The Real Thing, 59–60.
205
visitors. One of the most spectacular stagings of a perceptual situation for visitors
was the opportunity to view the entire grounds of the Fair from above.
Figure IV. 4: Ferris Wheel
A ride on the gigantic Ferris Wheel located on the Midway Plaisance was a central attraction at the Fair. From the top of the Ferris Wheel (the sight-seer was
!
&
!
\
&
view of the entire grounds of the Fair, a visual experience that undoubtedly had
an empowering effect on the viewers.20 How precisely could this act of seeing
&
!*
$
!!
origins of modernity in the reordering of power, knowledge and the visible.21
His famous theory on the change of episteme in the modern age pointed out
that new modes of social and political control were institutionalized by ‘un régime panoptique.’22 Foucault places the panoptic model in a central position in
the epistemological shift from eighteenth-century empiricism to the invention
20
21
22
See also the interpretation of Brenda Hollweg, Ausgestellte Welt. Formationsprozesse kultureller Identität in den Texten zur Chicago World’s Columbina Exposition (1893), Heidelberg
2001, 93–101.
Michel Foucault, Surveiller et punir. Naissance de la prison, Paris 1975.
Ibid.
206
of a transcendental concept of man. In the much quoted passage in Surveiller
et punir. Naissance de la prison, he describes this transition as the threshold
of modernity. Invoked as a philosophic model for the scopic regime of power
through the visual register, the panopticon was an apparatus — a ‘machine of the
visible’ — which controlled the observer-observed relation. In the panopticon,
!
!&
!
Q
produces a subjective effect, a ‘brutal dissymmetry of visibility’ for both positions in this dyad: the observer with the sense of omnipotent voyeurism and
the observed with the sense of disciplined surveillance. In a general sense, the
aspect of discipline and control over people was in the case of the Ferris Wheel
replaced by the aspect of pleasurable entertainment. Visitors boarded one of the
~
!/!!
!!
X
plush revolving seats provided comfort to the passengers. Each car could carry
up to 60 passengers, who paid 50 cents each for the ride. (Equal to the amount
they paid to enter the World’s Fair.) The duration of each ride was two full revolutions in twenty minutes, with frequent stops to allow passengers to disembark.
These stops also enabled the bird’s eye view to be arrested. Some passengers
purchased tickets by the handful, and rode the wheel continuously. Each car
was equipped with a small dining counter to be used for food brought on board
by passengers. The Ferris Wheel offered unparalleled views of the Exposition
and surrounding city. In contrast to Bentham’s panopticon, the totality of the
Fairground in view allowed those riding the Ferris Wheel visual control not over
people, but over a paradigmatic model of the world. They could see structures
from above, enjoy an all-encompassing perspective, which suggested the per!
&
/
/
!
Figure IV. 5: View from Ferris Wheel
207
At night the whole picture changed dramatically: the viewers were able to perceive myriads of electrical lights. This spectacle of electric lights of the Fair
made the Wheel one of the most popular after-dark activities. But more important than the entertainment value of this event was the educational purpose and
symbolic value of the views, exemplifying the core of technological progress
in America at this time. As one guide at the Fair claimed: “It is the intention of
the management to make the World’s Fair site and the buildings one grand ex
&`23 Electricity was
to be the basis for America’s technological and commercial advances into the
twentieth century, and the Fair celebrated this resource throughout the grounds.
The celebration of electricity served a number of purposes: it introduced Americans to the technology, and attempted to remove the element of fear associated
with electricity (and technology), replacing it with fascination and amusement;
it showed Americans that their transition from an agricultural to a technological society was not frightening, but was in fact progress (along with “improve`

"
"
"
&
celebration of commerce, it put a positive face on the recent changes in American society.24 The visitors’ fascination with the exhibits of the Electricity Building — the electric moving sidewalk, launches, elevated trains, and thousands
upon thousands of incandescent lights— was undeniable. In the early 1890s, the
&
{&
!
in the ideological equation of science and progress, and its display throughout
the grounds indicated the extent to which the Fair wished to promote its use
and the underlying message of progress it connoted. Drawing on a widely held
belief about progress, in which America was constantly moving forward and
upward, this particular possibility of its visual experience gave a new focus to
the concept. Rather than considering political or moral innovation the epitome
of progress, the Fair successfully turned the focus to technology. It is this — the
acceptance and even celebration of the popular consumption of and the sophis
&

on American society.
Another paradigmatic model of experience was created by the arranged
scenes presenting a model of alien realities en miniature. At the Fair, the confrontation with foreignness took place primarily in a special spatial zone under
certain preconditions. The exchange between popular and high culture, and education and entertainment at the World’s Columbian Exposition continued espe23
24
Bancroft, The Book of the Fair, 313.
James A. Throgmorton, Planning as Persuasive Story Telling. The Rhetorical Construction of
Chicago’s Electric Future, Chicago 1996.
208
cially at the separate section of the Midway Plaisance. The assumed educational
and entertaining effect of the Midway Plaisance was based on its touristic mode,
including object lessons, and historical and ethical lessons. As in the case of the
panorama, it essentially offered a “tour” without having to leave home, in this
case especially a tour of savage or primitive worlds. The guidebook The Book of
the Fair by Bancroft summarizes:
as places of recreation there were none that would compare with the Midway plaisance, an epitome and also a supplement of the Fair, with its bazaars of all nations,
its manifold attractions, and yet with educational as well as pleasurable features.
[...] In this miniature fair with its stir and tumult, its faces of every type and hue,
!>!
!
!
!
ethnological display that was ever presented to the world. All the continents are
here represented, and many nations of each continent, civilized, semi-civilized,
and barbarous, from the Caucasian to the African black, with head in the shape
of a cocoa-nut and with barely enough of clothing to serve for the wadding of a
gun. Here, in truth, one may learn more of foreign lands, their customs, habits, and
environment, their food and drink and dress, their diversions and their industries,
than years of travel would teach him.25
For the visitor, Midway Plaisance as described in guidebooks did not aim at
+
!
general sensations — all within a short time period. It propagated a generalized
idea of new and unknown worlds for easy and quick consumption of the ethnical other by white Americans, it provided easy stereotypes and homogenized
ideas; it suggested, above all, the availability of the objects displayed within it.
Within the Fair, the public was “civilized” by means of an aesthetic education
that involved showing the non-Western world as uncivilized. African people,
for example, were exhibited in the native village of the Dahomeyans, in order to
represent them as primitive and expose their barbarism.
Dahomey has a village on the plaisance in the form of a hollow square adjoining
Old Vienna, its huts built in native fashion, with rough mud walls thatched with
+
!
'
Q
tle furniture in these rude habitations and there is not a single pane of glass, the
'
+
+
!facture. One of the huts, an open structure, serves as kitchen and dining-room,
where men and women take their meals al fresco. Here is a modern cooking stove
— about the only thing that is modern amid this African community. Other buildings serve at once as workshops and dwellings. In one lives the village blacksmith,
whose principal business is the sharpening of spear heads and the repairing of the
spikes which protrude from Dahomean war-clubs. This he does seated squat on the
25
Bancroft, The Book of the Fair, 835–836.
209
ground in front of his domicile. Elsewhere a man is stooping over his embroidery;
for in Dahomey this is the work of men, the women, if not nursing their babies,
26
The mise-en-scène of ‘native villages’ in particular displayed exotic otherness in
a showcase. This touristic experience was thus an experience of a foreign world
en miniature:
There was about the Midway Plaisance a peculiar attraction for me. It presents
Asiatic and African and other forms of life native to the inhabitants of the globe. It
is the world in miniature. While it is of doubtful attractiveness for morality, it certainly emphasizes the value, as well as the progress, of our civilization. There are
presented on the Midway real and typical representatives of nearly all the races of
the earth, living in their natural methods, practicing their home arts, and presenting
their so-called native amusements. The denizens of the Midway certainly present
an interesting study to the ethnologist, and give the observer an opportunity to
investigate these barbarous and semi-civilized people without the unpleasant accompaniments of travel through their countries and contact with them.27
These miniatures present life scenes from different countries and cultures in a
smaller scale and size, constructing as such a world within a world, as Susan
Stewart puts it.28 The performed scenes contain a paradigmatic model of difference, which is presented in a manageable form to the viewer. As a model it
involves the selection of elements that will offer an unprecedented mastery. The
miniature presents a staged world of proportion, control and balance, and most
importantly it offers a totality in view, allowing accessibility and control. The
white American spectator was empowered, entertained and educated through
a view of models of villages and scenes that involved the seemingly authentic
display of non-Western people in environments of their daily lives.29
Those scenes, often reproduced as photographs in guidebooks, elicited detailed descriptions, for instance the following:
TYPICAL SCENE IN CAIRO STREET — The pictures on this page give the two
grand features of the Street in Cairo. On the left we see the “music” of the Wedding Procession. In front of these gaily caparisoned camels, lead by donkey boys,
was another camel on which was the half-stripped Egyptian who danced with his
shoulders, after the Asiatic, African and Muscovite manner; behind the tom-tom
26
27
28
29
Ibid., 878.
Interview of Chauncey M. Depew, “None can compare with it”, The New York Times June 19,
1893, 5.
Stewart, On Longing, 123.
For the relevance of ethnograpic display up until the 20th century see Barbara KirshenblattGimblett, Destination Culture. Tourism, Museums and Heritage, Berkeley, Los Angeles 1998,
203–256.
210
Figure IV. 6: Photography of Cairo Street
beaters came the camels with great howdahs, holding the bride; after them the hollow squares of celebrants, the Bull Apis, and the oots, drums and priests of Luxor.
It was interesting to watch this procession from the heights of the Ferris Wheel,
which rose and fell over the scene. Here, while the public might be awestruck with
the rites of Ammon-Ra, Mout, and Chons, the man in the cars of the wheel could
&
{&tians over the possession of a goat. Between the Wedding Processions, when the
ships of the desert could be spared, the guileless public rode the camel in the exact
manner here seen. Why this should have been such an attraction is not known; but
because there were always a swain and lass together, and because the lass always
repented when it was too late and the altitudinous camel was rising in sixteen parts,
the dense crowd at the square would go into convulsions of merriment.30
The scenes displayed evoke and contest the authorizing discourses that enable
viewing them. Thereby the visual presentations, performances and discourses
rely on similar stereotypical strategies in the depiction and presentation of their
exotic objects. The exotic offers an authenticity of experience tied up with notions of the primitive as a source of origins and as an earlier and less developed
stage of contemporary civilization. The core of this experience was suggested
by a discursive framework that was once again disseminated by the guidebooks.
There, for instance, Greek art on the one hand serves as a positive example
and was interpreted as validating and inscribing American values. On the other
hand, many ethnical performances stood as proof of the superiority of the West
over the barbaric Other. In many cases, such as in the Dahomeyan village, the
exhibit supported contemporary evolutionary theory, i.e. the notion that the
30
The Dream City, a portfolio of photographic views of the World’s Columbian Exposition/ with
an introduction by Halsey C. Ives, St. Louis 1893–1894 (no pages).
211
native villages offer white Westerners a glimpse back toward a primitive past of
savagery. As Robert Rydell has suggested, these hierarchical displays of a seemingly backward representation of race and culture could ideologically reinforce
imperialism and racial segregation.31 But there is also a more basic reason for
the appeal of exotic otherness. Jean Baudrillard writes in Le Système des objets
that the exotic object functions to lend authenticity to the abstract system of
modern objects, and he suggests that the indigenous object fascinates by means
of its anteriority.32 In Baudrillard’s terms, modern is “cold” and the barbaric and
the exotic are “warm” because contemporary mythology places the latter objects
in a context remote from the abstractions of modern consumer society. Such
objects allow the Fair visitor to appropriate, consume, and thereby “tame” the
cultural other. What is restored is not an “authentic” image, but rather an imaginary context of origins, the chief subject of which is a projection of the viewer.
The only proper context for understanding the exotic scene is that determined
through discourse, closing the semantic gap between the displayed scene and
the viewer. Discourses validated or authorized the scenes performed, and even
!
!
+&
$&^
In the Midway Plaisance is probably the greatest collection of ‘fakes’ the world has
ever seen […]. Whenever I grew tired of formal sight-seeing I would stroll down to
the Plaisance to the Egyptian temple. Here was the greatest fakir of them all. I am
proud to say that he was an American.33
The Fair outside the Midway Plaisance served much more as an encyclopedic
and educational institution devoted to the display of objects, which were often
arranged in scenes, particularly by so called “object lessons.”34 In all accounts,
visitors found some form of education on the grounds of the Fair; the idea that
the Fair was a great school, a place for learning and enrichment, was wholeheartedly taken up by the public. “Improvement” was a favorite Victorian word,
and it encompassed not only the Progressive reform movement, but the American desire for learning expressed in the popularity of lecture movements and
the growing network of American universities. Americans were ready to learn,
so it was believed, and the Fair was presented as a unique opportunity to do so.
!
+
!
&
&
the Fair some kind of “object-lesson” by which Americans could become more
31
32
33
34
Robert Rydell, All the World’s a Fair. Visions of Empire at American International Expositions, 1876–1916, Chicago 1984, 101.
Jean Baudrillard, Le Système des objets, Paris 1978.
Anonymous, The Century 5, September 1893.
See Daniel J. Sherman, Irit Rogoff (eds.), Museum Culture: Histories, Discourses, Spectacles,
Minnesota 1994.
212
knowledgeable and cultured. This concept was based on the belief that witnessing such an overwhelming grouping of items, peoples, and cultures together in
one place would have an overwhelming educational effect, if organized in the
proper contexts. What went on view was not simply an object, but an exemplary
scene from life in a newly distilled form as a model of the “real,” framed by a
discourse.
THE BEDROOM OF MARIE ANTOINETTE — One may easily judge that
house-decoration has made no progress for many centuries; otherwise it would be
impossible to re-introduce the styles of Henry VIII, Louis XIV, XV, and XVI. The
scene on this page represents a reproduction of Queen Marie Antoinette’s bedroom
at the Little Trianon, in Versailles [...]. All of this work on textiles was done by
hand in silk, and the skill and patience displayed by the French workman must
evoke astonishment. Even to the picture on the wall, all is the product of needle+

!/!!
+
!
!
&
!&

!
&

baker’s wife,’ ‘the Austrian she-wolf,’ was transferred to the Tuilleries, and later
translated to the prison of the Temple, where the head of her dearest friend, the
Princess de Lamballe, was shown on a pike at the window. Then, after the beheadal
of her husband, the king, she left her two children, a widow, to undergo mock trial
before Judge Fouquier-Tinville, to be sentenced, and to mend her tattered garments
with needle at the prison of the Conciergerie, in order to go decently to the scaffold in a republican cart. We look upon this one of her many palace-rooms, and
contemplate her dizzy and dreadful fall.35
Figure IV. 7: Bedroom of Marie Antoinette
35
The Dream City, Special exhibits.
213
The verisimilitude of this scene is based on its more profound embeddedness in
a narrative, in which models of visual experience itself are integrated.36 The display will not function without the supplementary narrative discourse that both
attaches it to its origins and creates a myth with regard to those origins. Here it
is this whole dossier of facts, of evidence, of direct experience that produces,
to use Barthes’ phrase, the referential plenitude of the scene on display. Thus,
the staging of the exhibit is successful when it contributes to the construction
of an experience perceived as authentic. Most descriptions contain this rhetoric
of the authentic, which is supposed to lend the exhibits the privileged status of
authenticity. Often the objects appear accessible to visual contact; in the combination of immediate experience, genuineness and the aspect of truth, they become icons of authenticity. Once again the guidebook proves its authority as
objective historical discourse, which functions alongside the display, evoking a
reality effect, complicit in establishing what Barthes calls the authenticity and
omnipotence of the referent. But apparently a feature that was of overwhelming
interest to the thousands of spectators was the chance to look inside at the plush
drawers and built-in cabinets that supposedly contained Marie Antoinette’s per
+
'+
>!!
!!
other minor articles. In line with Barthes’ argument about the concrete detail,
!
!&
!
!thenticity of the scene itself. The investment in evoking as much authenticity
as possible, however, points to a fundamental need. Within the development of
culture in an exchange economy, the search for authentic experience and, correlatively, the search for the authentic object become more and more critical.
As experience is increasingly mediated and abstracted, the lived relation of the
body to the phenomenological world is replaced by a nostalgic myth of contact
and presence. “Authentic” experience becomes both elusive and allusive as it
is placed beyond the horizon of present lived experience, and in the case of the

!>!
/
domains are exposed.
The image of German porcelain and ceramic decorations, for example, highlights how accessibility and abundance were brought together in these object
lessons. The most successful of the German exhibits in the Manufactures Building was the Porcelain Porch of a Professor A. Kips, of Berlin. This vast structure
36
As James Gilbert concluded: “For just as commercialism and consumerism lay at the very
heart of the White City that so ostentatiously disguised their existence in its artistic exteriors,
so in the chaotic competitiveness of the Midway lay a kind of order imposed by the marketplace itself, which transformed each exhibit from the curious and unique into the accessible
exotic.” James Gilbert, Perfect Cities, 95.
214
Figure IV. 8: German porcelain
made of porcelain gave a framework to the paintings on tile, the vases, and
the chinaware that were here displayed in rich profusion. The steps approached
two inner rooms behind the tile paintings usually closed to the public. Great
crowds continually stood before this work, or at the hours in which the public
was permitted to ascend the steps, passed through the ballroom ceiled, walled
'
and beauty of artistic porcelain were displayed on white linen, garnished with
Q
&
'+
&
pedestal. Behind this vase is the north alcove of the porch, and positioned in its
center is a small mirror in an intricately carved porcelain frame. Crowning this
niche, and rising over the balustrade, is a porcelain plaque of the late Emperor
Frederick — “Unser Fritz.” This exhibit suggests — despite some distancing
strategies — an accessibility to all visitors, pointing to a world of highly valuable objects almost “within reach.” What is exhibited are the material characteristics of objects — and thus their practical use and value — as well as their
artistic and moral value. The emphasis is on seeing the distinction between subject and object blurred and joined in a mutual exchange of values. In a culture
of total exposure, the active, dynamic, materializing gaze becomes proof of the
reality of this culture and the viewer’s own presence. Moreover, the accounts
of the guidebooks offer the possibility of ownership even when the viewer is
separated from the artifacts, e.g. if they are kept in glass cases. The objects
were accessible at a glance, for they could be viewed, and thus perceived within
reach; in other words, they could be visually consumed. This implicit promise
of democratic ownership was thus connected with the experience of the exhibition. For its part, the Fair allowed its visitors to symbolically approach objects
that were inaccessible — objects that could neither be bought, nor fully under-
215
stood, except by an elite of visitors or art appreciators — and as such invested
!!
&

&
of knowledge, and this was its much claimed educational purpose that had earlier been hidden from the general public and which provided the proximity of
valuable objects that aroused the pride of imaginary possession. This display of
value has an effect of empowerment. As John Berger puts it in the larger context
of the museum: “The majority take it as axiomatic that museums are full of holy
relics which refer to a mystery that excludes them: the mystery of unaccountable
wealth.”37 Especially the female visitor would be “educated” by viewing these
objects, objects that suggest an accessibility, almost within haptic reach. One
woman, for instance, was as much enlightened as educated and describes her
general experience at the World’s Fair as follows:
@
+

&
@
+scope, this White City of the West […] all these experiences added a great many
new terms to my vocabulary, and in the three weeks I spent at the Fair I took a long
leap from the little child’s interest in fairy tales and toys to the appreciation of the
real and earnest in the workaday world.38
Object lessons are hardly ever centered on a single object, but are rather focused
on a series or a collection. The singular object is repeated over and over, with
!!
&
exhibition spaces. The Fair displayed a special case of seriality: the accumula
&
!!
!!
!
&
obelisk of olive oil bottles in the shape of an olive oil bottle, a monster wheel
of cheese weighing 22,000 pounds or a giant tower of beer bottles are such
examples. The structure reveals yet another aspect in the display of models of
reality: The exposed objects are, in Umberto Eco’s terms, replicas, with a metonymic reference existing between object/part and object/whole in which the
single part is of the material of the original and thus a “partial double.”39 Ohio’s
Temple in the Agricultural Building was a reproduction of an Athenian temple,
largely built in materials from food. The pillars of the peristyle simulated grain
jars of glass, and cereals were everywhere to be seen under the glare of the columns. The classic effects were marred by sheaves of wheat at the corners, with
!
"
and over the temple hung the banner of Ohio. The celebration of food is essentially the celebration of progress, displayed as abundance. People were excited
about the display of a wigwam made with corn-stalks, simulating an Indian tent.
37
38
39
John Berger, Ways of Seeing, London, 1972, 24.
Quoted in: Rydell, All the World’s a Fair, 8.
Umberto Eco, Travels in Hyperreality: Essays, New York 1986, 86.
216
The usual agricultural abundance of wheat, corn, oats, barley, grasses, in every
!
&
!
!
!&
'
!!
#
America, capable of almost unlimited expansion.
In the context of the object lessons of the Chicago World Fair, I would like to
put forward the theory that the experience of seeing is largely coupled with the
experience of taking possession. When seeing is understood as taking possession, the cultural gaze becomes a practical, self-legitimizing capability: Vision
becomes a matter of appropriation and thus an extension of having ‘property.’
Vision functions as appropriation, in a sense an extension of owing property,
underscoring the mutual exchange between the value of the subject and the object. The act of seeing is a symbolic act of acquisition, a process with striking
parallels in strategies of colonialism and imperialism.40
$
&
the rise of modern capitalism in America itself, the simultaneous and interwoven
elements of empowering, entertaining and educating as the core of the experi
/
>!
^
!tion. Consumption emerges from the abstraction of labor from the process of
production of the objects. The separation of labor from product, and of object
from production, resulted in the constitution of a visitor who could access and
appropriate those objects by consumption. In displaying objects out of their
original context within the context of an arranged scene, the exhibition replaces
production with consumption: objects are integrated into the order of the collection itself. The existence of the excessive public display of objects in the Fair’s
exhibition, in which objects seemed to be produced magically, suggested to the
visitors that they were not the producers but the “inheritors” of value. The essential display value of the collections comes from the transformation of goods
into artifacts or at least objects, which become a source of aesthetic value, one
that is again easily converted into economic value. And because the experience
of the spectator was as the recipient of their almost magic presence (education
does not occur by the conscious mental labor of the viewer) and not of production, the collection as a whole came to signal the economy of consumption. The
fair and the department store can thus be understood to have played complementary roles within a single ideological system. The association between seem&
!
@
!
!
!
by external similarities of vocabulary or display, or by similarities between the
spatial organization of the Fair and the ostentatious organization of the products.
@
!
@
!
!
&
&
40
See Edward Said, Culture and Imperialism, New York 1993 and Nicholas Dirks (ed.) Colonialism and Culture, Ann Arbor 1992.
217
functions. While the department store offered its clients the pleasure of consuming the products of private accumulation, the Fair offered its visitors the pleasure
of viewing and accessing accumulated information — a possibility of mastery
!
&
"
&
_@
!%%
!
[…] as to the inward meaning of this dream of beauty. Of course, I don’t understand it, but then I don’t understand anything,”41 wrote Henry Adams, in a letter
to Lucy Baxter, October 18, 1893 about his experience of the Fair. In Henry
Adams’ The Education of Henry Adams, this was in fact a central thread that
Adams embroidered throughout the third-person narrative of his life and times.42
_Z
&
'
+`
"
himself:
His world was dead. Not a Polish Jew fresh from Warsaw or Cracow […] still reek

!

!
had a keener instinct, an intenser energy, and a freer hand than he — American of
Americans, with Heaven knew how many Puritans and Patriots behind him […] he
was no worse off than the Indians or the buffalo who had been ejected from their
heritage by his own people.43
Henry Adams, while fascinated, was not altogether comfortable with the displays of technological change at the Exposition. Adams was the type of doubting and confused visitor the guidebooks were trying to reach with their message
of progress and superiority through commerce and technology.44 The changes in
America seemed to have left Adams and his class — well-born gentlemen who
mingled in politics and diplomacy — without a place. Even Adams ascribed
these changes to technology, and found that he was of a group
who knew nothing whatever — who had never run a steam-engine, the simplest of
forces — who had never put their hands on a lever — had never touched an electric
battery — never talked through a telephone, and had not the shadow of a notion
what amount of force was meant by a watt or an ampere or an erg.45
41
42
43
44
45
Henry Adams, in: James C. Levenson (ed.), The Letters of Henry Adams 1892–1899, Cambridge 1988, 132–134.
For a broad overview of new essays on The Education of Henry Adams see John Carlos Rowe
(ed.), New Essays on The Education of Henry Adams, Cambridge 1996.
Henry Adams, The Education of Henry Adams, New York 1918, 457.
In the end, Brenda Hollweg establishes the simultaneous existence of different “realities” in the
/
/
of the World’s Fair as a dynamic, creative, unsystematic unfolding of the exhibition by the
individual. Brenda Hollweg, Ausgestellte Welt, 100–120.
Adams, Education, 342.
218
His ignorance of the new ways of the world left him feeling helpless. As he sat
at the foot of a giant dynamo engine in Machinery Hall, Adams saw that the
!
&
'!
ating rate of social and cultural change in the United States — and his way of
life would quickly become obsolete. His lament for a lost age was not unusual,
and its foresight was quite prophetic, but was not shared by the majority of the
Exposition’s visitors.
Some millions of other people left the same helplessness, but few of them were
seeking education, and to them helplessness seemed natural and normal, for they
had grown up in the habit of thinking a steam-engine or dynamo as natural as the
sun, and expected to understand one as little as the other.46
Adams’ experience was neither empowering nor entertaining nor really educating, it was just confusing. The unity of American cultures that Adams envisioned
as a historical reality was largely a (now obsolete) ideal. There was no better symbol of the growing fragmentation than Chicago’s exuberant celebration
of the anniversary of Columbus’s voyage. “Since Noah’s Ark,” Henry Adams
commented after spending two weeks at the Fair, “no such Babel of loose and
!
!
!
!
!
/
!
{/
!'
!
Lake.”47 And he resumed his experience: “In plain words, Chaos was the law of
nature; Order was the dream of man.”48
46
47
48
Ibid., 341.
Ibid.
Ibid., 451.
:KLWH&LW\2QWKH([FOXVLRQRI$IULFDQ$PHULFDQV
Why Are They Not Taking Part? A Struggle for Visibility
The representation of African Americans as part of America’s history, economy
and culture was almost nonexistent at the World’s Fair. This was the result of
white racism and exclusion, exemplifying the denial of a full recognition including the right to participate as equals. The Reason Why the Colored American Is
Not in the World’s Columbian Exposition is a 81-page pamphlet published and
largely written by Ida B. Wells in 1893.49 The text consists of six chapters, with
one part written by the famous antislavery activist Frederick Douglass, dealing
with subjects such as “Class Legislation,” “Lynch Law” or “The Progress of The
Afro-American Since Emancipation.” As an exceptional statement of the disappointments, the desires, the achievements, and most importantly the political
demands of African Americans, the pamphlet was compelling. Wells’ pamphlet
raised two central questions: “Why are not the colored people, who constitute so
large an element of the American population, and who have contributed so large
a share to American greatness, — more visibly present and better represented in
this World’s Exposition? Why are they not taking part in this glorious celebration of the four-hundredth anniversary of the discovery of their country?”50
A detailed account of discrimination against blacks in the post-Reconstruction years, the pamphlet opened with a preface entitled “To the Seeker After
Truth.” It casts a very different light on the celebration of the four hundredth anniversary of Columbus’s ‘discovery’ of America and begins its condemnation of
the exclusion of African American women and men at the fair with the following
arguments:
Columbia has bidden the civilized world to join with her in celebrating the fourhundredth anniversary of the discovery of America and the invitation has been
accepted. At Jackson Park are displayed exhibits of her natural resources, and her
progress in the arts and sciences, but that which would best illustrate her moral
grandeur has been ignored […] The exhibit of the progress made by a race in 25
years of freedom as against 250 years of slavery, would have been the greatest
tribute to the greatness and progressiveness of American institutions which could
have been shown the world. The colored people of this great Republic number
eight millions — more than one-tenth the whole population of the United States.
49
50
Ida B. Wells, “The Reason Why the Colored American Is Not in the World’s Columbian Exposition 1893”, in: Trudier Harris (ed.), Selected Works of Ida B. Wells-Barnett, New York 1991,
46–137.
Ibid., 49–50.
220
They were among the earliest settlers of this continent, landing at Jamestown,
Virginia in 1619 in a slave ship, before the Puritans, who landed at Plymouth
in 1620. They have contributed a large share to American prosperity and civilization. The labor of one-half of this country, has always been, and is still being
&
Q
!&
tions was created by productions resulting from their labor. The wealth created
by their industry has afforded to the white people of this country the leisure essential to their great progress in education, art, science, industry and invention.51
"
/!
"
"

the articulation of and protest for civil rights. African American women debated
%
X\

the planning of the event in the 1890s. The failure to include African-American
exhibits at the fair mobilized especially Black women to protest against their
exclusion. Black women did not always agree on how they should be repre
!
!
!
!
the citizenship of Black Americans in general and Black women in particular.
The debates were not only to raise these questions and counter as far as possible the lack of representation of Afro-Americans, but also to answer more
&
>!
>!
+
women in particular should be represented at the fair; how Black Americans
in general should be represented; and whether African-American representatives at the fair should emphasize the positive or the negative features of their
contemporary social conditions in the United States. The debates initially took
place at group or board meetings of the Women’s Associations of the Fair,
&
'!

=%
power of women’s organizations within American society, the planning commission appointed a Board of Lady Managers as the channel of communication through which all women or organizations of women could be brought into
relation with the Exposition, and through which all applications for space to be
used by women or for their exhibits in the buildings should be made. Patterned
after the national commission, the Board of Lady Managers also consisted of
representatives from each state and territory. The debate over Black women’s
&
the Board of Lady Managers in November 1890. Black women’s activism led
them to assert their ability to represent all African American interests at the fair.
The Women’s Columbian Auxiliary Association proposed an ambitious plan to
represent eight areas of Black achievement: music, art, church work, education,
51
Ibid., 49.
221
agriculture, mining, skilled work, and women’s work. In the last category they
would supplement the work of the Board of Lady Managers; in all others they
would supplement the Fair’s male national commission. After several meetings
African American women representatives concluded that neither the Board of
Lady Managers nor the Commission were trying to include exhibits by African
Americans. This struggle to gain visibility and representation at the fair stimulated Black women’s activism throughout the country, leading them to call for
the creation of a national organization.
However, the fullest discussion of African American women’s citizenship
occurred in their speeches, especially at the World’s Congress of Representative Women in May 1893.52 The speeches primarily concentrated on the distinction between political and social equality. Fannie Barrier Williams’s lecture on
“The Intellectual Progress of the Colored Women of the United States Since the
Emancipation Proclamation”53 analyzed the exploited status of African American women within the American political economy, their victimization by white
leadership and the cruel and enduring legacy of slavery. She targeted the indifference of conservatives to rising injustices in the South as well as the hypocrisy of white liberals on the issue of social equality. Most importantly for black
Americans she addressed their achievements despite seemingly insurmountable
!
&
&
"tending the session at which Black women spoke at the World’s Congress of
Representative Women, Frederick Douglass, representative of an elite African
American patriarchy, was moved to say:
I have heard tonight what I hardly expected ever to live to hear. I have heard re
!

!!&

of the most intelligent white audiences that I ever looked upon. It is the new thing
under the sun, and my heart is too full to speak.54
Formerly the U.S. ambassador to Haiti from 1889 to 1891, Douglass was present
at the Fair frequently, representing the Haitian government at its exhibit. The
dramatic changes that Frederick Douglass witnessed during his lifetime were
apparent when he walked on the fairgrounds. As Ida B. Wells later remembered:
52
53
54
May Wright Sewall (ed.), World’s Congress of Representative Women, Chicago and New
York, 1894.
Document to be found in: http://winningthevote.org/FBWilliams.html; or: http://womhist.
binghamton.edu/ibw/doclist.htm
Quoted in: Petition Signed by Thomas A. Edison for Sunday Openings at the World’s Columbian Exposition, http://archives.gov/digital_classroom/lessons/columbian_expo_petition/
columbian_expo_petition.html
222
whenever he went out into the grounds or visited one of the other buildings he was
literally swamped by white persons who wanted to shake his hand, tell of some
former time when they had heard him speak, or narrate some instance of the antislavery agitation in which they or their parents had taken part with Mr. Douglass.55
Douglass, who embodied the assimilationist dream that inclusion within the
American mainstream was a possibility, moved like no other Colored American as a highly respected person throughout the fairgrounds and the Midway
Plaisance.
From August 14, 1893, to August 21, 1893 probably the largest number of
African American participants in a world’s fair event assembled as part of the
Congress on Africa, or as it was sometimes referred to, the Congress on African Ethnology, or the Congress on the Negro.56 Its eight-day length included a
citywide Sunday session that entered the churches, so thousands of interested
church congregants listened to information on the status of the global African
!
@
!&
"
!
!
!late an agenda facilitating, in effect, a dualistic American African public policy
on the status of continental and diasporan Africans. Frederick Douglass and others discussed the future of African Americans, and for the American mainstream
this congress brought about a re-creation of the liberal arrangement between
the races that originated in the abolitionist era. Accordingly, well-educated
blacks as well as the elite and middle class whites presented invited papers,
!
"
"
X
controversial Colored American Day was held one week later, it attracted both
the attention and approval of the white liberal media, which proclaimed it the
"
"

!cial overview of the disparate activities of the fair in which African American
Africans participated indicated that Colored American Day was in fact of minor
importance in the midst of all events on and off the fairgrounds. But Colored
American Day, a purely cultural event, earned unwarranted recognition because
of a misreading of its cultural representations and the controversy surrounding
it contemporarily. At the moment Douglass took the lead of the committee planning the event, he began to envision it as a forum from which to expose a standing criticism of the nation’s discrimination of African Americans and at the same
time an opportunity to present a living exhibition of black accomplishments
55
56
Ida B. Wells, Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells, lberta M. Duster (ed.),
Chicago 1970, 115.
See “The Negro Congress At Chicago,” The Independent, August 24, 1893, 10 and “The Negro
Problem,” Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Weekly, September 28, 1893, 206.
223
before an international audience. Nonetheless, the opportunity to demonstrate
race achievement was in the view of activists like Ida B. Wells an utter failure.
Wells thought this attempt at inclusion was too late, so she urged Douglass to
refuse to participate. She insisted on treating the special day as nothing other
than an insult. To Wells the Colored American Day evoked the racial stereotypes
&
&
tempt to relegate African Americans to a separate and inferior status that accentuated subordination. And indeed her critique was appropriate.
This cartoon depicts a long line of grossly caricatured African and African
American men and women — “savages” with spears and “Zip Coons” in ill
!

&
nation. It exposes racist stereotypes in much the same way that the biological
_&`
!
&
@
_+\
Day at the Fair,” Africans and African Americans alike, despite extreme distinctions in nation, ethnicity, and culture, all become the same Sambo types — all
of them have the huge white lips of American minstrelsy, and all of them are
waiting for watermelon. Frederick Douglass did, however, criticize one particular aspect of the display of African Americans at the fair. Distressed by the
assumptions that linked African Americans to African peoples represented as
primitive by the native village, Frederick Douglass proclaimed that the Dahomeyan village at the 1893 Chicago Columbian Exposition exhibited “the Negro
as a repulsive savage.”57 According to eugenicists, African Americans shared a
Figure IV. 9: Cartoon. “Darkies’ Day at the Fair”, World’s Fair Puck
57
Quoted in: Philip S. Foner, The Life and Writings of Frederick Douglass, New York 1955, 475.
224
common biological destiny with diverse African peoples, one that would severely impair their ascension in white Western “civilization.” Protesting the ex!
"
"
|}
X\
Fair, Douglass stated that while no African American “gentlemen” served as
fair commissioners, “the Dahomeyans were there to exhibit their barbarism and
increase American contempt for the Negro intellect.”58 As to the event itself,
it consisted of four parts: the oratory of Frederick Douglass, short addresses
by whites, musical selections of a classical nature, and, musical selections and
recitations from established and rising African American entertainers. Douglass’
speech evoked great emotion and fascinated the audience. He denounced the
existence of a “Negro problem” and explained thus:
There is, in fact, no such problem. The real problem has been given a false name.
It is called Negro for a purpose. It has substituted Negro for nation, because the
one is despised and hated, and the other is loved and honored. The true problem
is a National problem. The problem is whether the American people have honesty
enough, loyalty enough, honor enough, patriotism enough to live up to their own
Constitution […] We intend that the American people shall learn of the brotherhood of man and the fellowship of God from our presence among them.59
Then, in the climax of his speech, he demanded that the measuring of African
American progress be one that was rooted on the American continent, rather
than the African. “Measure the Negro. But not by the standard of the splendid
civilization of the Caucasian. Bend down and measure him — measure him —
from the depths out of which he has risen.”60
Interestingly enough, the speech sounded the same themes that Douglass had
enunciated during the fair’s inaugural ceremonies and in the pamphlet, The Reason Why the Colored American Is Not in The World’s Columbian Exposition.
Ida B. Wells and also Frederick Douglass pursued the idea of distributing a
pamphlet at the World’s Fair aimed at informing foreign visitors of the limited
representation of African American women at the fair and of the general state of
race relations in the United States.61 The radical stance of Wells’ pamphlet can
be seen in the responses to it. Many black newspaper editors around the nation
condemned it, predicting that it would do more harm than good. From their perspective, rather than protesting against discrimination and Southern lynch law,
African Americans would advance their cause better by attending the Exposition
58
59
60
61
Ibid., 508.
Frederick Douglass, “Introduction”, in: Ida B. Wells, “The Reason Why”, 52.
Ibid., 59.
Ida B. Wells, Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells, lberta M. Duster (ed.),
Chicago 1970, 115–120.
225
as visitors. They would thereby show other visitors (native and foreign alike)
how the African American community had progressed in the three decades since
Emancipation. But Wells felt it important to inform Americans of the terrors of
lynch law, taking advantage of the opportunity presented by the Exposition to
bring the issue to the attention of visitors. Particularly noteworthy in the context
@

X\
!
visibility and an equal representation of Black Americans through discourse,
i.e., her pamphlets. More precisely, the formulation “whoever speaks becomes
visible” could be used to describe how Wells imagined the relationship between
textuality and visuality, and/or discourse production as visibility, which precede
an adequate visual representation (display of images and objects).
On the Colored American Day, however, it was music in particular that delighted the fairgoers. Concerts featured the church chorus singers who also sang
their specialty, the songs of slavery; and in a literary performance a renowned
elocutionist recited “The Black Regiment,” an eclogue to black valor under
X
!

!
_Q
ored American,” as well as his soon to be famous “Oak and Ivy.” Overall, the
Colored American Day was primarily devoted to a presentation of the audible
word — read, spoken and sung, along with the musical chord. Otherwise Black
Americans remained very much invisible. Not until 1900 at the American Negro
exhibit in Paris did W.E.B. Du Bois offer an alternative concept of envisioning
&
"
&
|}
Souls of Black Folk
the subsequent program that advocated civil rights as an essential feature of
racial progress in the United States.
W.E.D. Du Bois’ Exhibit of the American Negro
“At the beginning of the twentieth century, I visited the Paris Exposition of
|}
@
&
/

I had brought with me, as an excuse for coming, a little display showing the
development of Negroes in the United States, which gained a gold medal.”62
This modest and polite statement of W. E. B. Du Bois scarcely gives an idea
of the fundamental message he himself associated with the exhibition. At the
{/
!

_`
!
62
W. E. B. Du Bois, The World and Africa: An Inquiry into the Part which Africa Has Played in
World History (1946), New York 1965, 2. See also: W. E. B. Du Bois, “The American Negro
at Paris,” in: Herbert Aptheker (ed.), Writings by W. E. B. Du Bois in Periodicals Edited by
Others
$
#
+
|}

Q
&
!
^
American Monthly
Review of Reviews, November 1900, 575–77.
226
most fundamental problem of the coming age. The introductory remark that
framed Du Bois’s photographic exhibition of “The Georgia Negro” for visitors
at the Paris Exposition of 1900 carried his famous declaration: “The problem of
the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line,” a phrase he would later
use to introduce his best-known work, The Souls of Black Folk.63 For the 1900
Paris Exposition, Du Bois organized 363 photographs into three albums, entitled
Types of American Negroes, Georgia, U.S.A. (volumes 1–3), and Negro Life in
Georgia, U.S.A. Du Bois’s Georgia photographs were developed in a cultural
/
&
&
@
following I would like to consider the extent to which and the strategies with
which Du Bois’ photographs are able to challenge racist representations and
taxonomy, thereby intervening in turn-of-the-century “race science” by offering alternative visual representations that show “what the negro really is in the
South.”64 Why and how does Du Bois draw on science in the “Georgia Negro”
!
!
&
%
!*
Du Bois’ albums initiated new visual strategies for representing both race and
national character at the turn of the century, trying to explore a formulation of
!
&
American identity. Du Bois’ albums suggested that the African American could
indeed be both an “American” and a “Negro.” Almost two-thirds of the photographs in Du Bois’ Georgia Negro albums are portraits, generally displayed on a
single page, and they typically offer two views of an individual, one frontal, the
&
Q
!
%
!
&
high class family albums at this time. Du Bois assisted in preparing many of the
displays for the American Negro exhibit. In Paris, the American Negro Exhibit
was displayed within the Palace of Social Economy, a wooden structure built in
the style of Louis XVI. It was situated next to the Palace of Horticulture, on the
banks of the Seine, across from the national buildings of European and North
American countries. The Paris Exposition organizers invited African Americans
to present their history, cultural achievements, and social advances to the world
in their “own terms” at the Paris Exposition of 1900. A very few years after
"
"
!
X
{/
|}
&
!
Atlanta Exposition of 1895, the Nashville Centennial Exposition of 1897, and
the Paris Exposition of 1900. The American Negro exhibit of the Paris Exposi63
64
Ibid., The Souls of Black Folk (1903), New York 1990, 3.
W. E. B. Du Bois, “The American Negro at Paris,” in: Herbert Aptheker (ed.), Writings by W.
E. B. Du Bois, 91.
227
tion tried to represent African Americans as thoroughly modern members of the
Western world.
The Paris Exposition of 1900, by far the largest international exhibition of
its time, drawing some 48 million attendants, expanded the tradition of native
village exhibits. According to the basic ideological concept of the Paris Exhibition, the American Negro Exhibit participated in the idea of the celebration
X
{!
%
!
_`
&
that drew evolutionary “evidence” of the departure of Negroes from primitive
savagery. In Du Bois’ perspective, the exhibits in the Palace of Social Economy
&
!
&
!
!
&
social reform (included in national exhibits were for instance the mutual aid
societies of France, the state insurance of Germany, as well as the Red Cross
Society). The American Negro exhibit attempted to present itself as a social
success story, but it was compelled to deliver that story within the implicit context of solutions to national problems, in this case, the so called American “negro problem.” Though the American Negro exhibit provided an opportunity for
"
"
!%
&
&
&
Du Bois’ photographs of the American Negro re-entered a visual terrain already
!
tury. It is also important to note that the photographs were not presented as art
objects in a separate photographic salon, but instead, the images were meant
to document and to illustrate the “progress” and “present conditions” of the
American Negro. Displayed in the Palace of Social Economy, alongside model
tenement houses and the reports of factory inspectors, the photographs included
in the American Negro exhibit functioned as evidence, just as the other statistics
/
!
/
!tion of progress. Moreover, Du Bois’ photographs try to delineate a national
character after the Civil War, and decades after Reconstruction, in a period of
heightened racial tension, continuing debate over the so-called Negro question,
segregation, African American disfranchisement, and increased lynching. By
explicitly representing the African Americans, Du Bois situates national identity
&

'
!
!&
The title of his albums — Types of American Negroes — echoes the terms of
!!&
_`
/
Q
+
in an analysis of the formal pictorial language and visual typology of the photographs is their standardized seriality. The portrait series presents individuals
{
!
Types consist almost entirely of such portraits (there
228
Figure IV. 10: From Types of of American Negroes
are more than two hundred). The repetition of poses and props evident in his
collection marks a consistency in formal representation roughly congruent with
!
&
&
$
&
which Du Bois’ portraits are made and presented, the combination of frontal
+
+
@
/
&
!
codes of national belonging integrated? Are there signs that racial identity is
being assimilated in favor of a common national character? And furthermore,
do W. E. B. Du Bois’ photograph albums recuperate a sense of racial autonomy
and self-determination? Du Bois’ photograph albums, titled Types of American
Negroes, Georgia, U.S.A. (vol. 1–3) and Negro Life in Georgia, U.S.A. (vol. 1),
include formal studio portraits of African Americans as well as informal snapshots of groups outdoors, children playing, people working, homes and business
establishments, and interior views of elaborately decorated middle-class parlors.
If Du Bois’ albums evoke through their style and even their titles a history of
!
&
&
!!
register with formal portraits of African Americans elegantly dressed in middleclass trappings. The large majority are portraits that do not name or identify
individuals but instead present portrait photographs as the unnamed evidence of
African American individuality. The portraits with their formal pose and dress
of the individuals depicted display typical “Negro faces” within the conven-
229
Figure IV. 11: From Types of American Negroes
tions of white middle class representation and thus resist institutionalized and
stereotypical racist representations. Thus the albums dismantle the stereotyped
and caricatured images of African Americans reproduced in American popular
culture. In the context of the American Negro exhibit, Du Bois’ images pose a
challenge to black and white viewers. They contest racist “American ideas” and
representations by asking white viewers to rethink dominant American “conventions.” And most notably, Du Bois’ frontal portraits meet and engage the eyes of
later viewers. Within the codes of late-nineteenth-century American visual culture, these portraits represent African Americans as both illustrious Americans
contemplating shared ideals, and as distinct individuals. Du Bois’ photographs
race at the turn of the century and Mathew Brady’s earlier portraits of Illustrious
Americans.
The title of the series Types of American Negroes (instead of, for example,
Negroes in America) ultimately aims at essentializing national identity. (The
term American Negro would have registered as a kind of oxymoron to particularly strident Anglo-Saxon American nationalists at the turn of the century). It
is important to mention that since the Civil War, many white Americans had at
"
/!&
"/
by the turn of the century their white-supremacist nationalism was backed by the
!
!

!
!
“science of race,” even claimed that national character was an effect of race, a
230
kind of racial attribute. Du Bois’ photographic album on the contrary highlights
national belonging in order to demonstrate the “nature” of an essentialized national character, if not of an essentialized racial identity. The photographs put
&
&
!
from and then reintegrated into the visual codes of racial identity. The photographs would align national character with a racially encoded discourse of
blood, marking American identity as a set of visual middle class codes. In Du
Bois’ albums there is, however, no explicit activity performed to demonstrate a
particular ideology of race progress for later viewers. Further, signs of “Americanness” are utterly absent from Du Bois’ albums. It seems that the African
Americans in Du Bois’ albums need not prove their right to be included in an
American Negro exhibit; because they are Americans by birth, they are able
!
!

"
!!
!
racial identity primarily in cultural terms that transcend theories of physical
difference based on blood lines. Rejecting “the grosser physical differences of
`
&
!

_!
!`
!
tinct races develop: “While these subtle forces have generally followed the natural cleavage of common blood, descent and physical peculiarities, they have at
other times swept across and ignored these.” Instead, the photographs conform
to white viewing norms by reproducing them and employing cultural logics and
privileged practices, ultimately trying to integrate them in a national framework.
According to Du Bois, cultural equality among the races is guaranteed due to a
shared “essential” national character. While Du Bois’ “American Negroes” are
Americans both legally and philosophically, their fundamental identity remains
racial within the nation. Du Bois’ albums contest a program of assimilation by
portraying not the “American Negro” but the “Negroes” of America. He subtly challenges the exclusive authority of white Americans — assimilationists
and eugenicists alike — to represent, signify, and embody the ideals of national
identity. Du Bois’ sense of national identity is cultural, philosophical, and legal.
Yet while Du Bois’ version of American character corresponds to a set of ideals,
his vision of national identity does not erase or conceal racial identity.
In “The Conservation of Races,” published in 1897, W.E.B. Du Bois asks:
“What, after all, am I? Am I an American or am I a Negro? Can I be both? Or
is it my duty to cease to be a Negro as soon as possible and be an American?”65
As Du Bois attempts to plot a course through the “doubleness” of racial and
65
W. E. B. Du Bois, “The Conservation of Races” (1897), in: Andrew G. Paschal (ed.),
A W. E. B. Du Bois Reader, New York 1971, 19–31.
231
national identities facing African Americans at the turn of the century, he asserts that distinct racial cultures must be maintained, even as different groups
/
%
Z
&
African American must struggle to be both an “American” and a “Negro.”
Accordingly, Du Bois’ images represent new visual strategies for representing
an explicitly racialized version of national identity. In consequence, W. E. B.
Du Bois famously experiences and is able to describe a double consciousness.66
A “double-consciousness” as “the sense of always looking at one’s self through
the eyes of others.”67 It is the image of himself that Du Bois sees through the eyes
of white others that makes him feel his “two-ness.” Several decades later, and
in the rather different context of French colonialism, Frantz Fanon would also
powerfully describe the psychological splitting of black consciousness under a
white gaze. In Black Skin, White Masks, Fanon muses: “I am being dissected
under white eyes, the only real eyes. I am +$.”68
66
67
68

Q
=&
'&
!
!
!
\
!
consciousness in The Third Eye: Race, Cinema, and Ethnographic Spectacle, Durham Duke
1996, 4.
W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk (1903), New York 1990, 7–8.
Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks, New York 1967, 116.
V. Making it Real (hard). Image Illusion and Beyond
9DQLVKLQJ*ORULHV6HHLQJLV1RW$OZD\V%HOLHYLQJ
!
<
|^

Z
Imitation
|
"
!&
/
!
/
!
!
"
!
^
trompe l’oeil
1
!
|
|}
&
/
!
trompe l’oeil "
!
!!
!&
!&
!
Q
/
!
!
!!
/
^
!
&
!
&
/
trompe l’oeil
Vanishing Glories
/
!
!
|
!
/
!

/
@

_
&`

/
/
+^
@
&
&
!
%
!
+
!!&
&
!
!
X
!
1

/
!&
"
+
After Hunt: William Harnett and
Other Still Life Painters
||}
+&
|}~}
&
$
_
#!&
Q
\
=`
^
Prospects
|~
|}}|
~
Making it Real (hard). Image Illusion and Beyond
!&
{/
!
+
!
2
X
&
/
!
!
!
_&`*
!
&
!
&

Vanishing Glories
&
!\
+!
X
&
!
X
&
Q!
!
_&`
\
trompe l’oeil
&
!
Q
&
+
&
+
Q
%\
!
!
!
!
&
/
_Q&
\
&
"&`^
"
+
\
&
Vanishing Glories
&
+^
_@
*`
_@\

@
\
`
_@
*`
_#
@
+
\
@
\
+`
_@
*`
_@
\
&
&
`
_X
*`
_@
!
&
&
@
\
!
`3
"
/
!
/
&
+
X
$
Z
trompe l’oeil
!&
_Q
`
&!
!
^
&
&
!
+
Z
+
&
&
!
!
Z

&
&
&
!
'
!%
!
!
&
'
!
&
!
_
`
&
+
!
\
+
&
!&
!
_
`
!
2
3
_
&`
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
~
|
>!
^
+
The
Arts of Deception

@
_Q&
\
&
"&`

|

!
!
&
&
/
_$!¨
Q
+
@
¨`

Q
!&
!
trompe
l’oeil
Q
/
&
!
X
&
!
!
\
&
!
!&
&
!
!&
"
\
&
&
&
!
/
&
!
/
&
!
!
&
!
!&
&
+
/
!
!
!
&
%
!
!
&
@
_&
`
#
&
!
!^
_X
+
%
&
!
&
!
!
!
&
&
>!
!
!!`5
Q!
trompe l’oeil
!
!
@
/
!&
&
&
>!
Q!
>!&
/
trompe l’oeil
!
/
/
!

!
!

!&
!
X
!
!
&
&
+

Q
+
/
&
!
!&

5
&
+
"
"
"
@!
|

>!
^
+

#
&
_&
<!
@`
^
@
$
"
Z&

$/&

Visual Theory: Painting and Interpretation
#
+
|}}|
~

!
!
!
~
Q
!
!
&
/
&
trompe l’oeil
&
!
Q

¨
!&\

!
!
_@!
"`
+
!
!
&
!&
!
"
|}
!
The Beacon
^
$

X
/&
!
!
_@!
"`
&
!!
!
&
!
!+&
_
&
`
Q
!
&
!
!
!
+
&
&

@
!

&

!
/
&
/

&
!
_
`
!&
!
&
!&
/
!

!
&
!
_
&
`
!
!+
^
!
&
!!
_&`
#
\
!
+
trompe l’oeil
!
!
!
!
/
&
!
!
&
Q
&
!
'
&
!
!
&
+
&
!
!
!
>!&
trompe l’oeil
!
&
!
!
&
'
&
#
&
%
!
~

&
+
|

>!
^
+

The Beacon
|~
!
|}
&
|||
}
!
<
^

Z
The Slate
|}
!
+
_!
`}
=
>!
&|
Q
/
/&
!
/
!
!
!&
@!
>!^
!
/&
+
+
!
!
&
!
@!
!
!
+
!

!
!
!

&
&
!
/
X
&
%
!%%
!
&
!!
Q
!
!
!
_
`
!
+
!&
Q
trompe l’oeil
!
/
!
!
!
!
/
&
"
X

Q
$
!
&
!
!!^
_&
!
!
/
!
!!
`11
}
|
11
#
&
Vision and Painting: the Logic of the Gaze
#
+
|}

Z

_@
!`
^
Z

Der zweite Blick.
D$
$D$
$¬

X

Q
$
Picture Theory: Essays on Verbal and Visual Representation
|}}

!
!
!
&
!
!
!
/
!
Q
!
!
Q
!&

!
!
Q
!&
trompe l’oeil
!
!&
"
!
!
&
!
!!
/

&
%
!&
&
!!&
!
&
&
/
"
!
!
!
!
&
!
'
/
@&
!

Z\
Reproduction
|~
!
/
!
!
!
¨
@
!
+
/
&
trompe l’oeil
!
/
!
/
&

&
!

!\
trompe l’oeil
_`
%
&
!
%
12
=
!
!
!!
!
&
/
&

!

!
!&
Q
!
/
!
&
!
/
+
!
&
!
&
&
!
@!
/
"
&
&
!
!
!
!
!!
&

!!
&
!
!
12

!
/
&
{
Z

Art
and Illusion. A study in the Psychology of Pictorial Representation

|}

!
The Trompe L’Oeil
^
#
&

Calligram: Essays in New Art
History From France
|}

|
Z
&
!
!
!
!

!
/
/
!
&
!
&
&
_
`
!
Q!
&
!
!
/
+
!
!%
!
!
!
!
!
&
"&
!&
trompe l’oeil &
!
%
!
!
/
/
&
&
!
!
/
!
&
&
!
Q
&
&
%
&
&
'
!%
!
/
Q
'
!
/
!
!
/
!
!!
&
!
!
"
&
!
!
!
!
@
!&
!
!
&

Z&

Q

!
&
/
!
!
/
(\HV:LGH6KXW+HQU\-DPHVDQGWKH&ULVLVRI9LVXDOLW\
At a Glance: Paradigms of Fiction and Visual Experience
_Q&
¨`13
Z&

&
_Q
"
`
|
{
/
&
_X
/
/
&`
Z
/
!
!
&
!
&
{/

&
+
!
+
!
!
&
!
@
&

+
&
!

@
/
&
/
!

&
&
|
Q
!
Z&
\
&!
&
X

&
!
&
!
&

!
/
'

\
!

\
!
>!
&
!

@
|
#
+
&

&
!
15

/!
'
!
!
&
+
<
&
+
&
!

&
13
|
15
Z&

_Q
"
`
|
^
X
<
!
$

The Art
of Criticism. Henry James on the Theory and Practice of Fiction

|}~
|
@
||
Z&

The Art of the Novel: Critical Prefaces
=
+!

#
+

|}
|
!
#
+
{
=
&

+
0$8;
[
#
+
|}~~
&
/
/
+&

/
!&\\
\
Z&

Literary reviews and
essays on American, English, and French literature
"
$

#
+
|}
Z&

Notes and reviews
#
+
|}~

&
&
!

{\
Middlemarch|~
%
!\
!
+
/
Q
{
_!`|
&

&

_Q
"
`
Q+
_/`
\
!
&
/
\
&
&
&
|

&
_/
`
_
`|}
Z%
@+
!
&
!
>!
_
&
!
!`
"
\
!
_
/
&

&`
!
&
&
/
/
&
!
'/
!&

&
/
!
!
Z
!
!
/
_!`
&
!
!
&
&
&
!
_
!`
!&
!
\
!
&
+!
!
/
!
&
&%
!
&
/
&
+
@
X
!+
!
!
"
&
_!!
&`
_!
!
|~
|
|
|}
Z&

Middlemarch
"
+
=

{\
#
&
!
4
$
|
^
Complete Review Quarterly

$&

^
>!&!

_Q
"
`
|~
!

!!

"
!
!
X

&
\
!
Z%
@+
Der amerikanische Roman im 20. Jahrhundert. Transformation des Mimetischen
|}}

&\
\
!`
!
_/
&
!
&`
$
&
&
!
\
Q
réalisme
!

|~
!
!
!
!
!
!
Q
&
&
"
!
!
$+
Q
X
Z
\
!
Atlantic Monthly
%
%
!
!21
Q
&
!
&&

{
Adam Bede
|}
!
Z
Q
!&
&
&
!!&
!
X
!
!&
/
\
!
!
%
&
!
!
"
&
&
/
&

&
&
&
&
&
=&
!
!
&%
!
&
!
!
!&
&
_Q
!
+
!
!
!
&
&
!
/

Z!
&
&
&
`22
!

%
!
!
&
!
&
&
/
&
Z
%
&
!
!
!
&
+
!
"&

_

21
22
X
!+ Inszenierte Wirklichkeit. Der amerikanische Realismus 1865–1900
$¬
|}}
|
Z!
«

Amerikanische Literaturgeschichte
!
X
|}}~
|

_Q
"
`
||
~
`23
_/`
Z
_
!
`
!
!

!
!
The Portrait of a Lady
!
!&
%
!
+
_/
`
Q
&
&
>!&
%
!

!&
+
{\
Middlemarch25
Q
&
_/`
&
!
!
!
_
`
'
!
Q
&
!
Q+&
+

{
&
'
&
!
!
!
\
!
@
/
!
=
$
@
Z
&
!

!
&
!
&
!
Q!
&
&
&
/
!
!
!
&
\
!
!
&
Z
_`
&
!
!
!
!
/
!
%
!
!
'
!
!
!
&

23
25

@|
Z&

|}}
~
Z&

Middlemarch
"
+
=

{\
#
&
!
4
$
|
^
Complete Review Quarterly

$&

^
>!&!

&
!
^
!!
/
!&
!!
!
&
!
&
_
\
&
!
`~
=

!
!
!
Q
>!

!!
The Portrait of a Lady^
!
!
!
!
&
/!%
Q
!
!
&
&
&
!
!
!!
!
&
&
%
!
&
!
\
Q
_!`
+
>!
\
@
!
!

/
%
&
!%
!
!
!
@
!
&
&
!
%
!
!
&
!
!
_!
`
=

!
!
%
_!`
>!
!

©
!
%
_
!`
=&
!
&
!
&
&
!
!
/
!
&
!!&
!&
Z
'
!
~

=

Krisen des Sehens. Herny James und die Veränderung der Wahrnehmung im
19. Jahrhundert
Q¬

@
\
=!+X
!
"
+
_"
!^
X
=!+

@`
Victorian Studies
<!

#!
^
^!!

Krisen des Sehens

/
^
_!
`
&
!
!

&
_`
'
!
!
/
&
!
@
@
&
>!
&
\
'
/
!
&
Theatrical Gazes and Spatial Contexts in The Portrait of a Lady
@
Z&

!
!
!!
!
!
'/
/
%
!
"
!
!
!
!
!
%
&
"
&
/
!
&
+
@
!
Q
/
&
%
Q
%
!
!
\
%
&
'
!
&
<
\
&

&
&
!
/
Q
&
!&
%
!
<
Z!
!&
+
/
+
!
<
^
$
}
@
\
/
!!
!
!
!
/
^
%
_!
`
&
!
>!
@\
&
&

_`
&%
Q!
/
&
Q!
_
`
!
_
+
!
&!
!
!
!
!
!

!`}
Z
+
!
Z
+
&
@
Q!
%
_
&&`
!&
!
+
+
+&
&%
_`
&
!
Q
!
!
/
@

!
%%
=
"
!
&
\
!
%
&
!
!
^
_@
+
!
@
&
!
&
!
&
+
&

Q
!
'

!
&
+
`31
@
+
Q
!
&
!

_
!
`32
+
_
!`33
$
Q
!
&
^
=
&
@
&
_`
&
'!
&
'!
@\
!
_\
`
@
=\
!
&
!&
!
@\
&
@\
+
Q
}
31
32
33

@
@
|
@
||
@
|
@

/!
!
>!
!
!
Z
&
!
@
%
Q!
%
/
>!
!

!
!
@\
!
&
&
_
`
!
!
+
Q&
!
\
/
Q!
=\
%
%%
=

@
_
+

+
`

_
!+
!
&!
!
!
&`35

&!
%
&
=\
%
%^
_=
%

Z
&

!
&

X
&
!
`~
Q
_`
@
!
!
"
'!
%
!
=\
%^
Z
!
!
!
&
!&
!

!
&

Q
>!
&!
&
&

Z
!\
+
+
&
&
!

@
@
&
&
!\
^
&
Q
%
!&
!
+
@
Q
%
^
!
&
!
%
!
{&
&
!
^
=
!+
&
35

~
@
}
@
~
@
||
251
!&
X!
!

+
!&

!

&
!
Z
+
&
&
!
^
$
Q!
X
@
!^
!&
%
\
&
!
!
!
&
Q!
&
&
!
!
+
Q
!
!
@
_
`
!
%
!
=\
/
_
`
@
+
&
&
&
=\
/
@
%
!
!
&
!
/&
+
=
!
&
!
Q
+
&
!!&
Q
!
!
Q
!
=
!
+
!
@
+

_@
&!
@
!
+
!
`
+

!
!
_
\
+
!`
=

!
!

!
Q
+
@
!
!
>!
!
&

'
&
=
+
+
!
!
+
@
!
!
/
!!
&
!
!

!+
+
+
&

!
!
&
&
!
!
!
!
Z
!
&

+
+

=
+
@

!
@
_
+
`
&
Q

=\
@
Q
!
=
_!+`
&
!
@

@

252
!
!
\
!
_`
@
@
&
&
!
!
!^
+
+
X
@\
!
*
Q
!
_&`

{

%
/
}
Z
!&
&
%
/
@
^
+
!
!
!!&
*
@
=
!
%
&
%*
Z
!
&
!
!
!
=
_@
&!
@
!
+
!
`
Q
/
%
!
@\
&
/
!
&
%
X
=
!/
\
_&
`
@\
!
&
!
!
&
&
^
%
!
&
Q!
@\
!
>!
!
<
^
$
}
{

_Q

%^
Z&

{`
^
Mosaic: A Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature
|
|}}
}
253

@\

"
@
!!
^
&
&
_
&
+`
Z
%
^
@\
&
_`
+
!
!
_'`
&
!
Z
\
!
^
+
!
/
&
!
!
@
\
%
%
\
_`
!
@
+
&
&!
/
'
!
!
!
Z
!
&
&
!
!
!
!
!
&
!
!
"
+
'
/
!
/!
!&
!
&
+
&
&
+
!&
'+
&!

!
&
+
\
!
!&
/
@
!
&
&
!
@
%
!
@
+
+
$
$

!
!
"
$
$\
+
_
`
!+
@

&
\

$
$
+
@
%

!
!&
^
@
!
_`
$
$
&

@

&
@
$
$
_%`
^
!!!
!
!
!
&
!
+

!
!
$
$
!
!
&
&
_@
!
+
+
¨`
@
&
/
\
!!
!
+
!&
@
+
@
!
'!

@
'&
@
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
$
$
+
/&
!
+
|
$
$
&
!
@
!
>!
^
!
%
_>!`
!
!
!
&
!
!
Q
>!
!
/
!
!
"
+
!
>!
_`
$
$

!!\
&
^
!
!
!
@
@
!
_!
`^
$
$
&
!
\

²
+
@
Q!
$
$
!

!
&
!
Q
!
$
!
!
!
+
+
!
@
!

!
!
!&^
_$
"
&!
+
&
*

+
!
&!
`
Z
+
!
!!
!
+
+
!
!
&!
&
+
!
|
@
|~
255
Z
!

!
@
!
!
Z

+
!
%

Q
&
>!&
!
!>!
@
>!
!
$
!
+
&

"
@\
!
$
$
&
!!!

/

&

!
@
!
&
/
+
!
!
+
!
+
&
!&
!
&
!

!

@
@
&
+
Z

!
_!
`
@
!+
&
/&

@\
_\
&`
^
!!!
/
!
&
!
&
+
&
Z
!
+
'

!
_`
\
!
!
&
@\
^
!
!

!
"
$
$
&
@
!
&
!
!
@
@
!
@
%

&
+
Z
!
@
!
\

@
|

!
_
{
Q>!
The Portrait of a Lady`
^
Studies in American Fiction |
|}}
|~
&^
"
Q^
_
@
!+&
Z!
+
$^
Q
@&
The Portrait of a Lady`
^
$+

The Henry James Review

_#
{&
The
Portrait of a Lady`

|}~
||
~

&
$
$\
!
!
"
@\
!
!
&

@
!
!
/
!
\
/^
!
Q
%
!
!
^
@
\
Q
!\
%
^
+
!&
%
\
%
+
@
&
@
_\
!!
`
Z
+
!
!\
%
\
&
!
_
&`
^
\
@
+
/
!
"
&
!
%
&
!
&

&
\
!!
!
@\
Q!
/
+
!
!
/
%
&
^
_
!
!
!
!
`
@
@
&
!
!
!
@
!
/
!
+
&
_`
@

X!\

X!
&
Z
&
/

"
/
&
&
$
"
&
&
!
/
+
$

Z
/
+
!
!
!

@

{+
+
_!&
&
+\^
=

Z&
\
^
Arbeiten aus
Anglistik und Amerikanistik

|}}
|}|

!
>!&
"
@
Z
+
&
!
=
Q!
&
!
!
&
!!&

X!
/
&
!
!

Q
/

X!
!
+
Z
!
$
+
!
@

X!
&
!
&!
&
!
!
X
$
+
@

X!
~
Q
!
X!
!
@

&
&
@
Q
+
^

&
!
@
_`
X!
!
!
&
+
/
!
Z
@
+
!
%
\
/
!
&
Z
&
&
X
+
!
^
X!
!
!
!
@
=
X!
&
!

&
Q!
_`

&
%
+
!
!
!

X!\
!+
&
!+
!
!&
!
!'!
Q
&
%

=
X!
+
/
!
@
@
Z
!
&
!
!
&
&
_!/
`

!
@\
!
&
!%
!
&
~
@

!
<
^
$
"
&
@
%
+
!
%

%
/
%
!
!
&
&
/
Q
!
/
&
'
@
+
%
Q
%
&
/
!
!
!
&
/

&
!
!
"
!
%
%
!
!!
/
Q
!
&
!
!
/
Q
!
!
Q
!
!
@
/
!
&
!
@

%
!
&
&
\
!
&
!

Krisen des Sehens
~
}
_!`
_!
`
@
The Portrait
of a Lady
!
!
&
!
%
Q/!&
\
!
!
!
!
/!&
&
Q
!
&
Q
+
!
/
+
@
!
/
"
&
+
!
\
!
!
!
\
!
Q
@

^
_@
!
&
+
+
!+&
&
!
`}
Z
!
!
+
!
+
/
@
!
!
+
!
&
!
!!&
!
Real Trouble: The American Scene
&
Z&
"
!&
&
!
!
|}
Z&

>!
!&
/
+
"

+
_
&!
!
&
`
+
"
_
!`
!&
_#
{
!`
!&
!
!
_!
!
&

!
`51
@

}
51
@
|}|
}

@
|
&
Z
_Q
=!
"
Z&

#
+
|}`
^
The Henry
James Review
|~
|}}
~
Z&

The American Scene
^
@
Collected Travel Writings: Great Britain and
America
#
+
|}}
}

~
!
@
+
!
/
!
/
/
!
\
/
&
\
/
&!
!
#
+
!&
&
!
!
!

!
&
!
!
+
!
+
!
@
Z+
&
!
!^
&
!&
&
/
>!
&
!
!
!
!
&
!
!

@
!
&
&
!>!
@
@
+
&
@
!
&
!
\
!
!

&
>!
!\
!
!
&
52
Q
>!
The American Scene
!
^
&!
!
Z
&
+
^
_
#
+`
&
53
@
52
53
@

"
&
X
Z
Z

#
+
|
&
\
!
#
{
!
@
Traveler from Altruria
Z
!!
!
&^
_$\
\
!&
&
!
@

!
!
&
$
!
&

&
!
`
"!!
^
_Q
"!!
!
&
!
&
!
!
&
!
/
+
&
`
X
Z
A Traveler from Altruria
|}
#
+
|}

Z
"
Z%
#
!
|}
!
=
Die Wahrheit der Täuschung. Wirklichkeitskonstitution im
~|
&
!
&
_
"`
!
Q
!
>!
!

#
+
Q
&
&
!
!
!>!
^
!
!
!
+
%
Q&
&
%
!^
!
'
!^
!
!
&
!
!
!
>!
/
@
&

>!&
!
&
!
!
&
!
!
&
!

#
+\
!
&
!

!
/
!
Q

_#
{^
"
"!!
@`
%
/
Q
_!`

/
!!^
!
!
Q
%
_=
"&`
!
!
&
%
!
&
@
&
!
$&
!&
!
\
'
&
!!^
"
_
{`
%
&
&
!
!&
@
++
>!
The American Scene
+
+
_`55
Q
_
&`
The American Scene
&
!
!
!!
!
#
&

55
amerikanischen Roman 1889–1989
$¬

||~

The American Scene
}

&
!
"
!&
!
$

58
`Z55\
Late James

|}}|
}||
~
Z
!
!^
_

`
!
!/
+~
Q
/
&
&
&

&
/
&
!!
!
@
!
/
!
^
&
{
!!
!
X
&

&
!&
!
!
%
!^
&
&
!
!
&
&
!
"
&
&
!
!
Q
'
The American Scene:
&
!
_
"`
&
&
!
!%
!
!!
+

&

%
!
!
&
The American Scene
&

/
!&
!

Q
_!/!&
!!`

&
_
`
/
!
&
!&
&
&

!
&
&
&
!!
Q
!

!
!
!
~

The American Scene
~
\
&
The American Scene
!
&
_
\
&`

_
`
&
!/
!
_&+`
/

/
!
&
_`
_`
/
"
!

!

!
%
!!
+
&
!
&
/
!
!

_
"^
The American Scene,” The Cambridge
Quarterly
|
|}}
}~
~
!
Q
&
/
!
_!
`
!&
&
&
!
!&
_!`
_!`
&
Q
+
!!
^
!
_`
!!
&
&
!+
#
+
!
"
_
`
&
\
!
!
&
"
!
_
++
!
`
!+
_
&`^
&
!
!
&
!
Q
!

&
&
!
&
!
@
+

!
+

&
&
'
!
'&
!

!!
/&
!
+&
!
+
+
!
Q
!
!
%
+
!
&
!
!
Q
_
&`
+
!
X
"
Q
&
!^
!&
+
+
!/!&
/!&
Q
+
&^
&
!
+
!
!
&
Z
!
!
!
'
!
X
%

@
|
~
&
&
&
!
/
Q
>!
&!

"
!
!
!
!
/
&
+
!
&&
%
!
&
+
&
!
"
+
Q
!

!
&

!
!

!
&
!
"
/^
>!
!
&
&
&
&
!
!
&
!
}
Q
X
"
!
#
+
Q
&
&
&
!
!!
>!
&
&
'
!
@
&
&
!
&
!
&
>!
!!
_
!`
&

!
!~
@
&
&
&
/
&
^
_
!
&`~|
Q
&
!
&\
!
!
&
&
/
&
!&

!&
>!
!
!!~
}
~
~|
~
@
|
_@

!&
+
+
+
!
!
!
&
!
!
+!
!
!
@
!
&
>!
!'
!
&
`
@
&
||
$+
%
Henry James and the Art of Power

|}
}~|

"
_Q
!
<`
^
=!

%
Henry James. A Collection
~
&
>!
&
!
!
/
@
The Art of Fiction
_
`
/
&
&
!
%
Z
_`
!!
!&
&
Q
&
X
\
The Renaissance
\
_&
`
/
&
!
!
Z

!
\
_/`
!
!
Z

/
/!&
!
^
_
/
&
/
!

&
`~
Q!
_
`~
X
&
!

/
!
&
/!
!
/
!
/
&
!&
@
!
&
!
X

!
&
!
/
@
!
!
/
@
The American Scene
/
&
!
!
&
!
'!
/
@
The American Scene

!
!
!
!&
&%
Q!
&
!

&
&
+^
@
%

&
!

!
!
@
%
!
%
&
~
@
~
~
~
of Critical Essays
#
&
|}}
|}~
Z&

Literary Criticism. Vol 1: Essays on Literature; American Writers
{
X
#
+
|}

@

Krisen des Sehens

~~
_!
&
+`
%
&
&
!!
/
!>!
/
!
~~
The American Scene
!
&
&
!
Q
&
&
&
!
%!
&
!
!
@
/

/

/
!
&

/!
!
&
@
!
&
!
/
&
@
!
>!&
+
!
!
!&
!
&
&
%
&
/
Q
!
&
%
&
&%
!
!
&
&
/
@
+!
&
!
!

'!
!!
!
\
!
&
!
!
!
!!
Q
/
!
+
%
&
!
/
Z
>!
!
!
!
!!
Q
>!
!
%
&
>!
!
!
The American Scene
&
"
!
&
!
!
&
&
~~
#
&
Vision and Painting. The Logic of the Gaze

|}
|
&
/
!^
_Q
%
!
&
!
!
&

"
&
&
^
&
&
&\
&
&
&
&
&
!
`
@
||
7KHDWHUVRIWKH*D]HLQ7KHRGRUH'UHLVHUV·V6LVWHU&DUULH
Managing the Material World: Consumption and Self-Image
@
Sister Carrie
Q
/
+
Z&
\
@
&
_
\`
_`^
!
&
Q
!
/
%
!
!
&
+
!
!
&
Z
%
%
&
/^
&\
!
/
!
!
&

&
!
&
"
/
!
&
\
+
"
+
!
&
!
!
!
!
!
&
!
'!
+
!
@

@!
&
!
!
!

Q

!
'
!
!
+
Q
!
!
&
/!
!
+
+
!
&\
!
!
!
!

Q
&
!
+
!
&
!
~
X
&\
!
&
+
!
!&
&
&
"
+
&
&
%
!
~
Q
Sister Carrie
|}
%

0#$
and sources criticism
#
+
|}}|
|
~
%
&
"
!
_
!\`
+
!
>!
!&
&
>!&
Q
!
!/
\
+
\
^
+
!
&
!
X
_
`
&
^
&
Z
>!
!
!
!
_
&`
&
%
_
!
&
+
!
&
&
`
!
_`
/
X
^
!
&
&
@
&
&
!
!

_
!
`
&
!
Q
!
&*
Q
!
!
&
*
!
!
!\
&
!
&

!
&
!
!
+
'

!
&
+
!
&
&
X
&
&
!
&
!
@
!
+
&
'!
&
!
&
&
+

!

&~
&
\
&^
+
&
!
!
!
_!`
Q
%
_`
!

+
!
@
!
>!
!
!
!!
>!
&
"
!
%
!
!

+
+
!
Q
~
@
||
~}
!
&
!
>!+
!
!&
!
~}
!
<
~^
"
!
|}
&
%
+
!
Z
>!
\

&
&
/
!
_!
`
&
&
Q&
+
&
!&
!&
!&
_`
_`^
_
!
+
!

&
&

!
!
`
\
&&
!
&
+
/!

!
!!
&
_
!`
Q
&
_+
`
!&/
/!
+

&
&
_
`
"
\
!
+
_
/`^
/
_`
&
&
!
+
!&
+
!&
@
&
%
!
&
!
&
!
%
&
&
!!
+
~}
@
|

"
!
!&
!
&
+
&
+
&
&
{
!
%%
!
+
!

&
&
Q
!
!

Q
&
+
&
+

!
!
+&
&
!
++
!
!
&
&
!
!
%
!!
^
!
!
&
&
>!&
"
+
!
+
&

!
!
/
!
&
!
!
+
+
Q
!
style

#
&
!
!
!
!

!
&
#
+
!
&

!
&
&
+
&

!
!
!
!
+
"
'
&
%
&
!
&

&
!&
!
|
&
>!
!&
&
behind

!
&
_/
`
!!
_
`
!!

|
@
|
@
|
|
"

!¨
Q
Z
&
!
@
!

!
+
&
!

!
&
Q
&\
!\
&

!
!
%
!&
Q
_
!`
!
!
!
&
!

X
&
!
!
+
>!
Q
&
&
¨
Z
\
&
&
!

@
!

!!
/
@
&
&
_`
!
!
!
/
!&
Q
!&
!
!
Z!^
!
/

!
_`
&
!&
!!
_`
Z
&!
&
!
!

Z
&
@
+
!
&
/

&!
!
+&
&
!
/
!
!
@
&
&
>!&
!
+
!\
&
@
@
!
&!

@
|
@

&
+
!
!
!
'
!

@
_`
%
¹
/
+
+
_
`
&
+
!^
&
Q
%
_>!
+`
'
!
\
!

!
!
&
+
!
+
&
Q
%
!
!
&
&
+
!&
&

&
_>!+
!
+
!
`
"
_&&
`
+^
_`
!
!&
!
&
!
!
&
&
!

!&
&
!
@
!
X
&!
&
!
!
&
/
"

!
&
!&
Q
!
'&
"
&
>!+
!
+
!
!
"
>!
+
!
&!
&
!
!&
!
+
&
!

"
^
"
!
&
&
#
&!
&
Q
&
\
!
&
Q
!
!&
Q
!
+
!

@

>!&
Z
!
+
&
~
@
!
!
\
!
{
#
+
!&
!
+!
+
!
+
\
{
&
/*\
+
&

Z
+
Z
&
&
!+
&!

!
\

\
!

@
\
!&
!
!

@
\
>!
!
"
!

&
+
_`
&
"
!&
+
!
&
_+
&`
&

>!
!
!
&
!
!
!
!
!
_`
Z
!
!&
&
!
!
&
!
+

+
\

!
!
!
%
/
&
&
&
!

'+
\

'!
&
!
!
@
!&

!&
&
\
~

@

@
}
@
~}

Q&
+
!
!
&
Q
+
+!
&

+
&
Q
+
>!
!
!
+
Q
+}

!\
\
&
@
!
&
+
&
^
!
&
!
&
Z\
!
!
/
%
&
Q
\
X
+
!
_!`
&
!
!
&
Z
@
!
$
/&
+
^
Z
&
!
Z
&
!
&
!
!
&
/
/

!\
/
!
\
!
&
"
!
X
&
&
!
Z
/
/
&
!
!
&
+
$
@
!
!
Z
+
+
!

@
@
&!\
Z
@
!\
@
\
+
\

@\
\
$

Q
!
&
Z
&
!
&
&
+
&
}

@
}
@
}

Z
\
&
!
!
!&
!
Q
!
!
/
both
!+
#
!
!
+
Z
!
!
!
!
!
!
#
&

&
"&
&
&
"&
+
Z
&
Z
/|
\
!
&
%
@
!
Z!
!
+
!&
&
&
!
"
/
!
!
_`
!
!
&
"
!
+
!
!
Z!
!
"
+
&
!
Z!
Z!\
_
`
!
+
'/&
!
Q
_`

&
!!
!
!
\
!\
&
>!
/
Q
!
+
&
#
!
!
!
!
!
Q
!
!

Z
+
Z
!
\

|

@
}
@
}
~
X
+
!
&
>!
X
&
!
!
!
>!&
%
!\
_
!`
+
Z
+
>!
&
+
Q
+

+
Q&
!
!
!

&
!
!
!
!&
"
&
>!+
!
!&
&
\
'
/&
!
&
!!
^
&
!
!

&
!

!&
@
$/\
_!
!`
!
!
&
&
!&
!

!
!
!
>!
&
!^
&
&

!&
!
!
#

&
&
&
!
>!&
!
Q
!
^
!
&
!
&
!
Q!
&
+
&
/
!
!
!
!
!
!
!\
!
^
!
&
&&
\
Q
!
&
!

@

!
+
^
!
&
!
&
&
+
&&
"
!
!
>!
&
!
Q
%
+
_!`
!

&
!
!
!
Q
!
&
!
!
!
&
!
Q!
!
!
_!`
!
!
Z
!
+
&
!
!
"
!
!
!
!
!!
&
&
!!
!
!
Q
_!
`
!
&
_%
`
>!%
!
!
!
&
!
>!
+
!
!
/&
>!&
!
Z
&
!
!
!
&
>!
"
!

&
%
&
&
X
&
\
!
&
!&
!&
&
!
/
/
&
&
&
@
&
!
!
&
!
&
_
!`
!
&
!!
!
&
Q
&
+

Consuming Visions. Accumulation and Display of Goods in America
||}
#
+
|}}

!
!
&
Q
/
&
&
!
"
!
!
!
!
!
{
!
"
!
&
"/
Q>!\
Democracy in America
|
&
"^
_"

\
`
Q>!
_
&
&

!
&
`
=&
"
>!+
_
`^
"
!
!
&
&
!
Q

&
!
/
Q
&
!
!
>!!
"
&
&
&
&
/

&
!
&
&
~
Q
!
&
@
|}}
Q
<\
Theory of the Leisure Class
_!
`
!!
!
!
"
"
<
!
!
&
!
&
&
/
&
!
&
Q
&
!
^
!
&
&
!

!
!
!
!
!!
!
!
!&
!
"
!!
!
!&
!
!
&
Q

~
"/
Q>!
Democracy in America
|
#
+
|}|

@

Q
<
The Theory of the Leisure Class. An Economic Study of Institutions
|}}
#
+
|}
}
!
&
!
/
&
!
&
>!
!
&
!
&
&
&

!&
!
!
!
&
!
!&
Q
!
&
Z
!
!&
!
/
!
\
&
>!
<
!
!
&
!
!
Q
!
&
&
!
&
&
=
!
&
!
&
&
!
!
Q
!
&
!!
!
>!
_!
&`
"
<
!
&
/
!
!
!
&
!!&
&
!
"
<
&
&
!
&
&
^
_!
&
!
!
&
`}

\
!
_!!`
<\
\
&
!
!&

/
Sister Carrie
$
!&
!
!
_!
+`
_
!`
&
!
}
&
+
>!&
=
&\
_%
!
&`}|
"
%
!
&
&
!
_`
&
_!!`
<
>!&
!
!
!
&
&
!
&
"
!
&
"
&

}
}|
}
@

@
|~
Sister Carrie
~
=
&
Just looking. Consumer Culture in Dreiser, Gissing and Zola
#
+
|}

/
!!
!&
&
!
_!&
`
&
+
>!&
>!
!
&

&

!
!
{
!!&
"
Dollars and Democracy:
Q
>!&
!
!

!
!!
&
"
!
&

&
&
!&
!
>!

@
/
}
Q
"
&
!
!
&
\
{
!
&
+
!/!&
Z
$!

!%^
_X
/
>!
`
}
Q
&
!
&
<

/
!
#
+
&
+
!
&&
!
&
!
&
!
&
!
!
!
!
&
!
&
@
!
!
!/!!
X
&
&
+
!
@
+
&
+
Z
!
!
!
!
&
+
&

!
&
_`
!
!
&
Q
+
!
&
!
}
}
!
Dollars and Democracy
#
+
|}
|

||~
Z
$!

50`/\
0`%&<]%*%
#
+
|}|
||
^
Z&

_Q
Q`
Atlantic Monthly

$&
|}~
~|
|
&
!
!
!
/
"
!
+
&
_!`
Q

!\
!&
+
\
!

+
!
!
&
!
!
!
/
$
Q
\
/
!
&
!

!
!&
@

%
!
/
&
!
!&
!
\
&
!
!
}
Z
&
!
/
&
!
&
@
|}
!&
!
%
!
+
&
+
\
$
&
/!
&
!&
@
/
&
&
!
@
>!
!
@
!
>!
&
&
&
'
"
!
&
%
!
Q!
!
!
!
!!
&
Sister Carrie
!
!
%
&
\
+
+
@
&
Q
!
^
!
!
"
&
<\
_!&
!`
_!
}
"&

The Social Construction of American Realism,
|}

`
+
!
&
\
&
!
Q
&
+&
&
\
Sister
Carrie
!
!
&
!
<
^
%
The Show Window
Q
&
!
!
&
&
&

!!
_'!`
&
+
+
!
/
&
'!/
"
&
!
^
>!
#/
&
/
!
^
+
!
!
&

+
+}
Q
&
!
&
!
&
&
+
!
}
X

$
_
\
!
{&`
^
@
The Gold Standard and
the Logic of Naturalism: American Literature at the Turn of the Century
+&
|}
}

@
!&
&
&
!
Q
!
/
/
&
@
\
&
!
!
!
+
!
!&
!
/!
%
!
Q
Sister Carrie’s
!
!
!
&
!
!
%
Z
'
!
\
!
&
!
!
_
!`
\
&
&
&
!
_
`
"
!
^
_X
!
&
!
!`}~
#
!
%
&

/^
+
&
&
+
&
!!
/
'!
!
!
\
/
!
#
+
^
&

!
!
@
!!
!
&
!
&
!
&
!&
!
!
+
!
+
+
!
!
!
!
Q
%
&
/!
!
+
!
+
#
+\
Z
!
!!
!
&
}~
Sister Carrie,

>!
!&
!

!

\
!!
!
!
Z!\
_`
&
!
!
+
&
@
\
!
&
_`

@
&
!
&
\
!
Z!
#
+
!
!
/
!
&
\
_`
&
!!
&
%
&
Q
!
!
&
&
habitus
Z
!
!
!
!

&\
Q
\
!+&
!!&
!
&
Q
+

&
!
!
!
Q
&
&
!!
&

!

+
&
%
!
&
\
&&
Q
!
&
!

&
&&
!
%
Q!
&
%
!
!!
\
&
!
!!
>!
%
!
Q
!
\
!
!
%
"
!
!&
%
+
&
!
^
_
`}
X
!\
'!
!
+
}
@

!
!
&
!\
\
%^
_Q
&
!
`}
X
!\
&
+
!&
&
+
!
@
!\
_`
Q
!
!\
%
!
!
!&
&
_
&`
!
$
Q
_%
!
&`
_
`
_
!`
_
`
$}}
&
!%
!
$
!
!
!
!
&
&!

!
&
!!
\
%
!
+
"
!
%
!
!

_
+`|
\
!&
>!
&
&
%
!%
&
@
Q

\
!
_
&`
&
_&
%
+
&

!
`||
"
+
&
!&
!
!!
&
&
_!!&`
\
&
!!
!&
!
%
!
!
%
!
&
!

&
!
_`
!
!
&
!
/!
}
}}
|
||
@
||
@
|
@

@

~
/
@
&
!\
&
_
`
|
!
%
+
@
!\
_`
!
+
_
`
|
Q
%
&
!
&
!
&
+
%
&!
%
!
+
Q
/
&
!
!&
+
!
!
!!
+
!
%^
%
!
@
&
!
!
%
!
!!
!
"
&
&
!
&
&
&
&
\
/
!
&
#
+
&
_
&
&
`
_
%
!
`|
!!
!!
X
&
!
_
%`
!
!
&
!!
@

+

!
&
!&
"
+
!
&
!
_>!&`
_&
`
&
|
@ The Theory of the Leisure Class
Q
<
!
!/&
/
!!
!!
!
\
&
&
&|~
X\
!
&
!&
!
<\
>!
!
\
!&
!
!
\
!&
<
!
&
&
"
!
&
!
!&
!
&
|
|
|
|~
|
@
~
@
~
Sister Carrie

@
Q
<
The Theory of the Leisure Class

_!!
!`
~

_
{/
!&
!!`
||||

!
\
!
Sister Carrie
!
!&
>!
!
!
!
&
!
%
\
!
+
!
&
_!`
!
+
Q
/
&
/!
&
!
&
!
+
!
&
&
<\
&
!&
!
@
\
/!
&
!
/
&
!
!
%
@
|}
!&
"
!
!!
!
&
!!
&
/
"
!
&
"
&
!
!
&
{
!
&
%
%
+
&
!
!
%
@
Q
\ Sister Carrie
&
!
&
+
!&
!
!
!
!
!&
Z
&
!
habitus
!
!
!!
!
_&`
Q
&
Q
!
!!
!
\
>!
\
_`
!
&
%
!
!
+
&

&
"
!
&
!
&
&
!
&
&
{
!
!
!
&

/
!
+
!
!
&

!
!
!
&

@
!
+
!
!+
!

Z
+
!
+
!
!
&
Q
!
!
!
!
!
!

!
+
#
&
!

!
!
@
!
|
"
!
!
Q
%
&
%
!
^
!&
!
authenticity
"
&
Z!
!
&
+
Q
!
@
&
!
&
&
&
!
Z
!
Z
!
&
&
¨
|
\
#
+
!
"
&
+!
\
/
!
!
#
+
!
&
%
&
&
&

>!
!!&
_`
\
/
&
$
<
!
&
!
!
&
&
&
Q
+
!
&
+
/&
+
|
|
Sister Carrie
||
@
|}
}
&
+
!
+
$
<

Q
>!&
!
&
@
!
\

!&
$
<\
!
%
&
&
&
!
&
Q
!
!
$
'
+
+
+
!
&|}
\
&
/!

+
\
!

!
!
!!
_X
&
!
!*`
%
&
+
@
&\
@
&
\
&
!
Q&
&
&
!&
&
!
!
&*
X
&
!
!
++++
*
X
&
!
!*
"
!
!
&
*
X
&
!
*
@
+
!
!
*
X
!
&
*
!
!
¨
#
+
!
!
!!
!!
!
!
!
@
+

!
!
&

/||
&
\
_
`
!^
&
!
X
Z
+
&
_
&
+
@\
&!`^
&
_`
"
\
!
&^
\
!
$
"
|}
||
@
~
@

}
&
%

!&
\
!
_
!`
!
!
%
"\
_!
`
!
\
!!
&
%
&
X
\
!
!
%&
\
!&
&!
!
&
!
^
_Q
%

!
Q
!
X
!
+
!
`111
\
+
!
&
!
_`
{
!
&
_
&
/
`112
@
&
!
Z!
!
\
/
!
!
#
+
!&
!
%
*
\
!!
!
!
&
&
&
!
&
%
&
!
"
!
!
%
&
'!
%
#
+
&
&
&
@
\
%
_`

!
&
!
!\
!
&
!
+
!

!
_`
"
&
\
!
+
&^
111
112
@
||
@
|~
}|
!&
!
!
&
&
+
!
&
%
113
&
\
+
/&
+
!
!
&
@
&
!
&
%%
!
%
!&
&
/
Q
&
!
+
!
!
||
^
+
!!
!
&
!
&
!
"
!
&
!
_!
`115
>!
&
%
!
&
!
Q
&
&
%
!
!
!&
!
\
!
\
&

+
'
!!
&
@
+
&
%
!
^
!&
"
/
!
Q

&
!
&
&
+
&
_`
!
&
{&
\
%
\
!
!
Q!
\
/
!
&
$/
!
113
||
115
"
!
+
+
!

$\
!!'¢
$¡+/\
«!!\
"
!!
!&
!
Das Ornament der Masse
+
!$
|}

"
!
!
!
!
/
@

^
_Q
&\
{&
^
!
!
\
#
+
\
`
The Canadian Review of American Studies

|}}|
||

!
$+
$
{

Separate Spheres No More. Gender Convergence in American Literature 1830–1930
Q!

Sister Carrie
|
}
&
!
%

&
\
Sister Carrie
&
+
/
!
{/!
!
%
!
/
_`
\ Sister Carrie
&
!
&
!
!
%
Q
/
&
+
&
&
&
&
!
!
!!
!
&
!
!
&
+
||~
Q
!
&
!!
&
!!
/
@&
!
Sister Carrie
&
!
!
!!
!
Z

!
/
!
_
&
`||
#
!
!
!
&
!
+
&
&
&
$
&
\
/
!
&
&
/!
Z!
!
!
Q!
+
\
\
!
!
&
!>!
X
Sister Carrie
!
|}
+
!
^
_
!
`
_
`
!
||~
||
{

!
/
+
&
&
&
!!
&
>!
&
/
Q
&
!
/

!
!
!
{

The Knotted Subject. Hysteria and its Discontents
|}}
!
&
&

X
X
@@@

+&
"
$
X
&
Q
\
|}|
|}
}
!
_
&`
&
_
`||
&
|}
_`
^
&
!
&
#
!
>!&
\
&
!
&
!
&
/
!
&
&
&
&
'
\
!
!
&
"
%
!
#
+
!
|}
!
%
!
!
!&||}
Q
&
_!
!
&
`|
@
\
&
&
%\
^
||
||}
|
!
+
%

Q
The Critical Reception
#
+
|}

|
|
{
$
Two Dreisers
#
+
|}~}
||
}
_"
=+
"`
^
Great Round World
$&

|}

(SLORJXH,PDJHVDV(TXLYDOHQWV
$OIUHG6WLHJOLW]7KH6WHHUDJH
"
%\
!
&
&
/
&
+
!
&
|
Z
'!
!
&
&
@
|}
{
!

}|

"!
#
+
+
&
291
%
&\
!
!!
!
!!
/
%
Z
!
&

Camera Notes
Camera
Work
Z
&
&
Z
+
!
!
!
#
+
&
!
!
Equivalents
Q
!
The Steerage
%
^
_@
&
@
&
&
The Steerage
!
>!
`121
@
!
@
!
+
!
!
/
!
!
&
+
&
The Steerage
/
&
&
'
&
!
!
!
&^
&
>!

%
The Steerage
&&
+&
&122
&
|}
%
&
&

!
!&
+
&
Q&
&
+
"
%
\
Kaiser Wilhelm II
&
+
X
!
!
!
!&
+
&
^
_
!!/
\`
&
+
!
+
+
121
122
!
^
&
#
Alfred Stieglitz. An American Seer
#
+
|}

Q
&
\
&
&
!
#
The History
of Photography
#
+
|}~
|||

!
&
!
/

Q&
_Q
The Steerage`
^ History of Photography. An International Quarterly
~
!&
|}
||
}~
!
<
^
"
%
The Steerage
|}
Z
!
\
!
^
Q
^
"
!

!
&

!
+

!
&
!
+&
@
!
@

!
!&
123
Q
!
&
!
&
!&
@
&
&
&
'/
+
!
@
!
@
!
123
#
Alfred Stieglitz
~
}
Q
@
!
!
!
!
Z
\
Q
!
+
+
\
'
\
|
%
&
&
Q
\
%
!
\
"
&
!&
&
&
+
!&
!
!
_
@
!
`
@
!
+
+
!
@
@
+
+
+*
@
@
!
!&
@
!
125
Q
!
!
!
!
!
&
/
|~
@
!
/
%
!!
!

The Steerage
!
!
%\
!
|
Q
!&
Q
!
!
!
&
X
+
!
=
!

+
&

/
%
!
|
125
|~
|
&
#

_"
%^
!
Z`
^
Twice a Year
<@@@@µ
|}

||}
@
|
@
&
_!
¡¯
+
"+
+
!
{
¯
!
!¡
¡
%!¢¯
+
+¡
+
+
"+
%^
{
¡
¡
!
"!`
Q
_«¬
tremendum
fascinosum
`

X
Sinnesschwellen.
Studien zur Phänomenolgie des Fremden 3
+!$
|}}}
|~
!
&%
&
$
_%
!
{`
^
History of Photography

X
|}}~

}
&

/
!
_
+&
&
+!`

The Steerage
+

&
@
!
&
!!!

&
&

&
!
&
_`
!
!
%
!+
!
&
!
%
!
The Steerage

!&

!&
!
_%
`|
&
%
!
!
&
!
'!
{!
Z
&
&
@
@
+
&
&
!
&
&
+
$
&
!
"
@
&
Q
!
&
Q
!
&
/
%
!
%%
!
!>!
!
@
|}
%
+
@
_Q
Z

`
^
@
!
&
&!
!
!
!&
!&
"
!
!
&

&!
&
Q
!
$&
!
_
"!
X`
!
!\
!
!&

|}
$&
!&
!
!
@
!
!
!
!|}
|
|}
Photography as a Fine Art
#
+
|}|
}
"
%
_Q
Z

`
^
The American Annual of
Photography
|}
|
>!
^
^%&&
}}
Q
!
%
/
=
!
!

_
"
`

%
+
_
`
Z
!&!
!
!
>!&
X
!%%&
!
!
!
!+
X
!
%
!
!
Q
&
!
&
!
+
The Steerage
%
The Steerage
!
X+
|}||
!
%
+
!
Q
!!
Q
!
!&
&
!
+
Q
!
!
&
+&
!
&
Q
&
!
'
!
"
!
%\
+
!
&
!
&
Q
+
!
!
&
!

_`
!\
"
+
&
Q
\
&
!
+
!
@&
%
!
%
!
&
&
+
The Steerage
%\
+
&
!
@
&
!
>!
@
!
!
&
+
!
"
&
%
^
_"
!

!
&

!
+

!
&
!
+&
`| The Steerage
!
&
%\
!
|}||
!
Camera Work
|
"
%
>!
^
#
Alfred Stieglitz
|

/!&
_`
&
!
&
%
!
+
The Steerage
%
&
%
!
!
/
{!
!!
/
&
&
@
|}|
&
!
!
!
%
291
!
<
}^

Equivalent
|}~
%\
&
!
|
|}
!'!
&
&
!&
@
|}
Equivalents
!
+&
&
!
!
!
!
!
Z
!+
Equivalents
!
+&
!
!
&
&
"
&
#
+
+&
+
Z
/
!&
&
Q
%
&
&
Q
/
&
!
/
!
!
!&

&
+
!
!
|
/&
&
!
!
&
!
&
&
^
&
Q!
&
The Steerage
!
!
!
/
@&
!
&
&%
131
@\
!!
!
!
&\
!
&
!
%
"
@\
!
&
&
&
!
!
{
@
@
!
!
!
The Steerage !&
!
&
!
&
!&
!
!!
&
!!
!
!
&
!
Q
^
@
+
{!¨
Q
!
!
&
+
&

X
@@

%\
!&
!
+
!
+
"
!!
&
!
/
>!
"
%
&
&
!
!
+
!
!
!
Z

&
!
"
!

!

!
@
&
%
&
The American Place
&
!
"
!
&
&
"

"
&
/
!
%
+
+
The Steerage
/
131
"
+!
_
@
$`
^
Artforum
|
!&
|}
~
Illustrations & Bibliography
ILLUSTRATIONS
Figure I. 1
Anonymous photographer, Women with daguerreotype (1850), Courtesy of the
George Eastman House, Rochester, N.Y.
Figure I. 2
John C. Calhoun, Daguerreotype, 1848–49, Courtesy of the Beineke Rare Book and
Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven
Figure I. 3
John C. Calhoun, Lithograph by Francis D‘Avignon, after a daguerreotype by
Mathew Brady Studio, 1850. National Portrait Gallery, Smithonian Institution,
Washington D.C.
Figure I. 4
Composite of the 1860 Senate. Album Siver Print. Library of Congress, Washington
D.C.
Figure I. 5
Brady‘s Album Gallery, No. 289, Georgetown Aqueduct and College, 1862 Barnard
& Gibson copyright line at bottom recto.
http://www.antiquephotographics.com/
Figure I. 6
Herny James Sr. And Henry James Jr. Daguerreotype 1854. James Family Photographs, Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge Mass.
Figure I. 7
Herny Clay. Daguerreotype 1849. The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Figure II. 1
The Holmes-Bates Stereoscope
http://www.xconomy.com/boston/2008/12/19/the-3-d-graphics-revolution-of-1859and-how-to-see-in-stereo-on-your-iphone/attachment/holmes-bates-viewer/
Figure II. 2
Up Broadway from Barnum‘s Museum – The City Hall Park on the Right
of the series Anthony‘s Instantaneous Views (1875)
http://www.geh.org/
Figure II. 3

The Horse Shoe Fall, from a Point near Table Rock of
the series „The Majesty and Beauty of Niagara”, ca. 1865, published by E. & H.T.
Anthony & Co., albumen print stereograph 7.3 x 7.7 cm. (each) on 8.2 x 17.2 cm.
mount, Museum Collection
^|}|~}|ª!»
306
Illustrations
Figure II. 4
Stereoskopic Slides. Unknown artist, in: Harpers New Monthly Magazine 21,
October 1860, 717–718.
Figure II. 5
Methew Brady Incidents of the War
http://www.geh.org/ne/mismi3/brady-ster_sum00001.html
Figure II. 6
Alexander Gardner, No. 551, A Contrast. Federal Buried; Confederate Unburied,
Where They Fell on Battle Field of Antietam, Albumen silver prints (stereo view), at
the Mathew Brady Studio, 1862, source: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs
Division, Civil War Photographs
http://www.westwoodgalleries.com/antietam/jps/551.jps
Figure II. 7
Methew Brady Incidents of the War
http://www.geh.org/ne/mismi3/brady-ster_sum00001.html
Figure II. 8
Timothy H. O´Sullivan, Alexander Gardner, A Harvest of Death, Gettysburg, July,
1863, Albumen silver print, negative 1863, print 1865 by Alexander Gardner, Amon
Carter Museum, source: Gardner’s Photographic Sketch Book of the Civil War, Vol.
1 (1866)—Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress.
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6744/
Figure II. 9
Section of the Rotunda, Leicester Square, 1801. Burford‘s Panorama, Leicester
Square: cross section (acquatint from Robert Mitchell‘s Plans and Views in Perspective of Buildings Erected in England and Scotland, 1901). Stephen Oettermann,
The Panorama History of Mass Media, N.Y., 1997, 104
Figure II. 10
John Banvard Panorama of the Mississippi
http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/3aa/3aa66.htm
Figure II. 11
John Bunyan‘s „Pilgrim‘s Progress.“
They Beheld the Fate of the Apostle, Design Attributed to Joseph Kyle and Courtney
Selous, York Institute Museum, Saco, Maine, Gift of the Heirs of Luther Bryant, 1896.
http://www.tfaoi.com/newsm1/n1m487.htm
Figure II. 12
John Bachmann. New York and Environs, 1859, John Bachman(n), Color lithograph,
Eno Collection.
http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/spe/art/print/exhibits/movingup/no49b.htm
Illustrations
307
Figure III. 1
American Museum Interieur
http://www.barnum-museum.org/
Figure III. 2
American Museum Moral lecture room
Figure III. 3
Heth Advertising. Collection of the New York Historical Society
Figure III. 4
Image of mermaid
Figure III. 5
Advertisement „What Is It?“ show (1865)
National Portrait Gallery, Smithonian Institution, Washington D.C.
Figure III. 6
Ltihograph W hat Is it? Currier and Ives lithography. Courtesy of the Shelburne
Museum, Vermont
Figure III. 7
Matthew Brady, Barnum Circassian Beauty, 1870, Carte de Visite Photographe,
courtesy picture history.
Figure III. 8
Matthew Brady, Barnum`s Circassian Beauties, 1870, Carte de Visite Photographe,
courtesy picture history.
Figure IV. 1
Map of the Fair, Harper’s Weekly, 19. Dezember 1891.
Figure IV. 2
Administration Building
http://columbus.gl.iit.edu
Figure IV. 3
The Grand basin
Figure IV. 4
Ferris Wheel
Figure IV. 5
View from Ferris Wheel
Figure IV. 6
Photography of Cairo Street
308
Illustrations
Figure IV. 7
Bedroom of Marie Antoinette
Figure IV. 8
German porcelain
Figure IV. 9
Cartoon. „Darkies‘ Day at the Fair“, World‘s Fair Puck. Courtesy of the Library of
Congress
Figure IV. 10
Man front. W.E.B. Du Bois, African American man, half-length portrait, facing
front, photographic print: gelatin silver, 1899 or 1900, in album (disbound): Types of
American Negroes, compiled and prepared by W.E.B. Du Bois, v. 2, no. 189. http://
lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query
Figure IV. 11
$
X{
!

African American man, half-length portrait, right
+photographic print: gelatin silver, 1899 or 1900, in album (disbound): Types
of American Negroes, compiled and prepared by W.E.B. Du Bois, v. 2, no. 190.
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query
Figure V. 1
John Haberle, Imitation, 1887, National Gallery of Art, Washington, New Century
Fund, Gift of the Amon G. Carter Foundation 1998.96.1
http://www.nga.gov/feature/artnation/harnett/money_2.shtm
Figure V. 2
John Haberle, The Slate, about 1895
Oil on canvas
30.48 x 23.81 cm (12 x 9 3/8 in.)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: Henry H. and Zoe Oliver Sherman Fund 1984.163
http://www.mfa.org/artemis/fullrecord.asp?oid=34621&did=100
Figure V. 3
http://users.bigpond.net.au/cassdvd/portrait_of_a_lady.htm
Figure V. 4
^ª+!*ª¾|
Figure V. 5
^ª+!*ª¾|
Figure V. 6
http://www.signweb.com/outdoor/cont/nuts3002.htm
Figure V. 7
Cover from the magazine The Show Window by L. Frank Baum
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/oz/ozsect1.html
Illustrations
Figure V. 8
Alfred Stieglitz, The Steerage (1907)
Photogravure on vellum 32.2 x 25.8 cm
Alfred Stieglitz Collection, 1933 (33.43.419)
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/stgp/ho_33.43.419.htm
Figure V. 9
Alfred Stieglitz, Equivalent (1926)
http://photography.about.com/library/weekly/aa071299d.htm
309
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Adams, Bulford, „A Stupendous Mirror of Departed Empires. The Barnum Hippodromes
and Circuses, 1874–1891“, in: American Literary History 8/1, Spring 1996, 34–56.
Adams, Henry, The Education of Henry Adams (1918), New York 1931.
Adams, Rachel, Sideshow U.S.A.: Freaks and the American Cultural Imagination,
Chicago 2001.
Adimari, Ralph, Holloway, Emory (eds.), New York Dissected, New York 1936.
Adorno, Theodor W., Versuch über Wagner, Frankfurt/Main 1974.
Agnew, Jean-Christophe, The Consuming Vision of Henry James, in: Richard
Wightman Fox, T. J. Jackson Lears (eds.), The Culture of Consumption, New York
1983, 65–100.
Alexander, Edward P., „Mermaids, Mummies, and Mastodons: An Exhibition on the
Evolution of Early American Museums“, in: William T. Alderson, Mermaids, Mummies, and Mastodons. The Emergence of the American Museum, Baltimore 1992.
Altick, Richard D., The Shows of London, Cambridge 1978.
Amelunxen, Hubertus von, Allegorie und Photographie. Untersuchungen zur französischen Literatur des 19. Jahrhunderts, Mannheim 1992.
Anderson, Benedict, 3$
/
X$"$
Nationalism, London 1999.
Anderson, Charles, Person, Place, and Thing in Henry James‘s Novels, Durham 1977.
Anonymous, „A Novel Street Cavalcade“, in: New York Tribune 2, November 1884, 12.
Anonymous, „Art Notes“, in: Daily Transcript, December 30 1884.
Anonymous, attributed to Herman Melville, in: Yankee Doodle 43, July 31 1847, 168.
Anonymous, „Banvard‘s Panorama of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers“, in:
Illustrated London News, December 9 1848, quoted in: John Francis McDermott,
The Lost Panoramas of the Mississippi, Chicago 1958, 43.
Anonymous, „Bewildering Displays“, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 6 1888,
quoted in: Cook, James W., The Arts of Deception. Playing with Fraud in the Age of
Anonymous, in: Boston Evening Transcript, July 6 1835, quoted in: Benjamin Reiss,
The Showman and the Slave. Race, Death and Memory in Barnum‘s America,
London 2001, 231.
Anonymous, „Brady‘s Gallery of National Personages, Suggestions as to Its Preservation“, in: The New York Times, March 1 1869.
Anonymous, „Brady‘s New Photographic Gallery“, in: Frank Leslie‘s Illustrated Newspaper, January 5 1861.
Anonymous, in: Daily National Intelligencer, February 17 1849.
Anonymous, Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, 1851, Reports by the
Juries, London 1852.
Bibliography
311
Anonymous, „Gossip“, in: Photographic and Fine Art Journal, February 1857.
Anonymous, in: Harpers‘s Weekly 6, October 18 1862, 663.
Anonymous, „Historical Photography“, in: New York Times, March 29 1867.
Anonymous, in: Home Journal, August 27 1859, 1.
Anonymous, in: Humphrey‘s Journal 5, 1853, 1.
Anonymous, „M. B. Brady“, in: Frank Leslie‘s Illustrated Newspaper 3/57,
January 10 1857.
Anonymous, in: New York Herald, March 19 1860, 1.
Anonymous, in: New York Sun, August 21 1835.
Anonymous, in: New York Sun, February 25 1836.
Anonymous, in: New York Times, October 20 1862, 5.
Anonymous, in: New York Times, 1860, quoted in: Philip B. Kunhardt, P.T. Barnum.
America‘s Greatest Showman, New York 1995, 28.
Anonymous, in: New York Tribune, April 10 1854.
Anonymous, in: Philadelphia Photographer 3, July 1866, 214.
Anonymous, in: Philadelphia Press, February 26 1866.
Anonymous, in: Philadelphia Public Ledger, 22 December 1849, 3.
Anonymous, „Photographs of the Virginia Campaign“, in: Harper‘s Weekly 8, August 6
1864, 499.
Anonymous, „Photography in the United States“, in: Photographic Art-Journal,
June 1853.
Anonymous, „Pictures on Broadway“, in: Photographic and Fine Arts Journal,
November 1858.
Anonymous, „Professor Draper on the Process of Daguerreotype and its application to
taking Portraits from Life“, in: Philosophical Magazine, September 1840.
Anonymous, in: The Beacon 1/6, June 1889.
Anonymous, in: The Century 5, September 1893.
Anonymous, „The Daguerreotype“, in: The Knickerbocker, December 1839.
Anonymous, in: The Knickerbocker, September 1848, 267.
Anonymous, „The Negro Congress At Chicago“, in: The Independent,
August 24 1893, 10.
Anonymous, „The Negro Problem“, in: Frank Leslie‘s Illustrated Weekly,
September 28 1893, 206.
Anonymous, in: The New Yorker, February 23 1946, 88.
Anonymous, „They Can‘t Stay Away“, September 6 1888, St. Louis Post-Dispatch,
quoted in: Cook, James W., The Arts of Deception. Playing with Fraud in the Age of
Anthony, E. & H. T. & Co. (ed.), New Catalogue of Stereoscopes and Views, New York,
November 1862, in collection of George Eastman House, Rochester, New York.
312
Bibliography
Applebaum, Stanley, The Chicago World‘s Fair of 1893: A Photographic Record, New
York 1980.
Arthur, T. S., „American Characteristics: No. V—The Daguerreotypist“, in: Godey‘s
Lady‘s Book 38, May 1849, 352–355.
Assmann, Jan, „Die Macht der Bilder. Rahmenbedingungen ikonischen Handelns im
alten Ägypten“, in: Visible Religion 7, 1990.
Bakhtin, Mikhail, Rabelais and his world, Cambridge 1968.
Bal, Mieke, $#$/D$$23X
Cambridge 1991.
Bancroft, Hubert Howe, The Book of the Fair, Chicago, San Francisco 1893.
Barnum, Phineas Taylor, Struggles and Triumphs: or Forty Years‘ Recollections of P.T.
Barnum, Written by Himself (1869), Harmondsworth 1981.
——— Struggles and Triumphs; or, The Life of P. T. Barnum, Written by Himself
(1855), 2 vols., Bryant, George S. (ed.), New York 1927.
Barthes, Roland, La chambre claire: Note sur la photographie, Paris 1980.
——— L‘Effet de Réel (1968), in: Essais Critiques IV, Le Bruissement de la
Langue, Paris 1984.
Baudelaire, Charles, Le Peintre de la vie moderne, in: Ecrits esthètiques, Paris 1986,
360–404.
Baudrillard, Jean, De la Séduction, Paris 1979.
——— Le Système des objets, Paris 1978.
——— 55!X in: Norman Bryson (ed.), Calligram: Essays in New
Art History From France, Cambridge 1988, 53–54.
Bazin, André, „Zur Ontologie des photographischen Bildes“, in: Filmkritik 218, Februar
1975, 51–57.
——— Qu‘est-ce que le cinéma?, Paris 1975.
Belk, Russel W., Collecting in a Consumer Society, London, New York 1995.
Belting, Hans, Bild-Anthropologie. Entwürfe für eine Bildwissenschaft, München 2001.
——— Bild und Kult: eine Geschichte des Bildes vor dem Zeitalter der Kunst,
München 1990.
——— Idolatrie heute, in: Hans Belting, Dietmar Kamper (eds.), Der zweite Blick.
D$
$D$ München 2000, 273–280.
Bender, Thomas, New York Intellect: A History of Intellectual Life in New York City,
Baltimore 1987.
Benedict, Burton, The Anthropology of World‘s Fair, in: Ibid. (ed.), The Anthropology
of World‘s Fairs, Berkeley 1983.
Benjamin, Walter, Das Kunstwerk im Zeitalter seiner technischen Reproduzierbarkeit,
in: Ibid., Illuminationen, Ausgewählte Schriften I, Frankfurt/Main 1977, 136–169.
——— Kleine Geschichte der Photographie, in: Ibid., Gesammelte Schriften II/1, Rolf
Tiedemann, Hermann Schweppenhäuser (eds.), Frankfurt/Main 1972, 368–385.
——— Über einige Motive bei Baudelaire, in: Ibid., Charles Baudelaire. Ein Lyriker
Bibliography
313
im Zeitalter des Hochkapitalismus, Gesammelte Schriften I/2, Rolf Tiedemann,
Herrmann Schweppenhäuser (eds.), Frankfurt/Main 1972, 605–654.
Benson, Peter, Maturin Murray Ballou, in: Madeleine B. Stern (ed.), Publishers for
Mass Entertainment in Nineteenth-Century America, Boston 1980, 27–34.
Berger, John, Ways of Seeing, London 1972.
Bergmann, Hans, „Panoramas of New York 1845–1860“, in: Prospects 10, 1985, 119–37.
Blumenberg, Hans, Schiffbruch mit Zuschauer. Paradigma einer Daseinsmetapher,
Frankfurt/Main 1979.
Blumin, Stuart M., The Emergence of the Middle Class: Social Experience in the American City 1760–1900, Cambridge 1989.
Bode, Carl, The Anatomy of American Popular Culture, Berkeley 1959.
Boehm, Gottfried, Was ist ein Bild, München 1994.
——— Bildbeschreibung. Über die Grenzen von Bild und Sprache, in: Gottfried
Boehm, Helmut Pfotenhauer (eds.), Beschreibungskunst—Kunstbeschreibung.
Ekphrasis von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, München 1995, 23–40.
——— Zu einer Hermeneutik des Bildes, in: Gottfried Boehm, Hans-Georg Gadamer
(eds.), Die Hermeneutik und die Wissenschaften, Frankfurt/Main 1978.
Boehme, Gernot, Theorie des Bildes, München 1999.
Bogdan, Robert, >"/
8X$$
0
$+
Chicago 1988.
Boime, Albert, The Art of Exclusion. Representing Blacks in the 19th Century,
Washington, London 1990.
Bowlby, Rachel, Just Looking: Consumer Culture in Dreiser, Gissing and Zola,
New York 1985.
Brady, Matthew, Civil War Photographs, 1861–1865, A selection from negatives in
the Matthew Brady Collection in the Prints & Photographs, Library of Congress,
Washington 1961.
——— et al., Civil War Photo Postcards, Mineola 1999.
Bredekamp, Horst, Antikensehnsucht und Maschinenglaube. Die Geschichte der
Kunstkammer und die Zukunft der Kunstgeschichte, Berlin 1993.
Brennan, Teresa, Jay, Martin (eds.), Vision in Context: Historical and Contemporary
Perspectives on Sight, New York 1996.
Brewster, David, The Stereoscope: Its History, Theory, and Construction (1856),
Hastings-on-Hudson 1971.
Brodhead, Richard H., „Veiled Ladies: Toward a History of Antebellum Entertainment“,
in: American Literary History 1/2, Summer 1989, 273–294.
Bronfen, Elisabeth, The Knotted Subject. Hysteria and its Discontents, Princeton 1998.
Bronner, Simon J. (ed.), Consuming Visions. Accumulation and Display of Goods in
America 1880–1920, New York 1989.
Brook, Thomas, „The House of the Seven Gables: Reading the Romance of America“,
314
Bibliography
in: Publications of the Modern Language Association 97/2, March 1982.
Brooks, Peter, D$/X#
$ Cambridge 1993.
Brosch, Renate, Krisen des Sehens. Henry James und die Veränderung der Wahrnehmung im 19. Jahrhundert, Tübingen 2000.
Brown, Gillian, Domestic Individualism: Imagining Self in Nineteenth-Century
America, Berkeley 1990.
Bruce, Wallace, Panorama of the Hudson Showing Both Sides of the River from New
York to Albany, New York 1910.
Bryson, Norman, !X$>`
"! London 1990.
——— Semiology and Visual Interpretation, in: Ibid., Michael Ann Holly, Keith Moxey
(eds.), Visual Theory: Painting and Interpretation, New York 1991.
——— Vision and Painting: the Logic of the Gaze, New York 1983.
Budd, Michael Anton, The Sculpture Machine: Physical Culture and Body Politics in
the Age of Empire, London, New York 1996.
Buddemeier, Heinz, Panorama, Diorama, Photographie: Entstehung und Wirkung
neuer Medien im 19. Jahrhundert, München 1970.
Buel, Charles Clough, „Preliminary Glimpses of the Fair“, in: The Century, February
1893, 615.
Buel, James William, 5/0
X
Views of the Great World‘s Fair, Philadelphia 1894.
Burne-Jones, Sir Philip, Dollars and Democracy, New York 1904.
Burns, Stanley B., „Early Medical Photography in America (1839–1883), VI: Civil War
Medical Photography“, in: New York State Journal of Medicine, August 1980, 1452.
Busch, Bernd, Belichtete Welt. Eine Wahrnehmungsgeschichte der Photographie,
München 1989.
Butler, Judith, Gender Trouble, New York 1990.
Photography as a Fine Art, New York 1901.
Cassuto, Leonard, The Inhuman Race: The Racial Grotesque in American Literature
and Culture, New York 1997.
Catalogue or Guide Book of Barnum‘s American Museum, New York, Containing
Descriptions and Illustrations of the Various Wonders and Curiosities of This
Immense Establishment […], New York n.d.
Cawelti, John, America on Display, in: Frederick Cople Jaher (ed.), The Age of Industrialism in America: Essays in Social Structure and Cultural Values, New York 1968.
Chari, V.K., „The Structure of Whitman‘s Catalogue Poem“, in: Walt Whitman Review
18, 1972, 3–17.
Child, Lydia Maria, Letters from New York, New York 1844.
Clifford, James, X 0 $ in: Russel Ferguson, Marther Gever
et al. (eds.), X 5/ } $ Cambridge
1990, 141–169.
Bibliography
315
——— The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth Century Ethnography, Literature and
Art, Cambridge 1988.
Columbian Art Company, The Artistic Guide to Chicago and the World‘s Columbian
Exposition, Chicago 1893.
Comolli, Jean-Louis, „Machines of the Visible“, in: Theresa de Lauretis, Stephen Heath
(eds.), The Cinematic Apparatus, New York 1989.
Cook, James W., X !
$ $
5 " P.T. Barnum‘s „What is It?“ Exhibition, in: Rosemarie Garland Thomson, Freakery.
Cultural Spectacles of the Extraordinary Body, New York, London 1996.
——— The Arts of Deception. Playing with Fraud in the Age of Barnum, Cambridge
2001.
Coombes, Annie E., Reinventing Africa: Museums, Material Culture and Popular
Imaginations in Late Victorian and Edwardian England, New Haven 1994.
Cooper, James Fenimore, Home as Found: Sequel to „Homeward bound“ (1838), New
York 1872.
Copjec, Joan, „The Orthopsychic Subject“, in: X# 49, Summer 1989, 53–71.
Crary, Jonathan, Suspensions of Perception. Attention, Spectacle and Modern Culture,
Cambridge 1999.
——— 5
X#
/ X \
$ $ Century, Cambridge 1990.
Csordas, Thomas (ed.), Embodiment and experience. The Existential Ground of Culture
and Self, Cambridge 1994.
Culler, Jonathan, „Junk and Rubbish: A Semiotic Approach“, in: Diacritics 15, Fall
1985, 2–12.
Daguerreotype 1, Boston 1847.
Darrah, William, The World of Stereographs, Gettysburg 1987.
Daston, Lorraine, Park, Katherine (eds.), $
$X$%%=]%j=
New York 1998.
Debord, Guy, The Society of the Spectacle, Detroit 1977.
De Lauretis, Teresa, Huyssen, Andreas, Woodward, Kathleen (eds.), The Technological
Imagination: Theories and Fictions, Madison 1980.
Deleuze, Gilles, Logique du sens, Paris 1969.
Depew, Chauncey M., „None Can Compare With It“, in: The New York Times, June 19
1893, 5.
De Tocqueville, Alexis, Democracy in America, 1840; abridged, New York 1981.
——— Democracy in America II, New York 1958.
Dickens, Charles, „The American Panorama“, in: The Examiner 16, December 1848,
quoted in: Michael Slater (ed.), 50
$X
/
Reports, Essays and Reviews 1834–51, in: Ibid., Dickens‘ Journalism, Vol. 2, London
1996, 135.
316
Bibliography
Didi-Hubermann, Georges, Ähnlichkeit und Berührung. Archäologie, Anachronismus
und Modernität des Abdrucks, Köln 1999.
——— Vor einem Bild, München 2000.
Dirks, Nicholas (ed.), Colonialism and Culture, Ann Arbor 1992.
Doane, Mary Ann, Mellencamp, Patricia, Williams, Linda (eds.), Re-vision, Los Angeles
1984.
Docker, John, Postmodernism and Popular Culture: A Cultural History, Cambridge,
New York 1995.
Donahue, Peter, „Collecting as Ethos and Technique in The Portrait of a Lady“, in:
Studies in American Fiction 25/1, Spring 1997, 41–56.
Douglass, Frederick, Introduction, in: Ida B. Wells, The Reason Why The Colored
American Is Not in the World‘s Columbian Exposition 1893, in: Trudier Harris (ed.),
Selected Works of Ida B. Wells-Barnett, New York 1991.
Dreiser, Theodore, „A Remarkable Art“, in: Great Round World, May 3 1902.
——— Fine Furniture (1930), New York 1975.
——— Sister Carrie (1900): An Authoritative Text, Backgrounds, and Sources
Criticism, Donald Pizer (ed.), New York 1991.
——— Sister Carrie (1900), West, James L. W., Berkey, John C., Winters, Alice M.,
Westlake, Neda M. (eds.), Philadelphia 1981.
DuBois, William Edward Burghardt, The American Negro at Paris (1900), in:
Herbert Aptheker (ed.), #Z`ZDZD
$
`$$#X
Millwood, New York 1982, 88.
——— The Conservation of Races (1897), in: Andrew G. Paschal (ed.), A W. E. B. Du
Bois Reader, New York 1971, 19–31.
——— The Souls of Black Folk, New York 1953.
——— The World and Africa: An Inquiry into the Part which Africa Has Played in
World History (1946), New York 1965.
Dyer, Richard, White. Essays on Race and Culture, New York, London 1997.
Eagleton, Terry, Walter Benjamin; or, Towards a Revolutionary Criticism, London
1981.
Earle, Edward W. (ed.), Points of View: The Stereograph in America—A Cultural
History, Rochester 1979.
Eco, Umberto, Travels in Hyperreality: Essays, New York 1986.
Elbert, Monika M. (ed.), Separate Spheres No More. Gender Convergence in American
Literature 1830–1930, Tuscaloosa 2000.
Erkkila, Betsy, Whitman the Political Poet, New York 1998.
Ersoz, Meryem, „American Magic, American Technology: Visual Culture and Popular
Science in the Machine Age“, in: DAIA 58/7, 1998, 26–51.
Evans, Jessica, Hall, Stuart (eds.), Visual Culture Reader, London 1999.
Fanon, Frantz, Black Skin, White Masks, New York 1967.
Bibliography
317
Fern, Fanny, „How I Don‘t Like Pictures“, in: New York Ledger, June 11 1859.
——— Some Things in New York, in: Ibid., Folly As It Flies, New York 1868, 190.
——— „Taking Portraits“, in: New York Ledger, September 22 1860.
Fielding, Raymond, „Hale‘s Tours: Ultrarealism in the Pre-1910 Motion Picture“, in:
Cinema Journal 10, Fall 1970, 34–47.
Fischer-Lichte, Erika, Horn, Christian, Warstat, Matthias (eds.), Verkörperung,
Tübingen 2001.
Fisher, Philip, Acting, Reading, Fortune‘s Wheel: ‚Sister Carrie‘ and the Life History of
X#
in: Eric J. Sundquist (ed.), American Realism: New Essays, Baltimore 1982.
Flinn, John J., The Best Things to be Seen at the World‘s Fair, Chicago 1893.
Fluck, Winfried, Das kulturelle Imaginäre. Eine Funktionsgeschichte des amerikanischen Romans 1790–1900, Frankfurt/Main 1997.
——— Inszenierte Wirklichkeit. Der amerikanische Realismus 1865–1900, München
1992.
Foner, Philip S., The Life and Writings of Frederick Douglass, New York 1955.
Foster, Hal, Recodings: Art, Spectacle, Cultural Politics, Seattle 1985.
Foucault, Michel, L‘archéologie du savoir, Paris 1969.
——— Les mots et les choses. Archéologie des sciences humaines, Paris 1966.
——— XX"
(1967), in: Nicholas Mirzoeff (ed.), The Visual Culture Reader,
London, New York 1998, 237–241.
——— Surveiller et punir. Naissance de la prison, Paris 1975.
Frankenstein, Alfred, 08/8$X"!
1870–
1900, Berkeley 1969.
Franklin, Rosemary F., An index to Henry James‘s prefaces to the New York Edition,
Charlottesville 1966.
Frassantino, William, Gettysburg: A Journey in Time, New York 1976.
Fretz, Eric, P.T. Barnum‘s Theatrical Selfhood and the Nineteenth-Century Culture of
Exhibition, in: Rosemarie Garland Thomson, Freakery. Cultural Spectacles of the
Extraordinary Body, New York, London 1996.
Friedberg, Anne, Window Shopping. Cinema and the Postmodern, Berkeley 1993.
Frost, Linda, The Circassian Beauty and the Circassian Slave: Gender, Imperialism,
and American Popular Entertainment, in: Rosemarie Garland Thomson, Freakery.
Cultural Spectacles of the Extraordinary Body, New York, London 1996.
Gammel, Irene, „The City‘s Eye of Power: Panopticism and Specular Prostitution in
Dreiser‘s New York and Grove‘s Berlin“, in: The Canadian Review of American
Studies, 22/2, Fall 1991, 211–227.
Gardner, Alexander, Gardner‘s Photographic Sketch Book of the American Civil War
(1866), New York 1959.
Garrison, Webb, Brady‘s Civil War: A Collection of Civil War Images Photographed by
Mathew Brady and his Assistants, New York 2002.
318
Bibliography
Gerdts, William, Painters of the Humble Truth: Masterpieces of American Still Life
1801–1939, Columbia 1981.
Gernsheim, Helmut, Gernsheim, Alison, L.J.M. Daguerre: The History of the Diorama
and the Daguerrotype, New York 1968.
Gervais, David, „Deciphering America: The American Scene“, in: The Cambridge
Quarterly 18/4, 1989, 349–362.
Gilbert, James, Perfect Cities. Chicago‘s Utopias of 1893, Chicago 1991.
Ginger, Ray, Age of Excess: The United States from 1877 to 1914, New York 1965.
Gombrich, Ernst Hans, Art and Illusion. A study in the Psychology of Pictorial Representation, London 1977.
——— Bild und Auge. Neue Studien zur Psychologie der bildlichen Darstellung,
Stuttgart 1984.
Grau, Oliver, Virtual Art. From Illusion to Immersion, Cambridge 2003.
Green, Harvey, Paste-Board Masks: The Stereograph in American Culture, 1865–1910,
in: Edward W. Earle (ed.), Points of View: The Stereograph in America, A Cultural
History, New York 1979, 109–115.
Greenblatt, Stephen, Resonance and Wonder, in: Ivan Karp, Steven D. Lavine (eds.),
Exhibiting Cultures: The Poetics and Politics of Museum Display, Washington 1991,
42–56.
Greenspan, Ezra, Walt Whitman and the American Reader, New York 1990.

!
$
The Historical Eye. The Texture of the Visual in Late James, Boston
1991.
Griggs, William N. (ed.), The Celebrated „Moon Story,“ its origin and incidents; with
a memoir of the author, and an appendix containing, I. An Authentic description of
the moon; II. A New Theory of the Lunar Surface, in relation to that of the earth,
New York 1852.
Grosz, Elizabeth, 0 X
$Z `
\ $ "
Cambridge 2001.
Gumbrecht, Hans Ulrich, Produktion von Präsenz, durchsetzt mit Absenz. Über Musik,
Libretto und Inszenierung, in: Joseph Früchtl, Jörg Zimmermann, Ästhetik der
Inszenierung, Frankfurt/Main 2001.
Gunning, Tom, The Cinema of Attractions: Early Film, Its Spectator, and the AvantGarde, in: Thomas Elsaesser, Early Cinema: Space, Frame, Narrative, London
1990, 56–62.
Halliwell, J.O. (ed.), The Metrical History of Tom Thumb the Little, as Issued Early in
the Eighteenth Century in Three Parts, London 1860.
Halsey, Charles, $
#`
X+ Chicago 1893.
Halttunen, Karen, +$ $ $ Z 0 "$ $$ Culture in America 1830–1870, New Haven, London 1982.
Hambourg, Maria Morris, The Walking Dream. Photography‘s First Century. Selections
Bibliography
319
from the Paper Company Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 1993.
Handlin, David, The American: Home Architecture and Society 1815–95, Boston 1979.
Haraway, Donna, Teddy Bear Patriarchy: Taxidermy in the Garden of Eden. New York
City 1908–1936, in: Amy Kaplan, Donald E. Pease (eds.), Cultures of United States
Imperialism, Durham 1993, 237–291.
Harris, Neil, $
$ 5
/ 5 " 3ence, in: Ian M.G. Quimby (ed.), Material Culture and the Study of American Life,
New York 1978, 140–74.
Haviland, Beverly, „The Return of the Alien. Henry James in New York, 1904“, in: The
Henry James Review 16, 1995, 257–263.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel, The House of the Seven Gables, The Centenary Edition of the
Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne, William Charvat et al. (eds.), Columbus 1965.
——— Letter to Sophia Peabody, December 11 1839, in: Thomas Woodson, L. Neal
Smith, Norman Holmes Pearson (eds.), The Letters, 1813–1843, The Centenary
Edition of the Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne, William Charvat et al. (eds.), Columbus
1984.
Helmholtz, Hermann von, Der optische Apparat des Auges, in: Ibid., Populäre wissenschaftliche Vorträge 2, Braunschweig 1871.
——— 8$#$
X Leipzig 1867.
Hendrickson, Robert, The Grand Emporiums: The Illustrated History of America‘s
Great Department Stores, New York 1979.
Herrick, Robert, Memoirs of an American Citizen, New York 1905.
Hick, Ulrike, Geschichte der optischen Medien, München 1999.
History of Photography, Collections George Eastman House, New York 1998.
Hockney Duganne, Augustine Joseph, The Daguerreotype Miniature; or, Life in the
Empire City, Philadelphia 1846.
Hollweg, Brenda, Ausgestellte Welt. Formationsprozesse kultureller Identität in den
Texten zur Chicago World‘s Columbina Exposition (1893), Heidelberg 2001.
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, „Doings of the Sunbeam“, in: The Atlantic Monthly 12, July
1863, 11.
——— „My Hunt after ‚The Captain‘“, in: The Atlantic Monthly 62,
December 1862, 745.
——— Soundings from the Atlantic, Boston 1864.
——— „Sun-Painting and Sun-Sculpture; With a Stereoscopic Trip Across the Atlantic“,
in: The Atlantic Monthly 8, July 1861.
——— „The Stereoscope and the Stereograph“, in: The Atlantic Monthly 3, June 1859,
738–748 (reprinted in: Vicki Goldberg (ed.), Photography in Print, New York 1981.)
Hooks, Bell, 5X
4}/D>"
in: Ibid., Black Looks:
Race and Representation, Boston 1992, 115–131.
Howells, William Dean, A Traveler from Altruria (1894), New York 1957.
320
Bibliography
Ickstadt, Heinz, Der amerikanische Roman im 20. Jahrhundert. Transformation des
Mimetischen, Darmstadt 1998.
James, Henry, 0"D$X
New York 1913.
——— Hawthorne (1879), Ithaca 1967.
——— Literary Criticism. Vol. 1: Essays on Literature; American Writers; English
Writers, New York 1984.
——— Literary reviews and essays on American, English, and French literature,
Albert Mordell (ed.), New York 1957.
——— Middlemarch (1873), in: Complete Review Quarterly 3/2, May, 2002.
http://www.complete-review.com/quarterly/vol3/issue2/jameshmm.htm
——— Notes and reviews, New York 1968.
——— The American Scene, in: Ibid., Collected Travel Writings: Great Britain and
America, New York 1993.
——— The Art of Fiction |
^
X
<
!
$

The Art
of Criticism. Henry James on the Theory and Practice of Fiction, Chicago, London
1986.
——— The Art of the Novel: Critical Prefaces, Richard P. Blackmur (intr.), New York,
London 1934.
——— „The Old Things“, in: The Atlantic Monthly 77/463, May 1896.
——— The Portrait of a Lady, London 1997.
Jay, Martin, Downcast Eyes: The Denigration of Vision in Twentieth-Century French
Thought, Berkeley 1993.
——— Scopic Regimes of Modernity, in: Hal Foster (ed.), Vision and Visuality,
Seattle1988.
Johnson, Patricia E., „The Gendered Politics of the Gaze: Henry James and George
Eliot“, in: Mosaic: A Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature, 30/1,
1997, 39–54.
Jones, Howard Mumford, The Age of Energy: Varieties of American Experience, 1865–
1915, New York 1971.
Jussim, Estelle, Visual Communications and the Graphic Arts: Photographic Techniques in the Nineteenth Century, New York 1983.
Kaplan, Amy, The Social Construction of American Realism, Chicago 1988.
Karp, Ivan (ed.), Exhibiting Cultures: the Poetics and Politics of Museum Display,
Washington 1991.
Kemp, Wolfgang, Der Betrachter ist im Bild. Kunstwissenschaft und Rezeptionsästhetik, Köln 1985.
Kirkland, Joseph, „Realism versus Other Isms“, in: The Dial 14, February 16 1893.
Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Barbara, Destination Culture. Tourism, Museums and Heritage,
Berkeley, Los Angeles 1998.
Kolesch, Doris, Bühnen des Begehrens. Studien zur Theatralität und Performativität
Bibliography
321
von Emotionen, September 2001.
Kracauer, Siegfried, X$
Krasner, James, The Entangled Eye: Visual Perception and the Representation of
Nature in Post-Darwinian Narrative, New York 1992.
Krauss, Rosalind, „Photography‘s Discoursive Spaces: Landscape/View“, in: Art
Journal 42, Winter 1982, 311–319.
Krieger, Murray, Ekphrasis: The Illusion of the Natural Sign, Baltimore 1992.
Kristeva, Julia, Pouvoirs de l‘horreur, Paris 1980.
Kröger, Michael, „Begrenzter Raum—erfahrene Zeit. Der stereofotographische Blick im
19. Jahrhundert“, in: Fotogeschichte 7, 1983, 19–24.
Kunhardt, Philip B., Jr., Kunhardt, Philip B., III., Kunhardt, Peter W., P.T. Barnum.
America‘s Greatest Showman, New York 1995.
Lathrop, George P., A Study of Hawthorne, Boston 1876.
Latour, Bruno, Nous n‘avons jamais été modernes, Paris 1991.
Lefebvre, Henry, The Production of Space, Oxford 1991.
Lester, Charles Edwards, Introduction, in: Gallery of Illustrious Americans, New York
1850.
Levenson, James C. (ed.), The Letters of Henry Adams 1892–1899, Cambridge 1988.
Levine, Lawrence W., Highbrow/Lowbrow. The Emergence of Cultural Hierarchy in
America, Cambridge 1988.
Levi-Strauss, Claude, The Raw and the Cooked, New York 1969.
L‘invention d‘un regard (1839–1918). Cent cinquantenaire de la photographie, texts
by Françoise Heilbrun, Bernard Marbot, Philippe Neagu, Musée d‘Orsay, Paris 1989.
Lossing, Benson J., Mathew Brady‘s Illustrated History of the Civil War 1861–65 and
5!$4New York 1994.
Luhmann, Niklas, Die Realität der Massenmedien, Wiesbaden 1996.
Lyon of Lyonville, Galeb, „Stanzas, Suggested by a Visit to Brady‘s Portrait Gallery“, in:
Photographic Art-Journal 1, January 1851.
Maine, Barry, „Late Nineteen-Century Trompe L‘oeil and Other Performances of the
Real“, in: Prospects 16, 1991.
Marcus, Leonard S., The American Store Window, New York 1978.
Marks, Alfred H., Hawthorne‘s Daguerreotypist: Scientist, Artist, Reformer,
in: Nathaniel Hawthorne, The House of the Seven Gables, Seymour L. Gross (ed.),
New York 1967.
Marsch, John L., „Drama and Spectacle by the Yard: The Panorama in America“, in:
Journal of Popular Culture 10, Winter 1976.
Mathews, Cornelius, Big Abel and the Little Manhattan, New York 1845.
——— The Pen and Ink Panorama of New-York City, New York 1853.
Mattenklott, Gert, Blindgänger. Physiognomische Essais, Frankfurt/Main 1991.
Matthiessen, Francis Otto, American Renaissance: Art and Expression in the Age of
322
Bibliography
Emerson and Whitman, New York 1966.
Mayer, Ruth, Selbsterkenntnis—Körperfühlen: Medizin, Philosophie und die amerikanische Renaissance, München 1997.
McConachie, Bruce A., Museum, Theater and the Problem of Respectability, in: Ron
Engle, Tice L. Miller (eds.), The American Stage: Social and Economic Issues from
the Colonial Period to the Present, Cambridge 1993.
McDermott, John Francis, The Lost Panoramas of the Mississippi, Chicago 1958.
Melville, Herman, „Jimmy Rose“, in: Harper‘s New Monthly Magazine, November 1855.
——— Redburn, His First Voyage, Chicago 1969.
——— The Two Temples, in: Warner Berthoff (ed.), Great Short Works of Hermann
Melville, New York 1970.
——— To Nathaniel Hawthorne, April 16 1851, in: Merrel R. Davis, William H. Gilman
(eds.), The Letters of Herman Melville, Letter 83, New Haven 1960, 123.
Meredith, Roy, The World of Mathew Brady: Portraits of the Civil War Period, Los
Angeles 1976.
Merleau-Ponty, Maurice, Das Auge und der Geist, Hamburg 1984.
——— Das Sichtbare und das Unsichtbare, München 1994.
——— Phänomenologie der Wahrnehmung, Berlin 1966.
Michaels, Walter Benn, Sister Carrie‘s Popular Economy, in: Ibid., The Gold Standard and the Logic of Naturalism: American Literature at the Turn of the Century,
Berkeley 1987, 29–58.
Miller, David C. (ed.), American Iconology, New Haven, London 1995.
Mirzoeff, Nicholas (ed.), An Introduction to Visual Culture, New York 1999.
——— The Visual Culture Reader, New York 1998.
Mitchell, William J. Thomas, Picture Theory, Essays on Verbal and Visual Representation, Chicago 1994.
Moers, Ellen, Two Dreisers, New York 1969.
Morse, Samuel F. B., „Letter“, in: 5QX#
April 20 1839.
Müller-Funk, Wolfgang, Reck, Hans Ulrich (eds.), Inszenierte Imagination. Beiträge zu
einer historischen Anthropologie der Medien, Wien, New York 1996.
Mukerji, Chandra, Schudson, Michael (eds.), Rethinking Popular Culture, Berkeley
1991.
Mulvey, Laura, Afterthoughts on ‚Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema‘ inspired by
Duel in the Sun, in: Constance Penley (ed.), Feminism and Film Theory, New York
1988, 69–79.
——— Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, in: Brian Wallis (ed.), Art after Modernism, New York 1984, 360–374.
Murray John, „Sir David Brewster, The Stereoscope: Its History, Theory, and Construction“, in: Photographic Notes 1, London 1856, 140.
Murray, Lieutenant, The Circassian Slave: or, The Sultan‘s Favorite: A Story of
Bibliography
323
Constantinople and the Caucasus, Boston 1851.
Naef, Weston J., Wood, James N., Era of Exploration: The Rise of Landscape Photography in the American West 1860–1885, Buffalo, New York 1975.
Newhall, Beaumont, The Daguerreotype in America, New York 1964.
——— The History of Photography, New York 1982.
Norman, Dorothy, Alfred Stieglitz. An American Seer, New York 1973.
——— (ed.), „Alfred Stieglitz: Four Happenings“, in: Twice a Year VIII–IX, 1942–43,
128–129.
Novak, Barbara, Nature and Culture: American Landscape and Painting 1825–1875,
New York 1980.
O‘Brien, Frank M., The Story of The Sun, New York 1928.
Oettermann, Stephan, The Panorama, New York 1997.
Orvell, Miles, The Real Thing. Imitation and Authenticity in American Culture 1880–
1940, Chapel Hill, London 1989.
——— „Stieglitz and the Destructive Element“, in: History of Photography, 20/4,
Winter 1996, 334–335.
Pacholek, Elke, „Carefully chosen words for ‚Playing theoretic tricks‘: Perception,
Representation and Self-Fashioning in Henry James‘ The Portrait of a Lady“, in:
Arbeiten aus Anglistik und Amerikanistik 22/2, 1997, 195–218.
Panzer, Mary, A Brief Biography, in: Ibid. (ed.), Mathew Brady and the Image of
History, Washington, London 1997.
——— Introduction, in: Ibid. (ed.), Mathew Brady and the Image of History,
——— New York City, in: Ibid. (ed.), Mathew Brady and the Image of History,
——— Photography and American Art at Midcentury, in: Ibid. (ed.), Mathew Brady
and the Image of History, Washington, London 1997.
——— The Making of the Daguerreotypist, in: Ibid. (ed.), Mathew Brady and the
Image of History, Washington, London 1997.
Parkes, Adam, „A Sense of Justice: Whistler, Ruskin, James, Impressionism“, in:
Victorian Studies 42/4, http://iupjournals.org/victorian/vic42-4.html
Pease, Donald E. (ed.), The American Renaissance Reconsidered, Baltimore 1985.
——— Visionary Compacts: American Renaissance Writings in Cultural Context,
Madison 1987.
'!
@
Verkörperung von ‚Abnormalität‘: Die Freak Show als cultural performance des 19. Jahrhunderts, in: Fischer-Lichte, Erika, Horn, Christian, Warstat,
Matthias (eds.), Verkörperung, Tübingen 2001.
Philippoteaux, Paul, Cyclorama of the Battle of Gettysburg.
Pizer, Donald, Realism and Naturalism in Nineteenth-Century American Literature,
Carbondale 1984.
324
Bibliography
Platt, Orville H., Invention and Advancement, in: Henry Nash Smith (ed.), Popular
Culture and Industrialism 1865–1890, Garden City, New York 1967.
Poe, Edgar Allan, „Richard Adams Locke“, from „The Literati of New York City
No. VI“, October 1846, in: Godey‘s Lady‘s Book, 159–162.
——— „The Daguerreotype“, in: Alexander‘s Weekly Messenger, January 15 1840.
Porte, Joel (ed.), New Essays on The Portrait of a Lady, New York 1990.
Porter, Carolyn, "$D/5X#
`
James, Adams, and Faulkner, Middletown 1981.
Potter, David M., People of Plenty, Chicago 1954.
P.T. Barnum‘s Roman Hippodrome Advance Courier, Buffalo 1875, 2.
Pyne, William Henry, Microcosm; or, A Picturesque Delineation of the Arts, Agriculture, and Manufactures of Great Britain in a Series of a Thousand Groups of Small
Figures for the Embellishment of Landscape (1845), New York 1971.
Rabinovitz, Lauren, „Temptations of Pleasure: Nickelodeons, Amusement Parks, and the
Sights of Female Sexuality“, in: X#
23, May 1990, 70–89.
Reaves, Gibson, „The Great Moon Hoax of 1835“, in: 54+X#
11, Vol. 17,
November 1954, 126–134.
Rensselaer, Marianna Grisworld van, „The Artistic Triumph of the Fairbuilders“, in:
Forum 14, 1893, 527–540.
Robinson, Henry P., `3D8
X
0$
Chiaroscuro For Photographers (1869), Pawlet 1971.
Robinson, Solon, Hot Corn: Life Scenes in New York Illustrated, New York 1854.
Rogoff, Irit, Die Anderen der Andern. Spectatorship und Differenz, in: Jörg Huber,
Alois Martin Müller (eds.), Die Wiederkehr der Anderen, Museum für Gestaltung
Zürich, Basel, Zürich 1996.
Rohr, Susanne, Die Wahrheit der Täuschung. Wirklichkeitskonstitution im amerikanischen Roman 1889–1989, München 2004.
Rony, Fatimah Tobing, The Third Eye: Race, Cinema, and Ethnographic Spectacle,
Durham Duke 1996.
Root, Marcus Aurelius, The Camera and the Pencil, or The Heliographic Art,
Philadelphia 1864.
Rosenblum, Naomi, A World History of Photography, New York 1989.
Rosenthal, Bernard (ed.), Critical Essays on Hawthorne‘s The House of Seven Gables,
New York 1995.
Rowe, John Carlos (ed.), New Essays on The Education of Henry Adams, Cambridge
1996.
Rydell, Robert W., All the World‘s a Fair: Visions of Empire at American International
Expositions 1876–1916, Chicago 1984.
Said, Edward, Culture and Imperialism, New York 1993.
——— X
New York 1978.
Bibliography
325
Salzmann, Jack (ed.), Theodore Dreiser, The Critical Reception, New York 1972.
Sampson, Marmaduke, Rationale of Crime, and Its Appropriate Treatment (1846),
Montclair 1973.
Samuels, Shirley (ed.), The Culture of Sentiment: Race, Gender, and Sentimentality in
Nineteenth-Century America, New York 1992.
Sandweiss, Martha A. (ed.), Photography in Nineteenth-Century America, with essays
by Martha A. Sandweiss, Alan Trachtenberg, Barbara McCandless, Keith Davis, Peter
Bacon Hales, and Sarah Greenough, Fort Worth 1991.
Saxon, Arthur H., P.T. Barnum. The Legend and the Man, New York 1995.
Saxton, Alexander, The Rise and Fall of the White Republic: Class Politics and Mass
Culture in Nineteenth-Century America, London 1990.
Schlereth, Thomas J., Cultural History and Material Culture: Everyday Life, Landscapes, Museums, Ann Arbor, London 1990.
Schneck, Ernst Peter, Bilder der Erfahrung. Kulturelle Wahrnehmung im Amerikanischen Realismus, Frankfurt/Main 1998.
Seavey, Ormond (ed.), 58X0
558
0\
Population of Human Beings, Boston 1975.
Seel, Martin, Ästhetik und Aisthetik. Über einige Besonderheiten ästhetischer Wahrnehmung, in: Karlheinz Lüdeking, Birgit Recki, Lambert Wiesing (eds.), D$$ion. Paradigmen und Perspektiven gegenwärtiger Ästhetik, München 1996, 17–38.
Segeberg, Harro, Die Mobilisierung des Sehens, München 1996.
Sekula, Allan, „The Body and the Archive“, in: October 39, Winter 1986, 3–64.
——— „On the Invention of Photographic Meaning“, in: Artforum 13, January 1975,
36–45.

¿Q
_
^
Art Journal 41, Spring 1981.
Seltzer, Mark, Henry James and the Art of Power, London 1984.
Sennett, Richard, The Corrosion of Character. The Personal Consequences of Work in
the New Capitalism, Chicago 1999.
——— The Fall of Public Man, New York 1978.
Sewall, May Wright (ed.), World‘s Congress of Representative Women, Chicago and
New York 1894.
Shear, G. Willard, Panorama of the Hudson, New York 1888.
Sherman, Daniel J., Rogoff, Irit (eds.), Museum Culture: Histories, Discourses, Spectacles, Minnesota 1994.
Sights and Wonders in New York; Including a Description of the Mysteries, Miracles,
Marvels, Phenomena, Curiosities, and Nondescripts Contained in that Great Congress of Wonders, Barnum‘s Museum; also, a Memoir of Barnum Himself, with a
$`8
X\ […], New York 1849.
Skinner, J.E. Hilary, After the Storm; or Jonathan and His Neighbors in 1865–6, London
1866.
326
Bibliography
Slater, Joseph (ed.), The Correspondence of Emerson and Carlyle, New York 1964.
(Carlyle to Emerson, April 30 1846, Emerson to Carlyle, May 14 1846, Emerson to
Carlyle, May 31 1846.)
Smith, F. Hopkinson, „The Picturesque Side“, in: Scribener‘s Magazine, November
1893, 602.
Smith, Shawn Michelle, American Archives. Gender, Race and Class in Visual Culture,
New Jersey 1999.
Smith-Rosenberg, Carroll, Disorderly Conduct: Visions of Gender in Victorian America,
New York 1985.
Soeffner, Hans-Georg, Erzwungene Ästhetik. Repräsentation, Zeremonie und Ritual in
der Politik, in: Herbert Willems, Martin Jurga (ed.), Inszenierungsgesellschaft. Ein
einführendes Handbuch, Opladen 1998.
Sontag, Susan, X (1977), New York 2001.
Southworth, Albert S., „An Address to the National Photographic Association of
the United States, Delivered at Cleveland Ohio, June 1870“, in: The Philadelphia
Photographer, October 8 1871.
——— „Comments at the National Photographic Association“, in: The Philadelphia
Photographer, 1873.
——— „Suggestions to Ladies Who Sit for Daguerreotypes“, in: Lady‘s Almanac, 1854.
Spann, Edward K., The New Metropolis: New York City 1840–1857, New York 1981.
Stafford, Barbara M., Artful Science. Enlightenment, Entertainment and the Eclipse of
Visual Education, Cambridge 1994.
——— Devices of Wonder: From the World in a Box to Images on a Screen, Los
Angeles 2001.
Stallybrass, Peter, White, Allon, The Politics and Poetics of Transgression, Ithaca 1986.
Stanley, Hiram M., „The Passion for Realism and What Is to Come of It“, in: The Dial
April 16, 1893.
Steenwyk, Elizabeth Van, Mathew Brady: Civil War Photographer, Danbury 1997.
Sternberger, Dolf, Panorama oder Ansichten vom Neunzehnten Jahrhundert, Frankfurt/
Main 1974.
Stewart, Susan, $!X$
in: Lynne Cooke, Peter Wollen (eds.), Visual Display. Culture Beyond Appearances,
New York 1995, 31–53.
——— X !/
4 " Collection, Durham 1993.
Stiegler, Bernd, Philologie des Auges. Die photographische Entdeckung der Welt im
19. Jahrhundert, München 2001.
Stieglitz, Alfred, „The Hand Camera — Its Present Importance“, in: The American
Annual of Photography 1897, 18–27; quoted from:
Bibliography
327
http://www.ditzelphotography.com/essays.html
Sturken, Marita, Cartwright, Lisa, Practices of Looking. An Introduction to Visual Culture, Oxford 2001.
Sullivan, Louis, „Characteristics and Tendencies of American Architecture“ (1885), in:
6$
$X
New York 1947.
——— In the Wake of Battle: The Civil War Images of Mathew Brady, München 2004.
Sundquist, Eric J., Country of the Blue, in: Ibid. (ed.), American Realism. New Essays,
Baltimore 1982.
Taft, Robert, Photography and the American Scene: A Social History 1839–1889, New
York 1964.
Terry, James S., „The Problem of The Steerage“, in: History of Photography. An International Quarterly, 6/3, July 1982, 211–222.
The Book of the Fairs: Materials About World‘s Fairs, 1834–1916, Chicago 1992.
The Dream City, a portfolio of photographic views of the World‘s Columbian Exposition, with an introduction by Halsey C. Ives, St. Louis 1893–1894.
The Souvenir: By the Ladies Literary Union of Hillsdale College, Hillsdale, Michigan,
No 1, August, Toledo 1860.
Thomson, Rosemarie Garland, Introduction: From Wonder to Error — A Genealogy of
Freak Discourse in Modernity, in: Ibid. (ed.), Freakery. Cultural Spectacles of the
Extraordinary Body, New York, London 1996, 1–19.
Thorpe, Colonel T. B., „Webster, Clay, Calhoun and Jackson: How They Sat For Their
Daguerreotypes“, in: Harper‘s Monthly Magazine 38, May 1869.
Throgmorton, James A., Planning as Persuasive Story Telling. The Rhetorical Construction of Chicago‘s Electric Future, Chicago 1996.
Tintner, Adeline, „In the Dusky, Crowded, Heterogeneous Back-Shop of the Mind: The
Iconography of The Portrait of a Lady“, in: Daniel Mark Fogel (ed.), The Henry
James Review 7/2–3.
Towles, John, „Photographic Eminence“, in: Humphrey‘s Journal 16, June 15 1864, 93.
Trachtenberg, Alan, „Albums of War: On Reading Civil War Photography“, in: Representations 9, Winter 1985, 1–32.
——— !
3$/ in: Graham
Clarke (ed.), The Portrait in Photography, London 1992, 173–192.
——— Photography. The Emergence of a Keyword, in: Martha E. Sandweiss (ed.),
Photography in Nineteenth-Century America, New York 1991.
——— Reading American Photographs: Images as History. Mathew Brady to Walker
Evans, New York 1989.
——— in: Graham Clarke (ed.), The Portrait
in Photography, London 1992.
Turner, R. Steven, Consensus and Controversy. Helmholtz and the Visual Perception
of Space, in: David Cahan (ed.), Hermann von Helmholtz and the Foundations of
328
Bibliography
Nineteenth Century Science, Berkeley 1993, 154–204.
Twain, Mark, Life on the Mississippi (1883), New York 1961.
Veblen, Thorstein, The Theory of the Leisure Class. An Economic Study of Institutions
(1899), New York 1953.
Virilio, Paul, Ästhetik des Verschwindens, Berlin 1986.
——— Die Sehmaschine, Berlin 1989.
„Visual Culture Questionnaire“, in: X# 77, Summer 1996, 25–70.
Waldenfels, Bernhard, Sinnesschwellen. Studien zur Phänomenologie des Fremden 3,
Welling, William, Photography in America: The Formative Years 1839–1900, A Documentary History, New York 1978.
Wells, Ida B., Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells, lberta M. Duster
(ed.), Chicago 1970.
——— The Reason Why the Colored American Is Not in the World‘s Columbian
Exposition 1893, in: Trudier Harris (ed.), Selected Works of Ida B. Wells-Barnett,
New York 1991, 46–137.
White, Hayden, The Forms of Wildness: Archeology of an Idea, in: Ibid., Tropics of
Discourse. Essays in Cultural Criticism, Baltimore, London 1978, 150–182.
Whitman, Walt, Leaves of Grass: Authoritative Texts, Prefaces, Whitman on His Art,
Criticism, Sculley Bradley, Harold W. Blodgett (eds.), New York 1973.
——— Notes on the Meaning and Intention of ‚Leaves of Grass‘, in: Richard Maurice
Bucke (ed.), The Complete Prose Works of Walt Whitman, 9 vols., New York 1902.
——— Preface, in: Ibid., Leaves of the Grass, Richard Bridgeman (ed.), San Francisco
1968.
——— Specimen Days, in: Ibid., Prose Works 1892, 2 vols., Floyd Stovall (ed.),
New York 1963.
——— 5 4 >
/ ! $
$ X
materials written by Walt Whitman as editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle in 1846
and 1847, Cleveland Rodgers, John Black (eds.), New York 1920.
——— „Wicked Architecture“ (1856), in: Ralph Adimari, Emory Holloway (eds.), New
York Dissected, New York 1936.
Wiegmann, Robyn, American Anatomies: Theorizing Race and Gender, Durham 1995.
Wiesing, Lambert, Die Sichtbarkeit des Bildes. Geschichte und Perspektiven der
formalen Ästhetik, Reinbek 1997.
Willems, Herbert, Hahn, Alois (eds.), Identität und Moderne, Frankfurt/Main 1999.
Wordsworth, William, The Thirteen-Book Prelude (1805), Mark L. Reed (ed.), Ithaca,
London 1991.
Young, Robert James Craig, Colonial Desire: Hybridity in Theory, Culture, and Race,
New York 1995.
Zapf, Hubert (ed.), Amerikanische Literaturgeschichte, Stuttgart, Weimar 1996.