19th Century Photographic Studios
Properties, accessories and novelties 
  
Curated by
Alan Griffiths
 
A contemporary thought…
 
There is always too much of the studio in these carte de visite portraits. We do not merely refer to the extraordinary backgrounds which some of these operators employ. Why a respectable old lady is to be represented as sitting without her bonnet in a chair placed upon a Brussels carpet in the middle of a terraced garden, is always very perplexing; and it is equally difficult to understand what the foundation can be for the theory, which seems to have possessed the minds of several of the photographers, that the middle-aged men of England generally spend their lives leaning against a Corinthian pillar, with a heavy curtain flapping about their legs, turning their backs to a magnificent view, and obviously standing in a frightful thorough draught.
 
Published in The Photographic Journal being the Journal of the Photographic Society, 15 December 1862, No.128, p.188
 
Please note
 
This online exhibition will be improved and I'd welcome examples from those who have nineteenth century sales catalogues illustrating properties, accessories and novelties for the photographic studio. If anybody has done an analysis of the manufacturers supplying this material for any part of the world I'd be most interested.
 
With grateful thanks to all the collectors, dealers, gallerists and photo-curators who have assisted with this online exhibition. Your efforts and support go way beyond any words I have to say. Thank you. 
  
Introduction