Skeletons and Ghosts

We return to the series of stereoscopic cardboards in 9×18 cm formats with different photographic techniques. We are going to collect themes in accordance with the perspectives with which death was contemplated in the societies of the 19th and early 20th centuries, diversity of cultures and multiple ways of understanding the role of humanity in this world and in others.

Photographs of skeletons, ghosts, heaven and hell, mostly focused as social criticism and/or moralising, created and still create controversy about their contents and graphic language. In each country, death has a different meaning and multiple ways of expression.

From 31 October (Halloween in the USA) to 1 and 2 November (All Saints‘ Day or All Souls’ Day, depending on whether it is Europe or South and Central America), cultural manifestations around the dead follow one after the other.

It is in this multicultural perspective that we begin our annual series for November. The stereoscopic image chosen from the collection is that of ‘The Skeleton Spree’, which bears the dry stamp of the LONDON STEREOSCOPIC COMPANY [1854-1922, originally founded by George Swan Nottage (1823-1885) and Howard John Kennard]; its acronym is LSC.

Like all companies, this one also went through different stages. The seal used by this firm, between 1856 and 1859, corresponds to the address of 54 CHEAPSIDE.

Our stereoscopic pair ‘La Juerga de los Esqueletos’ has a variant with the label ‘THE SKELETONS’ CAROUSE’; its study is developed in the book “DIABLERIES – Stereoscopie Adventures in Hell”. One of its authors is Denis Pellerin, who describes the piece as ‘peripheral’ not identifiable with the Diableries. Pellerin indicates that it was first announced in 1858, in The Times and The Photographic News, and was also reviewed in the Journal of the Photographic Society. The co-author, as a photographic historian, recounts the scandal this image produced in mid-19th century Victorian Society.

Comparing the two stereoscopic cards, we can see that the one in the FBS Collection has the dry stamp of the LSC, while the one in the book has a label, stuck on the back of the cardboard, with the legend: THE SKELETONS’ CAROUSE. This group is principally formed of those who were compelled to “leave their country, for their country’s good.” The group has been arranged by a skilful anatomist and is perfectly correct in all its details.

Other differences are that in the stereoscopy of the FBS Collection the scene is not cropped, all the skeletons can be seen complete and in their positions, there is nothing coloured, the background has a central curtain that hides what is behind the wooden structure. On the floor there is a spittoon, a decanter of liquor and, in addition, the central skeleton has a cigar that does not appear in the stereoscopy of the book ‘DIABLERIES – Stereoscopie Adventures in Hell’, the stereoscopic pair that we exhibit shows the scene in its full extent.

We leave some samples of what we propose for other November issues in the future, special both for their themes and for the Editors.

The humour and the vision of death, in artistic terms, has changed little since the advent of photography until today.