Photography and a Specter

During the mid 19th-century, photographers used their cameras to capture both reality and the paranormal world. From the very beginning, photographers quickly  figured out what "special effects" their cameras were capable of producing. In 1863, a french photgrapher named Eugene Thiebault shot a photograph for Henri Robin, a french illusionist, as an advertisement for the magician's upcoming show. The photograph, titled "Henri Robin and a Specter", depicts Robin being frightened from behind by a ghostly skeleton draped in a long cloak. Thiebault created the illusion by intentionally double-exposing the film.On the desk to the right of Robin in the photograph is an empty hourglass, intended by Thiebault to subtly suggest that, with the presence of the ghost, Robin's time on Earth had run out.

James Abbott McNeill Whistler: the man with four names and many quirks.

Born on July 10th, 1834, in Lowell, Massachusetts, James Abbott McNeill Whistler was an American born, British-based artist who was known for painting "art for art's sake". His infamous signature found on most of his paintings was an abstract butterfly with a long tail attached to it that he developed in the 1860s out of his interest in Asian art. The butterfly was supposed to symbolize his subtle, intricate and delicate style of painting versus his intensely combative and provocative persona when in public. Whistler's initials 'J.W.' were incorporated into the butterfly in 1869 and gradually evolved over the next thirty years, acquiring antennae, veins and a tail. Sometimes, he would sign himself with a stinging tail, like a scorpion's. Many of James' paintings were titled "arrangements", "harmonies" or "nocturnes", not because he was too lazy to think up new titles, but to emphasize the importance of tonal harmony. In 1855 he moved to Paris where he really started to blossom as a bohemian artist. He studied traditional methods at the atelier of Charles Gabriel Gleyre where he picked up two new principles he would carry with him throughout the rest of his career: first, that line is more important than color and second, that black is the fundamental color of tonal harmony. With his move to France he also quickly became well known for his distinctive appearance and his quick wit, especially with friend and rival Oscar Wilde. He was eccentric and arrogant, a self-promoter and egoist, and had a high pitched voice and a speech full of pauses. A friend of his once said,  "In a second you discover that he is not conversing—he is sketching in words, giving impressions in sound and sense to be interpreted by the hearer." In 1861, Mr. Whistler tried out a simple study in white which ended up producing an incredibly controversial portrait of his mistress, Joanna Hiffernan. He called the painting Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl. Critics were not impressed and saw it as "an allegory of a new bride's lost innocence." Because she is holding a lily in one hand and standing on a bear skin rug in the painting, viewers took that to be lustful, masculine and inappropriate. By 1863 the painting had stirred up so much controversy that it was accepted into the Salon des Refuses to hang amongst other "reject" artworks, including Manet's infamous "Luncheon on the Grass".

        Above: Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl; Below: One of Whistler's signature butterflies.

 

War; and I don't mean the civil kind.

1863 was a big year for the American Civil War, with the final Emancipation Proclamation being issued in January by Abraham Lincoln and all. But across the pond, there was a whole different kind of war going on: a war on art. The salon jury (the people who decided what paintings got hung in galleries and what paintings were unacceptable for public viewing) in Paris, France that year decided to reject a whopping 4,000 paintings from public galleries. Naturally, the artists of said paintings were outraged and planned a protest against the jury. On May 17th, 1863, the Salon des Refuses (Rooms of the Rejected) was opened by all the infuriated rejected artists to display their "vulgar" masterpieces for all the world to see. (Happy 1st Birthday, Modern Art!!) Of the paintings in the gallery hung The Luncheon on the Grass by Edouard Manet, one of the most controversial paintings of all. Edouard Manet, one of the first 19th century artists to approach real life subjects and portray them however he felt, played an extremely influential role  in the transition from realism to impressionism in the art world. The Luncheon on the Grass is a painting of fully dressed men and a nude woman picnicking on a lawn. The jury felt it unsuitable because of Manet's placement of a natural figure and exposure of the naked woman body in such a public landscape. To Manet, the audience's focus was supposed to be on the delicate landscape and the meticulously detailed background of the painting. Unfortunatly, to the jury, the subject of the painting existed alone and the painting was considered vulgar and unacceptable. Today, Manet's notoriety translates to popularity in the French avant-garde community. Looks like going against the grain can result in a positive revolution after all!