19th century
A32=Britt Salvesen
A32=Erin Pauwels
A32=Fernanda Valverde
Age Group_Uncategorized
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american art
american history
american middle class
art history
art museum
automatic-update
B01=John Rohrbach
cabinet cards
cabinet photographs
camera
Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=ACXD2
Category=AGA
Category=AGHF
Category=AJC
Category=AJCP
Category=AJG
Category=AJT
class structure
COP=United States
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domestic
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
family life
family portrait
family unit
film photography
history of photography
Language_English
middle class
museum
museum studies
new york
PA=Available
photographer
photographs
photography
Price_€20 to €50
PS=Active
softlaunch
technology
united states
world history
Product details
- ISBN 9780520306684
- Weight: 1633g
- Dimensions: 279 x 248mm
- Publication Date: 30 Jun 2020
- Publisher: University of California Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
- Language: English
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Cabinet cards were America’s main format for photographic portraiture throughout the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Standardized at 6½ x 4¼ inches, they were just large enough to reveal extensive detail, leading to the incorporation of elaborate poses, backdrops, and props. Inexpensive and sold by the dozen, they transformed getting one’s portrait made from a formal event taken up once or twice in a lifetime into a commonplace practice shared with friends.
The cards reinforced middle-class Americans’ sense of family. They allowed people to show off their material achievements and comforts, and the best cards projected an informal immediacy that encouraged viewers to feel emotionally connected with those portrayed. The experience even led sitters to act out before the camera. By making photographs an easygoing fact of life, the cards forecast the snapshot and today’s ubiquitous photo sharing.
Organized by senior curator John Rohrbach, Acting Out is the first ever in-depth examination of the cabinet card phenomena. Full-color plates include over 100 cards at full size, providing a highly entertaining collection of these early versions of the selfie and ultimately demonstrating how cabinet cards made photography modern.
Published in association with the Amon Carter Museum of American Art.
Exhibition dates:
Amon Carter Museum of American Art: August 15–November 1, 2020
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA): August 8–November 7, 2021
The cards reinforced middle-class Americans’ sense of family. They allowed people to show off their material achievements and comforts, and the best cards projected an informal immediacy that encouraged viewers to feel emotionally connected with those portrayed. The experience even led sitters to act out before the camera. By making photographs an easygoing fact of life, the cards forecast the snapshot and today’s ubiquitous photo sharing.
Organized by senior curator John Rohrbach, Acting Out is the first ever in-depth examination of the cabinet card phenomena. Full-color plates include over 100 cards at full size, providing a highly entertaining collection of these early versions of the selfie and ultimately demonstrating how cabinet cards made photography modern.
Published in association with the Amon Carter Museum of American Art.
Exhibition dates:
Amon Carter Museum of American Art: August 15–November 1, 2020
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA): August 8–November 7, 2021
John Rohrbach is Senior Curator of Photographs at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art.
