Charles Eisenmann
Charles Eisenmann | |
|---|---|
| Born | Charles Eisenmann October 5, 1855 |
| Died | 1927 |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | W.W Washburn in New Orleans |
| Known for | Photography |
Charles Eisenmann was a famous New York photographer during the late 1880s who worked in the Bowery district.[1] The address was 229 Bowery, which now is the home of a ministry and recently underwent a 3 million dollar renovation.[2] At the time the Bowery district was an eccleptic mix of artists, transient people and even prostitutes.[3] The depiction of this area in the movie Gangs of New York is fairly accurate.[4] The fallout of the New York City draft riots, would have made for an era in New York that was somewhat unbridled and experimental. An ideal setting for photography that was unusual and cutting edge.
Eisenmann's photography was in the form of Cabinet cards, popular in this era, available to the middle class. Eisenmann also supplied Duke Tobacco company with cheesecake photography to stuff in their tobacco cans. The book Victorian Cartes-de-Visite credits Eisenmann with being the most prolific and well known photographer when it comes to Cabinet cards.
His work was the subject of a book Monsters of the Gilden Age,[5] focusing on his work on human oddities from the Barnum and Bailey circus, with a notable widely circulated picture of Jojo the Dog-faced Boy[6] Although a number of his photographs were obviously gaffs.[7]
Humbugs
In the book Secrets of the Side show by Joe Nickell, it is pointed out that Eisenmann used a number of notable Humbugs or gaffs, included subjects called "Circassian beauties", women who were wild in appearance with teased, large hairdos who were said to have escaped from Turkish harems, but in reality were local girls from the Bronx with hair styles made frizzy and wild by washing in beer, who no doubt made a few dollars off of this hoax.
Victorian society and circus freaks
In the late 1880s, A new phenomena appeared with Victorian society's fascination and sympathy for people who appeared to have genetic abnormalities. There was much publicity over Princess Alexandras attention for Joseph Merrick, AKA The Elephant Man. Eisenmann saw the golden opportunity in this fascination, and photographed circus people dressed as Victorian society, and conversly Victorian society with circus props. In New York city circus people were quite well received. One of Eisenmann's subjects, Charles Stratton AKA Major Tom Thumb was quite well known, and his wedding was quite the affair. "The couple’s elaborate wedding took place in Grace Episcopal Church in New York City. The Astors and the Vanderbilts were said to have attended as Barnum sold tickets for $75."[8]
Other prestigious clients included Mark Twain, and Annie Oakley In some ways he can be considered a kind of Annie Leibowitz of the Victorian Bowery district. Eisenmann appeared to have an affection for photographing subjects with big hair styles.[9] His career suffered a downturn with the introduction of Gelatin silver process photography[10] which made photographs more inexpensive and available for mass consumption. Also, Vaudeville overtook circuses in popularity at this time as well. Eisenmann appeared to disappear for a number of years at this time, some believing he went to Germany, he came back and worked as the head of the photography department for Dupont A rather large collection of his photographs were recently auctioned off through Sothebys.[11]
In popular culture
A number of Eisenmann's favorite subjects can be seen depicted in the popular show x-files episode "Humbug", namely Jojo the Dog-faced Boy and Chang and Eng Bunker.
Contribution to medicine
A number of Eisenmann's pictures have been catalogued for their depiction of a number of mutations and abnormalities. [12]
References
- ^ http://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/2011/09/08/a-bowery-photographers-freak-show-portraits/
- ^ http://www.placematters.net/node/1046
- ^ http://americollector.com/eisenmann/
- ^ http://www.fergusbordewich.com/PAGESjournalism/FBgangs.shtml
- ^ http://www.phsc.ca/monsters.html
- ^ http://www.artnet.com/artwork/425320766/425316948/charles-eisenmann-jojo-the-russian-dog-face-boy.html
- ^ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/fts/tampa_200502A42.html
- ^ http://enculturation.gmu.edu/staring-back
- ^ http://www.flickr.com/photos/atypicalart/3894557583/?q=charles eisenmann photographer
- ^ [1]
- ^ http://www.artnet.com/artists/lotdetailpage.aspx?lot_id=C5B380F63E58B1D0
- ^ http://www.cmaj.ca/content/161/4/420.full
Further reading
- Eisemann, Charles; Mitchell, Mike (1979). Monsters of the Gilded Age: The Photographs of Charles Eisenmann. Toronto: Gage Pub. ISBN 0-7715-9521-2.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
External links
- The Ronald G. Becker Collection of Charles Eisenmann Photographs at Syracuse University
- http://www.stevenbolin.com/freaks/photographers.html
- http://americollector.com/eisenmann/
- http://gallery-naruyama.com/english/collection-eng.html
- http://www.forensicgenealogy.info/images/games_magazine_november_2008.pdf