Virtual Empire; stereo photography in Australia and Britain 1851-1879

Abstract

Although a pioneer in the history of photography, Gernsheim remains one of the few to highlight the important role of the stereo format in the development of photography from the 1850s to the 1880s. Most historians have tended to focus on the importance of other photographic formats which were produced in limited editions and can sit comfortably on gallery walls. Before the early 1850s photography remained an interesting but expensive novelty Then, improvements to the negative/positive process and the easing of patent restrictions saw the development of a commercial market for outdoor photography. This interest was matched by the huge wave of popularity for stereo photographs which swept across Britain and the rest of the world after 1851. Their small size made them ideal for capturing a wider range of subjects, yet they also contained an amazing amount of detail that was magnified and turned into a three-dimensional view by a hand-held device called the stereoscope. While stereo photographs were in great demand, the market for multiple copies of a portrait was limited compared with that of images of famous buildings or a beautiful landscape. This meant that stereos were not only the first photographs to capture many outdoor subjects, they were also the first to be mass produced for the public. Between the Great Exhibition in London in 1851 and the Sydney International Exhibition of 1879, millions of stereo photographs were printed. Like the exhibitions held regularly throughout this period, these three-dimensional photographs were not only popular, they heralded important cultural changes in Britain and her colonies. The exhibitions collected objects from around the world and displayed them in buildings where they could educate and uplift the public. The stereo photograph played a similar role except they were not housed in huge galleries and halls but rather in small boxes in Victorian sitting rooms. Virtual Empire: Stereo Photography in Britain and Australia 1851-1879 draws on the rich holdings of early stereos held in the Macleay Museum’s Historic Photograph Collection.