Acting Out: Cabinet Cards and the Making of Modern Photography, 1870–1900
Acting Out: Cabinet Cards and the Making of Modern Photography, 1870–1900
Acting Out: Cabinet Cards and the Making of Modern Photography, 1870–1900 offers the first-ever in-depth examination of cabinet cards. Inexpensive and sold by the dozen, cabinet cards were America’s main format for photographic portraiture through the last three decades of the 19th century, just prior to the introduction of the snapshot camera. Earlier, getting a photographic portrait was a formal, rare event; the new format made it commonplace.
This exhibition reveals how professional photographers and their sitters across the United States introduced immediacy to studio portraiture, transforming their sessions into avenues of fun and personal expression. Sections will trace the cabinet card’s evolution, from its beginnings in celebrity culture, through the marketing and advertising strategies of practitioners, to the diverse behaviors that people brought to their sittings. With Americans embracing photography as a fact of everyday life and playing with the medium’s believability, cabinet cards made photography modern.
This exhibition was organized by the Amon Carter Museum of American Art.
All exhibitions at LACMA are underwritten by the LACMA Exhibition Fund. Major annual support is provided by Meredith and David Kaplan, with generous annual funding from Terry and Lionel Bell, Kevin J. Chen, Louise and Brad Edgerton, Edgerton Foundation, Emily and Teddy Greenspan, Marilyn B. and Calvin B. Gross, Mary and Daniel James, David Lloyd and Kimberly Steward, Kelsey Lee Offield, Mr. and Mrs. Anthony and Lee Shaw, Lenore and Richard Wayne, Marietta Wu and Thomas Yamamoto, and The Kenneth T. and Eileen L. Norris Foundation.
Image: Benjamin J. Falk (active New York, NY), Helena Luv, 1880s, albumen silver print, 6 ½ x 4 ¼ in., Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas
- Aug 8–Nov 7, 2021
- Resnick Pavilion
This exhibition was organized by the Amon Carter Museum of American Art.
All exhibitions at LACMA are underwritten by the LACMA Exhibition Fund. Major annual support is provided by Meredith and David Kaplan, with generous annual funding from Terry and Lionel Bell, Kevin J. Chen, Louise and Brad Edgerton, Edgerton Foundation, Emily and Teddy Greenspan, Marilyn B. and Calvin B. Gross, Mary and Daniel James, David Lloyd and Kimberly Steward, Kelsey Lee Offield, Mr. and Mrs. Anthony and Lee Shaw, Lenore and Richard Wayne, Marietta Wu and Thomas Yamamoto, and The Kenneth T. and Eileen L. Norris Foundation.
Image: Benjamin J. Falk (active New York, NY), Helena Luv, 1880s, albumen silver print, 6 ½ x 4 ¼ in., Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas
Installation Photography
