Saturday, January 5, 2013

DEVILS Les Diableries Tissue Stereos 1860s


Amongst the most amusing photographic efforts of the 1860s in France were the Les Diableries, a series of "tissue" (hold-to-light) stereographic photographs of satin in hell. Here are five images with different mounts. Edited details and description from wikipedia follows.

Les Diableries is the title of a series of stereoscopic photographs published in Paris during the 1860s. The photographs, commonly known as stereoviews portray vignettes; which depict scenes of daily life in Hell. Much of the subject matter was satirical and mirrored the corruption and excess of Paris during the Second Empire


The photographs were reverse colored by hand, then backed with a layer of tissue paper and sandwiched between two double window cardboard mattes. Known as a “tissue view” or “hold-to-light view” and is similar to modern day slides or transparencies. For added effect, the eyes of the skeletons and various other creatures were pierced and dabbed with colored gelatin, causing their eyes to glow red. The final product was then viewed through a stereoscope which produced a realistic 3D effect.


At least three sculptors are known to have created vignettes for the series: Louis Alfred Habert, Pierre Adolph Hennetier and Louis Edmond Cougny. The series was originally published by Francois Benjamin Lamiche but was later taken over and expanded by the publisher Adolph Block. A total of 72 scenes were published by Block.
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