Unidentified young woman wearing gloves, leaning on prop fence. Creation: 1880; Photographer: Insley, H.A; Collection: Cartes de visite; Photographs and Prints Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
Introduction
Transcript below
Blacks in Carte de Visite
The process of making Cartes de visite was easier than previous photographic processes. People who had pictures taken handed out their Cartes to loved ones and friends. Initially featuring prominent people, public figures, and families, the public demand for these public figures' Cartes led to studios taking pictures of ordinary people. Sold at a relatively affordable price, Cartes de visite were meant to circulate and were used for multiple purposes:
- Gauge public figures popularity
- Political campaigns
- Propaganda
- Keep memories of friends, family, relatives, and events.
As you explore this exhibition, pay attention to the gaze, body orientation, posture, dressing, and gesture displayed by each person in these Cartes de visite. These non-verbal modes of expressions contributed to the language Blacks used to reclaim their agency and fight narratives about their inferiority in that century, and centuries later.
End of Transcript
Linden D Anderson