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| A less common image, the photograph taken with the sitter facing the camera, her back to the mirrors. |
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The method of using mirrors to produce a photograph with five simultaneous images of the sitter was first published in Scientific American in the 1890s. It was soon shared in the Encylopaedic Dictionary of Photography and in Photographic Amusements. The subject was photographed facing into two mirrors which were placed at seventy-five degrees to each other. The resulting reflections and reflections of reflections produced a set of five equally spaced images. The "photo-multigraph" was promoted as a unique way to "see ourselves as others see us.” In the coming decades the photo-multigraph was a common novelty attraction at seaside and other tourist destination photo studios throughout the United States and Europe, but the method and production of these souvenir images had all but disappeared by the 1950s.
BTW, that is not the definitive site for Waclaw Szpakowski - it just has a good image. You can do a web search to see many, many other sites about Waclaw Szapkowski.
ReplyDelete"Maybe you can add the 1912 self-portrait of Waclaw Szpakowski (known for his "Rhythmical Lines") to your collection:" Yes, I can certainly see why you suggested this. Sorry, but I deleted the rest of your first comment as I don't like to include unfamiliar links in the comments. At any rate, the image in question was easy enough to find by just Goggling his name. And thanks for that!
DeleteThanks - and I understand about links. The Waclaw Szpakowski multigraph may have been the first one I had ever seen, and that was going back a few years. Your collection explained to me now how it was made.
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