Acting Out

Cabinet Cards and the Making of Modern Photography

John Rohrbach, Erin Pauwels, Britt Salvesen , Fernanda Valverde

$74.95

Hardback

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English

University of California Press
30 June 2020

Art & design styles: Modernist design & Bauhaus; Portraits in art; Photographs: collections; Photographs: portraits; Photographic equipment & techniques

Cabinet cards were America’s main format for photographic portraiture throughout the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Standardized at 6½ x 4¼ inches, they were just large enough to reveal extensive detail, leading to the incorporation of elaborate poses, backdrops, and props. Inexpensive and sold by the dozen, they transformed getting one’s portrait made from a formal event taken up once or twice in a lifetime into a commonplace practice shared with friends.

The cards reinforced middle-class Americans’ sense of family. They allowed people to show off their material achievements and comforts, and the best cards projected an informal immediacy that encouraged viewers to feel emotionally connected with those portrayed. The experience even led sitters to act out before the camera. By making photographs an easygoing fact of life, the cards forecast the snapshot and today’s ubiquitous photo sharing.

Organized by senior curator John Rohrbach, Acting Out is the first ever in-depth examination of the cabinet card phenomena. Full-color plates include over 100 cards at full size, providing a highly entertaining collection of these early versions of the selfie and ultimately demonstrating how cabinet cards made photography modern.

Published in association with the Amon Carter Museum of American Art.

Tentative exhibition dates (postponed due to COVID-19):

Amon Carter Museum of American Art: August 15–November 1, 2020

Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA): 2021

Contributions by: Erin Pauwels, Britt Salvesen, Fernanda Valverde
Edited by: John Rohrbach
Imprint: University of California Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 248mm, Width: 279mm, Spine: 25mm
Weight: 1.633kg
ISBN: 9780520306684
ISBN 10: 0520306686
Pages: 232
Publication Date: 30 June 2020
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

John Rohrbach is Senior Curator of Photographs at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art.