15 vintage photo manipulations

Although digital photography and photo processing technologies have greatly advanced the boundaries of image manipulation, photo processing has been around almost since the invention of photography. The exhibition “Fakes: Photo Manipulation Long Before Photoshop” was held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

This is a major exhibition exploring the history of photographic modifications, from hand-printed daguerreotypes to altered salt prints of the 1840s. to the fantastic landscapes of the late 12th century, when no one could yet know about graphic editors. The exhibition featured nearly 200 photographs created in the name of art, politics, news, entertainment and commerce. The exhibition will definitely change your understanding of the history of photography, forcing you to rethink its complex and changing relationship with visual reality.

Photos were altered in a variety of ways, including multiple exposures (two or more photographs on one negative), co-printing (one print from elements of two or more negatives), photomontage, overprinting, and retouching on the negative or print. In any case, the meaning and content of the photograph was changed. We invite you to look at some retro photo manipulations in this issue.

Man on a Roof with 11 Companions on His Shoulders, gelatin silver halogen print, ca. 1930. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Dream #1: “Table Lamp”, halogen silver print, ca. 1950. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

"Clash of Force", halogen silver print, 1910s. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

"Room with an Eye", halogen silver print 1930. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

“Lenin and Stalin at the Gorki residence near Moscow,” collage, 1922 (1949). (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

"Hearst in Public", 1939. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

"Two-Headed Man", daguerreotype, 1855. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

"Fading", silver print from glass negatives, 1858. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Colorado Springs, Colorado, ca. 1913. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

"Study of Clouds", 1856/1857 (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

"Portraits of Aberdeen No. 1", 1857. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

"Vision" (Scene with Orpheus), 1907, platinum print. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

"Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec as an artist and as a model", 1892. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

"The Juggler with His Own Heads", ca. 1880. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)