Lazy Boy
I have a small collection of photos of mothers disguised as chairs. John recently found this tintype at an estate sale for a $1 which is a great example.
Labels: odd, photograph, tintype
posted by swapatorium @ 9:13 AM
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This is fantastic. More please!
Hi Raul! I just converted our guest bedroom into a photo storage room. As soon as I get organized and find the other photos like these, I will post them.
Hmmmm.....have you ever seen one of a mother disguising herself as a horse? Lol, I have a shot of myself as a toddler perched upon an fake horse with my mother hiding behind the horse in her attempt to make it appear as if I am perched up there all on my own.
Regarding your pic though--I am glad you posted it....I have seen similiar ones and never paused to notice what was really going on in them.
Many thanks!
nothin' rivals the zaniness of a dedicated mother
I think I see mom's hand on the right side of the photo!
The same image with the levels bumped in PhotoShop!
http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/5138/tintypebm1.jpg
Enjoy!
$1 tintype? nice deal! Can't find such deals at Kane County Flea Market or any antique store in DuPage County.
Whoa. With the levels altered, that becomes a seriously creepy picture....
There was a whole exhibition on the mother-disguised-as-furniture genre at the Columbus (Ohio) Museum of Art a few years ago, although their past exhibitions page doesn't seem to go back quite far enough to list it.
Awesomeness. My wife and I have in our collection a mother disguised as a chair however it appears that either the child is sleeping or (we believe)dead. Which goes nicely with our post-mortem collection. Cheers for a great page!
Wow. Can anyone provide some factoids about the history or purpose of mom-furniture photos? This is seriously fascinating.
These photo's are from when 'Harem' skirts were all the rage - along with net veils over the head.
I' have a couple of pics of women at the seaside with the same getops on their heads.
Very B&D to our our eyes - but the height of fashion at the time.
Hi,
this is an extraordinary image. I wonder if I could find out some more details of where you found it and its possible age? I am working on a book about Victorian furniture and would love to know more about this. I would be very grateful if you could contact me at this address:
d.ellison@griffith.edu.au
cheers,
david
One possible reason for this strange set-up is that the woman is not the child's mother. It seems quite likely that she is a nanny or temporary carer who was being excluded from a photograph for the family.
I would think simply if the mother is there as the chair the child is less likely to slip off or cry. Even despite how creepy she looks with that black scarf twisted around her head. Is it wrong of me to think this is a great idea for keeping a kid attentive and still for portraits even now?
Why is the mother there?
I can see that those asking have never tried to take a child's photograph in a studio. Even using modern equipment with exposure times of fractions of a second, it can be hard to get a good shot because the kids (especially as young as the child pictured here) won't stay still. They don't understand what's going on, are in a strange place, and are upset that mommy is inexplicably standing far away.
A tintype typically had an exposure time of 5-10 seconds. The mom (or nanny) is there to hold the baby because it's pretty much the only way to keep the baby still long enough to get a sharp picture. For whatever reason (mom is camera shy, the woman is a nanny) the customer only wants a portrait of the child. Hence the disguise.
Yes, I too thought right away this is the child's nanny. If you take a careful look at her hand to the side she might be a woman of color, though it may be too hard to tell.
Is there a studio name on the back?
I originally assumed it was just that the mother wasn't the subject of the photo, the baby was--but the baby wouldn't sit still unless the mother was holding him, so she was disguised into the background. A lot of the other comments gave me very strange other ideas of why this would be done!
Ever considered that it might be a picture of deceased child? Check if the open eyes are retouched. http://www.sleepingbeauty2.com
This could have been a way to calm a child who would not relax for a solo portrait in a real chair. The child would compose herself while in the lap of mommy or nanny.
I would like to see more mothers disguised as chairs!
I found this site while doing a search for 'extraordinary chairs'. As a mother of a two year year old, I too find this photo oddly frightening. There is an odd subtext in our society of women needing to discard original identity - orignal face, original body- so the child becomes the forefront of all encounters. Then again, as women, I suppose we do have the choice, in our society at least, to become inanimate pieces of furniture.
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