The Poor Man's Picture Gallery

Victorian Paintings and their Stereoscopic Counterparts – Denis Pellerin and Brian May

PRESS RELEASE: DR BRIAN MAY LENDS RARE VICTORIAN 3D TO TATE BRITAIN

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Michael Burr The Death of Chatterton

Michael Burr The Death of Chatterton (red flowers) c.1861 photograph, hand coloured albumen prints on stereo card Collection Dr Brian May

Astronomer and Queen’s guitarist, Dr Brian May has lent a rare collection of Victorian stereographic photographs to Tate Britain. They are featured in ‘Poor man’s picture gallery’: Victorian Art and Stereoscopic Photography until 12 April 2015. This is the first display in a major British art gallery devoted to the nineteenth-century craze of three-dimensional photography, known as stereographs, and open up this neglected area of British art.

In the 1850s and 1860s pioneer photographers staged real men, women and children in tableaux based on famous paintings of the day, in order to bring them to life as three-dimensional scenes. Henry Wallis’ Chatterton 1856, William Powell Frith’s Derby Day 1857 and John Everett Millais’ The Order of Release 1746 are among twelve of Tate’s famous Victorian and Pre-Raphaelite paintings to be shown with their 3D hand-coloured photographic equivalents.

Stereographs comprise two photographs of the same scene taken from fractionally different viewpoints. When these are mounted side by side and viewed through a stereoscope, the viewer sees just one three-dimensional image. Stereographs were inexpensive, and in the 1850s and 1860s they circulated world-wide in their tens of thousands. Many Victorians became familiar with well-known paintings through their stereoscopic counterparts which became known as a ‘Poor Man’s Picture Gallery.’ The photographs were regarded by many as fairly disposable, making them hard to track down today.

The display introduces important figures in stereoscopic photography such as Alexis Gaudin and Michael Burr, and shows how some of their innovations also inspired painters. Burr’s stereograph Hearts are Trumps 1866 anticipated John Everett Millais’ voluptuous painting with the same title six years later, and James Elliott’s Derby Day, One Week after the Derby 1858, pre-empted Robert Martineau’s renowned oil painting of family ruin, The Last Day in the Old Home 1862.

Dr Brian May, said: ‘We’re thrilled that for the very first time Stereographs are now on view at Tate. In this unique display they can be viewed in their full 3-D splendour alongside the beautiful Victorian narrative paintings to which they relate. We‘re grateful to Tate Britain, and hope to inspire a new love of stereoscopy in the 21st Century.’

Carol Jacobi, Curator, British Art, 1850-1915, Tate Britain said: ‘This display allows us to consider the works in Tate’s collection in a new light. We are delighted to be collaborating with Dr Brian May, who has built this collection over 40 years, and with Denis Pellerin, who has researched the connections.’

The photographs exhibited in this display at Tate Britain are kindly lent by Dr Brian May. This display has been curated by Carol Jacobi with Dr Brian May and Denis Pellerin. The book The Poor Man’s Picture Gallery: Stereoscopy versus Paintings in the Victorian Era by Dr Brian May and Denis Pellerin is published by the London Stereoscopic Company on 20 October 2014.

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Poor man’s picture gallery: Victorian Art and Stereoscopic Photography
13 October 2014 – October 2015
Tate Britain, BP Spotlight displays
Admission free, Open daily 10.00 – 18.00
For public information call +44 (0)20 7887 8888, visit tate.org.uk … follow @tate #stereoscopes

BRIAN MAY AND DENNIS PELLERIN’S TALK – CHELTENHAM LITERATURE FESTIVAL

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GLOUCESTERSHIRE ECHO

CHELTENHAM LITERATURE FESTIVAL: THE POOR MAN’S PICTURE GALLERY: BRIAN MAY AD DENIS PELLERIN
7 October 2014 by Joyce Matthews

Queen guitarist Brian May’s recent visits to Gloucestershire have been to join the protest against a second badger cull. However, for the purposes of the literature festival audience, his topic was far removed from controversy. Modestly introducing himself as the “guy who usually plays guitar”, he was joined by photo historian Denis Pellerin to take us on a journey through history.

One of May’s lifelong passions is stereoscopic photography – a technique discovered in the Victorian era using two slightly different images viewed together to give the perception of 3D depth.

In this gently humorous illustrated talk our hosts compared the parallel world of popular paintings and the 3D Victorian stereoscopic images they inspired – a six-month Tate Britain display is about to launch, based on their work.

So it was on with some high-tech 3D glasses as we looked at images on the big screen and learned how photographers of the day used actors and models to create their stereoscopic images, telling the same stories as the famous paintings, but often adding their own twist for the man on the street to enjoy.

There was a painting of the Empress Eugenie with her ladies in waiting, recreated with the rather unflattering title “Bevy of Girls” and some rather risqué scenes from the 1860s of a man and a woman climbing into bed, images that were “not normal in those days and ahead of their time”, said May.

A host of scenes were recreated from William Powell Frith’s Derby Day in 1858, including the dark side of gambling, with auctioneers pictured selling up a family home.

Then there was a pair of paintings by William Henry Hunt called The Attack and The Defeat, one showing a young boy eating a huge pie and the other asleep “in his fatness” as May described him.

One of these stereoscopes discovered by May was in colour and the other in black and white. He explained that colour was done by hand and that he had made his own attempts at adding colour.

“I did mine in Photoshop,” he joked. “A lot of images are quite damaged and we do a lot of restoration. Rescuing images from the past that are almost obliterated is very satisfying. I’ll take two or three weeks to even out all the little scratches.”

Although fascinating and there was no doubting the passion and commitment of both men to their subject, the event could have done with fewer illustrations and more anecdotes. It wasn’t until the knowledgeable audience asked questions that we really found out more.

“We’re both stereo geeks,” said May. “Once this bites you, it never leaves you. It constantly amazes me how our brain is always combining the slightly different information from our eyes and constructing a picture. Stereos are a wonderful way of reproducing things.”

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