Abstract
This paper considers the nineteenth-century origins of today’s body-pruning selfie culture and asserts that while the technology has changed, fatness is visually minimized and removed in digital photography today using methods that directly descend from (and often are identical to) those developed in the 1840s-50s. This research relies on period literature, including photographic and fashion journals as well as newspapers and instructional books, in combination with hundreds of extant photographs to understand the development of appearance-altering photo culture. Sources are primarily in the English language but also draw upon on the work of French and especially German photographers who performed foundational work on these matters in the period 1850-80. Retouching was a last resort, built upon a foundation of studio techniques including angles, lighting, and composition, all to minimize body size. By the 1890s, retouchers were highly practiced at carving away portions of ladies’ waists, arms, chins, and hips to make them appear slenderer. Photographers have always grappled with the “truth” of the image, and little work has been done on the appearance-altering techniques in use from the earliest days of photography. Currently, body retouching is considered a modern tendency and is heavily associated with digital technologies and even AI software. However, it is clear that this culture of appearance alteration stems directly from a variety of photographic techniques and strategies developed more than 150 years ago to eradicate excess body fat in studio portraiture.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2025 Special Focus—From Democratic Aesthetics to Digital Culture
KEYWORDS
Retouching, Body ideals, Nineteenth-century photography, Appearance modification
