In this age of wall to wall Selfies...
It's hard to image the havoc the invention of photography caused in Politics. In 1860 when Lincoln announced his candidacy for president the Democrats had no dirt as he was a virtual unknown. So the politicians did what they do best. Personal attacks. In Lincoln's case they said: The Newbern Weekly Progress wrote that Lincoln was “coarse, vulgar and uneducated, and the leanest, lankiest, most ungainly mass of legs, arms and hatchet face ever strung upon a single frame. Ouch!
Needless to say Lincoln did not want this idea to spread so he turned to Mathew Brady a well know photographer who was known for occasionally "retouching" photos. Here is the first widely disseminated photo.
He focused excessive amounts of light on Lincoln’s face in order to distract from his “gangly” frame. He had the future president curl up his fingers so that their remarkable length would go unnoticed. Brady even “artificially enlarged” Lincoln’s collar so that his neck would look more proportional. He's almost cute!!!
But these two are my favs. After Lincoln’s assassination, there was a dearth of “heroic-style” pictures of the president. So one photographer put Lincoln’s head onto the body of John C. Calhoun—the virulent racist and slavery proponent.
This precursor to Photoshop went unnoticed for decades until it was discovered that Lincoln's mole in this picture is on the wrong side of his face. Who knew!
I suppose this is where I should post a selfie but I'm not wearing any spackling today so you'll just have to use your imagination!
I am participating along with 155 other artist in the Desert Foothills Land Trust Auction that starts April 29 and runs thru May 10. If you would like to register and bid please click the pic below:
If you would like to see a short video of the Jurors Awards Winners for the auction, Click HERE!
There's no such thing as too much BLING!!!
PS If you know of anyone who might enjoy this romp, please sign them up HERE!
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