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This picture shows a zebra-driven hackney cab travelling from Brixton towards Stockwell. The driver is Gustav Grais who ran a circus of zebras and baboons. Here are some other examples of tamed Zebras at the beginning of the twentieth century: Thanks to Vonalina Cake and Urban 75.
It is very easy to look at a picture from the past and see its style, rather than its subject. This is very useful if we are interested in the evolution of the camera, or of paint application, or of thought. It is not so useful if we wish to travel back in time. Unfinished pictures are very useful to the Retronaut. These sketches by Hans Holbein (c.1498 – 1543) show us precise individual moments. His finished paintings show time blurred – time observing, thinking, drawing, painting, drying, framing, hanging. Each finished picture is made up of many thousands of moments, each invisible amongst the blur. Not so his sketches. In the sketch of Anna Mayer (above), we can see Holbein’s pencil marks outlining Anna’s sleeve at the exact moment that Holbein saw it, and drew it. These unfinished pencil marks say “I am seeing this person right now” – and so are we. Here are some more of Hobein’s sketches. Click on any to open the gallery, and click the top right symbol to open one full size: Thanks to Ancient Industries.
These pictures are autochromes taken by Remi Verstreken in 1909. The picture above is at Kandersteg, as is the first picture below. The second two are of the Glacier Mont-Rose, across the border in Italy. The pictures are drawn from the collection of Florent Van Hoof.
These pictures were all taken in 1959 in London’s Soho. The picture above shows the 2i’s Coffee Bar, known as the birthplace of British rock and roll. Thanks to Wasleso.
This is Earl’s Court Farm in 1867. Until 1844 it had been run by the Hutchins family, very successfully. The man in the bowler hat is Mr. Alloway, who took over the farm in 1844. Earls Court station was built on top. “In 2008 Hovis commissioned an advert to show Britain’s changing social landscape since the product’s release 122 years ago. The advert has been voted advert of the decade by ITV1 viewers in December 2009. - from Wikipedia Thank you very much indeed to Matt and Chris at WebGun who posted this review of “How to be a Retronaut” on You Tube.
These charming autochromes were taken between 1910 and 1915. They show Janet and Iris Laing in their parents’ house and garden in Headington, Oxford.
The pictures were taken by the girls’ mother, Etheldreda Laing, an artist and photographer. Etheldreda died in 1960. In about 1930, Janet became the second wife of Howard Montagu Bulmer de Sales La Terriere. In 1958, Iris, aged 55, married Sir John Randolph Leslie, 3rd Baronet of Glaslough, becoming Lady Shane Leslie. She died in 1995. Bury Knowle House is now a library, and the gardens are a park. The images are now held by the Science Museum, through the Science and Society Library.
These incredible Retrographs were created by Segei Larenkov. They juxtapose images from the Siege of Leningrad against the modern day city. Click any image to open the gallery:
These images are all autochromes taken between about 1910 and 1920 by the Belgian photographers Alfonse Van Besten, Charles Corbet, Georges Gilet, and Paul Sano. They form part of the collection of Florent Van Hoof. The images are all large, so click a picture to open the gallery and click the icon in the top corner to view the images full size. |
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Copyright © 2010 How to be a Retronaut - All Rights Reserved; Header picture: Nannini Cruser Goggles;
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