Pioneering photography collector Robert Jackson wrote recently to tip me off to a few interesting tintypes available on eBay, so I bought them. Mr. Jackson, who is largely responsible for the vintage vernacular photography field had his staggering snapshot photo collection documented by no less than the National Gallery of Art and Princeton University Press five years ago now with THE ART OF THE AMERICAN SNAPSHOT 1888 - 1978. The lovely book is still available and still essential. When Robert told me "you can't go wrong" with the price on these photos, I thought the same about his book. You can't go wrong. It is 300 solid pages of extraordinary images and smart essays, worth every penny and more.
As for the tintypes, they look mundane enough until you look behind the sitters. My interest in tintype photography lies in the plight of traveling folk art portrait painters when they were replaced by the invention of the camera. I attempt to prove they simply went on to paint backdrops instead in THE PAINTED BACKDROP: Behind the Sitter in American Tintype Photography. As far as I know, still the only examination into what was in virtually every one of the millions of tintypes taken in a studio...a painting! It is now available as an ebook for only $5.99, which is good, as the photographs look even better on your ipad.
Review of Jim Linderman The Painted Backdrop by Joey Lin Anonymous Works
View Original Review with Additional photographs HERE
Slogging through the dross of daily online auctions, I'm used to being disappointed 99% of the time. Cyber-picking can be a sort of self-flagellation, but when you find a hidden jewel the payoff makes it all worth it. I sort of feel the same way with self-published books. The theory is good, with online sites like Lulu and Blurb giving us all the ability to become published authors. Unfortunately, as I've browsed through the majority of self-published titles available, most are of the "these are my best Aruba shots" photo books that, while sometimes beautiful, leave me a little unfulfilled.
Fortunately there are others, like Jim Linderman, who look at the technology as an opportunity to expose the hidden corners of old (sometimes weird) America. Like Jimmy Allen's seminal book on lynching in America, Linderman has a knack for discovering untold stories and introducing them to a wider audience. His latest book, The Painted Backdrop: Behind the Sitter in American Tintype Photography 1860-1920, tells the previously untold story of 19th century painters who painted the backdrops of the then ubiquitous tintype photos. It's an incredibly interesting history and you suddenly find yourself looking for the subject behind the subject.
The Painted Backdrop is one of two of Linderman's books currently in the running for a People's Choice Award in the Photography category of Blurb.com. What's great is that for a limited time you'll be able to preview and read the entire books.
The Painted Backdrop takes a whole new look at the relationship between painters and photographers in the 19th century. Is it true the camera replaced the brush? Maybe they got along far better than we've always thought. The SIXTH book published by Dull Tool Dim Bulb Books, catalog HERE.
Available NOW! The Painted Backdrop: Behind the Sitter in American Tintype PhotographyThe previously untold story of 19th century painters and their influence on American photography during the tintype era. Never before examined in detail, the book contains over 75 rare, unpublished original tintype photographs from the Jim Linderman collection. A Grammy nominated writer and collector who has been called "the perfect subject for a Harvey Pekar comic" this book is informed with Linderman's wit and continues his examination of previously overlooked art and photography subjects. 80 Pages, 8' x 10" with essays by Jim Linderman and Kate Bloomquist. Linderman's most recent photography book was Camera Club Girls which tells the story of the amateur photographers who met to take nude photographs during the 1950s, discovered model Bettie Page, and started a revolution in erotic art...all through the work of one never before published artist.
