Duchenne - Limb Wasting
SOLD March 2013 |
Vintage albumen print, probably taken late 1850s, printed circa 1862, showing a child with lower limb wasting using his arms to lift his body upright (so-called "Gower's Maneuver") by Guillaume-Benjamin-Amand Duchenne de Boulogne. Plate 12 from his "Album de Photographies Pathologique" (1862). On portion of period page approx. 10.5 x 7.5 inches (27x18 cm), imprinted top "Photographies Pathologiques / Fig. 12." and at bottom "Phot. par le Dr. Duchenne (de Boulogne) / Publie par J. B. Bailliere et Fils, a Paris". Print size 6.5 x 4.5 inches (17x12 cm).
Duchenne de Boulogne's "Album de Photographies Pathologique" of 1862 is one of the first examples of published medical photographs. It contained 17 images, many of them taken in the 1850s by Duchenne using wet-collodion glass negatives.
In describing his work Duchenne emphasized the difficulty of capturing images of subjects often in motion using the long-exposure wet-collodion process. In the case of this image the glass negative shows two cracks through the image as well as other signs of abrasions over time. They give the image as interesting aged quality similar to that achieved artificially in some modern images seeking the same effect. Duchenne's prints of this image, even from the identical publication, seem to have "aged" during the printing process. While the examples of this image I have seen all reflected the same cracks in glass negative, other abrasions in the negative varied widely between different prints, so that each in a sense appears to have been unique.
In many ways this image is reminiscent of work by Joel-Peter Witkin. The condition shown may be the result of the disease that bears Duchenne's name, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.
Print in excellent condition with some narrow lightening at edges.
