A coloured lithographic glass lantern slide depicting four illustrations of people relating to 'Ethnology'
Ernst Plank
Category
Photographs
Date
1890 - 1910
Materials
Glass, Paper
Measurements
50 x 184 x 2 mm
Place of origin
Nuremberg
Order this imageCollection
Fox Talbot Museum, Wiltshire
NT 1520824.11
Summary
A coloured lithographic glass lantern slide, manufactured by Ernst Plank, in rectangular format with four circular images (40 mm diameter) per slide. The images depict four illustrations. The four circular images are printed on one side of the glass. All the edges are sealed with a red paper border. Each slide has a printed black mask between the images.
Full description
Ernst Plank was a manufacturer of toys and magic lanterns in Nuremberg, Germany. Magic lanterns allowed the projection of images from glass lantern slides. The images on this slide depict four illustrations of people, who are described variously by culture, nationality, and religion, using some outdated and derogatory terms ("a Circassian, an Italian, a Chinaman, a Hindoo"). These words are retained here in their historic context. These slides reflect 19th- and 20th-century European interest in ethnology, the study of different societies and cultures. At the time, this discipline was closely allied with the development of scientific racism, which seeks to justify racial discrimination by reference to biology. This slide was sold with a document entitled 'Ethnology', which described the eight 'types' illustrated, and which would have been used to interpret the images on this slide and its pair, NT 1520824.12.
Provenance
Part of the Fenton Collection. A gift from British Film Institute in 2017. From 1986-1999, part of BFI collection for the Museum of the Moving Image. BFI purchased collection in 1986 from James Fenton's Museum of Photography, Port Erin, Isle of Man 1976-1986
Makers and roles
Ernst Plank, manufacturer