|
h |
|||||
 People
born with the genetic condition albinism i.e. a deficiency of the skin,
hair and eye pigment melanin, have been the subjects of public curiosity
over the centuries. They have been purported to have all sorts of supernatural
powers such as mind reading and they were at times even suspected of witchcraft.
Entrapeneurs such as Phineas Barnum employed "albinos" to appear in his
American Museum and as part of his travelling sideshow, such as the Lucasie
family from Holland and the Martin sisters.
Photographic images of albinos (and others with physical anomalies) were
widely marketed during the nineteenth century and photographers who specialised
in this genre were the studios of Charles Eisenmann of New York and Obermuller
& Son also of New York. Matthew Brady, the famous civil war photographer
had a studio opposite Barnum's Broadway museum and he photographed many
of the "acts" which worked there. Brady's photographs were marketed by
E. A. Anthony. The phenomen of trading in images of unusual people seemed
much more common in America than elsewhere in the world and examples of
photographs of albinos who publically exhibited themselves from other countries
are exceedingly rare. This site shows a variety of American images which
date from the 1870s - 1890s. |
|||||
|
|||||
| Links:
NOAH - The National Organisation for Albinism and Hypopigmentation |
|||||