[Boy Overseen by His Father's Spirit]

Public Domain

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Images(2)

CultureUnknown

Titles

[Boy Overseen by His Father's Spirit]

Date1890–1900

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsImage: 11 × 8 15/16 in. (27.9 × 22.7 cm)
Sheet: 11 1/4 × 9 3/16 in. (28.6 × 23.3 cm)
Mount: 13 7/8 × 10 9/16 in. (35.2 × 26.8 cm)

Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by the S. I. and Susie Morris Photography Endowment

Object number2019.255

Not on view

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Department

Photography

Object Type

PHOTOGRAPHS

DescriptionThe turn of the 20th century saw a growing desire for and belief in the possibility of communication with the spirits of deceased loved ones. Photography, it was thought, could offer proof of the presence of spirits—not an unreasonable belief given the medium’s ability to record other phenomena invisible to the naked eye, in X-rays for instance. An inscription on the back of this photograph reads: “The boy’s father died. His mother took him to have his picture taken in costume to take his mind off. This is how the picture turns out, the boy’s father watches over him.”
ProvenancePrivate Collection; purchased by Stephen Romano, 2018; purchased by MFAH, 2019.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

Inscribed in pencil on mount, verso: “The boy's father died his mother took him // to have his picture taken in costume to // take his mind off. // This is how the picture turns out, the boy’s // father watches over him.”

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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