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Candidly Posed
Candidly Posed
By Anna Jofre
By Anna Jofre
When I was nine years old, my family was asked to be photographed for the county magazine. This was not a strange thing to do, and many of my friends' families had done it before, but my family had never taken a professional portrait before. The day of, my mom came into my room and told me to put on nice clothes, but not to overdress. Nine year old me carefully decided to put on my best Disney princess shirt that my mom kindly vetoed the second she saw it. Once my whole family had on casual but nice outfits, my sister, brother and I were herded to the backyard to take our photo. The sun was blaring and it was one of the hottest days of the summer. I could not see and my eyes started to fill with tears from the sun. Naturally, this prompted my brother to make fun of me which made me start crying for real. I remember my annoyed dad telling my siblings and I to just hold it together for a couple minutes and then after the photo we can go crazy. We stood there, perfectly mixed by gender and height, and had our first photo taken. Needless to say that the photo of a family featuring a frustrated dad, annoyed mom, and a crying child all trying to look happy was not a good photo. Ultimately, my parents decided that it was too difficult for what it was worth and they backed out of the whole thing, sending the photographer home and the kids to our rooms.
The family portrait is a longstanding tradition that dates back to the seventeenth century. It is a professionally crafted painting or photograph that people choose to have done for various reasons. While some want a portrait for sentimental reasons and to cherish, other people want it to fit in, show off, and send out. Throughout history, the method for taking family portraits changed greatly as did the reasoning behind taking the portrait. Families wanted to portray specific aspects of themselves and their families along with their values through these portraits to fit into societal standards at the time. In today's culture, it is normal to see an array of family photographs featuring a seemingly close-knit family, all smiling, close together, coordinated, if not matching, outfits, and the family dog is probably featured in the prime spot. It is also not uncommon for the photo to be accompanied with a “funny version” as well to prove to the world that this family has more fun than other families. While not every family photo is the same, there is a cohesive “happy and free” vibe surrounding family photos in the twenty-first century that was not the vibe over three hundred years ago. My research aims to understand how the history of the family portrait reflects the changing cultural ideas and normalities surrounding family.
Unlike many things that develop throughout history but keep their initial goal, the goal of the family portrait has continued to change throughout time. In the late 1600s, acquiring a family portrait was a great sign of wealth, and therefore respect and influence (1). These portraits were elite, limited, and taken very seriously as they were extremely time consuming and often a one-time event. The goal was to look respectable and show your wealth (2). In these portraits, each member of the family had to conform to the normalities of their age and sex. For example, for children, the presence of buttons or the shape of a collar was more indicative of gender norms than wearing certain colors or fabrics like it is today. Creativity was not valued in this time, so families would mimic poses, expressions, props and costumes from other people or families that they liked, taking out the genuine feel that families aim for today (3). Additionally, it was expected for there to be “two complementary components, one dominant over the other” (4). Also eliminating the genuine mood is the fact that unlike photographs which capture real moments in time, portraits can be altered to extreme lengths and it would be unknown what was real or fake (5). Families could make sure the portrait makes them look good by altering the background, clothing, facial expressions, and more (6). While this kind of family portrait comes across as cold and unkind, it is not completely representative of how the family acted in real life as most families had to pose in neutral expressions and poses to be able to keep the same pose for the hours it would take the painter to complete the painting.
Figure 1: Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Winslow, 1773 https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/36257
Figure 2: Mr. Isaac Smith, 1769 https://collections.mfa.org/objects/32678
After 1750, amateur artists became more popular which allowed for middle class families to start having portraits taken, making the experience more of a societal normality, not just for the upper class. However, lower class families were still excluded from having portraits taken (7). In the eighteenth century, portraits remained very planned and precise. For example, men started crossing their legs and leaning on structures for portraits around 1750 as seen in Figure 1 and Figure 2 (8). The family portrait in the eighteenth century could now focus on six complementary components, and there was a new emphasis on the family as a unit (9). However, the mental image of family portraiture people have today is not the reality of the eighteenth century. It was more common for family members to each have their own portrait and then to place them all next to each other (10). It was also uncommon to see portraits of a husband and wife together on a canvas. This may be attributed to the fact that if there were children in the household, it was important for them to be included in the family portrait as a status symbol (11). Towards the end of the eighteenth century, more portraits showing subtle signs of affection and love started creeping up an being shown off.
Portraits were one of the few luxury items that could be acquired locally, and so by the 1820s, the job of a portraiture became an important profession (12). However, capturing a moment changed forever in 1816 when Joseph Nicéphore Niépce invented the first camera. Though his first photo took over eight hours to create, this invention began a new wave of portraits (13). In 1859, the invention of the “carte de visite” (CdV or card photographs) further developed photography. CdVs were small photographs, about the size of a polaroid, that would often be traded between family members and friends. The customer would pay a fee for the sitting and for about a dozen photographs (14). This new method of taking portraits allowed for people to share and collect photos and greatly affected the history of portraits. Due to the economic realities of the 1860s and the civil war, the popularity of this kind of photograph was huge (15). Although this was a lot faster than sitting for a portrait, getting your photo taken still took a long time and required complete stillness to get maximum clarity. Similarly to paintings, this resulted in many subjects not smiling. But, unlike most portraits, the photos were unedited and captured an undeniable real moment. One of the most influential moments in the history of photography is the invention of the Kodak #1 camera in 1888 (16). This invention greatly simplified the process of photography and it granted access to people without experience or credentials to practice photography. The Kodak was used to capture personal things like weddings, parties, get togethers, or anything the photographer wanted. This made photography much more casual and not a sign of wealth anymore. While most people enjoyed this, some believed that the camera was ruining the simplicity of life. A New York Times article from 1884 states that “people in perfect health are constantly harassed by those who have contracted the camera lamina sicca” (17). The article highlights that due to the nature of photography, people in the back of photos or those asked to inconvenience themselves are innocent victims of the camera.
Figure 7: 1940s-1950s Family of Four Sitting in Living Room. Getty Images
In the twentieth century, photography became very mainstream. A New York Times article from 1949 emphasizes that “photography gives us a new view of the world and helps us to evaluate both past and present. Not only does the photograph record a slice of reality, but through the photographer’s ‘special vision we see the world afresh’.” (18) This stresses the importance of photography in showing how people were feeling at the time, and how they wanted to be seen. Bailey frankly states that “This suited the sitters who commissioned portraits to advertise the fact that their lives followed socially-approved ideals”. (19) In the early-mid twentieth century, being seen as an affluent nuclear family was the goal. The social normality was for the husband to work a respectable nine to five job and for the wife to stay home with the children and tend to them as well as the husband, including cooking, cleaning, and parenting. (20) In figure seven, it is clear that this family is wanting to represent that the father has control over the house as he is positioned in the middle, but in a way that still shows his love of his wife and children. Everyone is smiling and they are located in their living room which shows how comfortable they are. This photograph also represents the hope to be seen as a loving family that is not too uptight, but still follows the accepted stereotypes and gender roles as seen by the attire each member is wearing. As photography became more and more accessible towards the 2000s, people got more and more creative, straying even further away from portrait styles of the past. One photographer in 1987 said “The idea was to take an environmental portrait of my friend…In photography, preparation is never sufficient. We also have to be flexible - flexible enough to adjust to conditions, and flexible enough to learn when we fail" (21).
In the twenty-first century, the family photo has become something entirely different than it used to be due to the invention of the iPhone in 2007. The iPhone allowed photographs to become even more casual and plentiful. People could take hundreds of photos and see and share them right away. The popularity of Apple products and other devices one can have on hand, have changed the trajectory of family photos. Today, family photos are a societal norm and most families have had at least one, if not many, taken at some point in time. In the early 2000s, it became an American phenomenon to have many family photos sprinkled throughout the house, flaunting the families love, happiness, and genuineness, even if that is an exaggeration of reality. People now take pride in being dysfunctional and acting casual to come off as “real” (22). You can probably find a family photo episode in almost every sitcom or comedy TV show and it is often joked about. In the season one finale of Modern Family entitled “Family Portrait,” perfectionist mother Claire spends the day hassling everyone to get the perfect picture of their very large family. She stresses how she spent hours finding the perfect photographer and a time that would work for everyone and planning matching outfits so that it would be the perfect picture. The title sequence of the show itself portrays a family photo of each of the families. The show depicts how families want to seem very coordinated and united, but in a way that is different from other families while still being acceptable.
Figure 8: Family portrait of family taking a selfie, 21st century. Getty Images
Figure 9: Modern Family “Family Portrait.” Uploaded by Comedy Clips, May 11, 2021.
A subcategory of the twenty-first century family photo is the illusive “funny picture” – the peak of forced dysfunction. Often throughout childhood, when getting photographed it is common to take a normal picture, and then a funny one. While originally this was simply a product of the new simple camera, this has crossed over into family photos as well. These family photos attempt to be unserious, loving, and most importantly unique. Families will do whatever it takes to come across as special and more eccentric than other families (23). Although extremely different from posing statuesque, both forms attempt to prove that their family should be desired. However, despite the stark differences in the final product, both then and now the goal is to have evidence that one's family is happy and accepted in the current society, and to show that off.
Figure 10: Funny family portrait on wooden bench outside, 21st century. Getty Images
The history of the family portrait reflects the evolving familial customs and normalities since the 1600s. The changes that have occurred in the past four hundred years or so, are too profound to not have an impact on how people choose to present themselves to the world. Whether it was trying to look respectable and wealthy or loving and silly, people take portraits to fulfill the acceptable familial traits. With this in mind, it is very important to consider the historical context when examining the past and present. In the future, as more trends come and go, they can always be found in family photos, whether they are professional or on a phone, as families will always be trying to be seen as hip.
Endnotes
Endnotes
Brooke Blower, "Family Vacations," History 303: Sex, Love, and Family (class lecture, Boston University, Boston, MA, January 24, 2023)
Ibid
Calvert, Karin. “Children in American Family Portraiture, 1670 to 1810.” The William and Mary Quarterly 39, no. 1 (1982): 87–113. https://doi.org/10.2307/1923418.
Ibid
Ibid
Ibid
Ibid
Lovell, Margaretta M. “Reading Eighteenth-Century American Family Portraits: Social Images and Self-Images.” Winterthur Portfolio 22, no. 4 (1987): 243–64. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1181182.
Calvert, Karin. “Children in American Family Portraiture, 1670 to 1810.” The William and Mary Quarterly 39, no. 1 (1982): 87–113. https://doi.org/10.2307/1923418.
Lovell, Margaretta M. “Reading Eighteenth-Century American Family Portraits: Social Images and Self-Images.” Winterthur Portfolio 22, no. 4 (1987): 243–64. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1181182.
Ibid
Barratt, Carrie Rebora. Faces of a New Nation: American Portraits of the 18th and Early 19th Centuries. MetPublications61. 1st ed. Vol. 61. New York, NY: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2003. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications/faces_of_a_new_nation_american_portraits_of_the_18th_and_early_19th_centuries_the_metropolitan_museum_of_art_bulletin_v_61_no1_summer_2003.
Livesay, Jacob. “When Was the Camera Invented? Frenchman Credited with Invention of Camera in 1816.” USA Today, August 11, 2022. https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2022/06/14/when-was-camera-invented-history/7615372001/.
Vosmeier, Sarah McNair. 2003. "The Family Album: Photography and American Family Life since 1860." Order No. 3111949, Indiana University. https://ezproxy.bu.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fdissertations-theses%2Ffamily-album-photography-american-life-since-1860%2Fdocview%2F305333000%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D9676.
Ibid
Fineman, Mia. “Kodak and the Rise of Amateur Photography.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/kodk/hd_kodk.htm (October 2004)
Times, New York. “The Camera Epidemic .” The New York Times, August 20, 1884. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1884/08/20/106152323.html?pageNumber=4.
Bourke-White, Margaret. “Photography -- A Chronicle of Its Amazing First Century.” The New York Times, July 10, 1949. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1949/07/10/84273727.html?pageNumber=71.
Joanna Bailey, review of The Art of Domestic Life: Family Portraiture in Eighteenth-Century England, Reviews in History, last modified December 2006, accessed May 2, 2023, https://reviews.history.ac.uk/review/558.
Brooke Blower, "History of Motherhood," History 303: Sex, Love, and Family (class lecture, Boston University, Boston, MA, April 6, 2023)
Grundberg, Andy. “Camera; Portraiture and Perils.” The New York Times, November 1, 1987. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1987/11/01/252587.html?pageNumber=79
Brooke Blower, "Recap," History 303: Sex, Love, and Family (class lecture, Boston University, Boston, MA, May 2, 2023)
Brooke Blower, "Family Vacations," History 303: Sex, Love, and Family (class lecture, Boston University, Boston, MA, January 24, 2023)
About the Author
About the Author
Anna grew up in Westchester, NY but she considers herself more of a New England girl. Spending every summer in Vermont and Maine, Anna grew to love the outdoors and small towns. In her free time, she loves to watch movies, play tennis, explore, and listen to Taylor Swift and Noah Kahan (cue the New England music). She is a psychology major and is very intrested in what makes people act certain ways.
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