Hospital Snapshots 6

One of the aspects that make the Hering collection fascinating is how much they resemble portraits, either painted or photographic, rather than institutional mug shots.  For the most part, the clothing, pose and objects would not look out of the ordinary in a conventional portrait of the time.

Photography, as a new medium in the late 1850s, may well have been something of a novelty for the type of patient Bethlem admitted.  To have a photograph taken in this early period might have been seen as a mark of distinction. Queen Victoria herself had been photographed and the photographic series ‘Living Celebrities’, published monthly by Maul and Polybank, depicted key individuals such as politicians, churchmen and writers, alongside their biographies.  Bethlem’s patients might not only have enjoyed the experience of a photographic session, but have had their own ideas about how they should be shown according to the photographic conventions as they understood them.

As in painting, clothing is an important indicator of circumstance, individuality and taste.  Although the hospital did not issue clothing, for patients choice may have been somewhat limited.   A number are wearing dresses of the same material and style, perhaps because Bethlem bought in fabric and ‘sewing parties’ were held in which the female patients could make  or alter their own clothing.  Despite these constraints many of the photographs show touches of refinement and personality, perhaps giving a hint to the individual themselves.

The patient we know only as EA is dressed as a respectable, middle class woman.  Her clothes are neat and well made but not showy, the material good but not expensive.  Her hair is firmly tied back, though unusually not covered.  There are touches of decoration such as the ruffles on the sleeves of the dress, lace collar and cuffs.  A fringed shawl is draped around her.  She has taken care over her appearance.

In other photographs, clothing and occupation are more closely allied.  Edward Oxford, the would-be assassin of Queen Victoria, is shown here as if taking a break from his decorating.  He appears to be dressed for the task in hand, wearing a painting overall on which can be seen some traces of paint.  Though the shirt underneath looks fairly standard, the tie appears worn for the occasion.

Clothing was clearly, at least to some extent, within the control of the sitter and helped give personality to each image; next month’s post will consider pose and props.

In the Frame for June 2012

The Bethlem blog has been maintained for two years now, and its In the Frame thread is of the same vintage. Portraiture has often featured in the series, it being a strong suit in the Archives & Museum’s hand. Indeed, the very first picture highlighted was a portrait by Lynda Bamford. This month we return to the work of this artist, but to a rather different kind of portrait. In place of the sedate, monochrome sketch of ‘Mother and Father Reading’, in ‘Psychedelic Woman’ we have an oil painting which is resplendent in colour, texture and mood.

The eyes, hands and breasts of the subject immediately confront the viewer of this portrait, though certainly not to erotic, nurturing or otherwise inviting effect. Her palms face outward in a demonstration of shrinking defencelessness, or to fend off an actual approach; her breasts, in their abstract regularity, offer an outright challenge to voyeuristic observation; and there is a soft sadness (and possibly some trepidation as well) about her eyes. The palette of colours employed is so rich as to be either exhilarating or terrifying, depending upon one’s point of view. Do the furnace-deep reds of her neck and breasts suggest multiple wounds of the heart, or an unquenchable anger? Is this, in the final analysis, a woman who wants to be seen at all?