AVIATION AND THE AGE OF INVENTION
There are many marvelous aspects of vernacular imagery but one, in
particular, is essential: its chameleon-like identity. Vernacular photographs
are often repurposed so that a picture made from one perspective (e.g.,
recording an experiment) may subsequently be adapted to another (a
fine art gallery or museum wall). Although the original context remains
meaningful, an interdisciplinary connection brings added relevance.
For example, Orville Wright, who was a prominent figure in the field of
aviation, was not an especially well-known photographer. He and his
older brother, Wilbur, who were proprietors of a bicycle shop in Dayton,
Ohio, dreamed of flying. Their early experiments with lighter-than-air
crafts were carefully chronicled to prove the legitimacy of their claims
of “We did it first!” When Wilbur piloted an early flyer, Orville captured
the activity from the ground. The limited technical ability of the fixed
focus lens did not impede his pictorial style. Indeed, one of Orville’s
earliest photographs apparently inspired Alfred Stieglitz, whose own
photograph “The Aeroplane,” was reproduced in the pages of
Camera Work
magazine. (See Lot 160.) Related fields, such as, travel and exploration,
ethnography, science, magic and spiritualism represent examples of the
photograph’s readiness to cross over from one discipline to another.
