The history of three-dimensional photography

The ‘Eye To Eye’ exhibition devised by the Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow with the participation of the Polytechnical Museum presents various episodes from the story of stereo photography, inviting the modern viewer to independently recreate the order of events and see that one of the most popular leisure activities of the 19th century can also be an object of interest to the sophisticated audience. // Unknown author, Scene from the play 'Uncle's Dream'. Late 19th – early 20th century, Tinted albumen print

Today the three-dimensional image is a part of everyday life: we visit 3-D cinemas, buy magazines with 3-D illustrations and use such methods for printing and web design, regarding stereo pictures as a more or less modern technological achievement. However, its history covers almost two centuries, and the effect of the three-dimensional picture has enchanted viewers since the 1830s. // Unknown author, Publishers Underwood & Underwood, 'Elementary Geography Course' series, View of Mount Aso crater through sulphurous vapour, Japan, 1900s, Albumen print

Despite changes in technologies, the basic principal for creating a three-dimensional photograph remains unchanged: two shots of the same subject must be taken (corresponding to the vision of the left and right eye), which then fuse into one stereo picture when viewed together. // Zakhar Vinogradov, 'Life and Nature of Russia. Volga and Privolzhye' series' Scarecrow in a melon field, Saratov province, 1913, Silver gelatin print

Viewing methods have changed more radically: screens and special glasses now facilitate collective viewing, while viewers peering into a stereoscope were left one-to-one with the image. // Unknown author, Neue Photographische Gesellschaft A.-G., Steglitz-Berlin, Caucasus. Pyatigorsk. Park. 1906, Silver gelatin print

Due to its extraordinary mass appeal, the stereo photograph never aspired to the status of an artwork. One of the particularities of stereoscopic views is that the author usually remained anonymous. // Zakhar Vinogradov, 'Life and Nature of Russia. Volga and Privolzhye' series, Sandbars below Vasilsursk, 1913, Silver gelatin print

The key role here belongs not to the photographer, but to the company issuing stereographic cards: Underwood & Underwood in the USA, Great Britain, Japan and Canada; the joint-stock company Granberg in Sweden; the Svyet stereographic publisher in Russia, etc. // Tomashkevich I. R. 'On the rock pillars near Krasnoyarsk', Krasnoyarsk region, 1890s, Silver gelatin print

The processing and production in large editions of stereoscopic views and special compilations, either sold separately or in a set with stereoscope included, became a profitable business venture. // Unknown author, Publishers Joint-Stock Company Aristophot, Grove,'Caucasus' series, late 19th – early 20th century, Silver gelatin print

As a commercially successful enterprise, at first sight early stereo photography served two diametrically opposed goals. On the one hand it was included in the sphere of scientific knowledge: medicine, geography, astronomy and other sciences could now use a new type of image as visual aid. // Unknown author, Publishers Underwood & Underwood, 'Elementary Geography Course' series, Niagara Falls, USA, 1900s, Albumen print

Stereo photography appeared to intensify reality, and each object became accessible to the ‘probing’ eye of the beholder. Everything that had previously seemed abstract (for example the correspondence between phases of the moon, the ebb and flow of tides) acquired a material form that could be observed in the stereoscope. // Unknown author, Publishers Underwood & Underwood, 'A golden autumn day softly vanishes in stillness and sunbeams', Japan, 1896, Albumen print

The three-dimensional image seemed to make up for the lack of mobility in the life of 19th-century man, who froze in expectation of revolutionary change, the attainability and accessibility of the world outside. Stereo photography became an indispensable tool in the effort to describe and catalogue the environment, an aspiration of many scientists in the 19th century. // Unknown author, Tableau vivant 'Girls by a screen', Late 19th – early 20th century, Tinted albumen print

Characteristic in this respect is the series of stereo photographs by Russian photographer Zakhar Vinogradov, who went on numerous expeditions throughout the Russian Empire and returned with highly detailed photographic records, most taken with a stereo camera. // Zakhar Vinogradov 'Life and Nature of Russia. Volga and Privolzhye' series Trees inundated by spring flooding of the Volga', 1913, Silver gelatin print

Stereo photography had achieved mass popularity by the early 20th century and gradually made way for new types of representation. Although losing precedence, it left viewers with an experience peculiar to our perception of three-dimensional images. Today the illusion of easy transit to another world, both terrifying and compelling, is intriguing audiences yet again. // Unknown author, View of a fountain, Russia. Late 19th – early 20th century, Albumen print