3D and Animated Lenticular Photography ─ Between Utopia and Entertainment

A scholarly but accessible book on the history of photography, this volume will also attract some general readers. Its subject is the type of photograph that animates or switches between multiple positions depending on the angle from which the viewer looks at it. Early black and white versions of the process had a utopian or artistic feeling and portraits were the main use, parallel to the later concepts of holograms as a romantic means of capturing an absent person or place. But it was quickly taken up by advertising photography, and winking images in exaggerated color became a familiar part of tourist postcards, religious souvenirs, and novelty items by the middle of the 20th century. In the spaces between, Dada and other pop-culture artists used the images in their work. The process is now out of fashion. This book traces both the history and mechanics of the process and the diverse uses to which it has been put. It is well illustrated with black and white and color images. Sadly, these cannot be printed to move as in the originals, but images of two-position photos in both positions are often included. Annotation c2015 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)

Kim Timby, Ecole du Louvre, Paris.