Headless Trick Photography Collection. Europe and the United States, 1850s–1950s. Large collection of trick photography, with a concentration on the illusion of decapitation, photographs of the human head playfully detached from the body. The approx. 159 works represent some of the earliest and most compelling examples of trick photography and arguably mark the birth of visual effects. These include Victorian-era proto-surrealist displays; political commentary on executions/ beheadings; groups of soldiers holding their own heads; heads displayed on dinner plates; performances by clowns, strongmen, and magicians, as well as a juggler juggling multiples their own head. Formats include carte de visites (CDVs), cabinet cards, real photo postcards (RPPC), silver gelatin prints, color snapshots, Polaroid, tin type, cyanotype, hand-colored glass slide (1), and glass plate negative (1), created by a range of professional studio photographers, artists, and amateurs alike.

The earliest photographs in the collection were produced in the mid-1800s as carte de visite and cabinet cards. One particularly significant image, created by T. James Jr. of St. Louis, Missouri, explores proto-surrealist ideas by depicting a woman’s head removed from her body and floating above it. A companion image shows the same woman seated in an identical pose, this time with her head intact. Considering that the commonly cited birth of Surrealism is associated with artists such as Man Ray in the early 1920s, these photographs demonstrate artists exploring similar conceptual territory nearly seventy years earlier.

Most are housed in a binder (66 pages, 12 ½ x 10 ¾"); one is framed. Largest 8 x 10". An extensive one-of-a-kind collection; should be seen.

This collection took nearly a decade to assemble and required an immense amount of global communication with auction houses, dealers, collectors, and even the occasional flea-market box. It is the largest collection in the world dedicated to this subject and may be one of the only collections of its kind in existence. Works of a similar nature have been prominently exhibited at major institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and LACMA."

Can provide more photos upon request.