The first stereographic photographs were made within 10 years after the invention of photography itself and became an immediate success. In fact, they were the first mass-produced and mass-distributed photographic images. With the use of special viewers, every pair produced a 3D image, which gave the viewer an unprecedented feeling of being present in the scene.
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, people bought boxed sets of stereographs of exotic places and people from all over the world. The sets were sold as an “armchair virtual tour, traveling at a fraction of the cost”. One of the largest stereograph-producing companies, Underwood & Underwood, claimed stereographs gave poor children the opportunity to see the world, where before only the rich ones had been privileged to do so.
This photograph must have been taken in the early decades of the 20th century, after the invention of the autochrome process (see my May 16 post), adding extra vivacity to the 3D experience. With some practice, the image can be seen in 3D without special tools (by looking cross-eyed and bringing the separate images together). The viewers used by photographer Gaudin, his wife and some models in the second photo (1860) would have made it much easier, though.
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