Acting Out displays Beautiful Cabinet Cards in LACMA

By Joylynn Lee

Arts Editor

With cards organized by the Amon Carter Museum of American Art and annual funding from Terry and Lionel Bell, Acting Out enters LACMA. 

LACMA publicizes its first cabinet cards focusing on the first three decades in the 19th century. This exhibit takes viewers on a beautiful journey to the past. Cabinet cards were photographs that were taken on thick cardboard for stability and storage.  Acting Out gives extremely rare photos for the public view.  

LACMA primarily features American and European art to the public eye. “Acting Out” opened on Aug. 8, and will remain open until Nov. 7. The exhibit shows the evolution from the beginning of entertainment culture to embracing photography as a new norm. 

Cabinet card photographs were placed on cardboard for stability. There would be photographers portraying themselves as artists throughout their work in their photo canvases. Some would name themselves as “Practical Photographers,” “Popular Photographers” and “National Historical Photographers” in photography competitions in the past. Before cabinet cards were created, photography didn’t appeal to the public’s eye due to the price of taking a picture that many people believed was pointless and useless. Therefore, when an inexpensive small card could print a photo, photography boomed. It was a revolutionary creation, allowing these inexpensive photos as a milestone mark for the evolution of photography. 

Each cabinet card photograph depicts stories and a splash of raw emotion. Every photograph has a warm brown tint that contains different and unique settings and refined backdrops. Back in the 19th century, these photographs were intentionally made to be tucked away in a box or an attic in hope for future generations to take a glimpse into their past. 

Acting Out features more than 200 works from a collection of American photography. Family albums were a source of entertainment, and by the next century many Americans were waiting for the arrival of the snapshot. 

“Helena Luy” is one of the most recognized cabinet cards in the exhibit. It’s in albumen silver print and was first printed due to a Broadway show in New York City. Also, another featured piece is an art that isn’t necessarily a cabinet card, but a small table placed next to an extravagant 19th century dress. The dress gives an illusory depiction to the public’s eye, since the true art is the small table placed next to the dress. 

In the exhibition there were a handful of cabinet cards with revolutionary images. There was a woman carrying a musket in Springfield, Ohio. On the other hand, there were several women being displayed individually in portrait photos in simple white dresses that allowed the viewers to see the beauty in simplicity. 

All cabinet cards were lively with vintage tints, while depicting a clear image allowing the freedom of viewers to depict their own stories, since cabinet cards were created for those to express their personalities and emotions on each vintage cabinet cards. 

Acting Out: Cabinet Cards, making of modern photography is open to the public and tickets are only available on lacma.org.