Magic Lantern Slide: Doll Series - The Trapeze Act
William Weaver Baker and his wife Lily were keen amateur photographers who lived in Exeter for much of their married life. This slide is part of a set they created probably around the years 1910-1915 which features dolls in costumes and scenarios. This tableau composition is taken from a theatrical style with actors in static poses, which was adopted by photographers in Victorian and Edwardian England. This cleverly staged image shows two dolls doing a circus trapeze act (or ‘trapese’ as Weaver Baker spelt it), hanging in mid-air above a safety net.
Object Summary
- Accession Loan No.
- 313/1977/238
- Collection Class
- Social and industrial history
- Material
- glasspaperphotographic emulsion
- Common Name
- Magic Lantern Slide: Doll Series - The Trapeze Act
- Simple Name
- slide
- Inscription Transcription
- handwritten 'The Trapese[sic] Act. Doll series.' on mount
- Period Classification
- Edwardian (1901-1914); World War I (1914-1918); Inter War (1918-1939)
- Production Country
- United Kingdom
- Production Person Initials
- W. Weaver
- Production Person Surname
- Baker
