Jonathan Ross Holography Collection

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Stereos

Stereos

Over the years Jonathan Ross has taken hundereds of stereo photographs.

Examples of these have been placed in our 'mini' stereo site where you can view:

101 pieces from the holography collection, showing many of the artists, scientists, and comercial/display makers connected with the development of holography in all its forms.

109 pieces from the 19th Century Stereographs Collection. Some fine examples of this early 3D imaging technique.

Stereo views of artists included in the 3x8+1 exhibition catalogue

Photo of Jonathan Ross © Gaynor Perry

Just some of the stereo viewers in the collection.

A helpful source of information on "Freeviewing" stereoscopic images, and on viewers for use with computers

ww.shortcourses.com/stereo/stereo1-7.html

19th Century Stereographs

I first encountered stereo photography as a child of five or six when I came across a Holmes viewer and a set of World War I, or maybe it was Boer War views, in my mother's old nursery, when staying with my grandparents. I didn't find those particular views very appealing but the experience was memorable. Later, like most children growing up in the 1950s and 60s I encountered the Viewmaster phenomenon and red & green anaglyph 3D and always loved that magic moment when two flat images combine to make a single three-dimensional one.

Fast forward to 1990 and I had become immersed in holography, the ultimate in late 20th century 3D and gradually began to have a greater curiosity about earlier forms of three dimensional image making. A friend took me to a Photograph Collectors Fair where I was able to browse through hundreds, if not thousands, of mostly 19th century stereo views and acquire examples for as little as £1 each. It was irresistible.

Over the next ten years or so I amassed a sizeable collection of, mostly British, stereographs, and viewers of all shapes and sizes. I collected views of places I knew or was planning to visit and of subjects that appealed to me for a variety of reasons. All Victorian life was there in Genre Scenes, Still Life subjects, Pretty Girls, Children & Animals, and views of Landmarks and Beauty Spots throughout the UK.

As I became more discerning I took a special interest in particular photographers: the Landscape views of G.W.Wilson and the Genre views of Elliott and Silvester. These latter, mostly hand-coloured, images tend to be studio compositions, often with elaborate sets, telling Moral Tales , sentimentalising or poking fun at aspects of Victorian Life, or dramatising Well-Known Stories. The best examples are real jewels, dramatically composed and delicately coloured, and even these, at the time I bought them, were seldom more than £10 - £15 each which, considering that such fragile materials as paper and cardboard had managed to survive over 100 years, seems pretty good to me.

The selection of stereographs I am presenting here are some of my favourites from the Genre section of my collection. Some are from sequences or series that revealed themselves as I continued to visit dealers and fairs though, since I haven't come across any lists on which these images feature, I can't be sure that I have them in the correct order. I don't think it matters though as I enjoy looking at each one individually and I hope you will too.

Jonathan Ross
June 2007

Stereos - an Introduction

Over the years Jonathan Ross has taken hundreds of stereo photographs.

Examples of these have been placed in our 'mini' stereo site where you can view:

101 pieces from the holography collection, showing many of the artists, scientists, and commercial/display makers connected with the development of holography in all its forms.

Stereo views of artists included in the 3x8+1 exhibition catalogue

19th Century Stereographs

Article by Jonathan Ross about Michael Burrs for The Stereosite.

"Michael Burr was one of the most prolific photographers of staged genre stereoviews in the Victorian era. Following in the footsteps of masters like James Elliott and Alfred Silvester and frequently adapting the themes of other popular photographers, this Birmingham based entrepreneur created a catalogue estimated at over 1,000 images during a period from 1862 to the mid 1870s and evidently sold his work in large quantities as there are so many of his stereoviews still surviving."

Stereos

19th Century Stereographs

Stereos - an Introduction

Art Collection

News Archive

News Search

An Invitation

About the Collection