Synopses & Reviews
Charlotte Corys photographic collages, skillfully reworking Victorian photographic visiting cards, resemble intriguing short stories, which invite viewers to speculate on the events behind the picture. By creating highly subversive images of human bodies with animal heads, she creates a vision of the nineteenth century, an exciting post-Darwinian alternative universe in which animals are clearly in charge. At first you laugh, but then you find yourself thinking
Collecting Cartes-de-visite was a craze in Victorian times, called cartomania”. It was the Facebook of its time. Millions were produced and are now mostly worthless. Cory combines these poignant images with portraits taken of stuffed animals from museums and her own collection. By recycling these dispossessed images and long-dead creatures, she gives them all a new lease of life. Brighter, more colourful, more interesting and more disturbing than before.
Highly illustrated, great fun and at the same time oddly serious, You Animal, You! is an in-depth look at the world of this unusual artist that will delight her fans and interest newcomers to her work in equal measure.
Review
"You Animal, You!, a whimsical, most unusual art book exploring her subject through photography with a large number of stylized Victorian photographs but with a twist." San Francisco Book Review
Synopsis
The images featured in this book are serious in nature whilst also appearing fun and humorous. Photographic calling cards- Cartes-de-visite were a craze in Victorian times, called cartomania with millions being produced and stored. There is a melancholy to these faded sepia photographs, which now appear in junk shops everywhere. Cory combines these poignant images with the perhaps sadder still images of stuffed animals from museums. By recycling these dispossessed images and long-dead creatures Cory gives them all a new lease of life. The result is an alternative vision of Victorian England that uses color, humor and shock tactics to get your attention.
You Animal, You! features essays putting Charlotte Corys work in context. Bestselling author AN Wilson writes on Victorian photography and portraiture and sets the images in a historical context. Sophie Gordon discusses the collage element of Corys work and the idea of collecting and recreating images from recycled objects. Highly illustrated and humorous by nature, You Animal, You! is an in-depth look at this unusual art practice and is both fun and serious at the same time.
About the Author
A.N. Wilson is an Oxford educated English author, journalist and literary editor. A fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, he has held a prominent position in the world of literature and journalism. He is an award winning biographer and a celebrated novelist, winning prizes for much of his fiction. He lives in London, UK.
Sophie Gordon is Curator of the Royal Photograph Collection, and has published widely on nineteenth- and early twentieth-century photography.
Jane Sellars is art curator of the Mercer Art Gallery in the UK.