Peep box
A peep box is a viewing and viewing device that allows a look inside and shows the viewer graphics with a deceptively real perspective . From the second half of the 18th century , the peep box was a popular fairground attraction throughout Europe. The peep box pictures with views of European sights , but also exotic scenes and theatrical representations, shaped the image of broad strata of the people of the "wide world". The peep box is thus one of the first mass media .
functionality
A peep box is a device for generating optical illusions or optical illusions .
The peep box enabled a visual presentation of landscapes, cities or scenarios such as topics from classical mythology or stories from the Bible .
In contrast to the “ Laterna magica ”, through which an image is projected onto a wall opposite, the observer sees the prints himself with the peep box. This device creates a more spatial effect, since on the one hand the distance between the image and the peephole is very small and on the other hand , there is a magnifying glass- like lens , so to speak a magnifying glass , in the wall of the box . Because the image is in a dark environment and is illuminated, the spatiality is significantly enhanced. The peep box pictures were mostly framed or mounted on rollers, which made it possible to move the pictures further using a rotary knob.
The peep box picture
Crucial for the success of the medium peep box were the peep box pictures , mostly specially intended for peep boxes, executed as copper engravings , steel engravings or etchings and painted with gouache colors .
These peep-box pictures were mostly silhouettes that were stuck to transparent paper and framed. In this way, the pictures could either be held against the light or viewed with artificial light sources such as candles or tallow candles .
The topics were mostly, as already mentioned, views of foreign cities and landscapes from near and far countries, as well as events such as battles, natural disasters, city fires, earthquakes or volcanic eruptions.
The most suitable and most frequently used format was a median folio format of approx. 26 cm × 41 cm. The essential thing with such a box picture was the width, because the picture should fit into box models of all kinds and also had to survive on the international market.
In order to appear in the mirror in the correct form, the motifs were shown reversed. Since a three-dimensional illusion was to be created, the perspectives were particularly emphasized and exaggerated in order to intensify this three-dimensional effect. The sheets were individually labeled, which often resulted in a mirror-inverted title at the top and an exact explanation for the demonstrator at the bottom.
The peep-box era experienced its heyday through the transparency. A transparent image is a “two-phase image”, ie thin paper that is printed on both sides and that is alternately illuminated and illuminated in such a way that it makes overlays visible.
Historical development and the real attraction of the peep box
The beginnings of the peep box go back to the Renaissance, that is, to the time when the laws of central perspective were recognized. A more detailed description of this device can only be found in 1677 by the Coburg mathematician Johann Christoph Kohlhaus (1604–1677).
The breakthrough for the "rarity box" was not until the beginning of the 18th century. From this point on, the demonstrators, also known as peek-a-booers - mostly war invalids, former seamen and the like - went through the whole country to annual and folk markets. For a fee, you could take a look in a box and to underline what you had seen, the presenter usually commented on the pictures. The fascinating thing about the peep box was certainly the fact that at that time the people often only saw pictures in the church. Thanks to the peep boxes, one now had the opportunity to get to other pictures and to briefly dive into another world and see distant cities, the existence of which one was previously not even aware of. The fascination was probably the mixture of the magical and the real.
Even today there are fans who collect peep boxes or build them themselves. Peep box pictures are sought-after collector's items for collectors of popular graphics and - due to their often interesting and otherwise rare city motifs - for collectors of local history material.
literature
- Richard Balzer: Peepshows. A visual history . Harry N. Abrams, London 1998, ISBN 0-8109-6349-3
- Georg Füsslin u. a .: The peep box. Insight - perspective - outlook . Füsslin, Stuttgart 1995, ISBN 3-9803451-2-2
- Uta Grünberg: Look !. Peep box pictures from the 18th century . (= Aulendorfer Hefte; Vol. 2). Württembergisches Landesmuseum, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-929055-60-0
- Ulrike Hick: History of Optical Media . Fink, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-7705-3360-7 (plus Marburg, Univ., Habil.-Schr.)
- Friedrich Scheele (Ed.): Rrrr! Another picture! 18th century peep box pages from the graphic arts collection . Exhibition in the Ostfriesisches Landesmuseum Emden 1999. Isensee, Oldenburg 1999, ISBN 3-89598-622-4
- Wojciech Sztaba: The world in a peep box. Television in the eighteenth century . In: Harro Segeberg (Ed.): The mobilization of seeing. On the prehistory and early history of film in literature and art. Fink, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-7705-3117-5
- Ernst Massen "The erotic peep box", In: Club Daguerre aktuell, March 1995.
