Privacy, Property or Propriety: The Case of “Pretty Portraits” in Late Nineteenth-century America

Abstract

The advent of the photographic camera in the mid-nineteenth century enabled the '

Review of Legal History

“…Not all such studies of beginnings need be as ambitious in scope as is exemplified by Lake’s (2014) work on the legal battles prompted by the invention of the camera. In particular, she focuses in on the ‘pretty portraits’ of late-nineteenth-century America as a dispersive prism to explore how the law responds to new harms – the unauthorized reproduction of one’s features – and the way female voices had a key role to play in this debate.…”

“…She is careful to note that ‘while plaintiffs may use or be used by the language of the courts, we can never assume that such discourse wholly characterizes their complaints. It is a discourse available and thus appropriated to achieve an end’ (Lake, 2014: 124). Like Kim (2000), she tries to observe the law as well as those attempting to use it.…”

“…Lake’s approach is similar to the new historicism attributed to Hartog and, like Hartog, she captures the ambiguity of law and the broader themes running through her specific study. Like Hartog’s (1985) study, Lake’s (2014) study reveals the law as a tool which fell short despite its own claims to comprehensiveness.…”

Prototyping policy: Visualizing impact for better regulation

“…In the 1890s, women’s faces and bodies, more often than men, were “the subject of surreptitious photographs” used for commercial efforts (Igo, 2018). A result of litigation based on unauthorized use of a young woman’s photo was the 1888 Federal Bill to Protect Ladies to remedy unauthorized circulation of these photos (Lake, 2014).…”