Two Men Staging a Fight in a Studio (c. 1860): Art, History and Details

Two Men Staging a Fight in a Studio (c. 1860) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Although portrait sittings were directed by the photographer, sitters had some input in shaping their identities by choosing their pose, clothing, possessions, and sometimes backdrop. People came to the studio dressed in their finest outfits, and they often brought objects to represent their interests or occupation, such as the tuning fork held by the music teacher. Hand painting could draw attention to luxury items, as in Young Woman with Pantalettes, where her jewelry is dabbed with gold paint and the lacy cuffs of her pantalettes are enhanced with white paint. Most people had only a few photographs made during their lifetimes; therefore, they were often used to mark rites of passage such as graduation and marriage.

Object facts

• Title: Two Men Staging a Fight in a Studio
• Date: c. 1860
• Culture: America
• Type: Photograph
• Technique: tintype, sixth-plate in full case
• Dimensions: Case: 6.7 x 8 cm (2 5/8 x 3 1/8 in.); Matted: 61 x 48.3 cm (24 x 19 in.)
• Collection: PH - American 19th Century
• Department: Photography
• Accession number: 2003.303

Collection credit

Gift of Charles Isaacs and Carol Nigro

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.