[Album of 67 Photographic Studies of Self-Defense Maneuvers]

Unknown

ca. 1895 · Gelatin silver print · Photographs

This unintentionally hilarious manual of choke holds, body slams, kicks, chops, and arm twists was made by hand by an unknown individual. It is a rich example of a late Victorian instructional handbook, produced during a period when photography was tapped by thousands for its pedagogical potential. Each two-picture spread depicts the moment of confrontation between two glowering men followed by the appropriate maneuver, although what they are doing ranges from the bizarre and the obscure to the plainly improbable.

Artist: Unknown
Date: ca. 1895
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Department: Photographs
Credit line: Purchase, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 1997

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