Abstract
Abstract: Victorian "hidden mother" photographs are portraits of babies in which adult figures are draped with textiles, blocked with furniture, tucked behind a mat, orotherwise (often ineffectively) obscured. Fascination with them habitually turns on their presumed erasure of nineteenth-century women's labor; however, modern assumptions about the production of these photos have shaped consumption of them. This essay locates these images within multiple contexts: the technologies of their production, growingsentimental ideals of middle-class motherhood, and the ways that carework and its cultural (in)visibilities varied widely by gender, race, and class in the period. Arguing thatthe mother figures' persistent presence (not hiddenness) is fundamental to these photographs, this essay makes a case for reading them as revealing intimacies and documenting tenderness rather than evincing erasures.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
