Young Man in Athletic Outfit
Medium
salted paper print from wet collodion negative
Dimensions
image: 21.5 × 16.5 cm · matted: 50.8 × 40.6 cm
Classification
Photograph
Department
Photography
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of Charles Isaacs and Carol Nigro
Accession Number
2003.304
Tags
male
About this artwork
During this era, people played recreational sports in attire resembling street clothes; this man’s outfit suggests that he was an acrobat or circus performer. It was common in the 19th century to photograph workers with the tools of their trade or in apparel unique to their profession. Photography collectors later labeled that type of photograph as an “occupational.”