Living Pictures, Missing Persons

In the late-19th century, Scandinavian urban dwellers developed a passion for a new, modern sort of visual spectacle: objects and effigies brought to life in detailed, realistic scenes - mannequin display. This text explores the phenomenon as it unfolded in Denmark, Sweden and Norway.

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In the late-19th century, Scandinavian urban dwellers developed a passion for a new, modern sort of visual spectacle: objects and effigies brought to life in detailed, realistic scenes. The period 1880-1910 was the popular high point of mannequin display in Europe. This text explores the phenomenon as it unfolded with the rise of was museums and folk museums in the largest cities of Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Mark Sandberg asks: Why did modernity generate a cultural fascination with the idea of effigy? He shows that the idea of effigy is also a portal to understanding other aspects of visual entertainment in that period, including the widespread interest in illusionistic scenes and tableaux, in the "portability" of sights, spaces, and entire milieus. Sandberg investigates this transformation of visual culture outside the usual test cases of the largest European metropolises. He argues that Scandinavian spectators desired an unusual degree of authenticity - a cultural preference for naturalism that made its way beyond theatre to popular forms of museum display.
The Scandinavian wax museums and folk-ethnographic displays of the era helped pre-cinematic spectators work out the social