Les Diableries – 3D Visions of Hell from The 19th Century

With Halloween coming up I was reminded of a series of devilish photographs that I researched and wrote about years ago called Les Diableries. They were created in France in the mid-19^th century and they depict various scenes of life in Hell. Not only that but these images are “stereoscopic” meaning when you look at them with special lenses they appear in 3D! I got to be one of the first people to publish a modern detailed history of these images and the artists who created them, and I also wrote the Wikipedia entry for them. A couple of years after my publication another group of researchers, including Brian May (astrophysicist and lead guitarist for the rock band Queen), published their own book on the series.

Les Diableries: 3D Visions of Hell – A History

Antique Halloween Masks

These paper masks were worn at parties and other social gatherings in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries.  The first character, a sort of menacing clown, is labeled on the back with its original 5-cent price tag from Wannamaker’s department store, but remains otherwise unidentified.  The second character is clearly marked as having been produced by Raphael Tuck & Sons, famous for their postcards of the period, and is titled “Salvation Lass.”  This term was apparently used to describe proper young girls who worked as pamphleteers and solicitors for the Salvation Army.  The girl’s stiff bonnet, modestly parted hair and heavenward gaze attest to her wholesomeness.  These two masks are excellent examples of fine chromolithography, embossing, and die cutting.  The detail is amazing, not only in the variation of color and tone but also in the fact that the facial features, including individual wrinkles and strands of hair, have a raised texture acquired through the embossing process when the cardstock was stamped and shaped with heated brass molds.  Reproductions of many character masks from the period are available today and, though they don’t approach the quality of these originals, I can say from experience that their effect on observers is remarkable.