Victorian Photo Album Nᵒ.3: "A Kind of Subtle Beyond" on (actually Edwardian) New Street

New Street, 1902.
Held at Birmingham Archive.

Photographs often include things that the photographer did not intend to capture. This is an unassuming shot of some of New Street; the hill rising towards Victoria Square. Roland Barthes called what was outside of the photographer's intention the 'punctum'. For him, the punctum exposed the life that was external to the photograph, "a kind of subtle beyond"*. In the windows of one of the nearer buildings, number 62 in fact, are a couple of strange items. They are barely noticeable without zooming in, but they look like two gaunt, white faces staring out onto the street.

In 1901, the year before the photograph was taken, the Theatre Royal, just a little further up New Street on the opposite side, was demolished and rebuilt by 1902. During demolition, I wonder if much of the scenery and props were placed in storage or sold. Are these two masks or other props that the person inhabiting number 62 has acquired?

Masks and props from the Theatre Royal.
Taken shortly before demolition.

The photograph, above, is from 1901 and depicts a selection of masks that were being stored above the dome of the auditorium in the Theatre Royal. I especially like the donkey's head with the Punchinello (Pulcinella) style face inside its mouth. I wonder what play that was a prop from? Whether or not the strange shapes in the windows of number 62 above are masks or not, it opens up speculation about life beyond the photograph. Someone has placed something pretty eerie in the first floor windows of their shop.

The photograph also captured a conversation.

NOTES
*from Roland Barthes, Camera Lucida, p. 59.
Images courtesy of Birmingham Library and Archive Services.