Portraits of the Insane: The Case of Dr. Diamond

by Adrienne Burrows and Iwan Schumacher. 

Background

Dr. Hugh Diamond worked at mental asylums in and around London and was fascinated by the idea that photography could be used in the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness. At this time, photography was a new art and the conventional photographs housed people in their best attire with unsmiling faces. The exposures were long hence the lack of a smile that is conventional to photographs today. There were ostentatious backgrounds such as potted plants, draped sheets and so on.

The patients that Dr. Diamond photographed were quite the opposite. They were dressed in the hospital clothes and dawned faces of utter honesty and bored distress.

I find Dr. Diamonds photographs particularly moving, whilst arguably they are reminiscent of the portraits produced by those in higher classes the house and encapsulating feeling of narrative. The way that the patients are sat, their posture, facial expressions, presentation and props say a lot about who they are. 

Looking down at the camera could suggest a hostility. Dishevelled presentation could suggest a not quite with it patient, whereas someone wearing a cross shows them as religious. It links back to Todorovs theories of symbolism and Propps ideologies on characters in a narrative. 

Furthermore, although not customisable and present in most photographs at the time, the lighting and setup are - to me - very important in Dr. Diamonds photographs. Obviously the development process of his images changes hence the alternate tones (black and white, argyrotype etc.) set apart some of his images, but I believe this helps too. The more contrasting black and white images work together to provide the hostile, uninviting personality of some patients. Where as the washed out photo's suggest the innocence of some on the younger patients, in particularly the children. The lighter photo's, taken at more  distance add's a spacier, discerning feel.