After badgers, foxes, and five-minute guitar solos, Brian May’s most passionate campaign has been to revive interest in the lost and almost forgotten art of Victorian stereo photographs. A selection from his vast collection has gone on display at Tate Britain, showing the photographs for the first time alongside the paintings that inspired them – and, in at least one case, a painting by a famous artist apparently inspired by a photograph taken by a now forgotten craftsman.
“It’s actually a shock to see them here – I never thought for one moment they’d agree to show them,” May said, gazing round the large gallery at the Tate that for the next six months will host a free exhibition of his photographs and the Victorian narrative paintings, which for decades fell equally out of fashion.
The photographers achieved a stereo effect by taking two photographs of the same scene, moving the camera slightly sideways for the second. Seen through the lenses of a special viewer, the two photographs mounted side by side combine into one apparently three-dimensional image.
“This is a very big thrill, being able to share my own excitement in these photographs. In the 19th century somebody called them ‘the poor man’s art gallery’ – but that was a derogatory term – they usually haven’t been taken seriously as art or photography.”