The first photo fakes in history: President Lincoln

Hello ATS!

Against the backdrop of numerous fakes, a wave of which has appeared since the beginning of the events in Ukraine, I had a question: "And when did photo fakes first appear and how were they used." I have studied this issue and want to present you the results.

It is believed that the first fake photo in history is one of the inventors of photography, Hippolyte Bayard. In 1840, he created the first staged photo in history, Self-Portrait as a Drowned Man. The author presented himself as a suicide victim. interestingly, people really believed that Hippolyte drowned, although he lived until 1887.

But another story is more interesting. It dates from 1860.



Here is the famous photograph of President Lincoln, and it turned out to be a fake. The fact is that Lincoln did not like to be photographed, and there were simply no formal portraits of the 16th President of the United States in the "heroic style". But the events of that era required the “heroization” of the main opponent of slavery in the United States.



Then the artist Thomas Hicks took an 1852 woodcut of John C. Calhoun. Ironically, John C. Calhoun was the main ideologist of the slave policy of the southern states, and a lobbyist for slavery in the federal government.



And so the artist completely redrawn the engraving, and replaced the head of the original character with the head of Lincoln. The artist also corrected the inscriptions on the documents on the table. The original version was written "strict constitution", "free trade" and "sovereignty of the states". In Lincoln's depiction, these words were changed to "constitution", "union", and "declaration of liberty". And now in 2022, we're all wondering, where did the original "state sovereignty" go? He just disappeared.



But even here there was a funny mistake. Hicks took Lincoln's head from a portrait painted by artist Matthew Brad. This portrait is absolutely known - it was from there that the image for the five-dollar bill was taken. But Hicks was wrong! He drew Lincoln's head on Calhoun's body, but mixed up the location of Lincoln's famous mole on his face.

Only 100 years later the deception was revealed. Stephan Lorant, art director of the London Picture Post magazine, for a long time could not understand why the mole moved to the right side of the face. He conducted an investigation, and established the fact of forgery of the photo.

And this photo is considered the first fake photo taken with the help of the great-grandfather of "Photoshop".

Thank you.

That's pretty cool I don't know that at all, or if I did I can't recall ever hearing the complete story. Before the only false/fake photos I knew of were from the Stalin era Russia and the Oswald photo of him with the rifle.

How Stalin’s propaganda machine erased people from photographs, 1922-1953

Stalin didn’t have Photoshop, but that didn’t keep him from wiping the traces of his enemies from the history books. Using tools that now seem impossibly primitive, Soviet proto-Photoshoppers made “once-famous personalities vanish” and crafted photographs representing Stalin “as the only true friend, comrade, and successor to Lenin, the leader of the Bolshevik Revolution and founder of the USSR.”

One day a politician may have been in favor, the next he could be facing the firing squad as an enemy of the people. In the Soviet Union, people were literally written out of the history books by using photo manipulation techniques.

After he came to power in 1929, Stalin declared war on the Soviets he considered tainted by their connections to the political movements that had come before him.

Beginning in 1934 he wiped out an ever-changing group of political “enemies.” Some 750,000 people died during the Great Purge, as it is now known, and more than a million others were banished to remote areas to do hard labor in gulags.

During the purges, many of Stalin’s enemies simply vanished from their homes. Others were executed in public after show trials. And since Stalin knew the value of photographs in both the historical record and his use of mass media to influence the Soviet Union, they often disappeared from photos, too.

This quasi-artisanal work, one of the more enjoyable tasks for the art department of publishing houses during those times, demanded serious dexterity with the scalpel, glue, paint, and airbrush. In this manner, Stalin could order written out of history such comrades he ultimately deemed disloyal (and who usually wound up executed as).

a reply to: RussianTroll

The VERY first faked portrait was probably the face of the pharaoh Khafre...re-carved from the original lion's head of the ancient sphinx.

a reply to: RussianTroll

That is truly fascinating. One of the most interesting posts that I've seen here recently.

I lament the fact that some indecipherable word-soup composed by some poor conflicted soul who forgot to take his ir her meds will probably get more attention than this. I guess that's the world we live in. 🤷

a reply to: RussianTroll

Do you even understand what you are writing?

It was a photo taken of a drawing of a woodcut and another drawing. There is no photomenuoliatiin involved. You explained it all yourself.

Not a fake photo. Just a photo of a drawing.

Seems here is another interesting fake



gizmodo.com...

New Statesman chronicles the history of fake or tampered images, which started (as far as we can tell) with Hippolyte Bayard’s “Self Portrait as a Drowned Man,” in which the photographer manipulated a photo to portray his own suicide-by-drowning because he felt shafted for not being recognized as one of the inventors of photography. (In a perhaps ironic justice, he may now go down in history as one of the inventors of faked photography.)

Here's a fun one from Soviet Russia...of the government airbrushing out a drunken cosmonaut from their space program photo.

One Of The First Astronauts To Orbit The Earth Was Erased

You know how it goes on space missions: Just you and your boys, alone on a ship, with nothing to do until you reach Mars or whatever. It can get a little rowdy.

Well, one astronaut got so rowdy that his government denied he was on the mission. Which kinda sucked for him, because this was the first team of astronauts to complete a full orbit of Earth.

You might have partied in your day, but have you ever partied so hard that you got censored out of the historical record?

Grigoriy Nelyubov did. After getting dismissed from the Soviet space program for "drunk and disorderly conduct" and being deemed an unfit role model for youths in the '60s, all records of his involvement in the program were purged, including his presence in the above photo of the legendary group of astronauts.

www.cracked.com...

A year later...the fella committed 'suicide'...so the drunkenness charge may have been just a cover story.

originally posted by: incoserv
a reply to: RussianTroll

That is truly fascinating. One of the most interesting posts that I've seen here recently.

I lament the fact that some indecipherable word-soup composed by some poor conflicted soul who forgot to take his ir her meds will probably get more attention than this. I guess that's the world we live in. 🤷

lament
lə-mĕnt′
intransitive verb
To express grief for or about; mourn.
To regret deeply; deplore.
To grieve audibly; wail.

Please tell me you are just expressing grief for or about, and not wailing audibly over any conflicted soul who forgot to take their meds

a reply to: putnam6

I brought this photo in my link in the thread. This is the first staged photo of Hippolyte Bayard "Self-portrait in the form of a drowned man."

a reply to: IAMTAT

Such editing of photographs is the main sign of the communist dictatorship. Previously, history was changed in the USSR, and now history is being changed in the USA and Britain.

originally posted by: RussianTroll
a reply to: IAMTAT

Such editing of photographs is the main sign of the communist dictatorship. Previously, history was changed in the USSR, and now history is being changed in the USA and Britain.

No argument.
I think ALL corrupt governments manipulate the media in such a manner.

Yours included.

originally posted by: IAMTAT

originally posted by: RussianTroll
a reply to: IAMTAT

Such editing of photographs is the main sign of the communist dictatorship. Previously, history was changed in the USSR, and now history is being changed in the USA and Britain.

No argument.
I think ALL corrupt governments manipulate the media in such a manner.

Yours included.

Only in Russia for more than 30 years there has been no communist dictatorship. Communism has moved to the West. The dictatorship and driving forces of the proletariat were replaced by the dictatorship of sexual and national minorities, but behind the scenes forces remained the same - the descendants and students of the Goethe Institute in Frankfurt.
All recent US presidents, except for Trump, are students of students of professors at the Goethe Institute - the forge of communist satanic cadres.

originally posted by: IAMTAT
a reply to: RussianTroll

The VERY first faked portrait was probably the face of the pharaoh Khafre...re-carved from the original lion's head of the ancient sphinx.

More likely a jackel like Annubis but yes....

I am reliably informed that this photo has not been photoshopped.

originally posted by: TheAlleghenyGentleman

originally posted by: IAMTAT
a reply to: RussianTroll

The VERY first faked portrait was probably the face of the pharaoh Khafre...re-carved from the original lion's head of the ancient sphinx.

More likely a jackel like Annubis but yes....

In the late 1930s, Trotsky, whose disciples now rule the United States, wrote in his work The Revolution Betrayed that Stalin had betrayed all the ideals of communism and Marxism. He then transferred his teachings to America.

originally posted by: RussianTroll
a reply to: putnam6

I brought this photo in my link in the thread. This is the first staged photo of Hippolyte Bayard "Self-portrait in the form of a drowned man."

Yes I know it's why I enjoy your posts I had never heard of the story, at all or that he was upset he didn't get credit for the discovery.

originally posted by: RussianTroll

originally posted by: IAMTAT

originally posted by: RussianTroll
a reply to: IAMTAT

Such editing of photographs is the main sign of the communist dictatorship. Previously, history was changed in the USSR, and now history is being changed in the USA and Britain.

No argument.
I think ALL corrupt governments manipulate the media in such a manner.

Yours included.

Only in Russia for more than 30 years there has been no communist dictatorship. Communism has moved to the West. The dictatorship and driving forces of the proletariat were replaced by the dictatorship of sexual and national minorities, but behind the scenes forces remained the same - the descendants and students of the Goethe Institute in Frankfurt.
All recent US presidents, except for Trump, are students of students of professors at the Goethe Institute - the forge of communist satanic cadres.

I noticed you didn't address my point that your government is still just as susceptible to corruption as mine.

Let me challenge you to a test regarding which of us still have more freedom...

I can safely say, here, now...and in print, that my leader is making some decisions, both nationally and internationally, with which I don't agree and which I think are wrong.

Will you say the same thing about your leader and government, here and now?

If not...Why not?

originally posted by: IAMTAT

originally posted by: RussianTroll

originally posted by: IAMTAT

originally posted by: RussianTroll
a reply to: IAMTAT

Such editing of photographs is the main sign of the communist dictatorship. Previously, history was changed in the USSR, and now history is being changed in the USA and Britain.

No argument.
I think ALL corrupt governments manipulate the media in such a manner.

Yours included.

Only in Russia for more than 30 years there has been no communist dictatorship. Communism has moved to the West. The dictatorship and driving forces of the proletariat were replaced by the dictatorship of sexual and national minorities, but behind the scenes forces remained the same - the descendants and students of the Goethe Institute in Frankfurt.
All recent US presidents, except for Trump, are students of students of professors at the Goethe Institute - the forge of communist satanic cadres.

I noticed you didn't address my point that your government is still just as susceptible to corruption as mine.

Let me challenge you to a test regarding which of us still have more freedom...

I can safely say, here, now...and in print, that my leader is making some decisions, both nationally and internationally, with which I don't agree and which I think are wrong.

Will you say the same thing about your leader and government, here and now?

If not...Why not?

OK. How corrupt the government in Russia, I know practically. I conduct anti-corruption investigations and publish these articles in the federal media.
The approach to the problem is important here. In my articles I try to point out corruption and mistakes to the authorities in order to overcome them together with civil society. And I offer ways out of problems. That is, my criticism is constructive, I offer ways out.
I believe that this became possible due to the high development of civil society in Russia.
And stupid and rabid criticism is counterproductive.

originally posted by: RussianTroll

originally posted by: IAMTAT

originally posted by: RussianTroll

originally posted by: IAMTAT

originally posted by: RussianTroll
a reply to: IAMTAT

Such editing of photographs is the main sign of the communist dictatorship. Previously, history was changed in the USSR, and now history is being changed in the USA and Britain.

No argument.
I think ALL corrupt governments manipulate the media in such a manner.

Yours included.

Only in Russia for more than 30 years there has been no communist dictatorship. Communism has moved to the West. The dictatorship and driving forces of the proletariat were replaced by the dictatorship of sexual and national minorities, but behind the scenes forces remained the same - the descendants and students of the Goethe Institute in Frankfurt.
All recent US presidents, except for Trump, are students of students of professors at the Goethe Institute - the forge of communist satanic cadres.

I noticed you didn't address my point that your government is still just as susceptible to corruption as mine.

Let me challenge you to a test regarding which of us still have more freedom...

I can safely say, here, now...and in print, that my leader is making some decisions, both nationally and internationally, with which I don't agree and which I think are wrong.

Will you say the same thing about your leader and government, here and now?

If not...Why not?

OK. How corrupt the government in Russia, I know practically. I conduct anti-corruption investigations and publish these articles in the federal media.
The approach to the problem is important here. In my articles I try to point out corruption and mistakes to the authorities in order to overcome them together with civil society. And I offer ways out of problems. That is, my criticism is constructive, I offer ways out.
I believe that this became possible due to the high development of civil society in Russia.
And stupid and rabid criticism is counterproductive.

You evade.
We already know you've done work for your government.
Have you ever criticized your government's leader (Putin) or any of his specific policies?

Do you feel you have the freedom to do so?

I know I still have that freedom.

originally posted by: IAMTAT

originally posted by: RussianTroll

originally posted by: IAMTAT

originally posted by: RussianTroll

originally posted by: IAMTAT

originally posted by: RussianTroll
a reply to: IAMTAT

Such editing of photographs is the main sign of the communist dictatorship. Previously, history was changed in the USSR, and now history is being changed in the USA and Britain.

No argument.
I think ALL corrupt governments manipulate the media in such a manner.

Yours included.

Only in Russia for more than 30 years there has been no communist dictatorship. Communism has moved to the West. The dictatorship and driving forces of the proletariat were replaced by the dictatorship of sexual and national minorities, but behind the scenes forces remained the same - the descendants and students of the Goethe Institute in Frankfurt.
All recent US presidents, except for Trump, are students of students of professors at the Goethe Institute - the forge of communist satanic cadres.

I noticed you didn't address my point that your government is still just as susceptible to corruption as mine.

Let me challenge you to a test regarding which of us still have more freedom...

I can safely say, here, now...and in print, that my leader is making some decisions, both nationally and internationally, with which I don't agree and which I think are wrong.

Will you say the same thing about your leader and government, here and now?

If not...Why not?

OK. How corrupt the government in Russia, I know practically. I conduct anti-corruption investigations and publish these articles in the federal media.
The approach to the problem is important here. In my articles I try to point out corruption and mistakes to the authorities in order to overcome them together with civil society. And I offer ways out of problems. That is, my criticism is constructive, I offer ways out.
I believe that this became possible due to the high development of civil society in Russia.
And stupid and rabid criticism is counterproductive.

You evade.
We already know you've done work for your government.
Have you ever criticized your government's leader (Putin) or any of his specific policies?

Do you feel you have the freedom to do so?

I know I still have that freedom.

You are wrong. I have never received a salary from the Russian government in my life. I am a freelancer, freelance investigative journalist, working for a public organization, and I do not receive a salary, but fees.

Why should I criticize Putin if I support all his actions. Even if I don't understand them at first, I later see that he was right.
Sincerely, I wish that any nation had a leader like Putin.

And I have the freedom of criticism, within the framework of the Law, and no one will take it away from me. Again, constructive criticism, not criticism for the sake of criticism.