When you look at old photos, do you ever wonder why no one smiled. Everyone looked so serious. Yes, times were hard back then, but having a photo taken by a professional photographer was probably a big event to most people. People would dress in their Sunday best, but no one smiled. Not even the children.
I always thought it was probably because people had bad teeth and didn’t want to smile. There is likely some truth to that and that could be part of the reason.
But after doing some reading, that is probably not the main reason people did not smile for the camera years ago.
Decades before photography, portraits and pictures were hand painted and the individuals in those paintings rarely smiled either. Having a portrait painted was a serious event that required a serious expression.
People with broad smiles were often portrayed by artists as fools, drunkards, buffoons, imps, or even as mad or lewd. Smiling could look silly, or worse, so it became the custom not to smile. The Mona Lisa barely had a grin.
That idea was carried over when photography was developed. Mark Twain said, “A photograph is a most important document, and there is nothing more damning to go down to posterity than a silly, foolish smile caught and fixed forever.”
No one would want that.
Since people were used to seeing a serious face in painted portraits, not smiling for photographs was normal, too. Plus, they did not want to be considered as having any of those undesirable traits.
It wasn’t until the 1920s-1930s that people started to smile when having their photograph taken. Eventually smiling became the norm.
Here are some non-smiling, serious-looking individuals from my family photo collection.
Front: William Reid, Gertrude (Brewster) Miller, Mary Ann (Cotterell) Headington. Back: Pearl (Reid) Brewster, Elvira (Headington) Reid. c1898
Maggie (Rueck) Kallenberger (1875-1962) & Maria Regina Miller (1884-1905)
Front: Clara (1866-1942, m. Joe Gunsett) , Mollie (1883-1955, m. Theodore Hofmann), Henry (1867-1952, m. Louise Maria Schumm); Back:Hanna (1868-1958, m. Peter Scare), Lizzie (1870-1951, m. John Scaer), Sophie (1871-1927, m. Herman Gunsett), Emma (1874-1963, m. Burton Balyeat)
Jonas Huey (1836-?), B/o Hannah (Huey) Bryan, s/o Isaac & Mary (Whiteman) Huey. Photo courtesy of E James.
Schinnerer/Scaer Unknown
William “Riley” Bryan (1854-1893). S/o John & Hannah (Huey) Bryan. Photo courtesy of E James.
John & Hannah (Huey) Bryan, Emily, Peter, Mary, Hallet, Alta, William, Byantha.
Is it just me, or do the women look more stern than the men?
Emily (Bryan) Reid (1856-1940)
Sarah (Breuninger) Schumm, (1861-1921) w/o Louis J Schumm, d/o Louis Breuninger
Maria Barbara (Pflueger) Schumm (1820-1908)
My great-grandparents did not even smile for their wedding photo. A handshake instead of a kiss.
John Scaer & Elizabeth Schinnerer (15 April 1894)
Even children looked serious.
Byantha (Bryan) Saxman children. Photo courtesy of E James.
Willie Scaer (1897-1906) & Hilda M Scaer (1895-1997) c/o John & Lizzie (Schinnerer) Scaer
Even without a smile, this is one of my best-looking ancestors:
Louis Breuninger (1819-1890). Phillips Photography, LaFayette, Indiana.
It would be many years after these photos were taken that photographers would encourage their subjects to “Say Cheeeese.”
4 comments
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And always such dark clothing on the adults! Loved the handshake picture!
Author
You are right! Their clothing was usually dark. Thanks for writing.
I always thought it was because of the camera plate took a long time to record and the photo would look smeared. I have a friend who studied camera photography history so I will ask him.
Author
You are correct, the long exposure time is one theory. From what I read, they wanted to have a comfortable pose and expression if there was a long exposure time. But by the 1850s-1860s, under the right conditions, exposure times could be just a few seconds. As time went on, exposure times became even shorter and should have been pretty short by the late 1800s-early 1900s, when many of these photos were taken. I think exposure time also depended on the type of photograph being taken. At any rate, it is something interesting to theorize about. Great to hear from you. Thanks for writing!