British illustrator Charles Henry Bennett pioneered comic illustrations techniques during the Victorian era. From 1856, he drew a series of caricatures for the Illustrated Times, informally known as ‘Shadows’. Inspired by popular magic lantern slides of the period, each scene depicts a shadow cast by an individual to form a surprising, usually humorous shape to reveal something about their inner personality.
The series was eventually published as a book, Shadow and Substance (1860), with hand-coloured images matched with prose and poetry by Robert Brough, who Bennet had collaborated on the 1854 edition of Punch and Judy.
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Collection
Not in ACMI's collection
On display until
16 February 2031
ACMI: Gallery 1
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
Curatorial section
The Story of the Moving Image → Moving Pictures → MI-02. Play and Illusion → MI-02-C02