The Spookiest Images of Early Photography

October 31, 2022

Happy Halloween! 🎃 Let's hope the midterm election results this week in the United States don't give us all a fright. If you're eligible to vote, please exercise your right to do so.

Last Friday, we learned that the Museum of Modern Art, that bastion of the ultra rich and their courtiers, has been hanging a Piet Mondrian painting upside down for 75 years. Guess what, they're going to leave it that way.

This week, you can check out some sculptural treats. In honor of the Day of the Dead, Catrinas sculptures that portray American and Mexican artists and superstars, including Georgia O’Keeffe, Frida Kahlo, Marilyn Monroe, and Diego Rivera, are up at Rockefeller Center in midtown Manhattan, while those who are in upstate New York can check out the Wangechi Mutu installation at Storm King Art Center.

For those trick or treating today, stay safe and have a frightfully delightful night.

— Hrag Vartanian, editor-in-chief

The Spookiest Images of Early Photography

From creepy Victorian post-mortem portraits to Félix Nadar's horrifying shot of the Paris Catacombs, we’re definitely never sleeping again. | Sarah Rose Sharp

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José Guadalupe Sánchez, California Xochitl (performance documentation) (2021)

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Catrinas sculptures are installed at the Top of the Rock and throughout Rockefeller Plaza. (photo courtesy Tishman Speyer)

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