Charles Eisenmann was an American photographer. His work, which dates from the Victorian-era "Gilded Age" (1870-1890), focused almost exclusively on the "freaks" of the circuses, sideshows, and living museums of New York's Bowery area. The subject matter was profitable enough to provide a living for both Eisenmann and Frank Wendt, his successor in the business.
His subjects came from many countries and covered the entire spectrum of human oddity: giants and midgets, fat ladies and human skeletons, snake charmers and wild men, ladies bearded and tattooed, and a menagerie of turtle boys, dog boys, lobster boys, lion boys and more. Notable figures who sat for his portraits include Myrtle Corbin (four-legged lady), Jo Jo the dog-faced boy, Admiral Dot (midget), Zip the Pinhead, and P.T. Barnum himself.
A selection of Eisenmann's photos were published in Michael Mitchell's Monsters: Human Freaks in America's Gilded Age: The Photographs of Chas Eisenmann (1979, reissued 2002).
From the guide to the Ronald G. Becker collection of Charles Eisenmann photographs, 1840-1930, (Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries)
