• [X-Ray] Transparent Lady (Eastman Kodak x-ray research lab), 1934
  • [X-Ray] Transparent Lady (Eastman Kodak x-ray research lab), 1934
  • [X-Ray] Transparent Lady (Eastman Kodak x-ray research lab), 1934

[X-Ray] Transparent Lady (Eastman Kodak x-ray research lab), 1934

Striking 1934 press photograph showing an x-ray of a young woman wearing jewelry and high heels. Press caption on the verso reads, in part: "This bob-haired young thing stepped into the x-ray-research laboratory of the Eastman Kodak Company and became the subject of a full-length x-ray portrait. The life-size result, taken in one second on what may be the largest film ever used for a picture, has just gone on view at the [Chicago World's] Fair." Gelatin silver print. Some dings and indentations and small corner creases; overall in fine condition. 4.5 x 10 inches (11.3 x 25.2 cm).

The new-fangled x-ray machine was first exhibited in a fair at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. By 1933 they were widely in use for medical and dental purposes, as well as in industrial settings. However, the risks of unnecessary exposure to radiation were not yet fully understood, as the presence of a recreational X-ray booth at the 1933 World's Fair demonstrates!