Francesco Ponte

  • Francesco Ponte, Photo Album, 1920s, photographs and mixed media on cardboard, approx. 25,5 x 33 cm
  • Francesco Ponte, Photo Album, 1920s, photographs and mixed media on cardboard, approx. 25,5 x 33 cm
  • Francesco Ponte, Photo Album, 1920s, photographs and mixed media on cardboard, approx. 25,5 x 33 cm
  • Francesco Ponte, Photo Album, 1920s, photographs and mixed media on cardboard, approx. 25,5 x 33 cm
  • Francesco Ponte, Photo Album, 1920s, photographs and mixed media on cardboard, approx. 25,5 x 33 cm
  • Francesco Ponte, Photo Album, 1920s, photographs and mixed media on cardboard, approx. 25,5 x 33 cm
  • Francesco Ponte, Photo Album, 1920s, photographs and mixed media on cardboard, approx. 25,5 x 33 cm
  • Francesco Ponte, Photo Album, 1920s, photographs and mixed media on cardboard, approx. 25,5 x 33 cm
  • Francesco Ponte, Photo Album, 1920s, photographs and mixed media on cardboard, approx. 25,5 x 33 cm

Dr. Francesco Ponte, a highly respected dentist in San Juan, was president of the Spiritualist Federation in Puerto Rico. In the mid-1920s, Ponte started to document the seances he conducted in upper class circles with cameras and a flash. Many of his photographs show the medium Carmen Way, who was able to produce ectoplasmic forms, sometimes bearing the likeness of a human faces or hands. In his investigation of psychic phenomena, namely telekinesis, manifestation of luminous hands during trance, the production of ectoplasm, Ponte captured a wide range of occult and paranormal phenomena in a unique photo album with thirty-five original photographs.