Albert Robida's Cabine Téléphonnoscopique – La Vie Électrique, c.1890
Playful wonder radiates from this meticulous pen-and-ink scene as a bearded gentleman lounges in a public 'Cabine Téléphonnoscopique' — a Victorian-era video-phone booth — gazing at the projected image of a woman appearing in a glowing oval screen. Robida's visionary booth, complete with a posted rate schedule and bureau number 76635, anticipates the video call by nearly a century. The ordinary domestic detail of the woman holding a pot underscores Robida's genius: the future is mundane, convenient, and delightfully bourgeois.
The most outrageous detail is the mundane domesticity of the video call: the woman on the futuristic screen is simply holding a cooking pot, suggesting Robida imagined tomorrow's marvel being used for the most ordinary household chitchat.
“TARIF des Communications AVIS CABINE TELEPHONNOSCOPIQUE Bureau 76635”
