Page from RIch Remsberg’s “Optical Allusions”
Found Object: Optical Allusions
Recovered by Rich Remsberg
“I was attracted to these pictograms initially because of the beautiful images and their intensely surrealistic juxtaposition. Then I became intrigued by how damn hard they are. Who were the genius children who solved these rebuses in less than a month’s time and also read the inspiring moral lessons, heroic rescue tales, and fiction by the likes of Harriet Beecher Stowe and Charles Dickens?”—Rich Remsberg
Discovered in the bound volume of Victorian-era children's magazine, these rebus puzzles are seriously difficult. Can you—or anyone—solve all 32?
Emmy Award–winning archival image researcher Rich Remsberg lives in North Adams, MA, where his company, Atlas Films, is also based. He has been a member of the staff of the Indiana University School of Journalism and a visual resources specialist with the Indiana University Digital Library Program. His publication and exhibition credits include The New York Times, MSNBC/Newsweek, The Christian Science Monitor, and each of the signature PBS archival series—American Experience, American Masters, and NOVA. His books include Riders for God (2000) and Hard Luck Blues (2010), both published by the University of Illinois Press. A regular contributor to NPR’s The Picture Show, Remsberg has also collaborated with the electronic music duo The Books, and his short films have screened at Slamdance and the Walker Arts Center.