Reversed images

I’ve noticed something about early AMG prints: they sometimes bear a code ending in the letter “R.” I recently came across a print with this code and showing an image I knew to be reversed, and I thought “a-ha”! Not really a Eureka! moment, but it seems worthwhile to point out where prints have been printed reversed, and knowingly.

Here is an example, with Stan Soderburg. The first is the image as printed.

I have flipped the second. My hunch is that reversing the image can add a tension to the pose, like telling the sitter to sit up straight — the eye can read it, even if the conscious mind is unaware.