Who Invented The Selfie?

Earlier this week, Reese Witherspoon posted a 24-year-old photo of her and Paul Rudd on her Instagram. “Wait a second… did #Paul Rudd and I take the “Selfie” in 1996?” she wondered on the post. But really, who invented the selfie?

It seems that other celebrities like Britney Spears have been taking selfies long before it was cool, and Bill Nye, along with Witherspoon, have been doing that long before the term was even coined. But as to who really invented the selfie, the answer to that is a bit complicated.

Many people have tried to claim the selfie as their own, with some photos even dating back to 1920. So who, in all this madness is actually responsible for the modern-day self portrait? Well, It turns out the old adage of "but first, let me take a selfie," is actually more like "But ere we go, permit thee to capture a self portrait" -- depending on how you define certain terms. 

According to The New York Times, one of the oldest "selfies" may span as far back as 1839, when Robert Cornelius, a Philadelphia-based chemist with a passion for photography, ran into the frame of a photo. "The first light Picture ever taken. 1839," he wrote on the back of the photograph. 10/10 titling, spot on... or was it...

But does a selfie require a camera to be called a “selfie”? Or does it just have to be a self-portrait?

By that logic, could one argue that painters with likely self-portraits like say, Jan Van Eyck in the 1400s are the art form's true forefathers? What about other drawings? Scribbles on ancient notepads?

What do you think?

(Image Credit: Robert Cornelius/ Wikimedia Commons)