Lecture 10 Photography
Daguerre, Still Life with Shells in the Studio, 1830s
Louis Daguerre, le Boulevard du Temple, 1839,
daguerreotype
Julia Margaret Cameron, Portrait of Thomas
Carlyle, 1863
Nadar, Sarah Bernhardt, 1864
Timothy O Sullivan, Harvest of Death, Gettysburg,
PA July, 1863
Lecture 10 Photography
daguerreotype
carte de visit
Louis Daguerre, Solomon’s Temple, 1826, painted set backdrop
Camera obscura
Louis Daguerre,1789-1851, theatrical set painter, designer, invented the daguerreotype. He
developed an impressive illusions theatre, which he termed Diorama; it was a picture show
with changing light effects and huge paintings measuring 22 by 14 meters, of famous
places. He regularly used a camera obscura as an aid to painting in perspective, and this
had led him to seek to freeze the image. In 1826 he learned of the work of Nicephore
Niépce, and signed up a partnership with him. Although he now knew how to produce an
image, it was not until 1837 that he was able to fix them.
Daguerre, Still Life in a Studio, 1830s
Daguerre, Still Life with Shells in the Studio, 1830s
Daguerreotypes were single, unique images etched in light on a metal photosensitive
plate. . He also discovers a “fix” – a chemical solution that would fix the image making it
permanent – prior to this time the image would get darker and darker.
Explosion of interest – daguerreotype technology shared and cameras were widespread.
Every detail is observable. Texture. Imitates the Dutch still life tradition. Carefully
constructed. In early daguerreotypes, composition is considered central. Indebted to
previous art tradition. Continuity between painting and photography
Louis Daguerre, le Boulevard du Temple, 1839, daguerreotype
In early daguerreotypes exposure times were very long. On this street scene in Paris, no
moving figures were captured on the plate. However, one man having his shoes shined
stayed still long enough to become part of the image. This is the first person in a
photograph.
Eugene Durieu and Eugene Delacroix, Draped Model c 1854
Eugene Durieu and Eugene Delacroix, Odalisque, c 1854
The benefits of photography were immediately recognized by many artists of the period who worked
collaboratively with photographers. Photography provided Delacroix with a permanent image of the nude
model
Albumen print: Photographic process invented in 1850 by Louis-Désiré Blanquart-Evrard, prevalent until
1890. After floating on a bath of albumen (egg whites) and salt, the paper was coated with silver nitrate
solution, dried, and placed directly under a negative for printing. Known as “wet plate” technology – plate
was exposed and developed and fixed while wet. Plates had to be processed on the spot requiring outdoor
portable darkrooms
Eugene Durieu and Eugene Delacroix, Draped Model
c 1854
Ingres, Grand Odalisque, 1814
Early photographs were based on subject and compositions
borrowed from paintings.
Julia Margaret Cameron, Portrait of Thomas Carlyle, 1863
Photography becomes the first significant form of portraiture. Inexpensive to
produce and sell. Early example of celebrity photography. Thomas Carlyle –
historian, and writer. Cameron is a pioneer of photography as an art form. She
asks, what is focus? She thinks the blurring drew attention to the light emanating
from her subject thus creating a metaphor for artistic genius.
Gaspard-Felix
Tournachon aka
Nadar, Self Portrait,
circa 1875.
Nadar was a novelist,
journalist, balloonist,
caricaturist, photographer.
Popularized the portrait –
successful in capturing the
likeness of his sitters – most
important people in France
flock to his studio.
Nadar, Sarah Bernhardt, 1864
Nadar, Eugene Delacroix, 1850’s
Quickly after the invention of reproducible photo imagery, media like the carte de visite (an albumen print
photograph measuring 2.125 x 3.5 inches mounted on a card sized 2.5 x 4 inches – like a postcard today).
The carte de visite were widely popular and lower and middle class consumers bought these little artworks for
pennies. Circulation and sharing of early photos made international stars of individuals like Bernhardt who
realized that carefully staged and circulated photographs could create a “buzz” about her.
Delacroix, Great Romantic artist at the height of his career. Nadar captures the presence of the man with gesture
and expression to create a revealing mood
Josiah Johnson Hawes and
Albert Sands Southworth,
Portrait of a Man
Daguerreotypes appear in the
USA only two months after
they were introduced in Paris.
Hawes and Southworth was a
large portrait studio in Boston.
$2 bought you a portrait in
1850. Portraiture becomes
available to the middle class
for the first time.
Josiah Johnson Hawes and Albert Sands Southworth, Early Operation
Under Ether, MA General Hospital 1847 Daguerreotype
Photographs were considered educational. This photograph functions as a
portrait and as a record of the operation. Position of viewer, from above, is
that of the medical students. Blurring of figures betrays motion.
Matthew Brady, Lincoln, c 1860
Photographs of political figures are collected and popular.
These works were considered educational and learning the
likenesses of political figures was a form of literacy even if
one couldn’t read. Brady’s image of Lincoln was chosen for
his portrait on the $5 bill.
Matthew Brady, Dead in a Hole, 1860s
Timothy O Sullivan, Harvest of Death Gettysburg, PA July,
1863
Photographers Brady and O’Sullivan known for their photographs of the civil
war. Documentary nature of photography and its power were soon realized.
Medium gained great influence on modern life and to the communication of
information. Photographs of war dead had unparalleled effects in
communicating the horrors or war. Not battles: the exposures time needed to
capture an image was too long for motion. Bodies on landscape as far as the eye
can see. Use of the horizon. The horrors of the battlefield are visible such as
stolen boots and pockets pickets.
Jacob Riis, Five cents a spot, 1889
Jacob Riis, A NY Tenement, 1910
Riis comes to the US from Denmark in 1870 works as a writer
and reporter and social activist. Exposed tenement housing and
immigrant life on the lower east side of Manhattan.