In the last three decades of the 19th century, an increase in disposable income and leisure
time translated into a surge in the demand for entertainment activities. Chief among these
was the theater industry. As theater grew in popularity, professions within the industry
thrived. Publicists, talent agents, reviewers and portrait photographers found work as
actors and actresses became celebrities with fans who demanded to know more about
their favorite stars. As Ben Bassham notes in his book on Sarony’s theatrical
photographs, one journalist estimated that by 1878 more than two hundred thousand
people made their living in some area of the entertainment industry.
At the same time, photography was coming of age as an art form. Napoleon Sarony, a
lithographer and budding photographer recognized the opportunity presented by the
ascent of theater in society and the innovations in modern photography and launched a
studio on Broadway in New York in 1866. Over the next thirty years he photographed
virtually every star in New York. Upon his death, it is estimated that he had more than
40,000 negatives of show business personalities in his possession. (footnote)
One of New York’s favorite eccentrics, Sarony developed a rapport with the players and
was famous for his use of lively backgrounds and having his subjects pose in colorful
gestures. Since the average photograph required fifteen seconds to a minute for full
exposure, plays moved to fast for the photography of the day. Sarony’s photos gave
audiences an access to a performance that they had not yet attended.
The significance of Sarony’s work was not realized by theatergoers alone. Bassham
maintains that “performers recognized the important role that publicity photographs,
available cheaply and abundantly, could play in furthering their careers. Photographers
thus profited from and helped to create the cult of personality that was the cornerstone of
the American theatre’s greatest era.” (footnote) In what would often be mutually
beneficial arrangements, celebrities were often paid to sit for a portrait, after which the
photographer would retain the rights to the images. Sarony famously paid <a
href=”bernhardt.html”>Sara Bernhardt</a> $1500 for her permission to shoot her. The
right to sell pictures of “The Divine Sarah” certainly paid off in the end.
Napoleon Sarony found his fame and fortune behind the camera, as the preeminent
photographer of his day. In the second half of the 19th century, Sarony “succeeded
Matthew Brady as America’s best-known portrait photographer…” (footnote) and set the
stage for what would become a form of entertainment in itself, the <a
href=”spectacle.html”>viewing of spectacle.</a>