Early Portraits & American Identity

Earliest Surving Daguerreotype in the U.S., Joseph Saxton, 1839


In 1839, Samuel Morse (inventor of Morse Code) brought Daguerreotypes to the United States. It didn't take long for this young country (not yet 65 years old) to embrace the new, photographic process. In 1840, Walcott (inventor of the Walcott mirror camera) opened the first Daguerreotype Studio in New York City. By 1850, over 100 Studios were operating in the United States. Indeed, Daguerreotype portraits proved the latest craze.


Daguerreotype camera manufacturing, 1850s

It didn't take long until a full industry supported these studios. Factories employed young American men and women to assemble cameras and craft daguerreotype cases.


Brady’s Studio, 1840s

In 1944, A young businessman named Matthew Brady opened his first Daguerreotype Studio in New York City; later, he opened a second studio in Washington DC in order o photograph diplomats and politicians. The New York studio became a place for Daguerreotype production, as well as an exhibition hall that showcased unique American portraiture. Indeed, Brady saw himself as a not just a Daguerreotypist, but a man who "preserved the faces of history." Ultimately, Brady believed that photography contributed to and would continue to contribute to national identity; after all, the country itself was not yet 100 years old.


Fredrick, Douglas, Southworth and Hawes, 1850s

The most respected Daguerreotype studio in the United States was based in Boston and owned by Albert Southworth and Josiah Hawes. Together, these two men made thousands of portraits. They guaranteed true craftsmanship in exchange for the seemingly exorbitant price of $33.00, which was equivalent to approximately $450.00 today.

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Invention - Annotated Class Notes

Below please find a brief summary of class notes dated 9/20. Use these notes to help you study for the exams and to refresh your memory. Please remember, however, that class attendance is mandatory; these notes are just a rough outline of the history and ideas covered in class.

**** Invention ****

The invention of photography marks a technological breakthrough, a scientific discovery, and the ongoing competition between England and France, who were both vying for social and economic dominance within Europe.



Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, First Photograph, 1827


While 1839 marks the official year of the invention of photography, the "first" photograph was actually created in 1827 by a man named Joseph Nicéphore Niépce. Niepce called his "photographic" process heliography (from the Greek word "Helios," meaning sun). Initially, Niepce experimented with bitumen of Judea (or asphaltum) and attempted to replicate two-dimensional forms. Once he achieved a modicum of success, he put a bitumen-coated plate in the back of a camera obscura. When exposed to light, the bitumen hardened, thereby making it less soluble in acid and allowing Neipce to etch his image on to the pewter surface. Although heliography is similar to modern day printmaking processes, such as lithography or intaglio, it marks the first time that a mechanical representation of the "real" world was printed on to a two-dimensional surface. While Niepce's "photograph" might look unremarkable today, it was his process that led directly to the invention of the Daguerreotype and modern day photography.


Niépce & Daguerre, Illustration


In 1829, Niepce formed a partnership with a successful "diorama" artist and businessman named Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre. Together Daguerre and Niepce refined the heliographic process. In 1833, Niepce suddenly died, thereby leaving Daguerre alone to further develop the process. Between 1833 (the death of Niepce) and 1839 (the official date of photography), Daguerre experimented with heating silver plated copper plates with iodine and inserting them into the back of the camera obscura. Once exposed, the plates were treated (or developed) in mercury fumes and fixed with table salt. The result was a photograph, or Daguerreotype, a small, direct positive.


Daguerre and Arago presenting the Daguerreotype to the French Academy of Sciences, Illustration


On January 7th, 1839, Daguerre teamed up with the savvy French scientist Arago, and together they presented Daguerre's process to the French Academy of Sciences. In the speech Arago gave to the Academy, he announced that the Daguerreotype was a "gift to humanity" and a "force for social progress". While the people in France were free to experiment with the Daguerreotype process, the English were forced to buy a license.

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Portrait of WIlliam Henry Fox Talbot, Antoaine Claudet, 1844


Meanwhile in England, a man of means and leisure, William Henry Fox Talbot, became interested in the camera obscura. Although he wanted to be a talented artist, he knew that he lacked skills. Instead, he concentrated his efforts on figuring out how to fix the images projected on to the back of the camera obscura. Drawing on the discovery made by Johann Heinrich Schultz (almost a century before), Talbot started experimenting with silver nitrate. In 1835, Talbot exposed the first photographic negative on a sheet of salted paper that was soaked in a silver nitrate solution. Once Daguerre announced his invention, Talbot went to the Royal Academy of Sciences in England and introduced his own process, which he later called the "Calotype."


Latticed Window (negative), William Henry Fox Talbot, 1835 (calotype)

In February, 1839, William Henry Fox Talbot visited a leading scientist by the name of Sir John Herschel. Herschel had discovered an effective fixing agent, hyposulphite of soda (sodium thiosulphate), and gave Talbot permission to use the agent in conjuction with his invention. In addition, Herschel also coined the term "photography" to describe Talbot's "photogenic drawing" process and the terms "negative" and "positive" to replace Talbot's "reversed copy" and "re-reversed copy."

Pre-History Notes

In 1839, photography was officially introduced to the world. Although people were able to see ghostly photographic reflections before the 19th century, they were unable to permanently fix these images on to a solid surface. By the mid 19th century, society was ready for realistic representations of the world. The invention of photography revolutionized daily life. Today, doctors, athletes, scientists, investigators, artists, anthropologists, advertisers, and journalists (to name only a few) rely on the medium for information and publicity. Below, you can find a brief outline of notes from our first lecture, titled “Pre-History.”



The Illustration above pictures a camera obscura, which means in Latin "dark chamber". Originally, the camera was a light-tight, four-walled room with a pinhole opening. An upside-down image of the world in front of the pinhole was cast on to the far wall. The earliest known written evidence of a camera obscura dates from 350 BC when Aristotle made obsevations on an eclipse.



In 1558, Giovanni Battista della Porta (pictured above) published Natural Magic. In his book, he argued that the camera obscura would become useful to draftsman and artists who sought realistic depictions of perspective space.


(Replica of Fox Talbot's Camera Obscura)

In 1676, Johann Christoph Sturm incorporated a 45 degree angle mirror into the camera design. The mirror corrected image reversal and reflected it on to a horizontal glass surface.

In the late 1600s, an aperture was added to the camera obscura to control image sharpness and brightness. The lens was fitted in an adjustable tube for focus control.

Friedrich Risner described the first transportable camera obscura as a light, wooden "hut" that could be moved to suit desired scenes. The camera obscura evolved rapidly from movable rooms to portable tents. By the end of the 17th century, small, hand-held camera obscuras became popular.



In 1807, William Hyde Wollaston introduced the camera lucida, an optical devise designed specifically for renderers who wanted to create true-to-life drawings. The camera lucida consisted of an extendible telescopic tube in three pieces, with a 45 degree prism and sighting lens. The camera lucida quickly gained popularity.

http://physics.kenyon.edu/EarlyApparatus/Optics/Camera_Lucida/Camera_Lucida.html



In the 1790s, Thomas Wedgwood experimented with silver chloride and a camera obscura. Initially, his experiments grew out of his desire to make faithful art reproductions. He successfully created faint, weak images, but they could only be viewed for short intervals in dimly lit rooms. Otherwise, they had to be stored in the complete dark. Although he came close to discovering modern-day photography, he was unable to resolve issues of permanence.

Welcome

Welcome to The Photo History Review. The links on the right take you to New York City exhibition venues that showcase photography. You will find that most of the exhibition links feature photographers whose work we will discuss throughout the course of the semester. I encourage you all to take advantage of RCC's proximity to New York City. New York City galleries are free and, with your Rockland ID, you should be able to get into most museums at a reduced rate.

Remember, due to the Jewish Holiday, there is no class next week. For Thursday 9/20, please purchase Naomie Rosenblum's World History of Photography and read Chapter 1.

** Do not forget to bring in a family photograph that somehow suggests history. Be prepared to explain the photograph and its relationship to history in class on September 20th.