Martin Fox, professor of Art History at the New Hampshire Institute of Art, captivated a small but very interested group of listeners last night with his descriptions of the origins of Photography. With projected images to illustrate the roots of the technique, Fox highlighted the people who first used the simple principle that light travels along straight lines and can be used to project images on a wall, albeit upside down. He showed how a portable camera obscura, an antecedent of the modern camera, may have influenced the Dutch artist, Jan Vermeer, in “Young Woman with a Water Jug,” a painting with photographic qualities, rendered circa 1660-1662.
Throughout the 19th century, chemistry played a large role in developing various ways of printing images. Louis Daguerre, father of the Daguerrotype, is a pivotal figure in the History of Photography. In exchange for a lifelong pension, he allowed France to share his methods with the world. Daguerrotypes are usually small, 2 or 3″ big, and no larger than 8 or 9 inches. They are saved under glass to prevent fading, and most often have an elaborate copper frame. These are highly-collectible today, and some have been known to sell for $100,000. Each is a one-of-a-kind object.
Due to Daguerre’s processes being freely-shared, work with Daguerrotype images was more common than the Calotype processes of William Henry Fox Talbot who produced “Calotypes,” but also patented his method, making them more exclusive.
We were treated to a view of the first man whose ever photo was taken, inadvertently, as he stood in one spot for a long time on the streets of Paris, getting a shoe shine. He was there long enough for the photo process to work. Early picture-taking often took 5 to 15 minutes.
This is a simple overview. There is much more to the lecture and the topic, of course! We, obviously, have a great deal of interest in photography, as did the people who attended the talk. I was very surprised to see a photo image of Annie Fields, a woman who was Sarah Orne Jewett’s intimate associate for 30 years. She, too, was very beautiful! Just last week, I had just written about Sarah Orne Jewett and her residence in Maine, in a blog post.
This presentation by Martin Fox covers the many nineteenth century methods of translating images onto paper, as well as the relationship between good composition in both art and photography. We highly recommend this lecture that was presented in collaboration with the New Hampshire Humanities Council lecture series. As always, we welcome every opportunity to learn. Many thanks to the library in Greenland, New Hampshire for co-sponsoring this event.
One of the nicest books about photography in our collection is called, Dressed for the Photographer: Ordinary Americans & Fashion, 1840-1900 by Joan Severa.
Patricia Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications
