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"Face Time: A Survey of Photographic Portraits from 1844 to 1965"
One of the very first uses of photography was to make portraits. With the invention of photography a more truthful and accurate portrait was available to a majority of the public. Over the years both formal and informal portrait photography have remained popular. This exhibit takes a look at portraits made from photography's beginnings through the first half of the 20th century.
Within just a year or two of the daguerreotype's invention, the process was improved to make exposure time shorter, paving the way for portrait making on a commercial scale. In Europe and the United States, portrait studios appeared and people rushed to have their picture made. Most daguerreotype sitters are quite formal, but some posed with props as seen in the anonymous "Portrait of a Fisherman." Most early portraits were made as mementos, but examples of artistry are also evident. The Scottish photographers Robert Adamson and David O. Hill used the calotype process and gained respect with their artistic portraits. See the portrait of "The Misses Grierson" with its artistic composition of the young girls gracefully clasping hands.
The popularity of photography studios in America continued through the Civil War when young soldiers, such as the one in the hand-tinted portrait, went to have their picture made before heading off to battle. In addition to formal portraits, other photographs from the late 19th century capture a more candid view of people at work, such as John Thompsons's "Covent Garden Flower Women" and Paul Geniaux's "Un Glacier." Like modern street photography to come, these portraits record people in their everyday environment.
At the turn of the century the leading pictorial photographers, such as Stieglitz and Steichen, made many portraits of their friends and colleagues. Edward Steichen made portraits of famous men including George Bernard Shaw and J. Pierpont Morgan. Although both portraits are made in similar soft-focus styles, they capture two very different personas. Shaw's portrait reveals a kindly yet mischievous nature, while the business mogul is shown as a much more serious and stern character.
As "straight" or sharp focus photography replaced pictorialism in photography of the 20th century, realistic and socially conscious portraits became more prevalent. See Dorothea Lange's depression-era portrait of an old man and Wayne Miller's "Latchkey Girl." Other portraits from the 20th century are more personal, such as Eugene Smith's photos of his daughter Juanita.
We can see that time has not changed our desire to make pictures of our family and friends, and that portrait photography today has not changed so much from its beginnings over 150 years ago. The aim of the photographer has remained the same in the attempt to capture the essence of the sitter's personality. Whether an anonymous child or a famous figure from history, each of these portraits captures a moment in time of a person's life.
Member of The Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD)
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