Monday, May 22, 2017

More and Other Ways Early Photography Existed

Dr Samuel A Bemis
View of Barn in New Hampshire
ca. 1840
daguerreotype
Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Louis-Adolphe Humbert de Molard
Louis Dodier as a prisoner
1847
daguerreotype
Musée d'Orsay, Paris

"Drink nothing but this water, live upon chocolate; tomorrow I shall do everything in the world to get some bread to you, I shall mark it on each side with little crosses in ink. It is a terrible thing to say, but you must know it, perhaps Barbone has been ordered to poison you."

"Poison!  Beware of water, wine, everything; live upon chocolate, try to make the dog eat your untouched dinner; you must not appear distrustful, the enemy would try some other plan. Do nothing foolish, in Heaven's Name! No frivolity!"

And indeed, every fortnight, one saw a fresh rumor come to birth in Parma announcing the death of Fabrizio in the near future. This talk plunged the unhappy Duchessa in the utmost despair. 

Conte Mosca believed that he could rely upon the future Barone Riva, he was afraid only of poison; Barbone's attempt had greatly alarmed him, and to such a point that he had determined to risk taking a step which, to all appearance, was an act of madness. One morning he went to the gate of the citadel and sent for General Fabio Conti, who came down as far as the bastion above the gate; there, strolling with him in a friendly fashion, he had no hesitation in saying to him, after a short preamble, acidulated but polite:  'If Fabrizio dies in any suspicious manner, his death may be put down to me; I shall get a reputation for jealousy, which would be an absurd and abominable stigma and one that I am determined not to accept. So, to clear myself in the matter, if he dies of illness, I shall kill you with my own hand; you may count on that.' General Fabio Conti made a magnificent reply and spoke of his bravery, but the look in the Conte's eye remained present in  his thoughts.

– passages from Chapter 19 of The Charterhouse of Parma by Stendhal, published in 1839, exactly contemporary with the invention of the daguerreotype (old world neatly overlapping new). The translation is by the great C.K. Scott Moncrieff and first appeared in 1924.

Alfred Stieglitz
Georgia O'Keeffe
1920
platinum print
George Eastman House, Rochester, New York

Paul Strand
Portrait, New York
1916
platinum print
Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Gertrude Käsebier
Portrait of Gertrude Käsebier O'Malley at billiards
1909
platinum print
Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Tina Modotti
Tree with Dog
1924
palladium print
Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Tina Modotti
Open Door, Mexico City
1925
palladium print
Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Tina Modotti
Rene d'Harnoncourt Puppet
1929
gelatin silver print
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Berenice Abbott
Union Square, Manhattan
1936
gelatin silver print
Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Armand Pierre Séguier
Still-life with plaster casts
ca. 1839-42
daguerreotype
Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Max Dupain
Sunbaker
1937
gelatin silver print
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Olive Cotton
Max after surfing
1939
gelatin silver print
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey
Parthenon, Athens
1842
daguerreotype
Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Marc-Antoine Gaudin
Burial of the Duke of Orléans, with Notre Dame draped
1842
daguerreotype
Musée d'Orsay, Paris