Portrait of Zachary Taylor, 1847. James Maguire (American, 1816 - 1851). Daguerreotype. 90.XT.54. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.
Expositions du 3/11/2015 au 20/3/2016 Terminé
Getty Museum The Getty 1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 403 CA 90049 Los Angeles États-Unis
Exhibition features works from the Getty’s permanent collection alongside loans from the private collections of musician Graham Nash and collector Paul BergGetty Museum The Getty 1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 403 CA 90049 Los Angeles États-Unis
LOS ANGELES – Popularly described as “a mirror with a memory,” the daguerreotype was the first form of photography to be announced to the world in 1839 and immediately captured the imagination of the public. The “Daguerreotypomania” that followed may seem surprising today, as photographs have become an omnipresent part of contemporary life.
In Focus: Daguerreotypes, on view from November 3, 2015-March 20, 2016 at the Getty Center, offers the photography enthusiast and the general visitor alike a unique opportunity to view rare and beautiful examples of this early photographic process. The works in the exhibition are drawn from the Getty Museum’s exceptional collection of more than two thousand daguerreotypes alongside loans from the outstanding private collections of musician Graham Nash and collector Paul Berg.
“Today, photographs can be taken, edited, and deleted within seconds and are the principal record of our everyday lives," says Timothy Potts, director of the J. Paul Getty Museum. "It takes a leap of the imagination to appreciate what they represented to the pioneer inventors and to the public of the day. This exhibition explores how these first captured images ─ fragile, one-of-a-kind works ─ were treasured, not only by those who were just discovering the possibilities of the medium, but by those being photographed as well.”
By the mid-1840s, exposure times and costs had decreased markedly and, as a result, daguerreotypes became more accessible to a broader audience. Over the years, attempts were made to enhance the capabilities of the daguerreotype. To make up for the deficiency of color, many portrait daguerreotypists employed former miniature painters to hand-paint each plate; an example of which is Portrait of a Woman with a Mandolin (1860), where light specks of color enhance the ornamentation on the costume. Daguerreotypes were also nearly impossible to reproduce, though some attempts were made, including making the daguerreotype plate into a printing plate. Examples of this process will be on view in the exhibition.
