DAGUERREOTYPE Journal Year 1 Issue N
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DAGUERREOTYPE journal Year 1 Issue N. 0 | June 2014 Sharing the International Cultural and Visual Heritage of Daguerreotypes HISTORICAL NOTES MEET THE COLLECTOR National Treasure Discovered in a Shoebox Colour and the Daguerreotype LOOKING AT REALITY THE DAGUERREOTYPE STUDIO Daguerreian Pictures. From Silver to Paper Baron Séguier’s Daguerreotype Equipment TABLE OF CONTENTS Cover Image 4 EDITORIAL 6 EUROPEAN DAGUERREOTYPE ASSOCIATION 9 NOTES FOR YOUR DIARY 2014 The Daguerrian Society Symposium 10 CURRENT RESEARCH If the Sky is Falling? by Keith F. Davis 12 MEET THE COLLECTOR Colour and the Daguerreotype by Michael G. Jacob 20 HISTORICAL NOTES Photographer Unknown National Treasure Discovered in a Shoebox Daguerreotype, 1845 - 1847 by Wlodek Witek Istituto nazionale per la grafica Collection Lanfiuti Baldi, inv. 6085 (by permission of ING) 30 LOOKING AT REALITY Daguerreian Pictures. From Silver to Paper For full description see by Maria Francesca Bonetti Daguerreobase 44 THE DAGUERREOTYPE STUDIO Baron Séguier’s Daguerreotype Equipment by Nicholas Burnett 56 ON THE MATERIALITY OF IMAGES How to Protect a Daguerreotype? by Herman Maes 3 DAGUERREOTYPE journal QUARTERLY ISSUE N.O [email protected] www.daguerreobase.org FB /Daguerreobase PUBLISHER EDA, European Daguerreotype Association for the Daguerreobase Project EDITOR Sandra Maria Petrillo for the Daguerreobase Project GRAPHIC DESIGNER Giulia Agostinelli TRANSLATION Tha article Daguerreian Pictures. From Silver to Paper was translated by Tristam Bruce THANKS TO Michael G. Jacob, adviser for Issue N.0 Send your proposal for the next Issue to [email protected] DAGUERREOTYPE JOURNAL © June 2014, All Rights Reserved For Permission to reproduce articles and images published in this journal, please contact [email protected] The DAGUERREOTYPE JOURNAL is produced in the context of the Daguerreobase Project “This project is partially funded under the ICT Policy Support Programme (ICT PSP) as part of the competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme by the European Community” http://ec.europa.eu/ict_psp EDITORIAL 5 Sharing the International Cultural and Visual Heritage of Daguerreotypes More than any other type of photographic image, from the moment of their invention, daguerreotypes were widely perceived as perfect reflections of reality. Daguerreotypes learned people to see the world photographically for the very first time, and still today we often regard them with a similar sense of wonder. We are attracted by their captivating beauty and their extraordinary high definition that make them almost seem to be magical windows, opening up a vista directly into our past. Thus they appear to be “time capsules”, in the words of one enthusiastic collector. Universal recognition of daguerreotypes as unique and valuable artefacts has made it urgently necessary not only to preserve them from the ravages of time but also to explore and develop more thoroughly the great range and variety of cultural studies that these images can offer us today. The desire to share our passion for the daguerreotype was the main motivation for founding this free online publication, which is dedicated to words and images concerning the aesthetics, the science, the history and the art of creating daguerreotype images, in the past as well as now. We very much hope that you will enjoy it! We wish to thank the European Union for their important financial contribution to the Daguerreotype Journal, a publication that has been launched in connection with the Daguerreobase Project. To view a selection of daguerreotype pictures that are currently conserved in various important European public institutions and private collections please click on the following link: www.daguerreobase.org EDA The European Daguerreotype Association (EDA) Has Been Founded! The European Daguerreotype chniques of 19th century pho- residence of Louis Daguerre. Association, or EDA, is an in- tography. After the completion of the ternational non-profit asso- We will offer access to a con- “Daguerreobase” project we ciation of photography enthu- stantly growing worldwide wish to make sure that this siasts, with a special interest network of curators, conser- unique database will be easily in the history and the art of vators, museums, teachers, accessible and constantly the daguerreotype. The EDA specialists, collectors and pri- expanding as a unique source intends to deal with the vate owners. of primary information, as expansion and maintenance We will share our knowledge well as to create a large of Daguerreobase, an active regarding the techniques and international community of EU-financed database that practise of early photography, people who are passionate will contain over 25,000 de- in addition to the various of the daguerreotype. We scriptions of daguerreotypes aspects of its use as an therefore wish to invite you in public and private Europe- expressive medium, and we to become a member of our an collections. We will work intend to become a strong community, to share our on aggregation of new infor- and interactive community. common interests, and to mation on the early history The partners of the EDA build with us a long-lasting of photography, enrichment have already proposed European Daguerreotype of existing descriptions of organizing workshops, as Association! If you wish to daguerreotypes in public and well as offering their expert share your enthusiasm for the private collections and lin- assistance and advice Daguerreotype by supporting king with other collections, regarding publications, the this project you too can now museums, institutes and col- maintenance of collections, become a member of the lectors. Our aim is to build an education and teaching. Last “European Daguerreotype authentic source for 19th cen- but not least, we will organise Association”! tury European photography conferences, meetings and a The European Daguerreotype Associa- heritage research. special annual symposium or tion has been founded according to The EDA will encourage the excursion to various different study of the art of daguerre- locations all over Europe. Belgian law as a 100% non-profit orga- otype, including the preser- EDA is now planning its first nisation, or “Vereniging zonder win- vation and conservation of international meeting in stoogmerk” (VZW). Gifts or donations original daguerreotype plates, 2015 in Bry-sur-Marne near are accepted and appreciated, but we and its relation with other te- Paris, which was the last are not registered for tax purposes. EDA BOARD ANN DECKERS, President HANS GUMMERSBACH, Vice President WOUTER LAMBRECHTS, Secretary HERMAN MAES, Treasurer AGNES WIJERS, Member THE BOARD OF EDA INVITES YOU TO BECOME A MEMBER! Please contact us at: [email protected] or complete the application form on daguerreobase Institutional Member € 100 Private / Individual Member € 50 Student Member € 25 Membership fees are payable on a yearly basis 7 EDA Invitation Card v3.indd 1 13/05/14 16:23 CONTRIBUTORS KEITH F. DAVIS is the senior curator of photography at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri. Since 1979 he has curated some 80 exhibitions, many of which have travelled to important museums in the United States and internationally. In addition to teaching and lecturing widely on the history of photography, he is the author of nearly twenty catalogues and books. More info MICHAEL JACOB has been collecting daguerreotypes for 35 years. He is the author of Il Dagherrotipo a Colori (Firenze, Nardini Editore, 1992) and Colour and the Daguerreotype: “The Great Problem is Fairly Solved…” (Pittsburgh, Daguerreian Society Annual, 1997). Michael and his wife, Daniela De Gregorio, write crime fiction together under the pen-name of Michael Gregorio. Their novels include Critique of Criminal Reason and A Visible Darkness. More info WLODEK WITEK has been working on the conservation of paper and photographs for over 25 years. He has catalogued the Fridtjof Nansen collection of photographs as well as the Morgenstierne multimedia archive for the Library of the University of Oslo. He now works as a paper and photograph conservator at the National Library of Norway. He is one of the very few practicing calotypists in the present day. More Info MARIA FRANCESCA BONETTI is an art historian employed at the Ministry of Culture in Italy and since 1999 she has been the curator of the department of photography at the Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica in Rome. She has contributed to the definition and diffusion of various guidelines and methodologies for the management and cataloguing of photographs. She has curated various contemporary and historical photography exhibitions and has edited numerous catalogues. More Info NICHOLAS BURNETT is an experienced and accredited conservator of photographs and works of art on paper. He is currently the director of Museum Conservation Services Ltd, a company working for museums, historic houses, art galleries and private individuals. He has thirty years of experience working in the field of museums as well as the private sector. More Info HERMAN MAES is senior photographic materials conservator and head of the conservation department of the Netherlands Photo Museum of Rotterdam. He is visiting lecturer at the University of Leiden, where he teaches historical photographic and photomechanical techniques, and he frequently holds workshops on the conservation and preservation of photographs. More Info NOTES FOR YOUR DIARY SEPTEMBER 26-29, 2014 AUSTIN,