New Orleans Photography Exhibit Opens

Ames Crevasse, 1891 (1974.25.11. 31) Light & Time NEW ORLEANS PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBIT OPENS Like many other institutions in this beginning of photography is 1839 when important anniversary year for the inven Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre introduced tion of photography, the Collection is com to the world his invention of a permanently memorating the event with an exhibition fixed photographic image. New Orleans's from its holdings. Attempting to compress association with that medium has been one 150 years of history into approximately 75 which has existed since the very beginning: images is the aim of the current exhibi in the century-and-a-half since that time, tion, Light & Time: 150 Years of New New Orleans has been blessed with dozens Orleans Photography. of high-quality photographers. · The date commonly recognized as the The photographic holdings of the Historic New Orleans Collection reflect in his lifetime-will be shown. this diversity and quality. Within Choosing works by Jay Dear the curatorial division, there are born Edwards was also a dilemma. collections of regional, national, Edwards's antebellum views of and even international impor New Orleans not only provide the tance. Photographs from commer earliest images of the bustling cial studios, commissioned works 19th-century metropolis; they are of a documentary or artistic also excellent examples of the salt nature, and single prints from this ed-paper process of photography. century and the second half of the The tolerance of such works to last provide the particulars of peo extended periods of exhibition is ple and places as only a photo very low. Consequently, frequent graph can. changes of the Edwards images Light & Time mirrors the hold will be made during the exhibi ings of the photographic collec tion. A visitor might see steam tions. Limited exhibition space boats at the levee on one visit, a and an embarrassment of riches view out Esplanade Avenue on make choices of what to exhibit another. difficult indeed. For this reason Portraits will also be among the and to provide conservation mea works shown. An elegantly posed sures-Light & Time will present Captain Alexis Casmir Dumestre a changing exhibition in the is the subject of one daguerreo Congressman W. J. Blackburn by Williams Gallery. Instead of show type. The daguerreotype -its Julian Vannerson (?), ca. 1858 (75- 232-L) ing only one example of Clarence image of mercury amalgam rest Laughlin's work, about a dozen ing tentatively on a polished sheet photographs by this important of silver-plated copper-was the artist will be on view. Some of his first photographic process that though no certifiable Lion daguer "color experiments"-Laughlin's New Orleanians would have seen. reotypes are known to exist, the fusion of painting and photogra It was introduced in early 1840 by exhibition contains later examples phy which were rarely displayed Jules Lion, a lithographer. Al- by Felix Moissenet and Edward Submarine, Bayou St. John by Ernest J . Bellocq be tween 1901-05 (1988.19.2) 2 Architect Richard Koch (1889-1971), gener ous donor to the Collection, was the direc tor of Louisiana's Historic American Build ings Survey sponsored by the VVork s Progress Administration during the 1930s. His photographs, contained in the survey, reveal a sensitive and talented photogra pher whose work included plantations and rural cabins, as well as urban architecture. This year marks the centennial of Mr. Koch's birth. Girod House by Richard Koch, 1930s (1985.120. 71) Jacobs, creator of the Dumestre philanthropist Margaret Haugh opment was responsible for the portrait. ery, in its original frame, is one of extreme popularity of the carte-de Supplanting daguerreotypes the albumen prints chosen for the visite (photographic calling card) were ambrotypes (made on glass) exhibition. Also included are ante and the stereograph. Still other and tintypes (made on black-lac bellum salted-paper prints, includ developments later in the 19th quered iron). Ease of preparation ing those by Edwards and por century led to the production of and the lesser expense of the traits of Louisiana congressmen; the first flexible films for taking materials and finished product commercially produced cyanotypes pictures and to the introduction of made these photographic process (o r blueprints) in the form of a the Kodak camera, meant for ama es universally available. business and commercial directo teur photographers. Some early Apart from the way the subjects ry; and crayon enlargements. All Kodak photographs made at Evan of the photographs chronicle the of these serve to underscore not Hall plantation will be displayed. area's appearance, the technologi only the photographic look of New The 20th century did not pro cal developments which ran ram Orleans at any given time, but the duce such a range of processes as pant through the medium's way that advances or variations in those encountered in the 19th cen progress in its first 50 years are the medium were accepted and tury. By far the greatest number of amply represented in the Collec practiced in the Crescent City. photographs in 20th-century col tion's photographic holdings. Exam Among the technological ad lections are gelatin silver prints ining the forms that this technology vances in photography were the the ordinary black and white pho took is another theme of the exhibi perfection of the negative/positive tograph with which so many peo tion. From one-of-a-kind daguerreo process allowing many prints to be ple are familiar. There are small types, ambrotypes, and tintypes to made of the same subject; the groups of color work in the Collec ubiquitous albumen-print pho switch from paper negatives to tion's holdings as well, including tographs in the form of carte-de glass negatives, allowing for finer those in the form of slides, chro visite and cabinet photographs, detail; and the introduction of mogenic color prints, and dye the major scientific milestones albumen paper, made from the transfer prints, all of which will be which led to today's photography whites of eggs, whose smooth included in the exhibition. are in evidence. An especially glossy surface rendered every An important role that photog impressive portrait of 19th-century nuance of the negative. This devel- raphy has played is that of making 3 Douglas Tire Co. by DanielS. Leyrer, 1940s (1981.324.3.236) THE HISTORIC NEW ORLEANS images available for nearly every and Laughlin. ~l COLLECTION one to see and to evaluate. This The contemporary acquisitions m impact was further amplified tend to build on strengths already ~] NEWSLETTER when ways of printing photo present in the pictorial holdings, Editors: Patricia Brady, graphs for mass reproduction in rather than to explore areas which Louise C. Hoffman books, magazines, and newspa would serve to compete with the Head of Photography: Jan White pers were perfected. One section of strengths of other local institu Brantley the exhibition, organized by Jill tions. Befitting the nature of a The Historic New Orleans Collec Roberts, curatorial cataloging coor museum dedicated to the preser tion Newsletter is published quarter ly by the Historic New Orleans Col dinator, presents some of the ways vation and display of regional his lection, which is operated by the Kem in which photographs have been tory, the emphasis of the photogra per and Leila Williams Foundation, a Louisiana non-profit corporation. reproduced, from the all-but-dis phy collections tends to be content Housed in a complex of historic build continued collotype to the ever ings in the French Quarter, facilities and not concept. are open to the public. Tuesday present halftone. If there is an underlying theme through Saturday, from 10:00 a.m. until 4:45 p.m. Tours of the history The Collection's photographic to the exhibition, it is change-the galleries and the residence are a vail holdings represent a growing por changing city and region, chang able for a nominal fees. tion of the curatorial division. ing technology, and certainly the Board of Directors: Appropriate acquisitions by con Benjamin W. Yancey, President changing of items during the Mrs. William K. Christovich temporary photographers are course of the display. G. Henry Pierson, Jr. Francis C. Doyle made to complement or to expand Light & Time, which opens John E. Walker upon the historical images. These October 25, will be on view contemporary works come from through March 1990. Dode Platou, Director commercial studios-the Charles The Historic New Orleans Collection - John H. Lawrence 533 Royal Street Franck and Sam Sutton collec New Orleans, Louisiana 70130 tions; from free-lance profession (504) 523-4662 als specializing in documentary or ISSN 0886-2109 editorial work-Michael P. Smith © 1989 and Rick Olivier; and from photo The Historic New Orleans Collection graphic artists-Doris Ulmann 4 From the Director Thomas Bonner Collections are as varied as children and just as demanding. Lecture at THNOC They need attention, particularly large photographic collections. The fourth lecture held in con and how this experience affected What comes to my mind are the junction with a THNOC exhibition the stories they told. The writers Charles Franck negatives and was held on Sunday afternoon, discussed were Lafcadio Hearn, photographs, numbering over September 17. Dr. Thomas Bon Mark Twain, William Faulkner, 40,000, a jumble of disorganized ner, professor of English at Xavier and Walker Percy. images at the time of acquisition. University and specialist in south To be included on the mailing We spent months culling and sort ern literature, lectured on the list for subsequent lectures, please ing through the negatives of New influence of New Orleans on four call Elsa Schneider at 523-4662. Orleans views, people, and build 19th- and 20th-century writers ings; the next step was to hire a photographer to make archival quality prints from selected nega tives, 7,500 in all-a project that World War II Material Sought lasted three years.

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