{"id":277915,"date":"2025-06-06T21:26:51","date_gmt":"2025-06-06T21:26:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/aerospace\/study-the-secrets-of-early-american-photography-at-this-new-exhibition\/"},"modified":"2025-06-06T21:26:51","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T21:26:51","slug":"study-the-secrets-of-early-american-photography-at-this-new-exhibition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=277915","title":{"rendered":"Study the Secrets of Early American Photography at This New Exhibition"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\u201cThe New Art: American Photography, 1839-1910\u201d at the Metropolitan Museum of Art will feature more than 250 photographs<\/h2>\n
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Lillian Ali<\/a><\/p>\n

– Staff Contributor<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\"Tobogganing\"
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This image, taken by an unknown photographer in 1905, is an example of a cyanotype.
\n The Metropolitan Museum of Art, William L. Schaeffer Collection<\/span>
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A new exhibition at the crossroads of art, history and technology chronicles the beginnings of early American photography.<\/p>\n

Titled \u201cThe New Art: American Photography, 1839-1910<\/a>,\u201d the show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City features more than 250 photographs that capture \u201cthe complexities of a nation in the midst of profound transformation,\u201d says Max Hollein, the Met\u2019s CEO, in a\u00a0statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Curator Jeff Rosenheim tells the\u00a0Wall Street Journal<\/em><\/a>\u2019s William Meyers that the exhibition focuses \u201con how early artists used the different formats to record individuals and the built and natural environments surrounding them.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Woman

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A daguerrotype from around 1850 depicts a woman wearing a tignon, a headcovering popular among Creole women of African descent.<\/p>\n

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, William L. Schaeffer Collection<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The oldest photographs on display are\u00a0daguerreotypes<\/a>, named for inventor Louis Daguerre<\/a>, which were introduced in 1839 as the first publicly available form of photography. Creating a daguerreotype was a delicate, sometimes painstaking process that involved several chemical treatments and variable exposure times. The process yielded a sharply detailed picture on a silver background and was usually used for studio portraiture.<\/p>\n

The exhibition moves through the history of photography, from daguerreotypes and other photographs made on metal to those made on glass and, eventually, paper. It even features stereographs, two photos showing an object from slightly different points of view, creating an illusion of three-dimensionality.<\/p>\n

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\"Installation

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Installation view of “The New Art: American Photography, 1839-1910”<\/p>\n

Eugenia Tinsely \/ The Met<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rosenheim believes that early photographic portraits empowered working-class Americans. \u201cPhotographic portraits play a role in people feeling like they could be a citizen,\u201d Rosenheim tells the\u00a0Guardian<\/em><\/a>\u2019s Veronica Esposito. \u201cIt\u2019s a psychological, empowering thing to own your own likeness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photographs in the exhibition also spotlight key moments in American history. Items on view include a portrait of formerly enslaved individuals and an image of a conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.<\/p>\n

The exhibition features big names in American photography, such as\u00a0John Moran<\/a>, who advocated for the recognition of photography as an art form, and\u00a0Alice Austen<\/a>, a pioneering landscape photographer.<\/p>\n

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\"Group

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Group on Petria, Lake Mahopac<\/em>\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b, photographed in 1888 by Alice Austen<\/p>\n

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, William L. Schaeffer Collection<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Many of the photographs on display were taken by unknown artists. One of the most recent photos in the exhibition, taken by an unknown artist in 1905, is a cyanotype<\/a> depicting figures tobogganing on a hill in Massachusetts. Cyanotypes were created by exposing a chemically treated paper to UV light, such as sunlight, yielding the blue pigment it was named for.<\/p>\n

Beyond portraits and landscapes, the exhibition features several enigmatic images, such as one of a boot placed in a roller skate and positioned on top of a stool. Rosenheim tells the Guardian<\/em> that the mysterious photo \u201casks more questions than it answers.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Boot\"

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An unknown photographer took this unconventional still life in the 1860s.<\/p>\n

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, William L. Schaeffer Collection<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very emblematic of the whole of 19th-century American photography,\u201d he adds. The exhibition features photographs from across time and economic divides, with portraits of the working-class and wealthy alike.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe collection is just filled with the everyday stories of people,\u201d Rosenheim tells the Guardian. <\/em>\u201cI don\u2019t think painting can touch that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/em>The New Art: American Photography, 1839-1910<\/em><\/a>\u201d is on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City through July 20, 2025.<\/em><\/p>\n

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