Wayne's
Photo Art Studio
A Revolution in Art: the American Daguerreotype
The invention of photography was one of the most significant events of
the 19th century,
irrevocably changing our perception of reality.
"Here is a discovery launched upon the world, that must make a revolution in
art,"
declared the New Yorker shortly before Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre's
groundbreaking process
was announced in Paris on August 19, 1839.
This new technique of
producing exact likenesses on a sheet of silver-plated copper
soon became a
sensation in the United States.
Studios opened in every major city;
itinerant artists traveled the countryside.
Noted for their silvery, mirrorlike sheen, daguerreotypes framed the faces
of the nation's great men
and women, caught the spirit of Westward expansion
and chronicled much of
the mid-19th-century American life.
© Copyright 2009 Wayne J. Lewis, All Rights Reserved
Email: wayne@artcellar.net
