M. Forbes Campbell
The introduction of the carte-de-visite portrait, promoted and popularized by the French photographer Disdéri beginning in the mid-1850s, brought photography to the middle class and celebrity to many of nobler rank. Using a camera fitted with four lenses and a sliding plate holder, a photographer could expose eight portraits on a single glass-plate negative. Depending upon the client's desires, the photographer could open all four lenses at once to make four images of two poses on the negative, open them two at a time as in this example, or open each sequentially to obtain eight distinct poses. Once the negative was developed, all eight portraits could be printed in a single operation and then trimmed and glued to visiting-card size mounts. This method of mass production made photographic portraits both abundant and affordable.
Artwork Details
- Title: M. Forbes Campbell
- Artist: André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri (French, Paris 1819–1889 Paris)
- Date: 1859
- Medium: Albumen silver print from glass negative
- Dimensions: 19.7 x 23.2 cm. (7 3/4 x 9 1/8 in.)
- Classification: Photographs
- Credit Line: Purchase, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 1995
- Object Number: 1995.170.2
- Curatorial Department: Photographs
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