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Untitled

A work made of salted paper print.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of salted paper print.

Date:

1850/59

Artist:

O. H. Willard
American, active 1850-1975

About this artwork

O. H. Willard was a prominent Philadelphia photographer of the 1850s and 1860s, who contributed to general discussions about photography in the professional periodicals of the day. Like others who had started out as daguerreotypists, Willard migrated to the wet collodion (glass plate) process, which offered shorter exposure time and, unlike the unique positive image invented by Daguerre, yielded negatives with theoretically limitless reproducibility. The unknown sitter in this picture engages us with his clear, direct gaze. The print offers an excellent example of stock in trade of the era and suggests how photography could make an ordinary subject captured during a routine commission into a compelling figure.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Photography and Media

Artist

O. H. Willard

Title

Untitled

Place

United States (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Made 1850–1859

Medium

Salted paper print

Dimensions

Image: 21 × 16.5 cm (8 5/16 × 6 1/2 in.); Mount: 22.5 × 19.2 cm (8 7/8 × 7 9/16 in.)

Credit Line

Photography Associates Fund

Reference Number

1999.386

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/154300/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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