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Untitled (George Coit)

A work made of daguerreotype.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of daguerreotype.

Date:

1855/56

Artist:

S. L. Holman
American, 19th century

About this artwork

Daguerreotypes—brilliant photographs on metal plates—memorialized families with the first widely affordable images. The technology was especially popular in the 1840s and 1850s, an era of higher mortality rates. Daguerreotypists employed the slogan “Secure the shadow, ere the substance fade” to encourage sitters to visit the photographer’s studio before it was too late. This is one of a rare group of five images that tracks a single family over several years, including a period of mourning. Most of the images focus on the family’s patriarch, Charles Coit, including a photographic portrait, a painted portrait based on that photograph, a daguerreotype copy of that painting, and finally, a daguerreotype of the entire family posing with the painting—as a substitute for the father in a group portrait—made after his untimely death. These family photographs thus invite meditation on mortality and the function of representation. Can a painting stand in for a person? Can a photograph?

Here, we see a portrait of the youngest son, George Coit; judging from his clothing, this was probably made during the same session as the group portrait (2019.454) after his father’s death.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Photography and Media

Title

Untitled (George Coit)

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 1855

Medium

Daguerreotype

Dimensions

8 × 7 cm (3 3/16 × 2 13/16 in.); Open case: 9.3 × 16 × 1.5 cm (3 11/16 × 6 5/16 × 5/8 in.); Case: 9.3 × 8 × 1 cm (3 11/16 × 3 3/16 × 7/16 in.); Plate: 8.3 × 7 cm (3 1/4 × 2 3/4 in.)

Credit Line

The W. Bruce and Delaney H. Lundberg Collection, purchased with funds provided by The Leonian Charitable Trust

Reference Number

2019.455

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/250077/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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