André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri
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André Adolphe Eugène Disdéri
Disdéri, André Adolphe Eugène (1819-89), French photographer. He led a varied life in commerce, acting, and politics before patenting his trademark carte de visite-style photographs in 1854. Although he studied art as a young man, and listed his profession as topographical artist or painter until 1851, little is known of his ability as a draughtsman, except that he developed a compositional skill evident in his portraits, which were praised for their naturalness. He began his photographic career in 1848 or 1849 as a daguerreotypist in Brest, birthplace of his wife Geneviève Francart (see disdéri, geneviève élisabeth), but relocated to Paris in 1852. This move, perhaps prompted by debts incurred in his diorama venture with Joseph Dioss, a scene painter and student of Daguerre, allowed him access to the famous and wealthy individuals whose portraits adorned his most popular cards. Although photographs had been used as calling cards before, notably by Ferrier in Nice, and others, Disdéri patented the method on 22 November 1854, and was the catalyst to its popularity. He achieved fame and fortune for a while, but died in relative obscurity.
— Kelley E. Wilder
Bibliography
- McCauley, E. A., A. A. Disdéri and the Carte de Visite Portrait Photograph (1985)
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André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri
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André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri
André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri (28 March 1819, Paris – 4 October 1889)[1] was a French photographer who started his photographic career as a daguerreotypist but gained greater fame for patenting his version of the carte de visite, a small photographic image which was mounted on a card. Disdéri, a brilliant showman, made this system of mass-production portraiture world famous.
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Early life
Disdéri began his working life in a number of occupations, also studying art.[2] He started as a daguerreotypist in Brest in 1848 or 1849 but in 1852 moved to Paris, enabling easy access to people who would be the subjects of his cartes de visite.
Disdéri and the carte de visite
Photographs had previously served as calling cards,[3] but Disdéri's invention of the paper carte de visite (i.e. "visiting card") photograph first enabled the mass production of photographs. On 27 November 1854 he patented the system of printing ten photographs on a single sheet (although there is no evidence that a system printing more than eight actually materialized).[4] This was the first patent ever for a carte de visite. Disdéri's's cartes de visite were 6×9 cm, about the size of conventional (nonphotographic) visiting cards of the time, and were made by a camera with four lenses and a sliding plate holder; a design inspired by the stereoscopic cameras.[5]
The novelty quickly spread throughout the world. According to a German visitor, Disdéri's studio became "really the Temple of Photography - a place unique in its luxury and elegance. Daily he sells three to four thousand francs worth of portraits".[6]
The fact that these photos could be reproduced inexpensively and in great quantity brought about the decline of the daguerreotype and ushered in a carte de visite craze as they became enormously popular throughout Europe and the United States.[7] So great was the publicity that all of Paris wanted portraits.
Disdéri also invented the twin-lens reflex camera.[7]
The great French photographer Nadar, who was Disdéri's competitor, wrote about the new invention in his autobiographical "Quand j'étais photographe", "about the appearance of Disdéri and Carte de Visite... It spelled disaster. Either you had to succumb - that is to say, follow the trend - or resign."[8]
Later years and death
At the pinnacle of his career, Disdéri was extremely wealthy and renowned; but like another famous photographer, Mathew Brady, he is reported to have died in near poverty.[7]
By the end of his life, Disdéri had become penniless. He died alone and forgotten on 4 October 1889 in the Hôpital Ste. Anne in Paris, 'an institution for indigents, alcoholics, and the mentally ill'.[9] He was a victim of his own invention. The system which he invented and popularized was so easy to imitate that photographers all over the world took advantage of it.
Notes
- ^ Paris as place of birth: "André Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri" at the Getty.
- ^ Wilder, who names the occupations as "commerce, acting and politics".
- ^ Wilder.
- ^ Date according to Wilder. Provision of ten images in the patent according to McCauley. An eight-image example from 1858 is displayed in this page hosted by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- ^ McCauley.
- ^ Liesegang, E. Geschichte der Firma Ed. Liesegand, page 8 (1929).
- ^ a b c Robert Leggat, "Disdéri, Andre Adolphe Eugene", A History of Photography: From its beginnings till the 1920s.
- ^ Nadar. Quand j'étais photographe, ISBN 2742717978[vague]
- ^ Elizabeth Anne McCauley, A.A.E. Disdéri and the Carte de Visite Portrait Photograph, Yale University Press, 1985.
Sources
- McCauley, Elizabeth Anne. "Carte de visite." Oxford Companion to the Photograph, ed. Robin Lenman. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-19-866271-8.
- Wilder, Kelley E. "Disdéri, André-Adolphe-Eugène." Oxford Companion to the Photograph, ed. Robin Lenman. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-19-866271-8.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: André_Adolphe_Eugène_Disderi |
- http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp65535&role=art
- http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artMakerDetails?maker=2075
- http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/infp/ho_1995.170.1.htm
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, Andre-Adolphe-Eugene Disdéri. Accessed 28 November 2007.
- The virtual Cabinet Card museum.
- Works by Disdéri Collection Paul Frecker, London.
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Oxford Companion to the Photograph
The Oxford Companion to the Photograph. Copyright © 2005 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
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