Woman with guitar

Dateca. 1850

MediumDaguerreotype

DimensionsPlate (half): 5 1/2 × 4 1/4 inches (13.97 × 10.8 cm)
Case (open): 8 7/8 × 13 5/8 × 7/8 inches (22.54 × 34.61 × 2.22 cm)
Case (closed): 8 7/8 × 7 7/8 × 1 inches (22.54 × 20 × 2.54 cm)

Credit LineGift of Hallmark Cards, Inc.

Object number2005.27.85

InscribedPrinted on spine of book/case, top, in gold: "Mentento"

On View

Not on view

Collections

Photography

Terms

DescriptionImage of a seated woman with hair parted in center wearing a silk dress and holding a guitar. This half plate daguerreotype is installed in an unusually deep case with a brass mat and two velvet-covered liners under the cover glass. Cover glass is pressure fitted against a blue velvet liner.
Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Developing Greatness: the Origins of American Photography, 1839-1885. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 9 June – 30 December 2007, no. 136.

Rotation 5. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, January-July 2009, no cat

Rotation 22. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, August 10, 2016- January 8, 2017, no cat.

Gallery Label

Rendered with exquisite detail and artistic sensitivity, this occupational portrait exemplifies the technical mastery of daguerreotypy by the 1850s. Posing with some evidence of a sitter’s profession, skill, or talent, characterized this genre of daguerreian portraiture, which flourished during the 1840s and 1850s. For women of the middle and upper classes, musical talent was seen as a mark of cultural refinement. This portrait celebrates such ideals.

Noticeable in the woman’s face is a rosy, pink flush. Finished plates were often hand-colored by stippling dry powdered pigment directly onto the surface. Most coloration was minimal: garish applications of pigment would have reflected poorly on both the sitter and the photographer.

Provenance

Hallmark Cards, Inc., Kansas City, MO, 1998;
Given by Hallmark Cards, Inc. to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2005.

Published References

Keith F. Davis. The Origins of American Photography: from Daguerreotype to Dry-Plate, 1839-1885. With contributions by Jane L. Aspinwall. (Kansas City, MO: Hall Family Foundation: in association with the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2007), 102, 104 (repro), 315.

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