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recto overall
Profile portrait of Frederick Douglass
recto overall
recto overall

Profile portrait of Frederick Douglass

Artist Unknown
Collaborator Frederick Douglass (American, 1818 - 1895)
Dateca. 1858
MediumDaguerreotype
DimensionsPlate (sixth): 3 1/4 × 2 3/4 inches (8.26 × 6.99 cm)
Case (open): 3 5/8 × 6 3/8 × 3/8 inches (9.21 × 16.19 × 0.95 cm)
Case (closed): 3 5/8 × 3 1/8 × 5/8 inches (9.21 × 7.94 × 1.59 cm)
Credit LineGift of Hallmark Cards, Inc.
Object number2005.27.42
Signednone
InscribedOn preserver verso, bottom left edge, finely inscribed text: "Fred Douglass".
Markingsnone
On View
Not on view
Collections
DescriptionProfile portrait of a man (Frederick Douglass) dressed in a three piece suit. This sixth plate daguerreotype is housed in a decorative brass mat inside of a paper covered wooden case with an embossed red velvet liner. The case depicts an urn filled with flowers on recto and verso.Exhibition History

Developing Greatness: The Origins of American Photography, 1839-1885. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, June 9 –  December 30, 2007, no. 96.

Photographic Wonders: American Daguerreotypes from The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Taft Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH, May 17 - August 25, 2013, Wichita Art Museum, January 17 –  May 10, 2015, no cat.

Rotation 24. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, June 9 – November 12, 2017, no cat.

Gallery Label
Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) was a brilliant and pioneering social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. He was also the most photographed American public figure of the 1800s. Douglass well understood the camera’s potential to express the humanity and dignity of its subjects, and used himself as a model to convey these ideas. Douglass did not view these self-portraits as a means of self-aggrandizement, but rather as vehicles to further his abolitionist agenda.
Provenance
 Hallmark Cards, Inc., Kansas City, MO, 2001;
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. Distributed by Yale University Press. Published in conjunction with Developing Greatness: the Origins of American Photography, 1839-1885, shown at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 88 (repro.).

Deborah Emont Scott and Marc F. Wilson, and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: a Handbook of the Collection. 7th ed. Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008, 189 (repro.).

Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information, is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete. Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image, please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.


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