Survey 4: Daguerreotype

The phenomenon of the Daguerreotype truly came as an intimidating surprise.  It slowly made its way up towards the mainstream crowd and once it finally received the well deserved attention it created quite an uproar.

The burst of popularity the Daguerreotype shocked many due to the fact that instead of needing to pose for hours on end, people and objects could have their photo taken in a mere fifteen minutes.  The phenomenon unfortunately also drove out many popular and up-and-coming portrait artists leading to many of their careers to sadly go down the drain.   Although the topic that is being discussed does not directly correlate to the fashion of clothing it did end up shifting the idea of who held the ability to receive a photograph.  Daguerreotypes became an equalizer among all of the social classes.  Any average person could walk into a portrait studio, sit for an image, and have the same product as the millionaire down the street.  There was no longer any form of likenesses only created for the rich and higher classes.  

Daguerreotype came to be in 1839 when Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre collaborated with Nicéphore Niéce.  When Niépce passed away in 1833, this gave Daguerre the opportunity to take full control of the project and gain a better understanding for himself.  Daguerre found that once a copper plate covered with silver iodide was exposed to light in a camera, which was then fumed with mercury vapour and fixed by a solution of common salt, a permanent image would be formed.  With this discovery Daguerre was able to change the world of art and portraiture tremendously.