History of Portraits-André Adolphe Disdéri (1819-c.1889)

Self-portrait of and by Andre Disderi 

André Disdéri was a French photographer and became known for his pictures of Parisian society. In 1854, he invented and patented the carte de visite photograph, which is essentially a miniature albumen print attached to one 2-1/2" x 4" card (during this time, the albumen print was known to have a smooth surface and to produce a much clearer image than its predecessor, the salt print calling card). The story is that in May of 1859, Napoleon III stopped his army outside of Disdéri's studio to pose for a portrait, thus making the photographer famous instantly, and numerous visitors began to travel to Disdéri for their own cartes de visite. Due to their small size, for the first time, friends and family were able to exchange more portraits, and they could be sent through the mail without fragile class covers and bulky cases.
The technique and process that Disdéri developed for his creation was incredibly cost effective, in that a negative was produced that could make multiple prints. By using a sliding plate holder and a camera with four lenses, eight negatives could be taken on a single 8" x 10" glass plate. This process eventually replaced the daguerreotype.

Napoleon

Juggler

Mery Laurent

Ballerina

Ballet Dancers (Paris Opéra, early 1860s)

Princess Alexandra of Wales (1866)

Sources:
http://www.photographymuseum.com/histsw.htm
http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/photography/processframe.php?processid=pr004
http://www.picturehistory.com/product/id/10967
http://www.luminous-lint.com/app/photographer/Andre_Adolphe-Eugene__Disderi/A/
http://codex99.com/photography/49.html



-Jennifer Maldonado