Charles Delahaye c. 1857

Editor: This is "Charles Delahaye," a daguerreotype portrait by Charles Marville, from around 1857. It has a sort of pensive mood, don't you think? What can you tell me about it? Curator: The process itself, the daguerreotype, is paramount. It democratized portraiture to some extent, moving it from the hands of painted elites to a wider swathe of the middle class. Consider the chemistry involved: silver-plated copper, iodine fumes, mercury vapor… all incredibly toxic. This photo isn't just an image, it's an artifact of industrial processes and labor. How does the materiality of this work inform its meaning? Editor: That's a really interesting point. I hadn’t thought about the materials as playing a part in the subject of the artwork. Thinking about that… is it fair to assume Delahaye would have been from a certain class in order to participate in that consumption? Curator: Precisely. Delahaye’s participation is linked to consumption. Note the sitter’s clothing, which signals a specific status achievable by participating in this material culture. What do you notice about how Delahaye is leaning on? Do you think that’s a set-up or is it something real to the sitter? Editor: It almost looks like he's at a workbench. The image now suggests not just passive consumption, but a connection to a more laborious aspect, too. A kind of ‘maker’ captured using an industrial process? Curator: Exactly! So we see how photography, early on, begins to both represent and, paradoxically, mask social labor through its chemical and mechanical production. Editor: I see what you mean! Looking at this photo as a document of both the subject and the production process makes me see so much more! Thank you.