Edward A. Southern (1826-1881) 1869 - 1874

This photograph of Edward A. Southern was made by Jeremiah Gurney, a prominent New York photographer, during the 19th century. It's a ‘carte de visite,’ a calling card format popular at the time, made by applying a negative to albumen paper, a process that involved coating paper with egg white to create a glossy surface. The tonal range you see here comes from the chemical reaction of silver salts on the albumen, which required great skill to manipulate correctly. Photography, especially portraiture, became increasingly democratized during this time, and studios like Gurney’s employed many people to keep up with demand. The proliferation of photographic images changed the landscape of representation itself, as photography became more commonplace, influencing what was considered fine art. It put pressure on the traditional artistic labor of painting, while offering a new kind of artistry based on light, chemistry, and industrial production.