Title: Self-Portrait as a Drowned Man
Artist: Hippolyte Bayard
Medium: Photography using direct positive printing
Year: 1840
Give a brief description of the movement, photographer, or term you researched. How are they significant to the history of photography (50-75 words)?
Hippolyte Bayard was born in 1807. He invented a photography process called direct positive printing. The process started by exposing silver chloride paper to light to turn it black. It was then soaked in potassium iodide and then exposed in the camera and then it was washed in hyposulfite. Because the paper was such low quality, the camera picture would take up to 12 minutes to properly expose. He died in 1887.
Write a short personal reaction to the movement, photographer or term you researched. What is interesting or not interesting about the work (50 – 75 words).
I like the work, self-portrait as a drowned man, because of the message it portrays. It shows an artistic way of expressing the feeling felt by Bayard in regards to the betrayal from his friend. The note on the back added to the overall message.
Name (please only include if it is ok to publish on blog): David L
what did the note say?
ReplyDeleteQuote: “The corpse which you see here is that of M. Bayard, inventor of the process that has just been shown to you. As far as I know this indefatigable experimenter has been occupied for about three years with his discovery. The Government, which has been only too generous to Monsieur Daguerre, has said it can do nothing for Monsieur Bayard, and the poor wretch has drowned himself. Oh the vagaries of human life...! He has been at the morgue for several days, and no-one has recognized or claimed him. Ladies and gentlemen, you’d better pass along for fear of offending your sense of smell, for as you can observe, the face and hands of the gentleman are beginning to decay.”
ReplyDeleteFrom the website:
http://thenonist.com/index.php/thenonist/permalink/self_portrait_as_a_drowned_man/