Untitled (Man Standing, en Face)
<p>Antoine Samuel Adam-Salomon trained as a sculptor but took up photography in 1855, and although he practiced both art forms his studio portraits of well-to-do clients soon eclipsed his sculptures in popularity. In a style of portraiture that came to be known as “Salomonism,” he posed his sitters next to classical columns or velvet drapery, sometimes even selecting clothing for them to wear. Many years after this photograph was made, the New York art dealer Julien Levy mounted an exhibition of portrait photography in which he contrasted con-temporary Surrealist portraits with those from the 19th century, including by Adam-Salomon.</p>
Catalogue
- Year
- 1850
- Medium
- Salted paper print
- Dimensions
- 24.2 × 19.6 cm (9 9/16 × 7 3/4 in.)
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
Artist
Antoine Samuel Adam-Salomon was a French sculptor and pioneering photographer of the 19th century. Born in 1818, he worked primarily in marble and bronze, creating portrait busts and monumental figures that defined Second Empire neoclassical practice. He later became instrumental in establishing photography as a fine art medium, treating the camera with the formal precision and philosophical ambition he had applied to sculpture. His photographic portraits, rendered with careful attention to light and material surface, bridged the aesthetics of traditional portraiture and the emerging technical possibilities of the photographic process.
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Record
Verified by WattsOS- Year
- 1850
- Medium
- Salted paper print
- Dimensions
- 24.2 × 19.6 cm (9 9/16 × 7 3/4 in.)
- Watts ID
- WW-1850-104356
Source
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Source
- aic
- Reference
- View at source
- Status
- verified