-
Period: to
Romanticism
The era of Romanticism started around 1770, peaking between 1800-1850. It encouraged subjectivity and individual inspiration for works in the arts. -
Period: to
War of 1812
The war between Britain and France expanded into the United States. It was concluded in Europe December 14, 1814 but continued until February 17, 1815 in the US. -
Prideful Contributions
Jane Austen publishes Pride and Prejudice. -
War of 1812
As the war between Britain and France overflowed, the US declared war against Britain due to the trade blockade and ensuing coercion of US sailors into the British forces. It is debated if the desire to expand additionally influenced the US decision to go to war. The war ended with the Treaty of Ghent December 24, 1814 but news did not reach the States until later, ending in the US on February 17, 1815. -
Fixing a Problem
John Herschel published the discovery that hyposulphite of soda halted the reaction of silver chloride to light. -
View from the Window at Le Gras
Considered the first permanent photograph, despite not being completely stable, Joseph Nicephore Niepce promoted his technique of Heliography. He failed to achieve funding due to his caution. -
Making Waves
The Great Wave off Kanagawa is created by Hokusai Katsushika. -
The Trail of Tears
On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act and the first peoples to move, the Choctaw, were forced out in 1831. They were forced to relocate to the other side of the Mississippi River. This involuntary migration lasted nearly an entire decade. -
Mormonism
Joseph Smith translates the Book of Mormon, bringing his visions that had started in the 1820s a formality and canon. -
Period: to
Impressionism
The Impressionists were a group of artists that used expressive strokes to create their compositions, focusing on the transitions and qualities of light. The movement started around 1830 and was ridiculed but gained gradual recognition in the late 1800s to early 1900s. -
Still Photogenic
Henry Fox Talbot had been experimenting with light-based imagery and had even managed to stop the reaction of his light sensitive paper with a solution of table salt and water. The process involved darkening a sheet of glass with soot and then scratching away parts to let light through, transferring the image to paper. Fox Talbot referred to it as photogenic drawing but it is also known as sciagraphy. -
First Person Portrait
Daguerre is credited with having taken the first photograph of a human figure. Boulevard du Temple was taken in 1838 and is of a man getting his shoes shined. -
Daguerre did Dare
The first person to have his process declared and described to the public, Louis-Jacques Daguerre presented his invention, the daguerreotype, as a gift to the world from France. He wished to claim sole responsibility in 1837, but Isidore Niepce made his father's, Nicephore Niepce, contributions known. -
The Cyanotype
John Herschel created the cyanotype of photography. Based in iron salts, the images were a deep Prussian blue and white. -
Seeing isn't Always Believing
Hyppolyte Bayard, who also claimed to be the first inventor of photography, pressed the boundaries of representation. He and Fox Talbot sought to have photography as more than an observational tool. -
Size Doesn't Matter
With the ability to capture what was in front of it with no fallibility, the camera was seen as a contribution to observing and recording events and objects. It was debated whether it was a science or an art. It's contribution to both fields did not necessarily remedy the query. -
Positives and Negatives
The calotype, invented by Fox Talbot and patented in 1841, was a photographic process that produced negative and positive images, allowing multiple prints to be created of a single image. This photograph, Latticed Window at Lacock Abbey, is one of Fox Talbot's first examples. -
Books, Books, Books
Both Anna Atkins and Henry Fox Talbot had books with original photographs published, Atkins first in 1843 with her cyanotype images and Fox Talbot following suit in 1844 with calotype photographs -
Period: to
Mexican-American War
The Mexican-American War was fought over the secession of Texas from Mexico. It ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the US's acquisition of nearly all the current land that makes up Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas -
War's Changing Image
The Mexican-American War is the first war to be photographed. Even so, the images rendered tend to exclude the actual battles themselves and rather focused on soldiers before or after, families, the affected landscape and structures, or potentially posed after the fact. -
Milk and Eggs
Louis Desire Blanquart-Evrard published the process of albumen paper, coating light-sensitive paper with milk and eggs, which could be done beforehand, unlike salted paper, and allowed more prints to be made from a calotype negative. -
Wet vs Dry
The wet-collodion process was published in 1851 by Frederick Scott Archer. It reduced the exposure time of a subject, was on a glass plate, and it produced a negative from which to print positives--like the calotype--or it produced a direct positive--like the daguerreotype. -
The Great Exhibition
An exhibit based to show the benefit and to promote the technological progress and prosperity it could bring was held in London. It had displays of cameras and had both daguerreotype and calotype images. -
Utterly Positive
The wet-collodion process allowed for two versions of direct positives--the ambrotype, patented by James Ambrose Cutting, and the tintype. The ambrotype backed the glass negative with a dark substance and caused a direct positive; the tintype employed a metal plate rather than glass and thus produced a positive image. -
On the Origin of Species
Charles Darwin published his theory of evolution and the origin of all species in On the Origin of Species in 1859. -
Impressionistic
Impressionism in the painting world was occurring in Europe while the Civil War was waging in the United States. -
Civil War
The American Civil War began April 12, 1861 and ended April 9, 1865. These four years of war constitute the bloodiest war in US history. -
Period: to
Civil War
The American Civil War lasted nearly four years and is the bloodiest battle in US history. It ended with the surrender of the Confederates to the Union at Appomattox, Virginia. -
Freedom to All
The Emancipation Proclamation was delivered by President Abraham Lincoln, freeing all slaves in the Southern states and fully making it the reason for the Civil War rather than the cover dispute of state rights. -
Death Births Distaste
Daguerreotypes of the Civil War's battles' aftermath brought about a change in the overall idealization and romanticization of war. Alexander Gardner was a huge contributor in this regard. His Harvest of Death and Home of a Rebel Sharpshooter were provoking and repugnant, bringing the overt destruction of war to the doorstep of those miles away. -
Woodburytype
Another process to produce a positive from a negative was developed by Walter Bentley Woodbury in 1866. It used gelatin-coated paper that would be exposed to a negative and then put in warm water. This caused the paper to form a relief which corresponded with the tones of the negative. It was then inked and a positive was produced. -
Dry vs Wet
Dry plates, developed by Dr. Richard L. Maddox, became far superior to wet plates. The gelatin bromide plates did not need to be prepared right before a photograph was to be taken nor developed immediately afterwards. Exposure time was a mere fraction of the time and a photographer could now capture movement. -
Let There Be Light
Thomas Edison patented the light bulb, adding a light source outside of fire and the sun. His success coming from the combination of one scientist's observations and the work of two others: Humphrey Davy (observations), Warren de La Rue and Joseph Swan (experimenters). -
Plates for Everyone
The success of the gelatin bromide plate was so immense that the dry plates were being commercially produced, the first factory opening in 1879. -
Period: to
Pictorialism
A movement within photography that focused on shifting and complex tonality and showing the artists' hand in creating the images rather than observing and recording what was in front of the camera lens. It began in the 1880s and continued until the 1920s. -
Coca Cola
The beverage, originally to treat headaches and provide energy, was trademarked and the inception of the Coca Cola Company was afoot. -
Transparency is Good
George Eastman employed a scientist to investigate how to create a transparent, flexible film base for negatives. The success brought about the production of the No. 1 Kodak camera in 1888. -
With the Push of a Button
The Kodak camera was the first camera to be used casually by middle-class peoples. It had a fixed focus and came preloaded with a film. The photographer never developed or saw their negatives as they were sent back to the company after all 100 exposures had been made. The images were circular. -
Clippy and Clip Art
The paper clip was patented originally in 1867 and went through myriad designs before ending up with the current design in 1903. This enable people to no longer push a pin through documents or art in order to keep them together, helping save documents from damage. -
Secession
The Photo-Secession was a movement established in 1902 by Alfred Stieglitz. It promoted the American art form of photography and to hold exhibits. The movement lasted until around 1917. -
Period: to
Photo-Secession
This movement aimed to elevate the art of American photography to the likes of European painting. It was founded by Alfred Stieglitz and was promoted in his periodical Camera Work. It began in 1902 and ran to 1917. -
Autochrome
Louis and Auguste Lumiere developed a process to add color to photographs. By coating a glass plate with tiny dyed potato starches in addition to a light-sensitive emulsion, a direct positive was made that required light to be passed through to see a colored image. Unfortunately, these images were subject to fade.
