Young America: The Daguerreotypes of Southworth and Hawes

Afterimage, Nov-Dec, 2005 by Kirby Pilcher

YOUNG AMERICA: THE DAGUERREOTYPES OF SOUTHWORTH & HAWES

edited by Grant B. Romer and Brian Wallis/ICP/Steidl/552 pp./$120.00 (hb).

This exhibition and book is the largest project to result from the partnership between the George Eastman House (GEH) and the International Center of Photography (ICP). Albert Sands Southworth (1811-94) and Josiah Johnson Hawes (1808-1901) were in partnership in Boston from 1843 until 1863. They are considered two of the finest daguerreotypists of their time, often working with large eight by six inch (full) plates. Drawing from the extensive archive at GEH, this is the largest exhibition of the work of Southworth and Hawes to date. The exhibition consists of over 150 daguerreotypes, the vast majority of which are full plates. The permanence of the daguerreotype is realized when looking at these finely crafted plates, which look much as they did when they were made during Southworth and Hawes's partnership. This wide-ranging exhibition features traditional portraits to images of the first medical surgery involving the use of ether as well as hand-colored plates and stereo daguerreotypes. When looking at these finely crafted daguerreotypes from these expert practitioners, it is easy to forget that the plates were not the most desirable, those having been sold to the paying customers, while these "rejects" were kept by Southworth and Hawes. Equally as impressive as the plates themselves, the design of the exhibition deserves kudos as well. The lighting system developed for this exhibit and the angle (8 degrees from vertical) at which the plates are displayed make the images appear to jump off the wall, visible from across the gallery. What an impressive exhibition such as this needs is an equally impressive exhibition catalog. The massive 552-page book features full-color reproductions of all of the plates featured in the exhibition as well as over 2000 smaller black-and-white reproductions of other Southworth and Hawes plates from the GEH collection and private collections. The book also features essays ranging from "The Daguerreotype in Antebellum America" by Alan Trachtenberg to "Simultaneous Developments: Documentary Photography and Painless Surgery" by Bates Lowry and Isabel Lowry. This is the most significant publication ever published on Southworth and Hawes, and most likely on daguerreotypes in general. The exhibition was first on view at ICP from June 17 through September 4, 2005. It is currently on view at GEH through January 8, 2006 and will travel to the Addison Gallery of American Art, January 28 through April 2, 2006.

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