BGuthrie Photos: DC -- Donald W. Reynolds Center (NPG) -- Exhibit: Meade Brothers

DC -- Donald W. Reynolds Center (NPG) -- Exhibit: Meade Brothers:

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Description of Pictures: Meade Brothers: Pioneers in American Photography:
June 14, 2013 - June 1, 2014
The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery will open “The Meade Brothers: Pioneers in American Photography,” an exhibition showcasing the lives and careers of 19th-century studio photographers Charles R. Meade and Henry W.M. Meade, June 14.
The Meade brothers, along with their contemporaries such as Mathew Brady and Southworth and Hawes, are recognized as leading members of the first generation of American photographers. This exhibition is thought to be the first dedicated solely to their work.
“This exhibition is a great opportunity to recognize the accomplishments of the Meade brothers and their contributions to American studio photography,” said Kim Sajet, director of the Portrait Gallery. “The first generation of studio photographers, such as the Meade brothers, paved the way for this democratic medium to take hold in our culture.”
The brothers opened their daguerreian gallery in Albany, N.Y., in 1842, and their business later expanded to other cities. They each traveled to Europe and in 1848, Charles Meade became the first American to photograph Frenchman Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre—the originator of the daguerreotype process. In 1850, the Meade brothers established their flagship American Daguerreotype Gallery on Broadway in New York City, where they photographed such famous subjects as statesman Daniel Webster and entertainer Lola Montez.
The Portrait Gallery’s substantial collection of Meade brothers’ daguerreotypes will serve as the core of the exhibition. In addition, loans of Meade brothers’ objects from public institutions and private collections—including a large-format daguerreotype of Sam Houston and two daguerreotypes of Daguerre—will be featured.
This installation will be open in the museum’s gallery dedicated to daguerreotypes June 14 through June 1, 2014.

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. SIPGME_130615_001.JPG: The Meade Brothers -- Henry William Mathew Meade and Charles Richard Meade -- are recognized as leading members of the first generation of American photographers. They opened their daguerreian gallery in 1842 in Albany, New York, and also established branches in Buffalo, Toronto, and Detroit. Their flourishing later gained an international reputation as each brother traveled to Europe to promote the firm's endeavors. The London-born Meade Brothers launched their flagship gallery at 233 Broadway in New York City in 1850. Soon ranked among the premier daguerrian establishments in the nation, their American Daguerreotype Galleries attracted the most famous men and women of the day, from statesmen Daniel Webster to femme fatale Lola Montez. Articles extolling the Meade Brothers' achievements appeared regularly in a variety of publications, and their daguerreotypes consistently won awards for excellence. In the mid-1850s, as other photographic processes emerged to challenge the daguerreotype's dominance, the Meades moved to adapt to the changing technology. That effort suffered a devastating blow in 1858, when Charles succumbed to tuberculosis. Henry forged ahead, but the expense of modernizing the original gallery and opening a short-lived branch further uptown left the business in a precarious state. Mary Ann Meade succeeded her brother as the gallery's director in 1862 and continued in that role for several more years. Burdened by grief, debt, and despair, Henry Meade took his own life in 1865.
2. SIPGME_130615_008.JPG: Seven Ages of Man The Meade Brothers exhibited numerous examples of their work at the "Great Exhibition" held in New York City's Crystal Palace (1853–54), including a series of daguerreotypes by Charles Meade illustrating Shakespeare's "seven ages," as described in Act II of As You Like It. Lauded by the Photographic Art Journal for reflecting "much talent" and "a high degree of cultivated taste," the Meade Brothers' Seven Ages of Man -- Infant, Schoolboy, Lover, Soldier, Justice, Pantaloon, and Second Childishness -- later circulated in the form of card-mounted photographs known as cartes de visite.
3. SIPGME_130615_021.JPG: Daniel Webster commemorative medal Charles Cushing Wright, after Meade Brothers, c 1852 After the deaths of Henry Clay and Daniel Webster in 1852, Gleason's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion reported that "the last pictures ever taken of those distinguished patriots" could be seen at the Meade Brothers' gallery. It also noted that the artist Charles Cushing Wright was preparing commemorative medals, modeled after the Meades' "profile views of the illustrious statesman [Webster]." As Henry Meade prepared to travel to Europe in 1853, Gleason's announced that he intended to present Wright's medals of Webster and Clay to both Queen Victoria and Napoleon III.
4. SIPGME_130615_034.JPG: Meade Brothers token, c 1850 From 1845 to 1860, merchant tokens enjoyed enormous popularity in the United States. Used chiefly for advertising rather than as mediums of exchange, tokens such as this one promoting the Meade Brothers daguerreian galleries mimicked the size and eagle motif of US ten-dollar gold coins then in circulation.
5. SIPGME_130615_046.JPG: Invoice issued by MA Meade on June 10, 1863 When Mary Ann Meade assumed the directorship of the photography business founded by her brothers Henry and Charles Meade, she acknowledged their legacy by reproducing their double portrait on her invoices and identifying herself as their successor.
6. SIPGME_130615_058.JPG: Charles R. Meade, c 1853 The younger of the Meade Brothers, Charles was just sixteen and working as a clerk in a dry goods store when he and his brother started their daguerreian gallery. Despite his youth, Charles played an important role in the Meade Brothers' partnership from its earliest days. He represented the firm ably on several trips abroad and scored a major coup in 1848 by daguerreotyping Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre. In 1853 he produced the daguerreotypes known as the Seven Ages of Man, which were featured in several major exhibitions. Charles was leading the brothers' effort to transition to paper-print photography when he died at age thirty-one.
7. SIPGME_130615_077.JPG: Henry Richard Meade with an unidentified young man, c 1848 After helping his sons to found the Meade Brothers daguerreian business, Henry Richard Meade took an active part in the enterprise during its formative years. But when the brothers opened their gallery in New York City in 1850, their father's role appears to have lessened. It was not until two years after Charles Meade's death that Trow's New York City Directory for 1860–61 identified the senior Meade as a photographer working at the firm's 233 Broadway address.
8. SIPGME_130615_083.JPG: Hnery WM Meade, c 1845 Henry William Mathew Meade was only twenty when the Meade Brothers began operations "in an humble way . . . in a small room" in Albany in 1842. Despite this modest beginning, the brothers soon moved to larger quarters and set their sights on building their firm's reputation. They received wide recognition in 1846 for sending daguerreotypes of Niagara Falls to Nicholas I of Russia and Louis-Philippe of France. A year later, Henry Meade embarked on an extended tour of Europe, with the goal of familiarizing himself with new photographic techniques and equipment being used abroad.
9. SIPGME_130615_094.JPG: Washington Monument stone commissioned by the Meade Brothers, c 1854 In December 1854, the Photographic and Fine Art Journal advised its readers that: "THE MESSRS MEADE are preparing a block of marble for the Washington Monument, to contain the following inscription: ‘ -- TO WASHINGTON, An humble tribute from two disciples of Daguerre.'" Documented in this daguerreotype, the brothers' commemorative stone was destined for the monument to George Washington that was then under construction in the nation's capital. When it was later installed within the obelisk's interior, the Meade Brothers' marble tribute joined nearly two hundred memorial stones presented by individuals, societies, cities, states, and foreign countries to honor Washington.
10. SIPGME_130615_102.JPG: Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre, 1787-1851 French artist and inventor Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre revolutionized picture-making by introducing the first practical method of photography in 1839. Known as the daguerreotype, Daguerre's process used chemically sensitized plates of silver-clad copper to produce unique, direct-positive images that were remarkable for their exquisite clarity and detail. At first, the lengthy exposure times required by Daquerre's methods were an obstacle to portraiture. But modifications to the daguerreotype's chemistry, coupled with better lenses and lighting techniques, soon led to shorter exposures. In the spring of 1840, the first commercial portrait studios in the United States opened for business.
11. SIPGME_130615_112.JPG: Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre, 1848 A popular portrait method of photography from the 1839 announcement of its invention to about 1860, the Daguerreotype was a unique photograph with no negative -- each photograph was exposed on a copper plate coated with silver-nitrate. The process was later replaced with easier and less hazardous methods of negative-positiv-based photography like wet-plate collodion and albumen. This half-length Daguerreotype portrait of Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre, inventor of this photographic process (1839), was taken by American photographer Charles R. Meade when he visited Daguerre at his home in Bry-sur-Marne, France, in 1848. The image is matted in a wooden picture frame for exhibition, unlike most Daguerreotypes, which are preserved in small cases. The photograph was donated to the Smithsonian in 1890.
12. SIPGME_130615_121.JPG: Meade Brothers daguerreotype case, c 1849: Proud to claim distinction as the only American studio to have photographed Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre, the Meade brothers wasted no time in advertising this achievement, showcasing one of Charles's daguerreotypes of the famed inventor in their gallery. One of the images was also reproduced on presentation cases used to house the firm's daguerreotypes. This embossed case clearly credits the source of Daguerre's likeness with a caption that reads, "As taken by Meade & Brother, Albany NY".
13. SIPGME_130615_129.JPG: Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre, 1849: In July 1849, the Albany Morning Express reported the publication of a lithographic portrait of Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre "executed by Messrs. D'Avignon and Hoffman, N.Y. from a daguerreotype picture taken from life of this great artist at his chateau [in] Brie [sic] Sur Marne, France, by the Meade Brothers of Albany, N.Y., one of whom visited Europe last year on a professional tour." The brothers were obviously pleased with this lithograph, for when Daguerre died in July 1851, their condolence message to his widow included an offer to send her one of the prints. Thanking the brothers for their "kind and sympathizing letter," Madame Daguerre replied that she did not possess the lithograph, adding, "It would indeed be a great treasure to me to have one." The print was sent, and when Henry Meade visited Madame Daguerre in 1853, he was pleased to see it on her wall.
14. SIPGME_130615_140.JPG: Interior View of Meade Brothers' Daguerreotype Gallery, Broadway, New York: In February 1853, Gleason's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion published an article praising the virtues of the Meade Brothers' daguerreian enterprise, noting: The Meade Brothers take every style and size of picture known in this beautiful art. They have the largest apparatus in the world. They have two separate rooms for sitters, with [dressing] rooms adjoining, and two large skylights, with conveniences for taking groups -- of schools, colleges, military and fire companies; also the wonderful stereoscopic and solid daguerreotypes. This popular establishment is now one of the lions of New York, and is well worthy [sic] a visit from the resident or passing traveler. Representing the Meades' handsomely appointed reception room, this image served as an illustration for the Gleason's article.
15. SIPGME_130615_154.JPG: View of Broadway, c 1854 When the Meade Brothers opened their new American Daguerreotype Galleries at 233 Broadway on April 1, 1850, the Albany Morning Express reported, They occupy four stories of a large building which has just been erected; arranged expressly for their business. The reception room on the first floor above the street is sixty feet deep, superbly furnished and finished in the most magnificent style. Back of this is their stock room filled with every variety of goods in their line. The third and fourth stories are fitted for drawing rooms, parlours and dressing rooms adapted to the comfort and accommodation of visitors. The fifth story is used as an operating room. . . . There is nothing lacking to render it the most complete Daguerreotype establishment in this or any other country. In addition to its many amenities, the gallery occupied a prime location only a short distance from the celebrated Astor House hotel.
16. SIPGME_130615_166.JPG: Henry WM Meade and Sarah Meserole Meade, c 1859 On September 7, 1853, Henry Meade married Sarah A. Meserole, whose Huguenot ancestors had been among the first to settle in what came to be known as the Greenpoint and Williamsburgh communities on Long Island. The couple expressed the hope that their wedding would be a "Brilliant Affair" and chose New York City's prestigious Trinity Church for the nuptials. They must have been gratified when Charles Meade later reported that "the minister said they never had as many people in Trinity Church before."
17. SIPGME_130615_176.JPG: Samuel Houston, 1851 The Texas army's commander during the Texas Revolution (1835–36), Sam Houston led the forces that secured Texas's independence from Mexico. Hailed for his role at the decisive victory at San Jacinto, Houston won election in 1836 as the first president of the new Republic of Texas. In this role he championed the annexation of Texas to the United States, a move that was ultimately ratified in 1845. A year later, he was elected to the first of three terms in the U.S. Senate. When Houston posed for this portrait, he was contemplating a possible run for the presidency of the United States.
18. SIPGME_130615_188.JPG: Henry and Mary Ann Meade, c 1860 As the daguerreotype was gradually eclipsed by a succession of other photographic processes in the latter part of the 1850s, the firm of Meade Brothers adapted its offerings to accommodate new technologies and changing tastes. Ivorytypes and paper-print photographs were introduced, and in 1861 the gallery's staff included an "artist in oil, etc.," who could embellish images by hand-coloring them. The work of such a colorist is reflected in this pair of portraits of Henry and Mary Ann Meade.
19. SIPGME_130615_197.JPG: Henry WM Meade, c 1848 While residing in Albany, Henry Meade served as a member of the Albany Burgesses Corps and posed in his uniform for this portrait. Established as a military company in 1833, the corps performed such ceremonial duties as marching in parades and serving as an escort for visiting dignitaries. Meade retained his membership in the company until April 1850, when the Meade Brothers relocated to New York City.
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2013 photos: Trips this year: three Civil War Trust conferences (Memphis, TN, Jackson, MS [to which I added a week to to visit sites in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee], and Richmond, VA), and my 8th consecutive San Diego Comic-Con trip (including sites in Nevada and California). Ego Strokes: Aviva Kempner used my photo of her as her author photo in Larry Ruttman's "American Jews & America's Game: Voices of a Growing Legacy in Baseball" book. Equipment this year: I mostly used my Fuji XS-1 camera but, depending on the event, I also used a Nikon D7000 and Nikon D600. Number of photos taken this year: just over 570,000.
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