Existing comment:
Jeremiah Gurney 1812–1895
Gurney first established his reputation as a skillful daguerreotypist, but he was also an early practitioner of paper print photography. In December 1850, he advertised "Likenesses on ivory, glass, and paper by GURNEY'S new process, together with an extensive collection of Daguerreotypes of distinguished persons." Three years later, he used the term "Daguerre on paper" to describe his photographic prints.
Gurney gave equal weight to his description of the daguerreotype and the photograph in his 1856 publication, Etchings on Photography, and bristled at the notion that the works produced by a camera merely required mechanical rather that artistic skill. By 1858, when he opened his new gallery at 707 Broadway, Gurney was described as "confin[ing] his operations to the Daguerreotype and the Photograph." This large-format self-portrait is a fine example of his work in the latter medium.
Self-portrait
Salted paper print, c. 1859
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Larry J. West |