Lot Essay
The family-owned firm of W. & W.H. Lewis, founded in 1843 at 142 Chatham Street prospered during the great age of expansion and popularity in daguerrian activities. William Lewis and his sons, William Henry, Henry J. and Richard A. catered to nearly every aspect of daguerreotypy. The firm was perhaps best known as a manufacturer of the apparatus and chemicals needed to produce the magic images - the design and manufacture of the cameras, coating boxes, head rests and other paraphernalia for the burgeoning trade.
New York City, the center of photographic activity in the United States in the early years, had its vortex in the downtown areas of Broadway and Chatham Square. Consequently, the city became a national depot for materials and supplies. Daguerrian artists flooded the city, so that by 1851 there were 71 galleries employing 127 operators offering their services in settings unrivaled by any other metropolis, including Paris or London (The American Daguerreotype, p. 135). While the finest galleries were located primarily on Broadway, many of the supply houses were near City Hall, most notably where Lower Broadway and Chatham Street (now Park Row) intersected.
On November 11, 1851, the Lewis firm was granted U.S. Patent 8,513 for alterations to camera design which would permanently change the function, portability and silhouette of the camera body. (Photography in America, p. 93; The Daguerreotype in America, p. 117). The introduction of an extended bellows chamber to replace the standard daguerreian wooden carcass would be the only true revolution in focusing - and thus camera vision - until the introduction of the helical mounted lenses for the 35mm camera introduced by Leica some 70 years later. (See: A World History of Photography, fig. 221, p. 199 for an illustration of the Lewis Folding Camera).
To date, the earliest known documented views of New York are the calotypes from wax paper negatives of Victor Prévost, a Frenchman working in New York briefly in 1851 and then again in 1853. (Prévost studied painting with Paul Delaroche and paper photography with Gustave Le Gray.) He was known to have made at least one paper negative during a short visit in 1851 but did not work in earnest in the city until his return in 1853. (Art of French Calotype, p. 119, N. 162; pp. 236-7)
Although ascertaining when a daguerreotype was made is often difficult, the Chatham Square daguerreotype can be reasonbly dated by the presence of rail tracks winding through the street. According to Arthur Krim, Ph. D., an acknowledged historian of American transit systems, the horse-drawn street car system visible in the mid-distance (a franchised business in those days) was installed on Chatham Street and in service by December 1852 and in January 1853 for the Second and Third Avenue lines. He cites D.T. Valentine's A Compilation of Ferry Leases and Railroad Grants of the City of New York (1886). Thus the plate offered here was exposed either at or after this time.
Daguerreotypes of New York City are exceedingly rare. Beaumont Newhall, writing in The American Daguerreotype boldly and flatly states: With one exception, the face of every major city of America can be studied in daguerreotypes. Views of New York City do not exist. They were taken; wood engravings from some of the daguerreotypes were published in Putnam's Magazine in 1853. None of them has survived. (op. cit., p. 84). It is well documented that outdoor views of New York were exhibited as early as 1839. The mysterious D. W. Seager, of whom little is known, exhibited a view of Saint Paul's Episcopal Church in the shop window of the chemist (and later, daguerreotypist) James Chilton in September, 1839. Samuel B. Morse, inventor of the telegraph and a key figure in the development of Daguerre's invention in the United States, followed suit quickly with a view of the Unitarian Church near New York University. Both plates were described in the press since they caused great public excitement.
The Chatham Square daguerreotype, attributed to the Lewises, may predate the Prévost calotypes. This would make it the earliest known view of New York or certainly at least, the earliest extant daguerreotype view of New York. More importantly however, no other view exists which provides as clear a view of this important center of American commerce, an urban landscape whose early history reflects upon the story of New York City to the present day.
Grant B. Romer, the Daguerrian scholar and Director of Conservation and Museum Studies at the International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House, Rochester, New York examined the Chatham Square daguerreotype. No conservation work was done on the plate itself and Mr. Romer's handling of the plate was limited to cleaning the original glass, refitting the brass preserver and resealing the plate, leaving the original paper fragment bearing the title.
New York City, the center of photographic activity in the United States in the early years, had its vortex in the downtown areas of Broadway and Chatham Square. Consequently, the city became a national depot for materials and supplies. Daguerrian artists flooded the city, so that by 1851 there were 71 galleries employing 127 operators offering their services in settings unrivaled by any other metropolis, including Paris or London (The American Daguerreotype, p. 135). While the finest galleries were located primarily on Broadway, many of the supply houses were near City Hall, most notably where Lower Broadway and Chatham Street (now Park Row) intersected.
On November 11, 1851, the Lewis firm was granted U.S. Patent 8,513 for alterations to camera design which would permanently change the function, portability and silhouette of the camera body. (Photography in America, p. 93; The Daguerreotype in America, p. 117). The introduction of an extended bellows chamber to replace the standard daguerreian wooden carcass would be the only true revolution in focusing - and thus camera vision - until the introduction of the helical mounted lenses for the 35mm camera introduced by Leica some 70 years later. (See: A World History of Photography, fig. 221, p. 199 for an illustration of the Lewis Folding Camera).
To date, the earliest known documented views of New York are the calotypes from wax paper negatives of Victor Prévost, a Frenchman working in New York briefly in 1851 and then again in 1853. (Prévost studied painting with Paul Delaroche and paper photography with Gustave Le Gray.) He was known to have made at least one paper negative during a short visit in 1851 but did not work in earnest in the city until his return in 1853. (Art of French Calotype, p. 119, N. 162; pp. 236-7)
Although ascertaining when a daguerreotype was made is often difficult, the Chatham Square daguerreotype can be reasonbly dated by the presence of rail tracks winding through the street. According to Arthur Krim, Ph. D., an acknowledged historian of American transit systems, the horse-drawn street car system visible in the mid-distance (a franchised business in those days) was installed on Chatham Street and in service by December 1852 and in January 1853 for the Second and Third Avenue lines. He cites D.T. Valentine's A Compilation of Ferry Leases and Railroad Grants of the City of New York (1886). Thus the plate offered here was exposed either at or after this time.
Daguerreotypes of New York City are exceedingly rare. Beaumont Newhall, writing in The American Daguerreotype boldly and flatly states: With one exception, the face of every major city of America can be studied in daguerreotypes. Views of New York City do not exist. They were taken; wood engravings from some of the daguerreotypes were published in Putnam's Magazine in 1853. None of them has survived. (op. cit., p. 84). It is well documented that outdoor views of New York were exhibited as early as 1839. The mysterious D. W. Seager, of whom little is known, exhibited a view of Saint Paul's Episcopal Church in the shop window of the chemist (and later, daguerreotypist) James Chilton in September, 1839. Samuel B. Morse, inventor of the telegraph and a key figure in the development of Daguerre's invention in the United States, followed suit quickly with a view of the Unitarian Church near New York University. Both plates were described in the press since they caused great public excitement.
The Chatham Square daguerreotype, attributed to the Lewises, may predate the Prévost calotypes. This would make it the earliest known view of New York or certainly at least, the earliest extant daguerreotype view of New York. More importantly however, no other view exists which provides as clear a view of this important center of American commerce, an urban landscape whose early history reflects upon the story of New York City to the present day.
Grant B. Romer, the Daguerrian scholar and Director of Conservation and Museum Studies at the International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House, Rochester, New York examined the Chatham Square daguerreotype. No conservation work was done on the plate itself and Mr. Romer's handling of the plate was limited to cleaning the original glass, refitting the brass preserver and resealing the plate, leaving the original paper fragment bearing the title.