Art Section 5 Flashcards
What material did Nicéphore Niépce initially use for his experiments?
light sensitive paper
Which chemical solution did Niépce use for his initial experimentation?
silver chloride
A term that refers to the reversal of tones in an image
negative
dark becomes light and light becomes dark
What motivated Niépce to attempt to copy engravings using sunlight?
growing demand for affordable pictures
In an attempt to copy engravings using sunlight, Niépce coated the pewter plate with
bitumen of Judea
What happened to the areas beneath the dark parts of the engraving after exposure to light?
they remained soft on the pewter plate
How did Niépce remove the loosened areas of the pewter plate?
rinsing it in lavender oil
How did Niépce enhance the contrasts in the plate-printed image?
exposing the plate to iodine fumes
How long did Niépce’s plate remain exposed in the portable camera obscura?
8 hours
What is the significance of the View from the Window at Le Gras photograph?
it’s the oldest surviving permanent photograph
What is the name given to a photograph produced without a separate negative?
direct positive
What does the photograph taken by Niépce depict? (the oldest photo)
upper story of his residence, which functioned as a pigeon house
What appears to be shining on the roof and ends of the buildings in Niépce’s surviving permanent photograph?
sunlight
What inventors collaborated with Louis Daguerre to create the daguerreotype?
Nicèphore Nièpce
What types of images does not become visible to the naked eye until further treatment?
latent image - an image that is invisible to the naked eye until further treatment with mercury fumes
To make a daguerreotype, a copper sheet is plated with
silver
Louis Daguerre imagined the daguerreotype would become a tool for
the wealthy
What inventor brought the daguerreotype to the United States?
Samuel Morse
How did daguerreotypes compare to later photographic processes
Their tones and shades were more accurate
- they are not light-sensitive and do not fade
A detail does NOT appear in the daguerreotype of Frederick Douglass?
the “thinker” pose
- he does wear a stiff collar, cravat, black coat, his eyebrows are bunched in concentration
Frederick Douglass praised the daguerreotype for its
objectivity
- show truth even if the photographer is biased
Frederick Douglass felt that white artists of the nineteenth century tended to
exaggerate qualities they associated with African Americans
Who sat for the most photographs during the 19th century?
Frederick Douglass
Portraits of Frederick Douglass are BEST described as
plain and serious
- he refused to smile
- did not want to play into the “happy slave” stereotype
What photographer photographed enslaved African Americans for Louis Agassiz?
J.T. Zealy
Louis Agassiz was a
Harvard University Zoology professor
The theory of polygenesis helped justify
slavery
- along with racism and white supremacy
Polygenesis claimed
African Americans were the offspring of an inferior creation, not Adam and Eve
The wet-plate photograph differed from the daguerreotype because it could
make multiple copies of an image
What organizations funded Abbott’s project documenting New York City?
Federal Art Project
- done under the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1935
In what book was Abbott’s New York City photographs published?
Changing New York
- published in 1939
What artistic technique did Abbott use in her photograph of Penn Station’s interior?
worm’s eye view perspective
- tilting the angle of the camera upward to glorify the soaring glass-and-iron ceiling
- used a long exposure time
With which architectural style is Pennsylvania Station associated
Beaux-Arts
- recalls classical traditions, known for magnificence and architectural significance
Penn Station is known for what quality
magnificence
How big was Penn Station
Occupied 8 acres or equivalent to two city blocks
Who designed Penn Station?
McKim, Mead, and White
Penn Station was demolished because
Commuter demand fell
What directly resulted from the controversy surrounding Penn Station’s demolition
architectural preservation movement
What organization was created in response to Penn Station’s demolition?
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
What is the main focus of Berenice Abbott’s photographs?
industrial progress and modern design
- looking at the transformation of New York city’s landscape in the early 20th century
What is the significance of Abbott’s photographs of Penn Station?
They serve as a visual archive of the demolished structure
How did Abbott’s work fulfill her ambition?
showing us the history of an area through her visual archive
What MOST inspired Berenice Abbott’s work as a photographer in New York City?
the city’s rapid transformation
During which time period did Abbott independently work on documenting New York City without public funding?
The Great Depression
What was the earliest iteration of the camera obscura?
chemical mixture that produced permanent images
What materials did Florence use to create an early photograph?
light-sensitive paper and chemicals
Who developed a technique for using sunlight and light-sensitive paper to make copies of written documents?
Antoine Hércules Romuald Florence
Who further developed Nicéphore Niépce’s work to create the commercially successful photograph?
Louis Daguerre
Which government published the instructions for recreating the “daguerrotype”?
French
What did the daguerreotype offer to Victorian-era society?
objectivity in capturing a sitter’s character
The Zealy-Agassiz zoological study produced images of
diverse people
What replaced the daguerreotype in the 1860s?
wet-plate process
What art movement celebrated the new American landscape in symmetrical, aestheticized paintings and photographs?
Precisionism
What was used to mute and soften the light in the photograph of Penn Station?
long exposure time
