Epoch: Historic Portraits

Twelve portraits on Display in the Cochenour Gallery Thursday, April 7 through Thursday, April 14 created by ART 370: Portrait and Lighting.

If it is even conceivable, try to consider what it would be like to only have one photograph of yourself. What’s more, pretend that this portrait doesn’t occur until you are roughly 20 years old. And one more thing, this picture can only be seen by one person at a time.

This was the case in the mid to late 19th century. The photographic process had just been discovered and it was making its way from Europe to the United States. At that time it was the Daguerreotype capturing the most accurate likeness of individuals and democratizing portraiture.

In response to these considerations, ART 370: Photographic Portrait & Lighting revisited this idea, creating portraits in a manner somewhat similar to early photographic processes. Although our images were produced using the technology of today, a key feature was revived—the extended exposure.

Due to limitations of chemical processes and quality of optics, early photographic production required extremely long shutter speeds by comparison to today’s standards, sometimes needing minutes, if not hours to make an exposure. As the technology improved, times were reduced to as few as thirty seconds.

The portraits on display here embrace this feature of the long exposure (typically 20-30 seconds) and the psychology of a single photograph potentially representing one’s self for a lifetime. It is perhaps a peculiar notion in today’s world of social media and connectedness, but one that has produced moving results.