Figure 1.--This golded framed oval formatted cabinet card was taken in 1934. The cabinet card had disappeared in many other countries, but was still being produced in France during the 1930s.

Albumen prints rapidly became the dominant portrait type (1860s). The carte-de-visite (CDV) like the Daguerreotype was invented in France. As the name suggests, the origins of the carte-de-viste (CDV) using a negative process was French (1851). Another source indicates that a French photographer, André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri, introduced the CDV (1854). We do not, however, begin to see many actual examples until the end of the decade. Unlike Daguerreotypes, we have found large numbers of French CDVs, although not until the 1860s. We are unsure why they did not become more popular in the 1850s. The CDV was the primary type, but we also see cabinet cards. We note large numbers of CDVs that look similar to American and other European CDVs. We are not yet sure about cabinet cards as we have so few examples. The cabinent card appeared in America (1866). We are not sure when they first appeared in France. The CDV seems to have been much more popular in France than the cabinet card. We are as a result, unable to develop trends in French cabinet cards. We do note cabinet cards being done as late as 1940. They disappeared earlier in other countries. We do not notice them after World War II.

Albumen Process

The first commercial negative process was the albumen process. Thee were both glass and paper approaches. It was the work of French experimenters. Claude Félix Abel Niépce de Saint-Victor can be credited with developing the process. He coated glass plates with the whites of eggs (albumen) mixed with potassium iodide (1847). He then made them sensitive to light by immersing them in a bath of silver nitrate. Another Frenchmn, Louis-Desiré Blanquart-Evrard improved the process, making the plates more sensitive to light (1850). This was the procss used by famed American Civil War photographers used (1860s). Blanquart-Evrard also worked with coated paper in much the same way. This allowed collodion negatives to be used to produce albumen prints. During the 1850s both albumen and collodion prints were made, but from around 1860 onwards, albumen prints became the norm. This simplified the pricess abnd resulted in an explosion of popularity of the albumen process orinted as small carte-de-visite. This is wghen we begin to see really large numbers of CDVs, especially in America. Blanquart-Evrard (1802-72) invented the albumen print (1850). The process involved immersing a sheet of paper in an egg and salt wash, brushing the paper with silver nitrate to create light sensitivity. This had to be done in the dark. To actually take a photograph, the coated paper was exposed to to sunlight. At first the paper was not very sensitive and this thus meant minutes or even hours. The exposed paper was then toned to produce a developed image with a warm brown cast and yellow and cream highlights. The warm brownish hue, sometinmes referred to as sepia, was the result of the egg emulsion. It is a distinguishing feature of an albumen print and this can be used to identify it. As photography became increasingly popular, in part because of albumen processes, enornmous amounts of eggs were needed to supply photographic studios. Some 6 million eggs were used annually just in England alone during the 1860s to supply the albumen required. [Quarterly Review] Albumen prints rapidly became the dominant portrait type (1860s). There were many advantages to albumen prining. It was much cheaper than earlier pricesses like Daguerreotypea and Ambrotypes. And as a negative was involved, as many copies as desired could be made at very low cost. The albumen process was preferable to an ealier negative pricess--the calotype. The albumen process offered sharp definition, a glossy surface, and strong contrasts. This made it the ideal process for photographic portraiture. The clarity of the images produced encouraged early photographers to go outside the confines of the sgudio. Suddenly we see images of landscapes, architectural buildings, and exotic foreign lands. These were much in demand by scrap book and album collectors to add interest to their collectrions. The albumen pocess bcame the dominant photograohic process for four decades (1860s-90s). Albumen printing paper was produced commercially. The egg albumen was mixed with chlorine, bromine or iodine salts before being immersed in silver nitrate. Studios purchased the coated paper from suppliers. Gelatin paper became available (1890s).

Formats

The first albumen photographs were done with glass plates. The photographer had to pour the chemicals on the plate. This was complicated enough in a studio. To go outside, he essentially had to travel with a photographic laboratory. It was only when coated paper became available that the process became commercially viable. There were two primary commercial albumen processes: carte-de-visites and cabinet cards. The carte-de-visite (CDV) like the Daguerreotype was invented in France. As the name suggests, the origins of the carte-de-viste (CDV) using a negative process was French (1851). Another source indicates that a French photographer, André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri, introduced the CDV (1854). We do not, however, begin to see many actual examples until the end of the decade. Unlike Daguerreotypes, we have found large numbers of French CDVs, although not until the 1860s. We are unsure why they did not become more popular in the 1850s. CDVs of Emperor NApoleon III helped popularize the CDV. Large numbers of people wanted them for gheir albums. The makor reason for the popularity of CDVs was low cost family portaits, but inexoensice photographs if famous peopke were also much in demand. The CDV was the primary type, but we also see cabinet cards. We note large numbers of CDVs that look similar to American and other European CDVs. We are not yet sure about cabinet cards as we have so few examples. The cabinet card appeared in America (1866). We are not sure when they first appeared in France. The CDV seems to have been much more popular in France than the cabinet card. We are as a result, unable to develop trends in French cabinet cards. We do not know why cabinet cards proved less popular in France and other European countries than in America. We do note cabinet cards being done as late as 1940. They disappeared earlier in other countries. We do not notice them after World War II.

Sources

Quarterly Review (October 1866).

Created: 1:40 AM 6/10/2011
Last updated: 1:56 AM 7/3/2013