Who created the first self-portrait?
Under the self-portrait means a portrait shot of himself. This is the same as the modern “selfie”, only with greater artistic value.
The creator of the world’s first self-portrait is Robert Cornelius. He was engaged in the manufacture of lamps.
In 1839, in Philadelphia, he opened the lens cover of a photographic lens and spent more than a minute in the frame until the lens closed.
As a result, he received the first self-portrait shot.
Among the pioneers in the field of obtaining the first self-portrait can also be called an American artist Samuel Morse, who later became famous for the invention of the telegraph.
First portrait photographs
John Draper, a university professor in New York, was also involved in obtaining the first portraits. He made a photograph of his sister Dorothy Catherine Draper, who became the first portrait photograph in the United States of America.
It was also the first portrait shot of a woman whose eyes were open. The photo process was reduced by half by the master due to the fact that he covered the face of his model with a copious layer of light powder.
The famous scientist Hippolyte Bayard considered himself the inventor of the photo process. Therefore, when the scientific world decided otherwise, Bayard was offended. In 1840, he made a photo self-portrait, a scientist wrote on it: “The body that you see here belongs to M. Bayard.”
Further popularization of portrait photographs
Portraits in the form of photos are very interested in the public. In the workshops of photographers lined up a huge queue of those who want to get their own image. Despite the fact that the photographic process took a lot of time and delivered certain inconveniences, the number of photos taken did not become less.
The cost of such photography ranged from 60 to 120 francs. Therefore, people with good incomes could allow photographing themselves.
Photo portraits gained increasing popularity. In the first half of the nineteenth century, a group of photographers stood out, whose works were distinguished due to their high technical and aesthetic skills.
In France, the most prominent professionals in the production of photographic portraits were Nadar, Karzh, Bellock, Libert. In the UK – Kilborn, Hill, Cameron. Among the domestic masters stood out: Levitsky, Denier, Carrick, Shapiro, Karelin.
Sergey Levitsky, a Russian photographer who worked for some time in France, was one of the first photographers to use artificial light. After him, this idea was used by the French master Liebert.
In the fifties of the nineteenth century, the French master of photography, Dizdery, invented a “visiting photograph”. It was a photograph that corresponds to the size of a business card (6×8 cm). People began collecting these small photos and sharing them.
After a dry plate of bromine and silver was invented in 1880, the portrait became one of the main trends in the art of photography.
Of course, the portraits of the masters, made at the dawn of the appearance of this genre, were far from perfect. They can be observed such disadvantages: fragmentation of the composition, excessive attention to detail, colorful background, random point of shooting, etc. However, they have a very important advantage – historical authenticity.
