Charles Fisher 1858 - 1869

This portrait of Charles Fisher was created by Jeremiah Gurney, a prominent New York photographer of the 19th century. It is made using the albumen process, one of the most common ways of producing photographs at the time. Albumen prints like this one start with a sheet of paper coated with egg white – that’s albumen – to create a glossy surface. This was then sensitized with silver nitrate and exposed to light through a negative. The resulting print has a characteristic warm tone and fine detail, as you can see here. The albumen process was relatively inexpensive, but it did require skill and labor to prepare the paper and develop the image. Studios like Gurney’s were veritable factories, employing many workers to produce these popular portraits. Photography democratized image-making, yet also relied on a specialized form of craft production. Looking at this image, we can appreciate the convergence of science, artistry, and commerce that defined early photography, blurring the lines between art and industry.