[Man] 1843 - 1847

This calotype, a very early kind of photograph, was made in Scotland between 1843 and 1848 by the partnership of David Hill and Robert Adamson. The sitter's plain garb suggests a middle-class gentleman, but what really intrigues me is the status of photography itself at this time. It wasn't yet considered an art form, but more of a scientific tool, and the images it produced were viewed with a mix of fascination and suspicion. Consider the implications. Could this new technology democratize portraiture, previously the domain of the wealthy and artistically trained? Or would it cheapen the very idea of the individual likeness? Hill and Adamson produced an extraordinary body of work in a very short time, documenting Scottish society at a moment of great change. What makes their work so fascinating is the way it invites us to consider the social and institutional contexts that shape our understanding of art and representation. By consulting archives and other period documents, we can begin to grasp the complex meanings embedded in this seemingly simple image.