Untitled (Portrait of a Man Smoking a Pipe) 1853

"Untitled (Portrait of a Man Smoking a Pipe)" is a daguerreotype, a type of early photographic process, created in 1853 by an unknown artist. The small, intimate portrait depicts a man in a simple, casual pose, holding a pipe in his hand. The man's serious expression and the detail of the pipe suggest a focus on realism and the depiction of everyday life, characteristic of daguerreotype portraiture. The artwork is currently housed at The Art Institute of Chicago, a prominent museum in Chicago, Illinois.