Clara Pilvois dans la Diavolina 1863

André Disdéri made this photographic album page, "Clara Pilvois dans la Diavolina," using the carte-de-visite format, a calling card sized photograph, which democratized portraiture. The collodion process, used to produce these images, was itself labor intensive, requiring the photographer to be a chemist, darkroom technician, and artist all in one. The resulting albumen prints, made from paper coated with egg white, have a distinctive glossy surface and sepia tone. This photographic format was perfectly suited for the burgeoning market in celebrity imagery. Here, we see a sequence of poses struck by the ballerina Clara Pilvois, each carefully arranged and lit within the studio. This seriality was made possible by Disdéri's innovative multi-lens camera, anticipating the motion studies of later photographers like Muybridge. The mass production of these images highlights the increasing commodification of art and performance in the 19th century, alongside the rise of consumer culture. Photography enabled the circulation of images on an unprecedented scale, transforming the relationship between the performer and the public. The materiality of this easily reproduced image contributed to a shift in the social life of art.