Mlle Sanlaville dans l'Africaine 1865

André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri produced this photograph, "Mlle Sanlaville dans l'Africaine," using the carte de visite format, popular in the mid-19th century. Disdéri's innovation was to use a multi-lens camera, allowing for multiple exposures on a single plate. This not only made the process more efficient, but also aligned photography with the burgeoning industrial age. Each print, though seemingly identical, is a product of a complex, repeatable process. It is far from unique, and the low cost of production allowed for mass distribution of the image. Here, we see Mlle Sanlaville, an opera singer, immortalized through this new, accessible medium. The very act of capturing her likeness and replicating it speaks to the changing relationship between art, celebrity, and commerce. The photograph’s material reality – paper, chemicals, light – underscores the democratization of image-making, blurring the lines between artistic expression, capitalist enterprise, and the rise of consumer culture.