Curated by Sara and Stanley B. Burns and opening December 9, Forgotten
Marriage: The Painted Tintype & The Decorative Frame, 1860-1910, is a ground-breaking
exhibition of painted tintype photographs and the elaborate and diverse
ways in which they were framed. Including over 130 works from the Stanley
B. Burns, M.D. Collection, this exhibition fills a previously undocumented
gap in the history of American painting and photography during the decades
following the Civil War. Other-worldly and yet unavoidably inviting, these
images sweep the viewer into a period of contagious optimism that saw the
rise of a solid American middle class.
The history of American portraiture was radically altered by the development of photography. Until the mid-nineteenth century the privilege of having one's image immortalized through a painted portrait was available only to the wealthy and famous. Painted portraits, like Gilbert Stuart's portraits of George Washington, solidly positioned certain people in American society and history. But by the end of the nineteenth century photographers had effectively democratized portraiture and irrevocably altered the way human beings see themselves. The most modest working-class home could now be decorated with individual and family portraits in the tradition of wealthy Europeans and Americans.
Dr. Burns explains the artistic evolution that occurred in America during this period:
Most people are aware of the great American portrait painters of the early nineteenth century-Stuart, Copley, Sully, Peale. The same is true of the portraits at the end of the century, exemplified by Cassaatt, Eakins and Sargent. But when asked about the period between 1850 and 1880, most people draw a blank. Painted portraiture would seem to have suffered a severe decline during this period.The painted tintype portrait, which has until recently been overlooked in the history of American art, was an essential stage in the portrait becoming accessible to common people. Invented in 1856, tintypes (actually made of iron but so-called because of the tin snips that were used to trim them), or "ferrotypes", were cheap and easy to produce. Combined with various degrees of overpainting and decorative frames, these tintypes replaced portraiture done by itinerant folk painters and carried the folk style into every segment of American culture. Between the Civil War and World War I painted and framed tintypes became an important means by which the lower and middle classes confirmed their place in society. These were America's golden years: the country was unified, expansion to the west was complete, America emerged as an imperial power and millions of immigrants were invited to share in its prosperity. It is through this neglected chapter of American art that Dr. Stanley B. Burns is focusing more attention on the cultural aspirations and artistic attainments of "ordinary Americans" and demonstrating the unbroken continuity between painted and photographic portraiture in American life and culture.
Photography is generally acknowledged as the culprit that killed traditional portraiture. What is not generally recognized is the fact that a specific type of photograph was responsible for the change. Framed, hand-colored photographs competed with, and finally displaced, conventional portraits. The best works of painted photography were comparable to the finest academic art, while cheaper forms drove the folk artist out of business.
The exhibition, and its accompanying publication by Dr. Burns is an important contribution to the history of photography and American decorative arts. The book is available in the UCR/CMP Museum Store and through mail order sales.
The formal and distant subjects of Forgotten Marriage, whose identities are largely lost to history, now become a catalyst for the imagination. They represent an America that is very close to us historically yet unfathomably distant in how it saw itself. The long history of portraiture, the accessibility of folk art and the technology of photography come together in Forgotten Marriage to impart the stories of men, women and children whose young country offered the hope of opportunity and prosperity.