ANDRE ADOLPHE-EUGENE DISDERI. Actor with Sword, c. 1860. 8.3x5" albumen print, mounted on 11.8x5.9" paper. Printed c. 1860. Inscribed in ink on mount recto: 18788. Inscribed in ink on mount verso: 18792.

This view appears as an environmental portrait of an actor but is assembled and organized as a still life.

Andre Adolphe-Eugene Disderi, former merchant, actor, and daguerreotypist, patented his invention, the carte-de-visite (visiting card) photograph, in 1854. At nine-by-six centimeters, cartes were primarily portraits, about the size of a conventional calling card and soon just as popular. Disderi established his photographic practice with the manufacture of these tiny photographs; he divided a single glass plate negative to make ten different exposures and then printed them simultaneously. By 1862 he had expanded his operation to include a second studio in Paris, devoted entirely to equestrian portraits. Studios in London followed, and Disderi, ever the showman and enterprising businessman, developed numerous photographic gimmicks to keep business afloat.

The carte-de-visite was popular until the late 1860s, when it was replaced by the larger cabinet card format. Disderi photographed views of the siege of Paris in 1870 and 1871, but the changed political and social climate contributed to the demise of his studio business. Following several bankruptcies, he moved to Nice in 1877 and ran a series of photography studios there. He returned to Paris in the late 1880s and died in an institution.

Credit: https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/artists/2039/andre-adolphe-eugene-disderi-french-1819-1889/

Very good print; fair mount. Print shows minor wear, with two small stains in lower left quadrant. Major wear to edges of mount, with numerous tears, creases, and losses.