Southworth & Hawes, Commodore Charles Morris, Three Daguerreotype Portraits Including Exceptionally Rare Whole Medallion Plate 

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Jun 12, 2015 - Jun 13, 2015

Set Reminder 2015-06-12 10:00:00 2015-06-13 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : American History Live Salesroom Auction https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/cowans/american-history-live-salesroom-auction-663
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• Lot Description
  Lot of 3 daguerreotypes of Commodore Charles Morris by Albert S. Southworth and Josiah J. Hawes, including 1 whole "medallion" plate and 1 whole plate, each with credit and date hand etched on the reverse of plate, and housed in 11.5 x 13.5 in. frame, plus 1 half plate housed in leather case. Ca 1850-1855. 
   
  A native of Woodstock, CT, Charles Morris (1784-1856) was born to Charles Morris and Miriam Nichols. As a result of his father’s position as a purser for the Navy in the Quasi-War with France, Charles was able to get an appointment as a midshipman in 1799, at the age of 15. Morris was onboard the USS Constitution, or “Old Ironsides,” as it sailed to Tripoli in 1803. He was selected by Stephen Decatur to participate in the raid to destroy the captured Philadelphia, whose deck Morris was the first to reach.
  
  During the War of 1812, Morris was first lieutenant under Captain Isaac Hull on the Constitution. He was severely wounded during the ship's battle with the HMS Guerriere, and received a promotion to captain for his efforts. Following his recovery from the wounds, Morris commanded the Adams in raiding expeditions against British merchant ships.
  
  From 1815-1817, Morris served aboard the Congress. He was promoted to commodore, and commanded the Portsmouth and Boston Navy Yards until being appointed to the Navy Board of Commissioners in 1823, a position he held until 1827, and again from 1832-1841. During this time, Morris was credited for instituting a number of naval reforms. From 1851-1856, Morris served as chief of the Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography, which included the responsibility of supervising the newly established Naval Academy at Annapolis, MD. Morris died on January 27, 1856, and he is regarded by many as the foremost figure of the US Navy as it existed before the Civil War. (Information obtained from the William L. Clements Library website, May 5, 2015.)
   
  Albert Southworth (1811-1894) and Josiah Hawes (1808-1901) are considered masters of American photography, partnering in the earliest days of Daguerreian-era photography in the US. From the outset of their partnership, Southworth and Hawes sought to make the new medium an art, and they are regarded not only as technical innovators, but also as true artists, producing some of the most aesthetically superior portraits of the Daguerreian era. 
   
  The 3 daguerreotypes offered today are comprised of 11 portraits of Commodore Morris, including the exceptionally rare "medallion" portrait, which was considered technically the most challenging to produce during the 1850s. Robert Sobieszek and Odette Appel describe the process as follows in The Daguerreotypes of Southworth & Hawes (1980): 
   
  "Using the sliding plate-holder Southworth had patented in 1855, Southworth & Hawes further exploited this medallion (or hard-edged vignetting) style by continuing the process for eight sequential exposures of different, rotating poses of the unidentified subject...the sitter's face is presented as a visual charting of the lunar cycle by the arrangements of the face from 'new' to 'full' in various quarters and careful bisecting of the black and white background" (p.36). 
   
  Sobieszek and Appel also include an excerpt from a March 1851 Photographic Art Journal article by W.A. Pratt, which provides further information regarding the "medallion" technique: 
   
  "Cut an oval opening in the centre of a piece of Bristol board, the size of the plate on which you wish to operate, and surround the edges with other openings...to resemble lacework...place the Bristol board over the [coated plate], and let it remain during its exposure in the camera, and over the mercury...it is necessary to have a large oval cut in a white screen...to correspond with the oval on the plate. This is to stand between the sitter and camera..." (p.36).
  
  In addition to the whole "medallion" plate daguerreotype of Morris offered here, only two other examples of the "medallion" style by Southworth & Hawes are known to exist, each capturing unidentified subjects. One is housed at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and the other is included in the Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection. 
   
  This exceptional group of daguerreotypes was exhibited in Young America: The Daguerreotypes of Southworth & Hawes, 2005-2006, at the International Center of Photography, the George Eastman House, and the Addison Gallery of Art, and the images are illustrated in the exhibition catalogue as follows: Whole Plate Profile, Cat. No. 250; Whole Medallion Plate, Cat. No. 251; Half Plate, Cat. No. 252. Southworth and Hawes produced a fourth portrait of Morris during the same sitting, which was donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1937.  
  
  Provenance:The Family of Josiah Johnson Hawes; William J. MacPherson; Private Collector
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