Wednesday, March 9, 2022 – HE TAUGHT THE ART OF PHOTOGRAPHY AND HAD A FLOURISHING ESTABLISHMENT

By admin

WEDNESDAY,  MARCH 9, 2022


617th Issue

JEREMIAH GURNEY

DAGUERREOTYPIST 

FROM WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
& 
WIKIPEDIA

Biography

Gurney worked in the jewelry trade in Little Falls, New York, but soon moved his business to New York City and shortly after turned to photography, having been instructed and inspired by Samuel Morse. He was one of the pioneering practitioners of the daguerreotype process, opening the first American photo gallery at 189 Broadway in 1840, and charging $5 for a portrait.

He created remarkably detailed portraits, using to the full the remarkable tonal rendition of the process. He selected his clients from New York’s society elite, calling them “Distinguished Persons of the Age” and eschewing the political and entertainment figures favoured by his rival, Mathew Brady. The quality of Gurney’s portraits soon ensconced him as the finest daguerreotypist in Gotham.^[1]

Gurney’s photographic skills received numerous accolades, including a write-up in the Scientific American of 5 December 1846. The New York Illustrated News, in an 1853 article, wrote that his establishment at 349 Broadway “consisted of nine spacious rooms, devoted exclusively to this art.” In the 1840s Gurney showed his images at numerous exhibitions such as the American Institute Fair and later at the Crystal Palace in London, achieving international renown. His business flourished and in 1858 he built a three-story white marble studio at 707 Broadway to house his pictures, and it was the first building built for the sole purpose of photography in the United States.

Gurney played a leading role in the training of the first wave of pioneering photographers such as Mathew Brady, who made a name for himself as a Civil war photographer. Brady had been employed as a journeyman making jewelry cases for E. Anthony & Co., and also made display cases for Gurney’s daguerreotypes.

One of the things Gurney is best known for is having taken the only known photograph of Abraham Lincoln in death.^[2][3][4]

Portrait of Jeremiah Gurney (1812-1895), New York daguerrotypist

Gurney’s Daguerreian Saloon at 349 Broadway, NYC

Wedding Party of Julia Parmly and Frederick Billings. Parmly and Ward Family and Friends, April 1862

Two Girls in Identical Dresses”, Daguerreotype, 4 7/16 x 3 1/4 in. (11.3 x 8.2 cm)

Lincoln in open casket by Benjamin Gurney

Bessie Sudlow is the stage name of Barbara Elizabeth Johnstone (22 July 1849 – 28 January 1928), who was active in New York as a burlesque performer from 1869 to 1873, then in Britain as an opera bouffe soprano from 1875 to 1880. This stereo photograph was taken in New York.

-Pair of Portraits of Man and Woman (Husband and Wife?)- MET DP700063.jpg

William Horace Lingard in Drag by J Gurney & Son, NYC.jpg

James B. “Wild Bill” Hickock MET DP275703.jpg

WEDNESDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY

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TUESDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY

RIVERSIDE DRIVE VIADUCT FROM 115 STREET.
NY CENTRAL RAILROAD BELOW AND G. WASHINGTON BRIDGE
UNDER CONSTRUCTION

ED LITCHER, HARA REISER, ANDY SPARBERG, ARON EISENPREISS, JAY JACOBSON, CLARA BELLA, LAURA HAUSER  ALL GOT IT!!

Text by Judith Berdy
Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS
Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website
Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff

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