DIMENSION A Remboitage diptych Artist’s Book

 

My biblionautic chums and friends.

A new exhibition in Book Art SpacE.

DIMENSION

A Remboitage diptych Artist’s Book

Mark Cockram 2022.

A unique diptych of antique leather covered boards hinged with palimpsest parchment. Black on black worked prints on paper

to each of the inner boards. The images either seen or unseen depending on the angle of viewing.

BASE exhibition No 6

 

Invented by Louis Daguerre and introduced worldwide in 1839, the daguerreotype was almost completely superseded by 1860 with new, less expensive processes, such as ambrotype, that yield more readily viewable images. There has been a revival of daguerreotype since the late 20th century by a small number of photographers interested in making artistic use of early photographic processes.

The first authenticated image of Abraham Lincoln, a daguerreotype of him as U.S. Congressman-elect in 1846, attributed to Nicholas H. Shepard.

To make the image, a daguerreotypist polished a sheet of silver-plated copper to a mirror finish; treated it with fumes that made its surface light sensitive; exposed it in a camera for as long as was judged to be necessary, which could be as little as a few seconds for brightly sunlit subjects or much longer with less intense lighting; made the resulting latent image on it visible by fuming it with mercury vapor; removed its sensitivity to light by liquid chemical treatment; rinsed and dried it; and then sealed the easily marred result behind glass in a protective enclosure.

The image is on a mirror-like silver surface and will appear either positive or negative, depending on the angle at which it is viewed, how it is lit and whether a light or dark background is being reflected in the metal. The darkest areas of the image are simply bare silver; lighter areas have a microscopically fine light-scattering texture. The surface is very delicate, and even the lightest wiping can permanently scuff it. Some tarnish around the edges is normal.

Several types of antique photographs, most often ambrotypes and tintypes, but sometimes even old prints on paper, are commonly misidentified as daguerreotypes, especially if they are in the small, ornamented cases in which daguerreotypes made in the US and the UK were usually housed. The name "daguerreotype" correctly refers only to one very specific image type and medium, the product of a process that was in wide use only from the early 1840s to the late 1850s. The image needs to be viewed facing the image as when viewed at an angle the image appears to disappear.

 

Please further note.... there are other studios/binderies doing stuff, spelling and grammar. Please further note, the opinion of the author may change at any moment. This is due to having an open mind of sorts.