National Portrait Gallery Traces Whole-Plate Photography from Daguerreotype to Tintype

The National Portrait Gallery in Washington presents 'From Shadow to Substance: Grand-Scale Portraits During Photography's Formative Years,' running June 20, 2025 to June 7, 2026. Curated by Ann Shumard, the exhibition explores the evolution of the whole-plate format (8.5 x 6.5 inches) across three photographic processes: daguerreotype, ambrotype, and tintype. The impetus was the 2023 gift of Mathew Brady's whole-plate daguerreotype of Senator John C. Calhoun, the last daguerreotype made before his death in 1850. Brady noted Calhoun's eye was 'startling, and almost hypnotised me.' A painting based on this daguerreotype hangs in the U.S. Senate. The exhibition features works by Brady and Southworth & Hawes, including portraits of Daniel Webster, Gaetano Bedini, John Frederick Kensett, and an unidentified African American woman. Whole-plate daguerreotypes cost $15 minimum in 1850—a year's supply of coal for a working-class family—while tintypes cost $0.75–$1 when a laborer's daily wage was $2. The show includes a lithograph by Francis D'Avignon after Brady's Calhoun portrait, part of 'The Gallery of Illustrious Americans' portfolio. Southworth & Hawes portraits depict Isaac P. Davis, William Hickling Prescott, Lemuel Shaw, and Jonas Chickering. The exhibition draws on the museum's extensive early photography collection.