Daguerreotype of a group of men, possibly actors associated with the Adelaide stage.
In January 1846, travelling daguerreotype photographer, GB Goodman took up a 40 day residency at the rear of Adelaide auctioneer, Emanuel Solomon's home. Here he created 50 daguerreotype images for Adelaide patrons (Register, 21 January 1846). At this time, it had become increasingly common to set up temporary studios at the rear of a building.
According to Jane Messenger in A century in focus: South Australian photography, 1840s-1940s, this daguerreotype differs from others of the period due to its informal nature and the way it flaunts contemporary social and pictorial conventions. Portraits of multiple figures were unusual at the time and usually reserved for family groups. This was due to technical complications related to focal distance, plate sizes and exposure times. Messenger suggests that this image is largely experimental in its composition, and is designed to reveal the photographer's sophisticated image creation skills. (p.30)
Developed in 1839 by Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre and given to the world by the French government, the Daguerreotype was the first photographic method of capturing a scene or a likeness. Despite the difficulty and expense of the Daguerreotype, the process spread rapidly around the world, being first demonstrated in Sydney in 1842 and Adelaide in 1845.
Artist ST Gill was one of the earliest practitioners of daguerreotype photography in South Australia, a report in the South Australian Register, 8 November 1845 recording the arrival of his Daguerreotype in the colony.
