Captured: Photography’s Early Adopters

An exhibition of vintage prints from the collection of Stephen and Connie Wirtz. Guest curated by David Pace.

It may seem odd to find a historical photography exhibition in a contemporary art space. However, in 1839 when Louis Daguerre announced his great invention, the daguerreotype, it was considered to be the most cutting-edge technology of the time. Since its origins at the end of the 1820s, photography has never ceased to evolve, both aesthetically and technologically. Photographers have consistently experimented with the chemical formulae as well as the physical conditions required to produce negatives and prints. And, they have continually redesigned and altered cameras and lenses over the years.

The photographs in Captured represent original examples of now-antiquated photographic innovations including daguerreotype, calotype, albumen prints, ambrotype, salt print, tintype, platinum prints, cyanotype, photogram, and photogravure, to name but a few. Each of these processes was considered to be a scientific miracle at the time. The exhibition provides a context for viewing the work of the contemporary photographs included in the adjacent exhibition, Exposed, which includes 21^st-century examples of these antiquated processes. Both exhibitions provide an opportunity to marvel at the magical and mysterious darkroom technology that came into being nearly 200 years ago and continues to excite and motivate photographers today.

The works in Captured are all drawn from the collection of Stephen and Connie Wirtz.