Inside the halls of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, sits an exhibition that is changing our perspective on how we think about America’s early visual history. “The New Art: American Photography, 1839-1910” is a collection of old and early photographs, it shows a new way to look at photography’s role in shaping how Americans saw themselves, featuring both well-known artists and unknown artists.
“Something remarkable happened about 185 years ago. It was kind of a celestial event that changed the world as we know it. It was the invention of a new medium. We called it photography,” says Jeff Rosenheim, Curator-in-Charge of Photographs at The Met, who gathered this remarkable collection.
The exhibition is made completely from The Met’s William L. Schaeffer Collection, donated by Jennifer and Philip Maritz. It showcases 70 years of photography and shows how much things changed during that time. Instead of only shining the light on well-known photographers, Rosenheim decided to tell “a history of American photography from the bottom up,” giving attention to lesser-known photographers.
Traveling back in time, the first part of the gallery takes us back to 1842-45, where some of the earliest photographs were daguerreotypes, shiny silver plates that acted like mirrors capturing a single moment in time. These daguerreotypes, made on silver-plated copper, were some of the first images that gave people the chance to see themselves and remember loved ones.
“There’s no negative. It’s not printed. The plate that was in the camera that sat in the photographer’s studio with the subject is what you’re looking at.” says Rosenheim “So, the breath of the photographer and the breath of the sitter are combining with the silver image on the plate…”
In the audio guide, photography writer Lucy Sante explains the importance of these images at the time. They didn’t just capture a person’s appearance, they also held an eerie, haunting beauty.
The exhibition has an emotional feel right off the bat, showing how people held onto memories of loved ones who had passed. For many, this was the first time they could keep a picture of someone they cared about right in the palm of their hands. As Sante says, “It was an urgent mission to preserve the faces of those who had died, because many of the people who were photographed after death had not been photographed in life…there is a way in which photography is always about death. I mean, every scene it records is not replicable in life…”
During the 1870s and 1880s, as the technology improved, photography became more accessible. Tintypes and ambrotypes became the cheaper forms of photography, inspiring more people to give it a shot.
“The earliest photographers were combinations of artists, and merchants, and tonic salesmen,” says Rosenheim. “They would just travel around the country and leave for points unknown and set up their studios. And they were part of a new age of image makers, a new culture of image producers, and were beloved members of the communities they served.”
Tintypes became very popular, and people loved taking photos while spending time with friends, just like anyone would today. It was a fun and casual activity, often done while out enjoying the day. “And that’s actually really interesting because people after the Civil War, which was filled with death for so many, they needed a sense of relief. And a sense of playfulness enters into the visual form of the era. And I think we can see that in this picture.”
For fun, some tintypes were drawn on to add a silly or playful touch, like giving someone a cartoon-style body with a top hat, while keeping their real face. Which can also be seen in the exhibition.
Photography became a way for people to show their place in society. Families posed in front of their homes with dogs, kids, and their prized possessions. “These people are able to claim a space… and they have this pride in it,” says Makeda Best, a photography historian and deputy director of curatorial affairs at the Oakland Museum of California.
This was especially meaningful for Black Americans after the Civil War. Noting a photograph of an older Black woman holding a Bible. “She has hand coloring in her brooch at her neck. It shows you that she owns jewelry,” says Best. “We could think about, at this time period, her interest in having an image of herself made, what it meant for her to participate in making an image of herself through this new medium of photography.”
Besides the portraits, the show also highlights how photography captured nature and landscapes. Photographer John Moran’s, one of the few names recognized, shows images of landscapes, “the beginning of the sort of fine art of photography as opposed to pure documentary expression,” according to Rosenheim. These photos showed nature as it really looked.
Stereoscopic images give people 3D entertainment at home, while portraits of Native Americans, like Chief Irataba of the Mojave Nation, help us understand identity and how people are shown.
Wendy Red Star, photographer and artist, says, “Every time a Native person has sat for a photo, it’s actually basically a gift in that so much of what was happening to Native people was epic change…it’s a document to help remember, especially for future generations.”
Alongside these powerful portraits and landscapes, the exhibition also highlights the creative techniques artists used to make images in new ways. Including creative experiments done by Anna K. Weaver, where she made a photogram that spells out “Welcome” using plants she arranged on photo paper. “A totally unique and fresh way of using the technology,” says artist Wendy Red Star. Weaver is one of the few women artists named in the exhibition.
Cyanotypes make an appearance too, bright blue colored sheets of paper with images perfectly imprinted on them. The paper is known to be covered with a mix that has iron in it. When light hits the iron, it reacts and makes a blue color called Prussian Blue.These unique images are just one example of the many techniques featured in the show.
Until July 2025, and beyond, “The New Art: American Photography, 1839-1910” will continue to remind us that one of the powers of photography is that of memory. As Rosenheim says, “when these pictures that have never been published before are seen by the public, somebody will reach out to us and let us know who these people are.” That is the beauty of showing these images, when the world sees them, the world reaches back.
“The New Art: American Photography, 1839-1910” is on view at the Metropolitan Museum in New York through July 20, 2025.
