The Falls of Minnehaha
Artist
Unknown
CultureAmerican
Dateca. 1855
MediumHalf plate daguerreotype
DimensionsOverall, Image: 4 3/4 x 3 1/2 in. (12.1 x 8.9 cm)
Overall: 6 x 4 3/4 in. (15.2 x 12.1 cm)
Overall: 6 x 4 3/4 in. (15.2 x 12.1 cm)
Credit LinePurchase, Horace W. Goldsmith and Art Purchase Funds
Object number94.27
On View
Not on viewLabel TextThe Falls of Minnehaha, ca. 1855 Half-plate daguerreotype (photograph) Creating daguerreotypes required expensive materials, so 19th-century photographers usually depicted paying sitters only. This rare scenic daguerreotype of a remote waterfall in Minnesota suggests the photographer had artistic ambitions. Painters at this time also began focusing on the American landscape, as seen in Albert Bierstadt’s grand depiction of Minnehaha Falls in gallery 212. While painters could invent pleasing views from their studios, photographers often labored to make the visible world more picturesque. One daguerreotypist known for his images of Minnehaha described prospecting for a good vista for a few days before cutting down two trees to create an unobstructed view. Museum purchase 94.27 Exhibition History"Recent Acquisitions" The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA, December 10, 1994 through March 5, 1995. "Secrets of the Dark Chamber: The Art of the American Daguerreotype," National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C., June 30 - October 29, 1995. "Treasures for the Community: The Chrysler Collects, 1989-1996," October 25, 1996 - February 16, 1997 "Silver Images: The Photography Collection at 25," Alice R. and Sol B. Frank Photo Galleries, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., November 5, 2003 - August 2004. "Photography Speaks," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., Alice R. and Sol B. Frank Photo Galleries, September 4, 2004 - January 2, 2005. "The World of Photography," Alice R. and Sol B. Frank Photo Galleries, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, June 20, 2007 - May 25, 2008. "New Light on Land: Photographs from the Chrysler Collection," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, January 28 - May 15, 2016.Published ReferencesMerry A. Foresta and John Wood, SECRETS OF THE DARK CHAMBER: THE ART OF THE AMERICAN DAGUERREOTYPE (Washington: National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1995), color ill. p. 136. "Principales acquisitions des musées en 1994", GAZETTE DES BEAUX-ARTS, No. 1514 (March 1995), mentioned on p. 77.
