The Hansen Album
1860
A hand-colored salted-paper photograph from about 1860 showing a costumed performer posed theatrically, made to record and convey a character’s appearance and personality for an album.
What strikes you is the tiny oval image centered on a vast cream page—a full-length figure in a blue jacket and boots clutching a hat and cane, his exaggerated expression and the soft, visible brushstrokes of applied color turning the photograph toward a painted portrait.
The print illustrates mid-19th-century studio practice where early photographic processes were hand-tinted to bridge photography and painting, catering to theater publicity and personal keepsake albums before widespread color photography.
Medium
Salted paper print with applied color
Dimensions
Each 6 1/16 × 4 1/2" (15.4 × 11.4 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Agnes Rindge Claflin Fund
Accession
1054.2015.7
Palette
Exhibitions
