The Silver Canvas: Daguerreotype Masterpieces from the J. Paul Getty Museum [Paperback]

Bates Lowry (Author), Isabel Lowry (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 3, 2000

In the Getty Museum's collection are nearly two thousand daguerreotypes, including such notable examples as John Plumbe's The United States Capitol, one of the earliest known photographs of the building; an 1849 image of Edgar Allan Poe; and the documentation of the first public demonstration of ether for surgery. This beautiful book's drologue, based on document and letters, traces Daguerre's search for a way to produce a permanent and exact image of the natural world through a camera lens. A series of six essays discloses the tremendous impact of the daguerreotype on the worlds of science and art, and includes discussion of individual daguerreotypes that amplify the essay's theme.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (February 3, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0892365366
• ISBN-13: 978-0892365364
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,510,800 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars none, December 25, 2005

By 

jude (Atlanta) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Silver Canvas: Daguerreotype Masterpieces from the J. Paul Getty Museum (Paperback)

If you are starved for information on daguerreotypes--like I was--get this book; otherwise pass it by. The reproductions are not great and you will not learn about the dagueereotype process--just a very vague description is given. The descriptions that accompany the photographs are very surperficial.