Ken Nelson has sent in these images of the official opening of the exhibit and Jerry Spagnoli’s workshop in Bry-sur-Marne.

Congratulations to the daguerreian world come from Marc Kereun, President of the Daguerre Association:

“First of all, I wanted to warmly thank all participants in this memorable daguerreian event. This exhibition could not be a such large demonstration of the richness of artistic creation using Louis Daguerre process today, if daguerrians authors hadn’t have participated in lending their artworks. I would like to give many special thanks to cdags.org web site through which the communication has started and be maintained during the preparation.

The day of inaugural visit, I was very touched by the presence of many daguerreian authors from any countries, seeing the joy on their eyes.

To open the ceremony, I remembered to the people the 170th birthday of the announcement of the Daguerre’s daguerreotype process by Arago, making us the heirs (“héritiers”, in French) of Louis Daguerre. The emotion was high when the Major of Bry-sur-Marne told his inaugural speech, thanking all international participants and showing that this exhibition is a part of projects centered on Louis Daguerre’s inventions, of which includes the restoration of the Diorama.

So, each was persuaded by the quality of pieces, the diversity of the authors and of treated subjects, as well as the emphasizing of daguerreotypes by a specialized illumination. In this way, visitors understand the concrete place taken by the contemporary daguerreotype as a strong and original medium in the artistic photography.

Finally, this two inaugural days we were very interested by conferences on daguerreotype and diorama history, and the demo of Jerry Spagnoli shooting in daguerreotypes outdoors views of Hotel de Malestroit and Church of Bry-sur-Marne. The dags given by Jerry Spagnoli are displayed in cabinet during the exhibition which continue until October, 18th 2009”

Marc has also sent more images of the exhibit, taken on a tripod, which have been added to the exhibits main page on this site. More are to come of the individual artworks on display and will be added to the artists page of the exhibit.

Some numbers – there are 182 daguerreotypes on display by 44 exhibitors (sadly one had his parcel sent back by customs and the pieces did not make in time for the official opening) from 16 countries. This will add a few to the artist link list on the left of this webpage, bringing it up to 69 documented daguerreotypists.

Over 30 images of the exhibit are now on the exhibits main page, this will get updated and modified as more come to light, to provide the best record we can to document the event. The main page has general views of the exhibit but there is also a gallery page showing individual artists works with a further 48 images. Some of these like the attending daguerreotypists in the exhibitors group below need identifying, if you can help or have more images to add contact admin

Daguerreotypists:
Top Row (left to right): Christophe Dutoit (Suisse), Jerry Spagnoli (USA), Tom Young (USA), Ken Nelson (USA), Marc Kereun (France), Jeanne-Pierre Spilbauer (Mayor of Bry-sur-Marne), Domique Genty (France), Bailun (Russia), Takashi Arai (Japan), Rossano Bertolo (Italy), Jérôme Monnier (France), Åke Hultman (Sweden)
Bottom Row (left to right): C. Kunin (exhibitor), Eneida Odriozola (Spain), Esteban Naves (Spain), Alfonso de Castro (Spain), Jonathan Danforth (USA), Sean Culver (USA)

Marc has sent in images of the Exhibit in Bry, A fine achievement and a major event of modern daguerreian era, congratulations to all. More images to be posted later this week of the official opening.

Daguerreotypist Åke Hultman has started a small gallery that goes by the name of KONST & KAMERA.
The recent inaugral exhibition was of artworks of three local artists in north of Sweden, but in the future he intends to exhibit Daguerreotypes and cameras from his collection.

KONST & KAMERA
Västertjäl 550, 89396 Sidensjö SWEDEN
Tel: +46 660262090, +46703706605
http://daguerre.info.se

This just in… some very nice coverage of the new Linda Benedict-Jones curated show “Digital to Daguerreotype” at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, PA, USA. The show, which examines the history of photography, includes seventy images, among them Jerry Spagnoli’s unique daguerreotype of the inauguration of President Obama. The article includes some additional background about Jerry’s experience in making this historical work. The show continues through January 31st at the Carnegie.

Obama Inauguration

Eric Mertens’ gallery show at Kuhl Frames in Oakland, California is holding an opening event tomorrow May 1st from 6-9 pm. There will be music, an opportunity to meet the artist, and a chance to see some great daguerreotypes. Eric has some thought provoking work on display and his clear technical mastery is evident as well. The gallery has done a very good job of hanging the work so that the daguerreotypes are displayed to great advantage. If you are anywhere near the San Francisco Bay area, a visit will be well worth the trip.

Currently the Daguerre association is the process of preparing a exhibition poster for this years exhibit. If you are planning on submitting images for the exhibition I would urge you to send Marc Kereun images of your daguerreotypes now so that your presence may heralded on the poster. Even if by the end of the year your change your selection of images you at least have the chance to be advertised in advance on the poster. Send reproduction quality scans to : marc.kereun@wanadoo.fr

Other details are emerging of the exhibit in Bry, the exhibition space is 400 m² in “Hôtel de Malestroit”. The lighting is said to be very favorable, the walls in 5 rooms are in grey colour and “directional spots anti UV in low frequence”. There are also cabinets for cased or unframed works.

It is looking likely that Jerry Spagnoli will give a workshop there on the process with Marc Kereun translating for the non english speaking participants. The Daguerre association is hoping to draw together contemporary daguerreotypists from across Europe for the event as well around the world so CDags.org is endeavouring to facilitate that.

For more details on the Event see the recently updated Daguerre association website (current events section). Also the link at the top of left hand column on this page has been updated to include all past and future posts on the event. In the dagforum there is a thread where people can post images they are submitting for the poster/exhibit or discuss the event in detail

FIRST REVOLUTION, 1839: DAGUERREOTYPES AND THE INTIMATE GAZE

MAY 1 – 31
OPENING MAY 7, 7 – 9PM

Another upcoming exhibition features Mike’s daguerreotypes alongside vintage examples also from Toronto. A preview of some of the half plate portraits Mike made for the the exhibit can now be seen on his cdags.org gallery page.

The exhibit within the oldest remaining brick home from the Town of York recreates the intimacy of daguerreotypes’ original surroundings;

“Displayed within the authentic surroundings of Campbell House – on a mantelpiece, by a bed, in a traditional wooden cabinet – the exhibition highlights the intimate relationship that occurs between the viewer and the photographic object. As daguerreotypes were sometimes viewed in stereoscope, there will be a reproduction stereoscopic machine for viewing a specially selected image. An exhibition in the19th-century ballroom explains the medium’s origins and celebrates the story of Eli Palmer, Toronto’s first known daguerreotypist. Lecture by Mike Robinson, May 14, 8 pm, “Daguerreotypes, Past and Present.”

160 Queen St W, Toronto M5H 3H3
Tues – Fri, 9:30AM – 4:30PM, Sat – Sun 12 – 4:30PM
exhibition website link