Golden Age of the CDV

Chester County Photographist is celebrating its first anniversary! First and foremost, we want to send a shoutout of thanks to Cap Web Solutions for doing an incredible job building this site and supporting us through this fascinating adventure! You can see all the creative things they do with WordPress via this link.

For our anniversary blog I am posting some new cartes-de-visite that have come my way created by Eber Woodward of West Chester. In 1860 the fascination with the new photographic portrait format of the carte-de-visite was just beginning. The size of the familiar visiting card and sold by the dozen made the CDV an instant favorite. They could be presented when visiting, collected in albums, mailed to friends and carried in the pocket. When the Civil War became a reality, every soldier needed a photograph for his sweetheart, parents, sisters, uncles and aunts, well you get the picture.

West Chester Pennsylvania was home to 4757 residents according to the 1860 Federal Census. During the period between 1860 and 1867 when the CDV was at its zenith I have counted at least 16 CDV photographers in the borough! Some stayed only a few months while others were there for years. Eber Woodward was one of the most prolific artists of that period. You can read more about Woodward here.

This boy about five or six years old is very serious about the business of standing still to please his parents with this portrait. When boys reached the age of five during this era, they graduated out of infants clothing into their first pants. This may be the portrait to mark this special occasion.

The vignetted portrait was a popular style during the nineteenth century. The background was eliminated by the use of a mask that was applied while printing the photograph.

Here we see a variety of Woodward’s posing props: the ornate wooden chair, the pedestal and the drape. The posing stand is neatly concealed behind him. You can a little of it behind his left foot.