[Clown]

Charles DeForest Fredricks

ca. 1860 · Albumen silver print · Photographs

Fredricks operated one of the most successful photographic studios in New York City, at 585 and 587 Broadway. Beginning in 1854 and for more than thirty years, its painted sign hailed it as a “Photographic Temple of Art.” Fredricks specialized in portraiture, producing large-format and cartes-de-visite likenesses of politicians, Civil War generals, celebrities, and actors, including Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth. This light-hearted photograph depicts a costumed figure—possibly a character from the commedia dell’arte—striking a gallant pose in a dramatic composition that emphasizes the theatrical nature of studio portraiture.

Artist

Charles DeForest Fredricks

Date

ca. 1860

Medium

Albumen silver print

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Gift of Howard Greenberg, 2014