Daguerre Memorial, (sculpture).

Daguerre Memorial, (sculpture).

Hartley, Jonathan Scott, 1845-1912, sculptor.

Henry-Bonnard Bronze Company, founder.

Daguerre Memorial, (sculpture).

Louis Daguerre, (sculpture).

Cast 1890. Installed August 1890. Relocated 1897. Relocated 1969.

Digital Reference:

Bronze and granite.

Sculpture: approx. H. 11 ft.

(Side of granite base:) PHOTOGRAPHY, THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH, AND THE STEAM ENGINE ARE THE THREE GREAT DISCOVERIES OF THE AGE./NO FIVE CENTURIES IN HUMAN PROGRESS CAN SHOW SUCH STRIDES AS THESE. (Side of granite base:) TO COMMEMORATE THE FIRST HALF-CENTURY IN PHOTOGRAPHY 1839-1889. ERECTED BY THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA, AUGUST, 1890. (Front of granite base, just below bust:) DAGUERRE

Small relief bust of Louis Daguerre rests in front of a large globe on top of a curved pedestal base. A female figure representing Fame kneels on the base in front of the bust of Daguerre and frames his face with a laurel garland. Another garland encircles a globe to exemplify the universality of photography.

Portrait male -- Daguerre, Louis Jacques Mande -- Head

Occupation -- Art -- Photographer

Occupation -- Science -- Inventor

Figure female -- Full length

Allegory -- Quality -- Grandeur

Object -- Other -- Globe

Object -- Foliage

Outdoor Sculpture -- District of Columbia -- Washington

Lent by Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History, Division of Photographic History, 14th Street & Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, District of Columbia 20560 Accession Number: 23, 817

On loan to Smithsonian Institution, National Portrait Gallery, 8th & F Streets, N.W., 7th Street side of building, Washington, District of Columbia 20560

Formerly located Smithsonian Institution, Arts and Industries Building, Washington, District of Columbia 1890-1969.

Gift of Photographer's Association of America, Dayton, Ohio 1890.

Louis Daguerre (1787-1851) invented the earliest type of photography, known as the daguerreotype, in 1839. The Daguerre Memorial cost $6,000 and was given to the American people by the Photographer's Association of America to commemorate the first half century in photography, 1839-1889. The memorial was presented at a ceremony held in the Smithsonian Institution's Arts and Industries Building on April 15, 1890, and the memorial was erected in Aug. 1890.

Originally the memorial was installed inside the Arts and Industries Building, and in 1897 was moved to the grounds on the east side of the Arts and Industries Building. In 1962, the Eastman Kodak Company tried, but was unsuccessful in their efforts to relocate the sculpture to their photography museum in Rochester, New York. The sculpture could not be relocated because under the law, any sculpture presented to the U.S. Government for installation in the Nation's Capitol under authorization by Congress, cannot be removed permanently from the Nation's Capitol without express authority of Congress. In 1969, the sculpture was moved to the Smithsonian Institution storage facility in Suitland, Maryland to make way for the building of the new Hirshhorn Museum on the east side of the Arts and Industries Building. Later, the sculpture was moved to the grounds of the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery.

IAS files contain an excerpt from Jannelle Warren-Findley's Aug. 1, 1985 report for the National Park Service entitled, "A Guide to Selected Statues, Monuments and Memorials," National Capital Parks - Central, National Park Service, Washington, D.C. (RFQ 3-4-1919) which includes a brief maintenance history, a list of bibliographic sources, and notes to additional information found in National Park Service files. Despite inclusion in its report, the National Park Service report concludes that the owner of the sculpture is the Smithsonian Institution. The image on file shows the sculpture when it was installed on the east side of the Arts and Industries Building.

Index of American Sculpture, University of Delaware, 1985

Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History, 1976, 1991.

National Park Service, 1985.

Goode, James M., "The Outdoor Sculpture of Washington, D.C., A Comprehensive Historical Guide," Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1974, pg. 530 (hard cover edition).

Michael Richman, SAAM curatorial assistant, 1967-1969.

Goode, James M., "The Outdoor Sculpture of Washington, D.C., A Comprehensive Historical Guide," Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1974, pg. 530 (hard cover edition).

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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