Portrait of Leather Dyer
c. 1890s
Medium
tintype with applied color
Dimensions
image/plate: 8.2 × 6.5 cm (3 1/4 × 2 9/16 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
The Ross J. Kelbaugh Collection
Accession Number
2023.146.112
Rights
Public Domain
Art Historical Context
Step into the intimate world of late 19th-century American photography with *Portrait of Leather Dyer*, a tintype from around the 1890s. This small gem, measuring just 3¼ × 2⅝ inches, captures a working man—likely a craftsman who dyed leather—in a direct, unadorned pose typical of occupational portraits. Produced by an anonymous American photographer, it reflects the era's fascination with preserving everyday lives through accessible technology. Tintypes, invented in the 1850s, were made by coating thin iron sheets with a collodion emulsion, exposing them wet, and developing a unique positive...
About the Artist
American 19th Century
The artist cataloged as "American, 19th Century" represents a collective of unidentified painters active in the United States during the nineteenth century, with 380 known artworks preserved in this virtual museum's collection. These works span a diverse array of genres typical of the era, including portraits, landscapes, still lifes, and genre scenes, reflecting the burgeoning artistic output of ...