[Standing Male Nude]
ca. 1856
![[Standing Male Nude] by Unknown](https://images.artheonmuseum.org/met/ph/thumb/standing-male-nude-299407.webp)
Medium
Salted paper print from collodion glass negative
Dimensions
43.4 x 28.4 cm (17 1/16 x 11 3/16 in.)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Louis V. Bell, Harris Brisbane Dick, Fletcher, and Rogers Funds and Joseph Pulitzer Bequest; Edwynn Houk and Hans P. Kraus Jr., Alfred Stieglitz Society, Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, Anonymous, Adam R. Rose and Peter R. McQuillan, Joseph M. Cohen, Susan and Thomas Dunn, Kurtz Family Foundation, W. Bruce and Delaney H. Lundberg, Christian Keesee Charitable Trust, and Robert A. Taub Gifts; and funds from various donors, 2012
Accession Number
2012.62a
Tags
Art Historical Context
This striking salted paper print, titled *Standing Male Nude* dating to around 1856, captures poised male figure in a direct, unadorned pose, exemplifying early photography's bold foray into the human form. Created from a collodion glass—a revolutionary wet-plate process invented just five years earlier by Frederick Scott Archer—the image showcases the medium's crisp detail and tonal range. The salted paper printing technique, popular in the 1840s and '50s, involved sensitizing paper with salt and silver nitrate, yielding soft, luminous prints like this 43.4 x 28.4 cm work now housed in the Me...
About the Artist
Unknown
The artist designated as "Unknown" in our virtual museum's collection exemplifies a poignant chapter in art history: creators whose identities have faded into obscurity despite the enduring power of their work. With only one known artwork attributed to them in our holdings, this figure represents countless anonymous hands that shaped visual culture across centuries. Museums worldwide, including th...