ABSTRACT
In 1840 the French photographer Hippolyte Bayard developed a direct positive printing process, which required long exposure times, sometimes up to 12 minutes. Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre’s eponymous invention (la daguerréotype) made him instantly famous, whilst Bayard’s similar process was largely ignored or rather overlooked by the Académie des Sciences, which favoured Daguerre. Lack of recognition motivated him to make a curious, staged photograph entitled Self Portrait as a Drowned Man (g. 4.1). The extreme length of exposure suggests the gure must be dead and this is how he is humorously depicted. The picture is both a retort to Daguerre and a reexive statement on the limitations of the medium at that time. Bayard posed himself for this picture with eyes closed (blinking would register as a blur) suggesting his own mock suicide. The title of the work creates a ctional reading for the image and reinforces its constructed meaning.
