Interview

R: Welcome Mr. Daguerre. Thank you so much for coming in today for the interview.    

D: Thank you for having me.

R: Well lets get started shall we?Where were you born?

D:  I was born in  Cormielles  France on November 18,1787.

R:  Wow! I see , France has very deep art roots. What events in your early life got you interested in the arts?

D: Well I worked as an apprentice in architecture. I also was Apprenticed in theatre design and panoramic painting. I was an apprentice to Pierre Pre'vost who was indeed the first of his kind.  He was the first panorama painter( Answers.com-2011 answers corporation) .I was very lucky to be able to study with him.   He has shown me ample ways to  invent and create with art. Also I have been told I am very good with lights(www.rleggat.com).  I do definitely  think the correct lighting can  create or destroy the imagery  for your production. Then at the age of sixteen I believe. Yes, I was sixteen I was an assistant. I was an assistant stage designer in a Paris theatre. (www.rleggat.com)  

R:How exciting. What role did mentors  play in helping you develop the interests and talents you have as an artist?

D:  Well lets see. Ah oui! It was in 1826 that I learned of the work of a truly great man. His name was  Nicephore. Nicephore Nie'pce tre's magnifique. I was so interested with him that I signed a partnership. I believe the date was in January.   January 4, 1829 . (www.rleggat.com) That day I will never forget. I felt my self start to branch out. Like a new beginning was on the horizon. But our partner ship was short lived. Nicephore  died in 1833. (www.rleggat.com). But I went on and I found a politician. His name was Francois Arago. He was also a mathematician, a physicist, and an astronomer. He helped me showcase my work.

R: What was the world of art like in your particular art field when you entered it?

D: Well in my own words? I have to say it was very tedious. In a word painstaking. The recording was extremely laborious. It always seemed to have to involve people of a certain type.Meaning the eye and hand of a (usually) skilled person. (The Daguerre Society 1996).  If you wanted a self portrait you would have to sit still for hours on end.   I don't think that I would have the patience for that. Also a lot of paintings were of surroundings. Still life. You couldn't paint a moving object. Absolument pas! If you could, people would call you the fastest painter alive! Je suis cent percent sure that that is impossible. I think that is why my invention changed my field completely.

R: How did the major cultural, economic, and political situations of the time impact you work?

D: Well what was going  on when I was up and coming?Ah oui. In  I believe 1824 Louis
XVIII died. King Charles X was crowned king. What was another?  1829 Charles appointed Jules Armand de Polignac, an ultra reactionary, as chief minister. Polignac initiated French colonization in Algeria. Plenty of people did not like what he would do in the up and coming months.Things like dissolution of the chamber of deputies, July Ordinances, which set up rigid control of the press, and restriction of suffrage resulted in the July Revolution.(Copyright 1998-2011 © Bonjour La France) It was in 1830. When parliament was seeking reform on issues of censorship. (www.thuto.org september 11,2000). I would like to think I was a positive artist. But a lot of dreary things happened. Like  when France couldn't maintain our early industrial start. For quite a while France was still a primarily agricultural nation.( Discoverfrance.net 1997).  

R: What were your major accomplishments and the methods you used in your arts?

D: This is a very interesting topic! Ha ha interesting indeed. Lets see.  I had developed an impressive illusion theatre. I called it a  diorama. It was a picture show with changing lights. I also included these very grand paintings. They measured 22 by 14 meters of famous places.It was the rage of the twenties! (www.rleggat.com) I made a discovery by accident. I had put an exposed plate in my chemical cupboard. Then some days later I found that    the latent image had developed! I was so intrigued by my discovery that I further investigated. I retracted my steps and saw that there was mercury spilled in my cubord.  This accident led me to another discovery.I realized that adding mercury would produce images.

R:What were the key opportunities you had that led to turning points in your life and art?

D:   After I made the discovery I was able to reduce exposure time. From about eight hours to thirty minutes. I fixed the mistakes in 1837. The new and modified process I called the Daguerreotype. I advertised my process and started my search for sponsors.  That was when I met Francois. I mentioned him earlier. The French government commissioned a report on the process. It was to be chaired by a man named Paul Delaroche. Then on January 7 1839 announcements were made. It wasn't until August 19th of that year that the process was announced publicly. (www.rleggat.com)  


R: You must have been riveted! What personal choices did you make to become successful?

D:  I did make some sacrifices.  For example I left my job to pursue art. My first job was actually not too closely related to art at all. My first occupation was an inland revenue officer. (nndb.com 2011 Soylent Communications). Another decision I had to make was allowing speculation. A lot of people didn't approve of my work. Especialy artist who drew and painted still life. My goal was never to put them out of business. Only to make the lives of non-artists easier.  There was one piece of criticism I remember very well. It was from a  German critic named Leipziger Stadtanzeiger. He said that my invention of photography was, and I quote, "blasphemy".        


R:   What hardships or roadblocks did you have to over come to be an artist?

D:Before I modified the Daguerreotype I had to find the problem! I was truly dumbfounded. It took  me a while to figure it out. But soon enough I realized how the results came about. It was the presence of mercury vapor. It came from a broken thermometer !(www.rleggat.com) I was a little embarrassed after my discovery. Another was the "imitators". People like Hippolyte Bayard and William Talbot. Hippolyte Bayard was a fellow Frenchman who claimed to have invented photography earlier than I  and William Talbot.( wikipedia November 14, 2010) William is a British impostor. Who claims similar clauses.

R:Well you were bound to run in to some impostors sometime. What kind of limitations did you run into as both an artist and a person?

D:I did run into some limitations artist wise. Such as not trying to put people out of work! My new invention didn't help with the flood of new items on the market. A new item was the camera obscura. Another was the camera lucida.(The Daguerre Society1996) Now adding in my daguerreotype that is a wave of new machinery.These inventions made it tre's difficile for artists who drew by hand. Those artist don't want to be outdated. I don't want to out date anyone. One particular obstacle I had to over come personally was giving my self thick skin to shield myself from all the criticism.

R:What personal stories (anecdotes) best illustrate how you became successful in the arts?

D:A personal story? Well yes I do! on January 9th 1839 at a meeting of academy of Sciences, Francois was think about the importance of my discovery. Then on  June 15th that same year, I was appointed the Legion of Honor! I was thrilled and so proud of myself and my partners. My process was published by the government. Along with my system of transparent and opaque painting.I was surprised to see so many of my styles recognized. I decided to write a memoir. In 1839. It is tittled  Historique et description des proc'ede's du daguerreotype et du diorama. I also wrote another work in 1844.(www.nndb 2011 Soylent Communications)

R:Well Mr. Daguerre your life is truly amazing thank you so much for sharing some of your stories with me !

D:It was my pleasure.Au revoir.