Cleveland (c. 1842–1843): Art, History and Details

Cleveland (c. 1842–1843) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Louis-Auguste Bisson (French, 1814–1876).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Louis-Auguste Bisson's Cleveland is an outstanding example of the artistry of the French daguerreotype, aided by recent technical advances at the time. Between 1839 and 1841, for example, exposure times had been reduced from 15 minutes to one or two minutes. This descriptive portrait of the famous dark bay English stallion named Cleveland is a rare example of the small group of daguerreotypes of horses made by Bisson, who launched the 19th-century tradition of horse portrait photography. The profile pose allowed the photographer to document the anatomical details of the horse, its physiognomy, and breeding. This unusual outdoor picture is a testament to Bisson's technical ability, the speed of the exposure, and the horse's willingness to stand still.

Object facts

• Title: Cleveland
• Date: c. 1842–1843
• Creator attribution: Louis-Auguste Bisson (French, 1814–1876)
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Photograph
• Technique: daguerreotype
• Dimensions: Image: 8.1 x 10.9 cm (3 3/16 x 4 5/16 in.); Matted: 25.4 x 30.5 cm (10 x 12 in.)
• Collection: PH - French 19th Century
• Department: Photography
• Accession number: 1991.38

Collection credit

Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Hinson, Tom E. "Notable Acquisitions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 78, no. 3 (1991): 63-147.
• Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996.
• Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 36 no. 10, December 1996

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.