André Adolphe-Eugené Disdéri

André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri (March 28, 1819, Paris–October 4, 1889) was a French photographer who started his photographic career as a daguerreotypist but gained greater fame for patenting his version of the carte-de-visite, or CDV, a small photographic image which was mounted on a card. Disdéri, a brilliant showman, made this system of mass-production portraiture world famous.

Disderi realized the commercial possibilities of this format. On November 27, 1854 Disdéri patented the system of printing ten photographs on a single sheet (although there is no evidence that a system printing more than eight actually materialized). This was the first patent ever for a carte de visite. Disdéri's's cartes de visite were 6x9 cm, about the size of conventional (non-photographic) visiting cards of the time, and were made by a camera with four lenses and a sliding plate holder; a design inspired by stereoscopic cameras.

The novelty quickly spread throughout the world. According to a German visitor, Disdéri's studio became "really the Temple of Photography--a place unique in its luxury and elegance. Daily he sells three to four thousand francs worth of portraits".

The fact that these photos could be reproduced inexpensively and in great quantity brought about the decline of the
daguerreotype and ushered in a carte de visite craze as they became enormously popular throughout Europe and the United States.

At the pinnacle of his career, Disdéri was wealthy and renowned; but he was reported to have died in near poverty. By the end of his life, Disdéri had become penniless. He died alone and forgotten on October 4, 1889 in the Hôpital Ste. Anne in Paris, 'an institution for indigents, alcoholics and the mentally ill'. He was a victim of his own invention. The system which he invented and popularized was so easy to imitate that photographers all over the world took advantage of it. (Copyright 2017 All rights reserved, Alexander Novak and Vintage Works, Ltd.)

Submitted by Contemporary Works/Vintage Works