André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri (1819-1889) was a pioneering French photographer and inventor, known primarily for his patenting of the carte-de-visite, a type of small photograph which was widely distributed and collected in the mid-to-late 19th century.
Born in Paris in 1819, Disdéri initially pursued careers in the performing arts and as a bookseller. However, financial hardships pushed him to explore the burgeoning field of photography, and by the 1850s, he had established a photographic studio in Brest, in northwestern France.
Disdéri's major contribution to the world of photography came in 1854 when he patented a novel method of producing multiple images on a single photographic plate, effectively reducing the cost and time of production. The resulting images, which were roughly the size of a visiting card (about 2.5 by 4 inches), were known as cartes-de-visite.
The carte-de-visite was revolutionary in making photography accessible and affordable for the masses. Until then, photographs were largely singular daguerreotypes or ambrotypes, both expensive and time-consuming to produce. Disdéri's innovation allowed for eight separate negatives to be captured on a single plate, which were then printed on albumen paper and cut into individual cartes-de-visite.
The format became immensely popular after Disdéri took a series of portraits of Napoleon III in 1859. Following this, the "cardomania" craze spread rapidly throughout Europe and then the United States. People collected cartes-de-visite of their family and friends, as well as celebrities, and kept them in special albums.
Despite his success, Disdéri's later life was marked by financial difficulties as the demand for cartes-de-visite waned, replaced by other photographic formats. He died in relative obscurity in Paris in 1889.
Nonetheless, André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri's legacy lives on. His invention democratized photography, turning it into a mass medium. Moreover, the carte-de-visite can be seen as a precursor to modern practices of photo sharing and collecting. As such, Disdéri holds a significant place in the history of photography.
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