Self-Portrait Tintype by Charles Tremear
SOLD April 2014 |
Rare self-portrait tintype circa 1939 showing the Edison Institute "alternative process" photographer Charles Tremear seated in his shop apron. The imprinted "Edison Institute" folder holding tintype is hand-signed by photographer "Ch Tremear / May 9 - 39." Visible area of tintype about 3 x 2 inches (7.5 x 5 cm). Overall dimensions of holder when closed 5.5 x 4 inches (15x9 cm).
Charles Tremear was a pioneer of what is today called Alternative Process photography, producing both tintypes and daguerreotypes and operating a Tintype Studio at the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village / Edison Institute in Deerborn, Michigan, from 1929 to 1943. See "Charles Herbert Tremear 'The Patriarch of Twentieth-Century Daguerreotypy in America'", pp. 44-73 in The Daguerreian Annual, 1993.
The image has good detail, showing Tremear's Mark Twain-like visage. Tremear's tintypes often show some crazing in the emulsion, which may be original to the time of production rather than a result of aging. In this example the tintype has quite evident craze lines in the emulsion along with some disturbance of the emulsion surface where the paper folder was apparently closed over tintype before it completely dried. The image appears to be completely stable, with no evidence of separation from plate.
