Profile portrait of Frederick Douglass

Source: Profile portrait of Frederick Douglass, ca. 1858. Photograph. Nelson Atkins Museum of Art

Date: ca. 1858

Text/Transcription:

Photograph. Profile portrait of a man (Frederick Douglass) dressed in a three piece suit. This sixth plate daguerreotype is housed in a decorative brass mat inside of a paper covered wooden case with an embossed red velvet liner. The case depicts an urn filled with flowers on recto and verso. 

Known as the most photographed American of the nineteenth century, Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) used his own image to contradict depictions of Black people produced by white image-makers that circulated at the time. This daguerreotype, taken around 1858, features Douglass in profile view. The portrait conveys a sense of purposefulness, dignity, and power in how he elected to be represented.