The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of December 20, 2025
Senator George Ellis Pugh of Ohio
c.1857
attributed to Whitehurst Studio
Image: 31.1 x 23.7 cm (12 1/4 x 9 5/16 in.); Paper: 31.1 x 23.7 cm (12 1/4 x 9 5/16 in.); Matted: 55.9 x 45.7 cm (22 x 18 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1997.194
Location: Not on view
Description
Photographing prominent politicians or other celebrities was an effective advertisement for the quality and prestige of a portrait studio. Whitehurst Studio opened in 1849 and soon had galleries in 12 cities, including Cincinnati, producing 30,000 daguerreotypes a year. In 1857 its Washington branch advertised it had photographed the entire Congress. To outflank competition from cheaper operators, Whitehurst, in1854, became a pioneer in America in the production of paper photographs. This is a rare example of an American salted paper print, one of the early paper print processes quickly succeeded by albumen prints. Pugh, a Cincinnati lawyer, represented Ohio in the US Senate from 1855 to 1861.- Cleveland Museum of Art, “Major European Porcelain Crucifix, Pre-Columbian Figure, and Other Works Added to CMA Collection,” December 3, 1997, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org
- Cheating Death: Portrait Photography’s First Half Century. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 22, 2016-February 5, 2017).Icons of American Photography: A Century of Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 24-September 16, 2007).
- {{cite web|title=Senator George Ellis Pugh of Ohio|url=false|author=Whitehurst Studio|year=c.1857|access-date=20 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1997.194