Alexander Hesler or Hessler (1823–1895) was an American photographer active in the U.S. state of

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Roc ...

. He is best known for photographing, in 1858 and 1860, definitive

icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most c ...

ic images of the beardless

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

Biography

Hesler was born in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

. He was active in the 1850s and early 1860s, learned

daguerrotype Daguerreotype (; french: daguerréotype) was the first publicly available photographic process; it was widely used during the 1840s and 1850s. "Daguerreotype" also refers to an image created through this process. Invented by Louis Daguerre an ...

and

ambrotype The ambrotype (from grc, ἀμβροτός — “immortal”, and — “impression”) also known as a collodion positive in the UK, is a positive photograph on glass made by a variant of the wet plate collodion process. Like a pr ...

photography; however, in company with many of his fellow craftspeople, he was trained in

glass plate Photographic plates preceded photographic film as a capture medium in photography, and were still used in some communities up until the late 20th century. The light-sensitive emulsion of silver salts was coated on a glass plate, typically thi ...

photography in the 1850s and specialized in it thereafter. He operated studios in Galena, Chicago and

Springfield, Illinois Springfield is the capital of the U.S. state of Illinois and the county seat and largest city of Sangamon County. The city's population was 114,394 at the 2020 census, which makes it the state's seventh most-populous city, the second largest ...

, and took images of people and scenes in Illinois. Using a portable darkroom, he also produced landscape scenes from nearby states and territories of what is now the

American Midwest The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...

. Hesler's known portraits include photographs of the two chief Illinois political figures of his day, Lincoln and federal

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the e ...

Stephen A. Douglas Stephen Arnold Douglas (April 23, 1813 – June 3, 1861) was an American politician and lawyer from Illinois. A senator, he was one of two nominees of the badly split Democratic Party for president in the 1860 presidential election, which was ...

. In the 1860 presidential election, Lincoln's friends took steps to have Hesler's images copied and recirculated, cementing their stature as works of Lincoln image-making. Hesler's portable darkroom work included a widely circulated image of

Minnehaha Falls Minnehaha Park is a city park in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, and home to Minnehaha Falls and the lower reaches of Minnehaha Creek. Officially named Minnehaha Regional Park, it is part of the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board sys ...

, a waterfall located in what was to become the U.S. city of

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with list of lakes in Minneapolis, thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. ...

Legacy

Hesler was an award-winning photographer whose goal was to create photographs of lasting artistic value. He was recognized for the quality of both his portrait work and his outdoor photography. Upon Hesler's retirement in 1865, he transferred his Chicago studio and negatives to a fellow photographer, George Bucher Ayres. Several of Hesler's best-known images of Lincoln are

platinum print Platinum prints, also called ''platinotypes'', are photographic prints made by a monochrome printing process involving platinum. Platinum tones range from warm black, to reddish brown, to expanded mid-tone grays that are unobtainable in silver ...

s produced by Ayres from Hesler negatives. Hesler's 1860 glass-plate negatives were used after Lincoln's death as bases for further images of the President, including busts by sculptors such as

Gutzon Borglum John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum (March 25, 1867 – March 6, 1941) was an American sculptor best known for his work on Mount Rushmore. He is also associated with various other public works of art across the U.S., including Stone Mountain in Georg ...

. Alexander Hesler is buried in

Racine, Wisconsin Racine ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Racine County, Wisconsin, United States. It is located on the shore of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Root River. Racine is situated 22 miles (35 km) south of Milwaukee and approximately 60 ...

. A short documentary film about Mound Cemetery, where he is buried, will release in 2014 and features a segment on Hesler. File:Abraham Lincoln by Alexander Helser, 1860-crop.jpg, Alexander Hesler photographed

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Linco ...

in 1860. File:Alex Hesler Falls of Minnehaha Minnesota 1855.jpg, Hesler depicted Minnehaha Falls in 1855. File:Alexander Hessler Abraham Lincoln medailons.jpg, Hesler-Lincoln, salt-printed for 1860 campaign use.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hesler, Alexander American portrait photographers Pioneers of photography 1823 births 1895 deaths Abraham Lincoln in art Photographers from Illinois Artists from Chicago People from Springfield, Illinois 19th-century American politicians 19th-century American photographers