Matthew Brady Daguerreotype of Fredrika Bremer

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Matthew Brady Daguerreotype of Fredrika Bremer

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Sold Date: 08/16/2005
Channel: Retail
Source: GoAntiques
Category: Fine Art

Exceptionally fine and rare 1/2 plate unpublished Daguerreotype of Swedish author and femenist Fredrika Bremer. Bremer was born to a wealthy family in what was then Swedish Finland. Fredrika Bremer was, under the laws of her time, unable to make her own decisions about the money that she inherited from her family. The only funds under her own control were what she earned from her writing. She published her first novels anonymously. Her writing earned her a gold medal from the Swedish Academy. In the 1830s Fredrika Bremer studied philosophy and theology under the tutelage of a young Christianstad minister, Boeklin. She developed into both a sort of Christian mystic and, on earthly matters, a Christian socialist. Their relationship was interrupted when Boeklin proposed marriage. Bremer removed herself from direct contact with him for fifteen years, communicating only through letters. In 1849-51, Fredrika Bremer traveled to the United States to study culture and the position of women. She found herself trying to understand the issues around slavery and developed an anti-slavery position. It was at this time Bremer set for her Daguerreian portrait in Milwaukee,Wisconsin. On this trip, Fredrika Bremer met and became acquainted with such American writers as Catharine Sedgwick, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Washington Irving, James Russell Lowell, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. She met with Native Americans, slaveowners, slaves, Quakers, Shakers, prostitutes. She became the first woman to observe the US Congress in session, from the public gallery of the Capitol. After her return to Sweden, she published her impressions in the form of letters. In the 1850s, Bremer became involved in an international peace movement, and in pressing for civic democracy at home. Later, Fredrika Bremer traveled to Europe and the Middle East for five years, once again writing her impressions, this time publishing it as a diary in six volumes. Key Works of Fredrika Bremer: 1829 - The H Family (Familjen H, published in English as The Colonel's Family in 1995) 1824 - The President's Daughters 1839 - The Home (Hemmet) 1842 - The Neighbors (Grannarna) 1853 - Homes in the New World (Hemen I den nya verlden) 1856 - Hertha, or, The Story of a Soul 1858 - Father and Daughter (Fader och dotter) More About Fredrika Bremer: With Hertha, Fredrika Bremer quite consciously risked her popularity, with her depiction of a woman freed of traditional female role expectations. This novel is credited with helping influence parliament to make some legal reforms in women's status. Sweden's largest women's organization adopted the name Hertha in honor of Bremer's novel. Her travel books are important depictions of human culture at that particular point in history. This unpublished Daguerreotype of Bremer is housed in it's original beautifully rare Japanese varnish mother of pearl 9 1/2" x 11" inch frame. There is a period engraved inscription on the verso that is on a piece of pine board that reads: "Fredrika Bremer Milwaukee,Wisconsin October of 1849".The engraving of Bremer from a Daguerreotype by Brady appears in the book "Matthew Brady and his World". This is a historically important Daguerreotype.