"Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania," a daguerreotype by Robert Shlaer taken in 1992, is part of the "Daguerreian Niche: Works by Contemporary Artists" exhibition. Click photo for larger image.

There are more photographers making daguerreotypes now than there were in the entire 20th century. And the unique, labor intensive works they create are likely to outlast any other photographic images being produced today.

Such fascinating facts add to the appreciation of the exhibition "Daguerreian Niche: Works by Contemporary Artists" at The Daguerreian Society in Dormont.

But the main reason to visit is to see the approximately 70 daguerreotypes by 17 artists from New York to New Mexico in the United States and from Canada, England and France.

Among those exhibiting are Jerry Spagnoli, of New York, who assists artist Chuck Close in his studio, and who shows four of his own spectacular urban images from the series "The Last Great Daguerreian Survey of the Twentieth Century."

New Mexican Robert Shlaer exhibits, among others, an intimately detailed view of Downtown Pittsburgh taken in 1992 from Mount Washington. An exhibition of daguerreotype images Shlaer took as he traced adventurer John Charles Fremont's last expedition through the Rockies, in 1854, was exhibited at the Frick Art & Historical Center in 2003.

Among other subjects portrayed are portraits, landscapes and still lifes. Some are reminiscent of images typical of the mid-19th century, when interest in the invention of Frenchman Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre blossomed.

Others are aligned with contemporary fine arts aesthetics, for example incorporating found objects.

"Pittsford Silos," 1979, by Irving Pobboravsky, is also in the exhibition. Click photo for larger image.

All were created through a painstaking, demanding and time-consuming process that is as much craftsmanship as fine art. Images are produced on silver plates that have been buffed to a mirror polish. Chemicals used in the developing process, including hazardous ones like mercury, require a practitioner to be part artist and part chemist.

Two of the artists work in the Becquerel method, which eliminates mercury from the developing process but makes it more difficult to achieve the clarity of detail that characterizes daguerreotypes.

The heyday of the daguerreotype was between 1840 and 1855, when less cumbersome forms of photographic reproduction replaced it.

The increasing contemporary interest in the form is akin to interest in the recently popular slow food movement. It might also be compared to the revival of arts and crafts that occurred at the end of the 19th century in response to industrialization. Or, as Linda Benedict-Jones, executive director of Silver Eye Center for Photography, points out, to the stylistic development of pictorialism in response to George Eastman's late-1800s development of the Kodak Brownie camera, which put point-and-shoot in the hands of a large public.

The exhibition was co-curated by Mark Johnson, president of the Daguerreian Society, and Benedict-Jones, and is co-sponsored by their respective organizations.

"Daguerreian Niche" inaugurates the beautifully renovated gallery of the Daguerreian Society, an international organization headquartered in Dormont, which will hold its annual meeting in Pittsburgh next fall.

"Niche" continues through Saturday at 3043 West Liberty Ave., Dormont, across from the South Hills Post Office (4 miles from Downtown). Hours are noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and until 9 p.m. Thursday. Admission is free. For information, call 412-343-5525 or visit www.daguerre.org.