James P. Ball

1825 – May 4, 1904

African-American photographer, abolitionist, and businessman.

Ball and Duncanson collaborated from roughly 1845 to 1855. James Ball was an African-American artist who began experimenting with the daguerreotype processes in early 1845. By 1857 Ball’s Gallery was referred to as “the finest gallery in the world”. James Ball had a few partners and studios at the end of the 1850’s he left Cincinnati and traveled north to Minnesota then East to Settle and finally passing away in Hawaii in 1904. He had taken pictures of many American heroes and legends

The gallery, known as "Ball's Daguerrean Gallery of the West" or "Ball's Great Daguerrean Gallery of the West," ascended "from a small gallery to one of the great galleries of the Midwest."

Gleason's Pictorial Drawing-room Companion magazine in 1854 described the gallery as displaying 187 photographs by Ball and 6 paintings by Duncanson; furthermore, the gallery was "replete with elegance and beauty," with walls "bordered with gold leaf and flowers," "master-piece" furniture, a piano, and mirrors.

Starting in 1854 and continuing "for about four years," Robert Duncanson worked in Ball's studio retouching portraits and coloring photographic prints.He also painted some of his sketches from Europe. This is a piece attributed to Duncanson courtesy of The Smithsonian.

In 1855 Ball announced the unveiling of a panorama he called the “Mammoth Pictorial of the United States Comprising Views of the African Slave Trade.” A popular form of entertainment in the 1850’s, they consisted of vast stretches of canvas that were unrolled before the eyes of an audience in a theater with stagehands creating light and shadow effects behind the scenery.

Often with a narration, music and sound effects. This one was said to be 1800ft long. Only the narration and music score remain. It began with views of native African villages & progressed to slave ships & markets to the plantations of America. The images & commentary in an accompanying pamphlet implanted the antislavery message in the minds of the views. The backgrounds and artwork were overseen by Duncanson, his work with large paintings and murals were a great benefit to the project.

During this period, he also painted portraits of many in the abolition movement. Duncanson’s work with Ball was well known. The panorama was also shown in Boston, but its fate is unknown. It was possibly lost when a tornado struck Cincinnati on May 21, 1860, damaging Ball’s studio.

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