James Presley Ball

Biography

Ball was born in Frederick County, Virginia, to William and Susan Ball in 1825. He learned daguerreotype photography from John B. Bailey of Boston, who like Ball was "a freeman of color." Ball opened a one-room daguerreotype studio in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1845. The business did not prosper, so Ball worked as an itinerant daguerreotypist, settling briefly in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, then in Richmond, Virginia in 1846 to develop a more successful studio near the State Capitol building.

In 1847, Ball again departed for Ohio, again as a traveling daguerreotypist. Gleason's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion 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.

Meanwhile, Ball opened the separate Ball and Thomas Gallery with his brother-in-law Alexander Thomas. In 1855, Ball published an abolitionist pamphlet accompanied by a 600-yard-long panoramic painting entitled "Mammoth Pictorial Tour of the United States Comprising Views of the African Slave Trade"; Duncanson probably participated in the production of the painting. During 1855 Ball's daguerreotypes were shown at the Ohio State Fair and at the Ohio Mechanics Annual Exhibition. In 1856 Ball traveled to Europe. The Ball and Thomas Gallery was destroyed by a tornado in May 1860, but was later rebuilt with assistance from the community.

During the 1870s Ball ended his partnership with Thomas and moved to Greenville, Mississippi; Vidalia, Louisiana; St. Louis, Missouri; and then Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he started a new studio. By 1887, the studio was known as "J. P. Ball & Son, Artistic Photographers"; Ball's son was named James Presley Ball, Jr. In September 1887, Ball became the official photographer of the 25th anniversary celebration of the Emancipation Proclamation.

In October 1887, Ball again moved, this time to Helena, Montana, where the "J. P. Ball & Son" studio was established.

By 1892, the Ball family moved to Seattle, Washington, where Ball opened the Globe Photo Studio. He may have relocated to Portland, Oregon, in 1901. The family moved to Honolulu in 1902, where Ball died in 1904.

Works

Book

• Ball, James Presley. Ball's splendid mammoth pictorial tour of the United States. Comprising views of the African slave trade; of Northern and Southern cities; of cotton and sugar plantations; of the Mississippi, Ohio and Susquehanna Rivers, Niagara Falls, &C. Compiled for the panorama. Cincinnati: Achilles Pugh, 1855. (see link below)

Photographs

Among the subjects of Ball's photographic portraits were P.T. Barnum, Charles Dickens, Henry Highland Garnet, the family of Ulysses S. Grant, Jenny Lind, and Queen Victoria.

Ball's photographic work is held by, among other institutions: Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati Historical Society, George Eastman House, Library of Congress, Montana Historical Society, Ohio State University, and University of Washington.

References

References

1. (1993). "J. P. Ball, Daguerrean and Studio Photographer". Garland.
2. Mendheim, Beverly. (September 2007). "Lost and Found: Alice Augusta Ball, an Extraordinary Woman of Hawai'i Nei". Northwest Hawai`i Times.
3. Stover, Stephanie Ferrell. (February 26, 2007). "Black History Month: Noted Black Photographer James Presley Ball Recognized in Greenbrier Historical Society Archives". Huntington News.
4. Hales, Peter B.. (2005). "Silver Cities: Photographing American Urbanization, 1839-1939, revised and expanded ed.". University of New Mexico Press.
5. Ketner, Joseph D. (1993). "The Emergence of the African-American Artist: Robert S. Duncanson, 1821-1872". University of Missouri Press.
6. (2000). "Artists in Ohio, 1787-1900: a Biographical Dictionary". Kent State University Press.
7. "Leininger-Miller Researches Local Historical Photographer". University of Cincinnati.
8. Amacker, Kristy. "Representing Death". American Studies at the University of Virginia.
9. Smith, Gerald L.. (2015-08-28). "The Kentucky African American Encyclopedia". University Press of Kentucky.