Although I have reached no conclusions of importance with entire confidence, it seems to me but just that I should now so far report progress as to show you the present drift of my judgment in regard to the Photo Sculpture enterprise.

In forecasting the undertaking I should anticipate three stages.

First, that of organizing the Company and getting its capital.

Second, that of securing a favorable introduction of its work to the interest and good will of the public.

Third; that of developing a continuous, general popular demand and of establishing a commercial “connection” and other advantages for reaching the public which would give a value to the “good will” of the company even independently of its fourteen years monopoly in regard to works of Photosculpture.

As to the first, it is important that arrangements should be fully matured, before stock is offered for sale, & that they should be quiet in their operation; so that much effort to secure capital should at no time be apparent [262] and as few persons as possible be made aware that any canvassing has been found necessary in order to dispose of the stock.

The best form of canvassing would be the simple presentation of a statement of the business of the parent organization, so full, circumstantial, frank and authentic that it would be evident that those concerned in the sale [of the patent] regarded it as a [perfect] demonstration that the price [they] put upon the patent represented its fair commercial value, neither less nor more, all things considered. Many would give attention to such a statement who could not be induced to examine the merits of the inventions or to estimate the public demand for what might be produced by them.

The second stage will require the most considerate managment. There has been a common impression that almost anything which appeared in the character of a work of art would come to a good market among us; and if ignorance and want of discrimination between that which is choice & that which is indifferent in quality associated with a fondness for ornaments and freedom of expenditure would make a good market, there is no doubt that it would be found here. But the fact is there is not only ignorance but an uncomfortable consciousness of ignorance and apprehension of being imposed upon [as well], and there has been enough charlatanism in art matters to have produced a general disposition of confused stupid cautiousness which limits the demand for works of real merit, causes criticism to be anxiously looked for and respected, and produces a general inhospitality toward new things of artist character which takes the form of inattention to them.

Whatever real excellence and adaptation to popular requirement may be given to works of photo-sculpture, therefore it is not to be supposed that they will at once meet with corresponding favor. Energy in gaining attention to them will at the outset be of much less value than care to prevent prejudice against them from getting a strong foothold . I am afraid that what has thus far been done has in some way had the effect of a false step. There is an ill-defined but still an evident prejudice against photosculpture, which I can fully account for on no other grounds. If so, it is all the more important, that when it is finally brought before the public it should put its best foot foremost and that nothing of its processes should be left to be subsequently improved by which excellence can be secured.

Photosculpture having been in actual operation for a period of three years can be no longer considered on probation. There can be no valid excuse therefore, such as would usually be recived at the introduction of a new enterprise, for any short-coming in its productions, from the highest perfection which is claimed for them. The critics will rejoice to make the most of what they think its defects.

As the undertaking consists not less in the organization and division of labor than in the inventions of Photosculpture to turn out as good work as is possible in New York, those employed in the New York organization must from the start be as skilful as those employed in Paris. Otherwise the enterprize [263] will have to carry the dead-weight of a comparatively poor presentation of itself at the very moment when it is most important it should win the welcome of public opinion. If the work is not fashionable at first, it will never be, for fashions are not set by the unfashionable. For this reason if for no other, there should be no hesitation in making all the sacrifices and outlays that may be found necessary to place the New York establishment, when it is first opened to the public, on a footing in every respect as advantageous for the production of fine work as the ability of the Paris company after the experience it has had would enable it to secure in a new establishment there. With these views of all that relates to art labor and workmanship, it must be held equally important to the interests of proprietors that the arrangments in all other respects should be controlled with a careful understanding of the special tastes and habits of our public. That is to say outside the ateliers the undertaking should be not French but American in character.

Good management in the third stage involves a solution of more than one important problem. I am inclined to believe that if facilities were given them, the people of the United States would generally and rapidly develop a special appreciation of the value of sculptural art and that Photo sculpture may furnish the required facilities. It is probable that conjointly with a market for Photosculpture, a market would be opened for other forms of plastic art, and it may be a question if the company should not be prepared to take some advantage of this. Under its contract with the French company it will have the exclusive control of the sale in the United States of all objects of Photo Sculpture. The possession of this monopoly will give it great advantages for trade in sculptured articles of other kinds. It has been proposed that the company should have its own bronze foundry for instance. It may be found best to make other bronze castings besides those after the photographed models. So also if it undertakes to supply casts in plaster or terra cotta of the eminent men of the day from photographs, may it not find it desirable to include in its collection of casts, heads of some of the great men of the days before photosculpture. Washington, Lafayette, Franklin and Lincoln. No large demand for contemporary likenesses can be developed without leading to a demand for likenesses of the heroes of the past, and if photosculpture aids to develop an artistic sensibility, this sensibility will not be content without ideal sculpture.

If accordingly it should in the future be found desirable for the company to engage in a general commercial enterprise with reference to sculpture, it would be of great advantage to it that an intimate partnership relation should exist between it and the French Society.

It would also doubtless be to the advantage of the company that it should seem to be in close correspondence with a company possessing the advantages for excellence in an art production which are known to exist in Paris.

For these reasons as well as for those mentioned which apply more [264] particularly to the second stage, I think the proposition to wholly cut off the interest of the French company in the American property on Photosculpture should not be hastily adopted.