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Preface

In establishing the Alfred Stieglitz Center, the Philadelphia

Evan Turner, Director

Art reaffirmed

its

Museum

est in

belief in the signifi-

cance of photography. During his

the Center's long-range program.

Although

of

fact that

upon

a

is

the development of

tinguished years as Curator of Prints

nineteenth-century

and Drawings, Carl Zigrosser

tion shows.

steadily

it

photography had a consider-

able impact

dis-

understood,

little

art, as this

Over the

years the

exhibi-

Museum

acquired photographs for the perma-

has been famous for the insights

nent collection. This growth was en-

exhibitions have provided into the

couraged in a most important manner

work

by Alfred

of the period.

wish that the

Stieglitz's

of

many

its

of the greatest masters

Museum should inherit a certain part of his own personal photographic

thanks to Andre Jammes,

archives.

the significant lender to the exhibition.

Thus Mrs. Dorothy gestion that

The Museum owes

a great debt of

who has been

6f g^he The loans coming from other sources th^^HachgJpfetef c J^J^glj Of^A9iS e Eastman House, the French

m

honor the standards Stieglitz stood

IjLQtff^ys

for

which Alfred

throughout his

life

was

Photography Society, the Metropolitan

Museum

of

Art— have

fortunately

accepted with alacrity by the Museum.

extended the understanding provided

Since the Center was inaugurated in

by M. Jammes' collection.

January, 1968, acquisitions extending

of ideas this material has presented—

the

Museum's holdings have been no-

table

and

a varied

presented by

its

program has been Advisor, Michael

Hoffman, working

closely with the

Museum's present Curator

of Prints

and Drawings, Kneeland McNulty.

Two

previous exhibitions, Light" and 7

a retrospective of the

work

of

Robert

The

variety

to the layman, the art historian,

and

the master photographer— are well sug-

gested in the introduction by

White and

in the

commentaries by

Andre Jammes and Robert This exhibition

is

Sobieszek.

the result of a fine

collaborative effort by Mr.

and Mr. McNulty. That

new

Minor

it

Hoffman

should lead

Frank, have established high standards.

to a

With

and give impetus

for further research

would be an

development of the

of

the presentation and publication

French Primitive Photography, the

Museum

gives recognition to photo-

graphic history which

is

a

major

inter-

appreciation for this subject

ideal

Alfred Stieglitz Center's philosophy.

introduction by

Minor White

commentaries by Andre Jammes and Robert Sobieszek

Philadelphia

in collaboration with

Museum

Aperture

•

of

Art

Philadelphia 1969

French Primitive Photography

is

an exhibition presented by the

Alfred Stieglitz Center of the Philadelphia

November

17th through

Aperture, Volume 15, tion,

and

The

publication

as a

Number

Museum

28th, 1969.

1, as

It is

from

a catalogue for the exhibi-

is

set in Baskerville

by TypoGraphic

Mills, Inc.

Aperture, Inc.

is

Commu-

was printed by Rapoport Printing Corporation.

paper, Caress— Basis 80, was manufactured by

Paper

of Art

published as

clothbound book for general distribution.

nications, Inc. It

The

December

The

design

is

Monadnock

by Sam Maitin.

a non-profit, educational organization publish-

ing a Quarterly of Photography, portfolios, and books to com-

municate with serious photographers and creative people everywhere. Address: 276 Park Avenue South,

Copyright® 1969 by Aperture,

New

York City.

Inc.

All rights reserved

Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 79-107749

Manufactured

in the

United States of America

Hippolyte Bayard: Nature Printing: feathers, material, print, about 1839-1842.

Introduction

Minor White

Collecting the images of the early

photographs sent byM. Jammes for the

photographers has been the passion of

exhibition were augmented by loans

Andre Jammes

for years.

We

owe him

gratitude for his efforts to retain the first

flowering of photography a

full

from the French Photography

Society,

George Eastman House, and the Metropolitan

Museum

of Art.

The

structur-

century ago. For though photography

ing of the exhibition was loose but

was born or invented in both England

basically chronological.

and France

at the

same time,

it

was

France that the muse of photography first

the

show

What more

possible time for photog-

crystallize

Aperture the pictures

for

were edited into a contemporary viewpoint.

graced.

To

On another level, Andre Jammes

lovingly recapitulates the then of the

Our sequenc-

raphy to appear than in the Second

images with his captions.

Empire when

ing of the images puts them in the pres-

art

was once again

at a

peak of verisimilitude, except those previous times

when

it

of vis-

to

all

The French

was that among Hippolyte

phers, as well as

swung

to realism.

that time has

done

them since.

How

ual expression

symbolic

pendulum

the

ent because of

primitive photogra-

men

of other nations,

Bayard's earliest photographs are

unconsciously worked with and showed

Greek

the major characteristics of unique

and Roman sculpture. Verisimilitude

photography: scrambled time, commu-

images of plaster

casts of classic

a

nication without syntax, exactly re-

in classic

peatable images, mutual inward mir-

Greece. In Greece the ideal was the per-

roring of the photographer and the

in the art of the

different

fection of

the

Second Empire had

aim than realism man;

in the

Second Empire

aim was the imitation of man.

In his dual role of

Managing Editor

—Publisher of Aperture and Advisor to the Alfred Stieglitz

Museum

Hoffman

suggested the exhibition

Andre Jammes

tation of the

of Art, Michael

moment

of revelation.

Of

the latter, the picture Turkish Stele by

Pierre

Tremaux

is

an example.

Apparently photography was born

Center of the

Philadelphia first

world, the possibility of direct manifes-

unique, though uniqueness

at that

period the

may not have been

as clear

as later.

Painting and photographs

of 1968. It was through his efforts that

looked so

much

the exhibition was organized for the

ductions wipe out the differences easily,

to

in Paris, the

summer

Museum and this publication realized. The two hundred or so widely varied

if

alike that

book repro-

not to the expert eye, then certainly

to the casual eye.

In the beginning was the photograph,

both exhibition and catalogue. Most

and the photograph has never deviated

likelv. to exhibit a step in the process

from

unique norm. Photography,

its

history, has recorded

its

in

never entered their minds. But they

and enlivened

saw them every day. They frequently

philosophies about the changes of styles in dress

and machines, the mores of

societies,

equipment and

materials,

and

varied attempts to manipulate

its

looked vision

the

at

primary alteration of

and scene incorporated

in the

was in their hands. By

ac-

cident, through technical failures,

by

negative.

It

medium into an emulation of painting.

trial

The unique photograph

have seen positives that were deviations

example, the

woman on

For

persists.

the cover of

from the

straight through the camera,

through

and

realistic

The image

looked the long hard look

this issue

and error printing, they

must

literal.

survivals of the primi-

from the

full of deviations

tives are

also

time to each individual of us now.

literal.

People have been looking through

today and thought to be stations on the

cameras the same way ever since.

way

From retained

the its

start,

the photograph has

primary magic, that of be-

be technical flaws

by the makers,

to verisimilitude

they function

moments

now

as manifestations of

of revelation both in the

photograph of the subject and in the

the

changes brought about by inadequate

of revelation— whether the

technique and the changes time has

fact,

and structure simultaneously

photographer saw

The

later.

to

feeling,

ing able to record the

moment

Assumed

at

it

or not, then or

primitives

worked with the

wrought

since.

Whatever

these images started out

have become

kind of myth.

photograph, innocently or naively, so

to be, they

we

Seeing them only as historical examples

read, in

reflect

face,

amazement

power

to

the detailed minutiae of sur-

volume, and

light.

tranced by and gave to the

at its

all

They were

en-

their attention

photograph and knew

or

little

...in

the negative.

Only

present

their objective

of verisimilitude kept

them from

ploring these negatives.

They may have

never exhibited these negatives they were images, as

missing half the message.

They have

been changed by time. These images are both youthful typical in

and aged.

ex-

as

if

we have done

in

A reversal

photography occurs — these

images we casually think of

nothing of the medium.

The medium, however, was

is

a

as

grand-

parents turn into grandchildren! This is

a

myth we

come

believe because as

we

be-

parents, observing our children

causes us to relive our childhood consciously for the

first

time, to understand

the primitive for the

first

time.

Commentary

Historical

Robert Sobieszek

Public pictures by the camera were

months

made during

first

the last

of 1839, but neither these very early works nor subse-

quent photographs generated from a vacuum. Picture making

was

by the camera

as revolutionized

as

was the photograph

The

part of current pictorial sensibilities.

a

height of Romanti-

had been reached in painting and By the following decade, the intensity of this attitude had begun to wane and merge with other ideals. Theodore Gericault had died in 1824. Eugene Delacroix lived until well after mid-century, but he became more classicizcism's literary emotionalism

during the

literature

1820's.

ing during the forties and

fifties.

The

concentrated terror and

energy of the Death of Sardanapalus (1827-1828) absent from his later mural commissions.

romanticism Chasseriau,

noticeably this artist's

who knew

by a public

of art, the same public

little

is

blended with the mannered classicism of his

Throughout

the century, Salon or "academic" painting was

unquestionably the most observed and well received; later

teacher Ingres.

painters such as Meissonnier

Undoubtably the most important and popular aspect of French painting during the cisely this

amalgam

first

years of photography was pre-

of the romantic-picturesque

abstraction of classicism.

group of painters, the

and the calm

Not exactly constituting

a

style,

juste milieu, gained public notice

acclaim by being favored by the government of the July archy.

a

and

Mon-

Paintings by Paul Delaroche, Horace Vernet, Robert

and L^on Cogniet were

Fleury,

common

goal:

obfuscation.

A

who had

greeted photography enthusiastically.

continued by the younger painter Theodore

is it

is

And when

all successful

in at least

one

they told a simple story without confusion or taste for pictorial exactitude

was combined with

and Gerome continued many of

the characteristics of the juste milieu. this earlier

The

Charles Meryon. After the revolutions of 1848, there occurred a concern for everyday subject matter second only to the

Realism lasted attempt to

more than

slightly

satisfy

more progressive

a decade, but

critics

storytelling

and

its

subject matter.

The

writer

at the time.

art.

The

claimed that traditional subject matter

was no longer applicable

to

modern

life;

the language of Classi-

and of Christianity could no longer be understood

by the spectators of the Second Empire. 3

subsumed by the

was an

it

public need for an understandable

only guarantee success. 1 Purely aesthetic qualities, such as the

Alphonse Karr described the popular attitude

Dutch

genre painters of the seventeenth century. As a movement,

cal antiquity

and perspective were

social as

well as a pictorial realism by artists like Courbet, Manet, and

a desire to be popularly agreeable, a combination that could

texture of paint, correctness of anatomy,

realism incipient to

group was carried even further toward a

What was needed was

modern man and his social environment. To this end both Realism— along with the juste milieu and the landscapists— and photography provided pica pictorial style that dealt with

torial solutions.

The pub lie... pays no not see; it

it

wants

troubles

to

attention to these qualities which

itself

only with the subject. If

know which one

then the painting

is

it

is; if

immediately

it

it

does

sees a battle,

the French are victorious,

better. 2

Photography was invented in France by Hippolyte Bayard in 1839.

The groundwork

Talbot. Although Talbot Subjects like Delaroche's Death of the

Duke

of 'Guise (1835) or

Vernet's Arab Chiefs at Council (1843) are "romantic" in their history

and exoticism. The disinterestedness of the treatment,

however, and the almost journalistic presentation of the scene dilutes

for Bayard's discovery

was provided

by the experiments conducted by the Englishman Henry Fox

any potentially emotional impact. At once, both the

abstractions of Classicism and the extremes of Romanticism were avoided. The resultant realism and literalness were welcomed

ery,

it

usually accredited with the discov-

paper prints as early

positive,

make

is

a matter of record that

is

as

Bayard made and exhibited

June 24, while Talbot did not

his definitive process public until late 1840. 4

The

daguer-

reotype process was worked on from the late twenties and publicized in

August of 1839; daguerreotypy was not photography

however.

The daguerreotype

is

a

unique picture on metal

unable to be reproduced, while photography makes use of

The

a negative-positive technique that facilitates replication. different pictorial qualities of the

The daguerreotype

important.

but the picture reflective.

is

The

details,

and the surface highly

fairly small in scale

early paper photographs are capable of sensi-

rendering

tively

two processes are even more

marvelously precise in

is

and mass more

effects of light

scenes or landscapes that appear to be literally suffused with an

Many

those by Bayard

and Le Secq, are most exciting

of this delicate radiance. Scale

most the entire

is

effect of these pictures

ciously presented in a

for us because

an important

also

especially

pictures,

these

of

factor. Al-

would be destroyed

minute leather

ample, one could have met the novelist Theophile Gautier, the art critic Jules Janin, Delacroix,

delaire

knew

the Bissons

if

The

tives,"

juste milieu painter

Maxime Du Camp In such a climate isolated cultural

pre-

case lined with velvet.

the beginning the early photographers,

the

'"primi-

By no means were they primitive

in their inability to

The

stark expressionism,

fully utilize the materials given

them.

Carjat.

Horace Vernet was in Egypt with the

The

traveled the Orient with Gustave Flaubert.

it

was impossible for photography

to

be an

phenomenon.

primitives were not tangential to the

main currents of

the period, nor were they beleaguered starving misfits. Photog-

attained the facility for creating incredibly accomplished

pictures.

and admired both Nadar and

daguerreotypist Goupil-Fesquet in 1839, while ten years later

raphy was given

From

and Chasseriau. 6 Charles Bau-

delicately than

the daguerreotype. Certain calotypes in the exhibition present

atmospheric luminosity.

what displaced. 5 Yet around some of them the more noted celebrities of Parisian art gathered. At the Bissons' studio, for ex-

official pictorial

sanction throughout the 1850's

by the government of the Second Empire. In 1851, the Commission des

monuments

historique authorized

Baldus, Bayard, and Mestral to

document

Le Gray, Le

Secq,

the architecture

and

scenes of the French nation. Later in the decade the Administra-

crude and monolithic forms, and the programmatic symbolism of

many

there

nature,

primitive cultures are absent in their work. Rather, a primitivism of simplicity, of reverence to material

is

and of non-artifice— except perhaps the

artifice of direct-

The majority of the photographers gathered in this exhibition made no attempt to duplicate specific painterly problems or to translate paintings into their own medium. In France ness.

this

confusion of visual languages did not occur to any degree

until

much

The

later in the century.

primitives were fascinated

with the mystery and power that an unequivocal rendering of their

world would impart. There

about their approach

prehend

to nature,

after decades of

something rather naive

is

an approach

to ap-

difficult

2

experimental mutation of the photo-

graphic image, but not without rewards for the attempt.

tion purchased other photographic collections; Belloche's series

of the hotel where General Bonaparte

As Andre Jammes

states

elsewhere in this

early photographers were painters by trade

the

new

device.

Those

that were not were

connected with the recognized

Bayard was

artistic

a close friend of the painter

issue,

when

many

came

they

at least in

community

to

in

all

painters in their

own

right;

Le Gray,

some relinquished

the brush entirely while others continued in both media.

names have

left little

mark on

them

issued

These

the history of art; for the most

part they were not eminently successful as painters.

Many

of

making

occasional article, and engravers

many

had resided and

the

views of Dutch paintings are just two

such commissions. 7

During the following decade, due

to

wars and other economic

considerations, the official purchase of photographs diminished,

while individual patronage increased substantially.

and

portfolios that were privately

The albums

commissioned remain among

the unquestionable masterpieces of this period. In 1860, Bisson freres

were assigned

to portray

glaciers as a souvenir of the

Haute

Savoie. Charles

Mont Blanc and

its

surrounding

Royal Family's excursion into the

Negre documented the Imperial Asylum

And most

at

Vincennes for the Emperor in the same

a name, writers existing by an

it

was during the

whom

de Rothschild hired Baldus to photograph the views and archi-

from what generally has been called bohemianism:

painters unsuccessful in

freres' stereoscopic

of presumably

Paris.

a pupil

Charles Negre, the elder Bisson, Charles Marville, and Louis

Robert were

Mayer

some way

Amaury Duval,

of Ingres, the leader of the Classicist School. Gustave

of the

photography had some-

first

year.

years of this decade that the

likely

Baron James

tecture along at least two railroad lines outside of Paris. large folio

albums that resulted— excluding

album whose

attribution

in

is

The two

a possible smaller

question— present

a

new

type of

landscape, an industrial landscape whose terminals, tracks, and bridges

with

treated

are

much understanding and

as

turesqueness as any purely natural view.

8

pic-

were

as

much

a part of

He

and omnipotent.

Art ought, moreover, susceptibilities! It

sciences, by

is

means

should be

felt

in creation, invisible

everywhere but not be seen.

above personal feelings and nervous

to rise

time to give

it

the precision of the physical

1 of a pitiless method!"'

-

Close to twenty years

Realism claimed

previous, Gautier understood that the by-products of industrialization

God

"the artist ought to be in his work like

man's environment

as

nature

as subject

matter for the

artist

anything and

everything that belonged to nature, with the implicit emphasis

on material nature. The non-material romantic artist.

'Art...

is

subjects of fantasies

and

were not considered legitimate areas for the

fictions

a real thing," claimed the

art review Realisme, "existing, visible,

first

editorial of the

and palpable: the

scru-

pulous imitation of nature." 11 Yet neither Courbet, Millet,

Manet, nor any other Realist painter discarded their brushes in front of photography.

Nor

paradoxically did any of the

and theoreticians of Realism welcome the photograph

critics

as a pos-

sible fulfillment of their aesthetic criteria. Suffice it to say that the

French primitive photographers gave their pictures

to

an audi-

ence whose sensibilities were determined in a large part by a fully materialistic outlook. its

and itself.

In order to retain a vital currency, the arts had to portray

modern society; furthermore, Gautier claimed that "the modern Pegasus will be a locomotive." 9 Both official government and individual commissions demonstrate that while certain painters scorned the new process throughout what was important

and

a patron. Independence was granted to photography almost

major

as

difficulties arose

long as only

it

held to

its

The

internal limits.

when photographers

self-consciously

apparent

its

world of increasing

scientific objectivity

interest,

could not but delight such

an audience.

More than anything

its first

environment that extolled

photography contributed most

In French painting there had been a steady progression since

David toward a more topical and contemporaneous subject terest.

David's pupil Gros painted a

in-

kind of monumentalized

reportage as early as 1804 by illustrating Napoleon not on the battlefield

but in a pesthouse

at Jaffa.

The

guise of the

Emperor

be heroic, but his surroundings are an actual part of con-

temporary reports.

Photography evolved during

else,

heavily to a popular desire for pictures of the current world.

may

confused their picture making with what was then High Art.

intellectual

naturalism of the photograph,

to

the century, the photographers were not without a public

from the beginning

The

relative veracity in picturing a

few decades within an

method

scientific particularism,

Medusa

of

Even more

working on

(1819).

his gigantic

journalistic

was

Gericault's

melodrama The Raft

of the

Basing his picture on newspaper reports and

materialism, and naturalism. Social philosophies like Positivism

eyewitness accounts, Gericault succeeded in composing a baro-

continually emphasized the behavioral study of nature and of

que rendition of

social objects.

What was

of importance was the reality

constantly affected a person; for the Positivists Auguste

and Ernest Renan,

for example, the scientific

that

Comte

examination and

objective understanding of material nature were the

hope

for

The artist was expected by the Positivists to see nature much as the scientist did: with total disinterest and objectivity. The movement called Realism in both literature the future.

and painting drew heavily from

this attitude. Scientific exacti-

tude and faithful reproduction of reality were for Realism necessary for the

when

in 1857

work of

he wrote:

art.

Flaubert phrased

it

most succinctly

a

newsworthy episode with immediate

cur-

rency. In 1835, the painter Boissard exhibited his Episode from the Retreat from Russia;

the heroism of Gros or the charged

all

emotionalism of the Gericault are gone. In a rugged, snowcovered landscape

lie

two soldiers and a horse, dead and de-

formed; and in the words of a contemporary editor, the work

was "shocking

The

in its truth." 12

pictorial reporting of

sarily limit itself to the

mon and 1840's

contemporary scenes did not neces-

most celebrated or dramatic. The com-

everyday was also a tenable concern.

The

1830's

and

saw the novels of Alfred de Musset and Balzac replete

with descriptions of commonplace objects and vulgar

The popular

Dupont during

songs of Pierre

An

contained similar elements.

woodcuts and engravings

realities.

the late forties

increased publication of popular

was not

also occurred. Painting

di-

the heroism of

There

is

no

modern

surrounds and presses upon us

life

lack of subjects,

painter, the true painter for

who can make us great

snatch see

its

whom we

make

to

The same

epics.

of today

life

and understand, with brush or with

more monumentally constructed than

architectural scenes are

a matter of degree not of kind; for a directness

is

—

The

and can

pencil,

how

13

also of

primary importance for the primitive

Robertson, had "covered" the Crimean

day photojournalist would.

The

War much

from any twentieth-century

in the south of France in 1865

parallel.

it

The

markedly, how-

diasastrous floods

camera. Baldus' pictures of this event gained praises for their

and

real transcended other concerns.

During the nineteenth century the known world extended itself far

"Reality became as a source of aesthetic joys equal or superior this period. 14

A

major part of

this joy

was

topographic evidence of place, for a natu-

knowledge of the world and man's

phy amply supplied the

creations. Photogra-

best evidences of the world;

it

was better

than actual travelling since the photograph could be retained

and referred

to again.

The thousands

monuments and views

of negatives taken of the

of France during the

fifties

vided a repertoire of detailed visual experiences fore photography.

The

primitive photographer

alone pro-

unknown came

be-

close to

the botanist or naturalist in his direct approach to a systematic

inventory of subject. Yet ralist sensitive to

upon

picture.

was an inventory made by

what he observed, conscious of the

the scene

He was

it

and

monu-

relative simplicity are necessary for anything to be

mental, and for the primitive photographer, the lyricism of the

beyond the borders of France. Since the campaigns of

Napoleon

to a desire for the

'

-

were similarly reported by the

eloquence and their objectivity.

any other" during

~~r

-

4

as a present-

absence of images of death and

the delicate treatment of the print distinguish

light

to all of the

later in the photo-

graphs of Robuchon and Atget. Le Gray's marines or Le Secq's

photographers. Colonel Charles Langlois, as well as Fenton and

ralistic

common

is

and the Impressionist. Current events and the com-

monplace were

due

that

found again

the most important subject, as was the landscape for

the Realist

to

is

everyday, both in genre and history painting, was to

become

ever,

quality

are looking, will be he

epic quality from the

and poetic we are

The

nor of colors,

primitives.

most, but this

vorced from these trends; in 1845, Baudelaire wrote:

and unassuming

of the simple

the play of masses

also a primitive in that

a natu-

effects of

and contours

at the

beginning of the century, North Africa and the

Middle East had become fascinating regions lic.

The

pictorial artists in part reflected

to the Parisian

pub-

but also helped en-

gender the popular delectation for the exotic. Gros had followed

Napoleon on locales.

his

campaigns and had portrayed him in various

The Romantics

like

Delacroix and Chasseriau found in

the Orient the vibrant colors, the strange atmosphere,

and the

costumes and physiognomies so wonderful in their foreign countenance.

And

although Delacroix claimed to have discovered in

North Africa the reincarnation of tures of massacres

and hunts contain

classical antiquity, his picall

the emotionalism of the

High Baroque. The Romantic painters and vided their audiences with a of the Orient, a taste that

novelists

taste for the exoticism

would remain

active for

had pro-

and mystery

many

decades.

in the

he was naively infatu-

Orientalism in painting underwent modification during the

ated with what he saw and photographed.

first

at least

one important

half of the century.

artists— Delacroix, for example,

The

and even Ingres— saw

earlier

in foreign

modern viewer

lands only the raw materials and experiences for their personal

because they illustrate the Paris that no longer survives, the

statements and expressions; they simply molded the facts to

Marville's oneric street scenes fascinate the

small side streets and corners that prior to the modernization of the

Hugo and city.

Balzac wrote of

Beyond

are a clarity of vision, a poetic enchantment,

and

nostalgic effect a glorification

their sensibilities. talists

changed

to

By mid-century

the sensibility of

one that accepted the apparent

many

orien-

reality of the

scene and subordinated the emotionalism of the

artist's

per-

Commencing with Du Camp's Egypt, Nubia, 1852, other photographers voyaged to the

Palestine, Syria in

Near East and

re-

turned with pictures unmatched in their singular pictorial

De

beauty.

and Salzmann's views of Jerusalem, Tre-

Clercq's

maux's Sudan, and

Du Camp's

Egypt showed a world already

hinted at by literature and painting in hitherto unforeseen de-

But more than sheer documentation, all of these pictures, Andr£ Jammes points out concerning Salzmann, combine a precision of the minute with a textural beauty, a luminosity, tail.

as

and

and exquisite rendering of nature.

sonality to the detailed

years before Delacroix

Decamps was

in Asia

made

his first

A

few

voyage to Africa, Alexandre

Minor, painting and sketching picturesque

genre subjects. At the same time, the most famous of the Realist

a sensitively felt reverance toward

Some

of

torially tal

Du

pic-

with any of Marilhat's oriental scenes such as his Orien-

Caranvanserai (1840's)

seum

what was photographed.

Camp's general views could compare favorably presently in the Philadelphia

Mu-

of Art.

painters of the Orient, Prosper Marilhat, was traveling through Syria, Palestine,

and Egypt. Marilhat combined

in his paintings

the "idealism of a great artist with the exactitude of an architect

or a botanist"

15 ;

it

who was

mentin,

realistically

was

this

at the

same

head of

artist,

along with Eugene Fro-

a long tradition of artists

who

portrayed the countries beyond the Mediterranean.

Painters like Berchere, Tournemine, Dehodencq, Belly, and

The musee

imaginaire of the world extended beyond the Mid-

dle East. In the early forties, d'Urville

and Siebold had made

daguerreotypes of the Pacific and Japan, but the larger range of the photograph brought these

unknown

regions to an ever in-

creasing audience. Gustave Viaud photographed Tahiti in 1859,

over thirty years before Gauguin arrived on the island. Periodi-

Guillaumet— forgotten names— provided the public with topographic evidences of strange places and visual records of a world

beyond

their sight.

The

taste for the exotic

Romanticism, and even though these graphic than Delacroix, they were as

artists

much

ticizing sensibility as the earlier painter.

an incipient naturalism almost from ralistic orientalists

far

a part of the roman-

Romanticism contained

its

6

more topo-

beginnings; the natu-

cally

from 1857

to 1865, D£sir£

Charnay documented Central

America and Mexico and produced some of the most mysterious

and arcane images of the period;

in 1863,

he interrupted his

could not totally divorce their art from the

literary or exotic subjects popularized

The

was a product of

were

by Romanticism.

period in which these orientalists worked, the 1840's

through the

1860's,

coincided with the appearance of numerous

publications illustrating foreign scenes and subjects. In 1835, the

album

of lithographs by

Voyage pittorresque dans years 1840 to 1844 were

la

Wyld and de

Lessore, entitled

region d' Alger, was published.

marked by the

large

The

7

work (over one

of Lerebours's Excursions

study of the Americas and photographed Madagascar. Appar-

daguerriennes. Literally based on daguerreotypes, these engrav-

ently Charnay was a tireless traveler, for in 1878 he was in Chile

ings represented views from as far distant places as Athens,

and Java, and

hundred

plates

in

two volumes)

Moscow, Stockholm, Jerusalem, Baalbec, and Damascus. Theodore dAligny published his etched Vues des bres de la Grece antique

What engraved vide by

way

print could fifties

one year

plus cele-

later.

or etched views of various countries could pro-

of information

do

sites les

as well,

if

and delectation, the photographic

not better, at times.

The decade

of the

witnessed an incredible array of photographic orientalism.

as late as 1897

he voyaged

to

Yemen.

The delectation for exotic foreign lands was not limited to monuments and views; the physiognomies of different races were also popularly demanded by interested ethnologists and an ever curious populace. E. Benecke photographed the Egyptians

and Nubians

in the

same year that

monuments. The Museum de

Du Camp was recording

Paris

began

of photographic portraits of Japanese

its scientific

their

collection

and Chinese ambassadors

would have

Realist

desired, the clarity of outline,

than-life disposition of the figure

comparable

flicting

notables.

The

and the presence of

is

who

the art of the photographic portait. artificial

1864). Photographic portraits of North American

Indians and Laplanders were

made

at

the beginning of the

by Prince Roland Bonaparte, representing the

visual anthropological records of these peoples.

do not

affect

facile

pose according to for-

treatment of the

sitter

decade before Gerome would paint his 9

grandiose Reception of the Siamese Ambassadors at Fontaine-

sixties

and the

props,

of

of works by

handedly destroyed

single

The

and many

number

repeated in a

Disderi, purportedly the figure

mula, the

this veritable gallery of

officializing portrait style of Ingres

the juste milieu portraitists

(ca.

to Ingres's por-

elements in these pictures. Yet these elements are respon-

sible for the strength

bleau

larger-

of the same period are but a few of the theoretically con-

traits

at this time, over a

and the

earliest

These portraits

any aesthetic viewpoint in order

produce an

to

"artful" rendering of the visage; again, as with the primitive

became, after Disderi, the constants of cheap, commercial studio portraits. ies of

And

while

Mme.

Disderi put together a delightful

views in and around Brest,

it

would be

difficult to

her husband a primitive photographer in the context of exhibition. His pictures are included only by

those by Regnault, Nadar,

and

way of

ser-

consider this

contrast to

others.

photographers of scenes and architecture, an uncomplicated and direct attitude clear

on the part of the picture maker produced

and immediate understanding of the

ward immediacy becomes an

aesthetic in

a

subject. Straightfor-

Increased ubiquity of the photograph, as well as different aesthetic criteria, saw the

end of primitivism

torialism replaced the simplicity

The

general shift in pictorial art during the

first

half of the

century was from an overt lyricism and charged expressiveness to a

more detached and calm naturalism; not an absolute

tionary progression by any means, the change was

more

evolua grad-

divorced in kind.

however: strolls

le

One

on

tures

its

own

turally

and technically

to realize as

diversity

bition attests to the

new medium's The soft,

approaches.

stylistic

broad a latitude of

among

nault's potraits— equal in strength

He

is

a picture

maker who

film the scenes

and images of modern

life.

In 1858,

appeared and because of

internal structure, photography was unable both cul-

had painting. Yet the varied

it

pic-

of the

along the streets and roads of his environment and cap-

Victor Fournel said:

Be-

charm

intuitive

type of primitive photographer continued

flaneur photographer.

primitive photography was not really affected by this

shift.

and

early photograph with other values— just as valid but extremely

ual displacement of one cultural sensibility by another. French

cause of the point in time at which

in photography.

Commercialism, the cinema, automated processing, and

itself.

styles as

...It is

not given to everybody to be able

naively, that

man

is

a mobile

to

amble

[fldner]

and empassioned daguerreotype and

whom

the pictures in this exhi-

luho secures the most subtle traces,

incredible

with their changing reflections, the march of things, the move-

potential for

gentle lyricism of Reg-

and grandeur

to

any of David

ment

is

reproduced,

physiognomy of the public and admirations of the crowd. 16

of the city, the multiple

beliefs, antipathies

in

spirit,

Octavius Hill's— or the dramatic chiaroscuro illuminating the profile of Victor

croix or Corot.

Hugo

recall the

romanticized portraits of Dela-

Nadar and Carjat

are singularly independent of

any school of portraiture. The simplicity and ruggedness that any

Five years later, Baudelaire wrote of what he thought to be the ideal modern artist. "Observer, philosopher, flaneur—call him what you will;... he is the painter of the passing moment

and of

all

the suggestion of eternity that

this attitude that led

tary life in the

Le Gray

to

it

contains." 17 It was

photograph the scenes of

camp of Chalons in 1858 at precisely the same Gerome painted a monumental version of the a Russian camp. Negre was a flaneur when he

time as Jean-Leon

same scene in

Notes

mili-

Du Romantisme

1.

Leon Rosenthal,

2.

Alphonse Karr, Les Guepes, April, 1840,

au Realisme, Paris, 1914,

p. 224.

p. 67.

Cf. Jules Antoine Castagnary, "Le Salon de 1857," Salons 1857-1870, Vol. I (1892), pp. 7-11; and Theophile Thore, Salon de T. Thore. 1844, 1845, 1846, 1847, 1848, Paris, 1868, p. xxxix. 3.

4. Georges Pontoniee, The History of the Discovery Edward Epstean, New York, 1936, p. 186.

Photography,

La photographie en France au dix-neuvieme

Gisele Freund,

5.

of

trans,

by

siecle, Paris,

1936, p. 49.

Nadar, Quand

6.

j'etais

photographe, Paris, n.d. 1900,

du Second Empire (May-June, 1968), p. 315.

LXXI

(1851-1860)," Gazette des Beaux-Arts,

Examples of

8.

all

House, Rochester, 9.

p. 203.

Pierre Angrand, "L'Etat mecene, periode authoritaire

7.

three albums are in the collection of the George

New

Theophile Gautier, "Salon de 1846," La Presse, (March

10.

Eastman

York. 31, 1846).

Letter to Mile. Leroyer de Chantepie, March, 1857, in Gustave Flaubert,

Exlraits de la correspondance or preface a

la

vie d'ecrivain, G. Bolleme, ed.,

Paris, 1963, p. 188. 11.

Realisme appeared

initially in July, 1856.

Cited in Freund, op.

cit.,

pp.

105-106. 12.

Anon., Annates du muse'e, Salon de 1835, Paris, 1835,

p. 42.

Charles Baudelaire, "The Salon of 1845," in Art in Paris, 1845-1862, Salons and Other Exhibitions, trans, by Jonathan Mayne, London, 1965, p. 32. 13.

photographed the

Music

his

organ grinders, as was Manet when painting

in the Tuilleries (ca. 1860),

and

as Atget

was when he

14.

Rosenthal, op.

cit., p.

386.

Rene Lanson, "L'Orient romantique," in Louis Hautecoeur and Le Romantisme el I'art, Paris, 1928, p. 264. 15.

portrayed the street vendors of Paris after the turn of the cen-

16.

Victor Fournel, Ce qu'on voit dans

les

others,

rues de Paris, Paris, 1858, p. 261.

Charles Baudelaire, "The Painter of Modern Life," in The Painter of Modern Life and other Essays, trans, by Jonathan Mayne, London, 1964, pp. 4-5. 17.

List of Illustrations Duke

of Guise 1835

1.

Delaroche: Death of the

2.

LeSecq: The Pont-Neuf, Paris 1852

Chemin de Per du Nord

1855-65

3.

Baldus:

4.

Marville: Paris street ca. 1865

5.

Marilhat: Oriental Caravanserai (John G. Johnson Collection,

6.

Viaud: Tahiti 1859

11

ca.

Philadelphia)

7.

Charnay: Aztec Calendar Stone, Mexico

8.

Gerome: Reception

pictures by

9.

Hugo, Vacquerie: Victor Hugo

anonymous amateurs and by unknown provincial documentar-

10.

Gerome -Recreat ion

11.

Negre: Organ Grinder 1852

tury. Lartigue, Brassai, is

and Kertesz

are all of the

same idiom,

Cartier-Bresson. Finally the family snap-shot,

ians— all

reflect

dium and

many

of the identical sensibilities toward me-

subject: a naivete, a simplicity of approach,

primitivism of

spirit.

as

and

a

of the Siamese

in a

Ambassadors

in profile 1852

Russian

Camp

1858

at

Fontainebleau

ca.

1864

Selected Bibliography This bibliography is by no means exhaustive. Only the most important and most readily available citations have been included. Individual articles in periodic literature of the period have not been listed because of size limitations. The two major photographic reviews of the 1850's and I860's however, have been cited.

"The

Anon.. pp.

Victor

Hugo Album," Image

(Rochester),

I,

No.

7,

(Oct. 1952),

II,

No. 5 (May

1-2.

Anon.. "Earlv Photography in Yucatan," Image (Rochester), 1953), pp. 28-29.

Aragon. E. Sougez, George Besson, Le Point, XXIII, n.d. (ca. 1942).

F.

Tuefferd, "La photographic ancienne,"

Marie Therese and Andre Jammes, "The First War Photographs," Camera (Lucerne), XLIII, No. 1 (Jan. 1964), pp. 2-38. Andre Jammes and P. O'Reilly. Gustave Yiaud photographe de Tahiti 1859, Paris, 1964.

Henri Jonquieres, La

vieille

photographie depuis Daguerre jusqu'a 1870,

Pr.ris, 1935.

Alexander Ken, Dissertations historiques, artistiques photographie, Paris, 1864. Charles Kunstler, "Nadar et (July-Dec. 1965). pp. 91-96.

les

catacombes," Gazette des Beaux-Arts,

Ernest Lacan, "Physiologie

Charles Baudelaire, "Le public moderne et la photographic," ("Salon de 1859") Curiosites esthetiques, Paris, 1923. pp. 264-272. Trans, as "The Modern Public and Photography." bv Jonathan Mavne in Art in Paris, 1845-1862, Salons and Other Exhibitions, London, 1965, pp. 149-155.

Lo Duca, Bayard, La Lumiere,

George Besson, Photographie francaise 1859-1955

Beaumont Newhall. "The Daguerreotype and Art, XLIV (May 1951).

(George Besson),

Vn

Steele

de technique: Etablissements Braun

&

Cie., n.p.

Blanquart-Evrard. La photographie, formations, Lille, 1869 & 1870.

ses origines, ses progres, ses trans-

la

photographie,

Michel F. Braive, L'Age de la photographie, Bruxelles. 1965. Trans, as The Photograph, A Social History, by David Britt, New York, 1966. F.

XXXIX,

Braive.

"The

History and Legend of Nadar," Camera (Lucerne),

No. 12 (Dec. 1960), pp. 13-16.

Bum

Philippe "Exposition de la Societe Francaise de Photographie." Gazette des Beaux-Arts, II, 1859, pp. 211-221. ,

Yvan

Christ,

Yvan

Chirst, "Les premiers vovageurs photogTaphes," Jardin des arts, No.

L'Age d'or de

la

photographie, Paris, 1965.

Christ.

"Le temps des

crinolines a travers les vues stereoscopiques,"

Jardin des arts, No. 91 (June 1962).

Anne d'Eugnv and Rene Coursaget

(ed.),

Au temps

de Baudelaire, Guys

et

Xadar, Paris, 1945.

alogue), Essen, 1965.

Essen:

Museum Folkwang, Hippolyte

Bayard, ein Erfxnder der Photographie,

(Exhibition catalogue), Essen, 1960.

Louis Figurier, La photographie au salon de 1859, Paris, 1860.

La photographie en France au dix-neuvieme

de Photographie und biirgerliche Gesellschaft, eine kunstsoziologische Studie by Walter Benjamin, Miinchen, 1968.

Gisele Freund,

sociologie et d'esthetique, Paris, 1936. Trans, into

Paul Gruyer, Victor

that originally

photographie, Paris, 1945.

la

Paris, 1943.

Paris, 1851-1861.

Nadar, Q_uand

j'etais

photographe, Paris, n.d. (1900). the Traveler," Magazine of

of Art,

XLY

(Nov. 1952), pp. 300-303. Bibliotheque Nationale, Xadar, Etienne Dennery. ) Paris, 1965.

(Exhibition catalogue;

preface by

Paris: Bibliotheque Nationale, Vn siecle de vision nouvelle, (Exhibition catalogue bv Jean Adhemar and Jacqueline Armingeat). Paris: 1955.

Gerda Peterich. "The Calotvpe mentation," unpublished

France and Its Uses in Architectural DocuUniversity of Rochester, Rochester, 1956.

in

thesis.

Gerda Peterich. "Louis Desire Blanquart-Evrard: the Guntenberg of Photography," Image (Rochester), VI, No. 4 (April 1957), pp. 80-89. Georges Potonniee. Histoire de la decouverte de la photographie. Paris, 1925. Trans, as The History of the Discovery of Photography bv Edward Epstein, New York, 1936.

Claude Roy, "Le Second Empire vous regard," Le Point, LIII-LIV, 1958.

Aaron

Scharf, Art

Aaron

Scharf,

and Photography, London,

1968.

"Camille Corot and Landscape Photography," Gazette des

Beaux-Arts, LIX, 1962, pp 99-102.

Museum Folkwang. Die

Kalotypie in Frankreich. Beispiele der Landschafts-, Architektur- und Reisedokumentalionsfotographie, (Exhibition catEssen:

LXVI

Jean Prinet and Antoinette Dilasser, Xadar, Paris, 1966.

152-153 (July-Aug. 1967), pp. 26-37.

Yvan

Lecuyer, Histoire de

Paris:

H. Th. Bossert and H. Guttmann, Les premiers temps de 1840 1870, Paris, 1930.

Michel

Raymond

articles

Beaumont Newhall. "Delacroix and Photography," Magazine

(Paris), n.d. (1948). L. D.

la

photographe/1853," Terre d'Images, No. 2

dtl

(March-April 1964), pp. 217-235. Reprints of four appeared in La Lumiere, 1852-53.

Paris, 1934.

sur

Ernest Lacan. Esquisses photographiques a propos de I'Exposition Un'werselle et de la Guerre d'Orient, Paris, 1856.

Pauline V. Asher, "Photography." Pre-Impressionism 1860 1869, a formative decade in French art and culture, (Exhibition catalogue), Davis: University of California at Davis Memorial Union Art Gallery, 1969, pp. 75-77.

,

et scientifiques

Hugo photographe,

German

Paris, 1905.

Andre Jammes, Charles Xegre photographe,

Paris, 1963.

siecle. Essai

as

Aaron Scharf and Andre Jammes, "Le realisme de

la

photographie

et la

reaction des peintres," L'Art de France, IV, 1964. pp. 174-189.

Hazen Sise. "The Seigneur of Lotbiniere— His 'Excursions daguerriennes,' " Canadian Art, IX, (Autumn 1951), pp. 6-9. Bulletin de

Emmanuel Emmanuel

la

Societe Francaise de Photographie, Paris,

Sougez,

La photographie, son

Sougez, "This (Dec. 1960), pp. 23-26.

1

855- 1 91 4-4-.

histoire, Paris, 1968.

Nadar," Camera

(Lucerne),

XXXIX,

No.

12

F. A. Trapp. "The Art of Delacroix and the Camera's Eye," Apollo, LXXXIII, No. 50 (April 1966), pp. 278-288.

Andre Vigneau, Une breve

histoire de I'art de

Xiepce a nos jours, Paris, 1963.

Maxime Du Camp: Nubia

1851

Charles Xegre: Chartres Cathedral 1855 (photogravure)

Photographer

Unknown

Portrait of a

man

ca.

1855-1860

)

Maxime Du Camp: The

Colossus of

Abu Simbel

1851

Maxime Du Camp: The

Colossus of

Abu Simbel

1851

Hippolyte Bayard:

Still life

1840

Hippolyte Bayard:

Self Portrait ca. 1846 (calotype)

Duchenne de Boulogne: The modeling the forehead

is

of the sides of

impossible 1862

Duchenne de Boulogne: Memory and Stimulus to

Remembering 1862

Victor Regnault: Laboratory Instruments ca. 1851

Victor Regnault: Acoustical Experiment ca. 1851

Hippolyte Bayard:

Self Portrait ca. 1846 (calotype)

EC

Piallat:

Warehouse

of agricultural

implements (photolithograph)

Adolphe Braun: Port

of Marseille 1855

Unknown: Return

of the Troops from Italy 1852 (daguerreotype)

Ailolphe Braun:

The Court

of

Napoleon

III at

Fontainebleu June 24, 1860 (one of three parts)

Adolphe Braun: The Garden

Charles Negre:

The

Imperial Asylum at Vincennes 1860

Charles Negre:

The

Imperial Asylum at Vincennes 1860

Charles Negre:

The

Imperial Asylum at Vincennes 1860

Charles Negre: Acquaiuolo 1852

Charles Negre: Organ Grinder 1852

Charles Negre:

The

Imperial Asylum at Vincennes 1860

Charles Negre:

The

Imperial Asylum at Vincennes 1860

Charles Negre:

The

Imperial Asylum at Vincennes 1860

Gustave Le Gray:

Camp

of Chalons

— the Guard entrenched

Gustave Le Gray:

Camp

of Chalons

— view of the drill

field

Gustave Le Gray:

Camp

of Chalons — the Emperor's table

Gustave Le Gray:

Camp

of Chalons — the

Guard

at

dawn

1858

Victor Regnault: Landscape at Sevres 1851

Henri Le Secq: Dieppe

Gustave Le Gray: Seascape 1856

Gustave Viaud: Tahiti 1859 (collotype)

Desire Charnay: Madagascar -The Queen's Minister

Desire Charnay: Madagascar — Betsimisaraka

women

Louis De Clercq: Jerusalem, Sixth Station of the Cross 1859-1860

Hector Horeau: Luxor 1841 (aquatint from daguerreotype)

Hector Horeau: Thebes 1841 (aquatint from daguerreotype)

Charles Negre:

The Abbey

of

Montmajour

1852

Maxime Du Camp: The

Colossus of

Abu Simbel

1851

Eugene Cuvelier: Grass and shrubs 1863

Nicc-phore Niepce: Portrait of Cardinal d'Amboise 1827 (photo-etching)

Unknown:

Portrait of a

young man (ambrotype)

Unknown: The Town Residence

of Lesdiguiers ca. 1865

Henri Le Secq: Vase of Flowers, Fantaisie Photographique

ca.

1856

Victor Regnault: Portrait of a servant ca. 1851

Henri Le Secq: Dwelling

in the quarries of St.

Leu

1851

Victor Regnault: Portrait of Claude Bernard

ca.

1851

Henri Le Secq: Garden Scene

Henri Le Secq:

Still Life,

Fantaisie Photographique ca. 1856

Pierre

Tremaux: Turkish

Steles 1830 (photolithograph)

French Primitive Photography The unusual

expression "primitive photography"

quires a definition; while title to

Andre Jammes

an exhibition,

it is

it is

re-

obviously easy to give a

more difficult

to justify

roughly from 1850 to 1865

al-

lowing exceptions for forerunners and latecomers. Theirs

is

the very

an

art of discovery

as

much on

of pioneering.

they adapted to the

first,

their disposal

and

and drew out the best

instinct as

on

talent.

new

From

techniques at

effects.

They relied

These primitives were

neither amateurs nor professionals; they were both, in a

period

lished.

when

Almost

this distinction all

had not yet been

means

came

of survival.

The

rich amateurs like

to their brushes

and

art or as a

Le Secq

be-

Le Gray and

easels.

only true professionals adept at photography

ever since

whom

Some

professionals, but specialists like

Negre returned

estab-

were painters, and for them photog-

raphy became a means of enriching their

its

discovery were the daguerreotypists at

"squalid society hurled

cissus, to

contemplate

its

itself,

put

titioners dealt with stereoscopy

it.

Later, other prac-

and pornography.

"Shortly after the rise of photography, thousands of

it.

French primitive photographers flourished during a relatively brief period,

plates," as Baudelaire so aptly

like a single Nar-

vulgar image upon the metal

eager eyes were glued to the holes of the stereoscope as if

gazing through the skylight to infinity.

of obscenity,

man

of

which

as self-love,

is

as active in

The

love

the natural feelings

did not allow so splendid an occa-

sion of satisfying itself to escape."

These

invectives of

Baudelaire found their mark, and rightly

would be too simple

to classify all

so,

photography

but

it

as the

outlandish abomination he abhorred. Baudelaire never attacked nor despised the works we have brought together. his

The

author of the Fleurs du Mai dedicated

famous poem "Le Voyage"

and "Le Reve d'un curieux" fanatics "the

to

to

Maxime Du Camp,

Nadar.

new worshipers of the sun,"

posed for Nadar,

who was

He

yet he readily

present at his deathbed, and

for Carjat, friend of the poets

and

idealists.

Baudelaire and the adherents of "art for

would not concede photography the the realm of pure art.

treated as

They wished

art's

smallest it

sake"

wedge

in

kept "the very

humble

servant, like printing

and shorthand which

have neither created nor supplanted literature." seek to examine

And

this

is

it

in this

same way— in

why we emphasize above

tary value, believing firmly that

We

its

humility.

all its

documen-

beyond plain statement

photography "intrudes on the domain of the intangible

and the imaginary"— which

it

first

skillful

makers of the calotype,

these archeological adventurers, these investigators of historic

monuments,

these scrutinizes of the

human

countenance— these very primitives who were

to

be

his

photographic

Generally

this

of the century

fill

in June, 1839, organized a

graphs printed on paper. tion reveals, for the

him among

raphy.

Some

visitors

raphers enjoyed a high public esteem. Reactionism

the selection, but

was proud of

his

Egyptian

it

by loan-

in Paris of photo-

richness of this collec-

time, the range of Victor Reghistorians will doubtless

the top ranking founders of photog-

tions observed in

Du Camp

first

show

The

and future

Xiepce's disciples until 1859. Until then early photog-

yet to set in.

in this exhibition

made

ing several invaluable prints by Hippolyte Bayard, who

place

had

gap

a serious

the end

vistas.

Societe Francaise de Photographie has

possible to

for his

exile.

new techniques toward

opened new

cards. at

Du Camp

was a period of grace, very brief and

very complete, before

nault's talents,

aimed

Flaubert deplored the

photographs while poets were in

annihilated by the manufacturers of portrait visiting

Baudelaire's venom, in any case, was not

past.

Legion of Honor being bestowed on

The

had been denied.

These primitives then are the people Baudelaire accepted— these

claimed

not in sympathy with the

making our

we

choices

trust that

may

restric-

find gaps in

while viewing

pictures hitherto unseen they will

many

become aware

of

calotypes in 1852, although twenty years later he was

the wealth of material

ashamed

which, gradually unearthed, will help us to reevaluate

famed

of them.

Saddened by the death

historical painter,

Regnault

of his son the

also completely dis-

still

hidden away in

our ideas of the history of photography.

lost

boxes

"Exactly repeatable pictorial statements" It is

not by chance that one of the

tion

is

first

works shown in the exhibi-

manual or purely photomechanical. The documentary function

the reproduction of a print by Joseph Nicephore Niepce.

This picture

is

one of the

first

of photography to

experiments by the inventor of

time to be

its

which

prime

it

was humiliatingly limited proved

asset, the

very essense of

its

in

originality.

symbol of the two functions of photog-

Primitive photographers were conscious of the beauty of their

raphy: the exact recording of reality and the exact reproduction

products, but they were hardly aware that beyond simple docu-

of

mentary evidence they were laying the foundations

photography;

tlii s

it is

also a

record.

Photography was

and despite

its

born with Niepce;

really

as a

unique object

Was

language.

the Jerusalem stonework that

for a

new

Salzmann repro-

duced Jewish, Roman, or Christian? This was fundamental, but

charm, the daguerreotype should only be consid-

on the

ered as a step in the evolution of a technical process. Photogra-

there was also the light

phy only came

of the time-ravaged walls. This secondary pictorial feature, pos-

and

to full

a few others

fruition with Talbot, Blanquart-Evrard,

who were

finally able to secure

multiple repro-

sibly intentional,

duction from the single negative. Except for the purpose of

comparison, the daguerreotype figures in to the extent that

1

it

became duplicable

Nicephore NIEPCE. Portrait of

Cardinal d'Amboise. Photoetching, 1827. Printed in 1862

from the

orig-

Mayor

inal tin plate for J. Chevrier,

of Chalon-sur-Saone, dedicated to J.

Niepce

de Saint-Victor,

who

later re-

it

to Ernest

Lacan, Editor-in-Chief of the publica-

La Lumiere.

162x130*

speaking, Niepce's

Strictly

We

experiments, early in

first

1839, or after the reports of Talbot's

work.

The

picture was produced

themselves, to the sun. 3-4

Hippolyte

first

suc-

BAYARD. Two

still

(Collec-

1840. Direct positive prints.

tion of the Societe Franchise de Pho-

161x174, 138x210

Bayard sensitized a sheet of paper in

original seventeenth-century

silver

print

had been made transparent by

in the light.

the use of melted wax. Niepce then in contact with the tin plate

smeared with bitumen of Judea. After sun the bitumen hard-

to the

ened

places where

in

the sun

had

penetrated the print. Acid then etched the parts that print,

had been dark

thus reproducing an

in the

etching

it.

came

ing:

BAYARD.

feathers, material,

1839-1842.

As

a

Nature printprint,

about

(Collection of the Socidte1

245x208

just before

unique object,

like

it

have

the splendid sharpness of the daguer-

reotype. Bayard arranged an exhibi-

some

24, 1839,

thirty

of his pictures

about a month before

the techniques of Niepce

Francaise de Photographic) •Sizes are in centimeters

then resensitized the

not be reproduced, nor did

tion of

2 Hippolyte

Societe Francaise de Photographic)

Benjamin DELESSERT. Reproduc-

re

the

and Daguer-

were revealed during a

Academy. This was the

sitting of first

exhi-

bition of photographs in the world. 5 Hippolyte

BAYARD.

"Holy Family" of Marcan-

print by Blanquart-Evrard from the

negative on paper.

This

is

the

first

duction of an

238x167

example of the repro-

artist's

complete works

Delessert was to use the photoetching

process of Niepce de Saint-Victor, thus

coming

Still life: col-

the quality of the

closer to

original.

In the darkroom a complex

positive.

June

incorrect.)

darken

the daguerreotype, the picture could

1824, given by Chevrier in his dedicais

to

it

inversion took place; the picture be-

close to the original. (N.B.: the date,

tion

allowing

paper in potassium iodide using

Direct

through photography. From 1854 on,

processes.

He

1840.

(Collection of the

tonio Raimondi, about 1852. Positive

collection of casts, about 1839-

nitrate,

..

(?)

256x304 6

The

exposure

of casts, June,

positive print

paper, on which rested the objects

tographic)

it

lection

simply by exposing the sensitized

raphy but rather photomechanical

put

new mode of expression intrinsic to new form a delight which the

find in this

primitive originators sensed only dimly.

This negative print may date from

lifes:

do not concern photog-

cessful efforts

photography.

only

some form, whether

Bayard's

was not merely the realism that Baudelaire

considered slavish but a

tion of the

dedicated and presented

tion

in

this exhibition

steps of a stairway, the texture

7

BISSON

freres. Ecce

Homo.

L'Oeuvre de Rembrandt reproduit par la

photographic decrit de commente

par M. Charles Blanc. Printed by Lemercier from negative on 1858.

This was the the

glass, 1854-

424x353

album published by and

first

brothers

Louis-Auguste

Auguste-Rosalie Bisson.

It

was

fol-

lowed by numerous publications on art, architecture,

8

BISSON

and

freres.

science.

The

Knight, Devil

and Death. Oeuvre d'Albert Durer

photographie.

glass negatives, 1854.

245x187

QUART-EVRARD.

Ursula and

St.

Her Companions Painted by MemAlbum photographique

ling Plate 32:

de

I'artiste et

de I'amateur, 1851.

202

xl33

The

11

of sensitivity to certain colors

early

emulsions greatly im-

252x345

proof.

Museum. Blanquart-Evrard print from paper negative, about 1851-1855.

the

seventh in

Paris Photographique by Blanquart-

Evrard, one of the most beautiful of the Lille publications.

This example

should contain thirty-five pictures, but

from the

first

collec-

tion of photographs published in Lille

by Blanquart-Evrard, who from 1851 to 1855

operated a veritable small

fac-

tory of assembly line prints. Besides

there

is

The album

no known complete

set extant.

Excursions daguerriennes. Vues et

monuments

les

plus remarquables du

12

produced numbers of albums: among

lathe from a daguerreotype.

religieux, L'Art con-

13 Bas-relief

Sa-

150x205

from Notre Dame. Exe-

cuted by the Fizeau process.

175x138

inaux, Gravures celebres, and Etudes

photographiques. Almost

of these

all

Daguerreotypes made from 1839 cinated

have disappeared.

artists

their effect

The appearance

of these faithful reited

productions of works of art must be

the Annals of the Artists of Spain by

"William Sterling, these reproductions are of a quality highly superior to

those produced by Talbot.

William

Ivins,

they were

To quote "the

if

would have been very

lim-

means had not been found

about works of art which could be

accepted as visual evidence about things other than It

mere iconography.

was no longer necessary

to

put faith

in the accuracy of the observation skill

of the draughtsmen

gravers.

and

and

the en-

These reports were not only

impersonal but they reached down into the personality of the artists

made

the objects

that

who

were repro-

duced." 10 Charles

MARVILLE.

Treasure of

12, 1843.

into a copperplate engraving,

made

engaged engravers of extraordinary in faithfully dupli-

cating daguerreotypes. Soon Fizeau,

who was

only twenty-two years old,

managed

to convert

print-

manual

intervention.

The daguerreotype was

However,

had

really achieved

after 1842,

in

came one

of the

little.

he adopted Tal-

bot's negative-positive system

and

be-

France to

in

first

England's best products. Bayard also indubitably outdistanced his predeces-

Moving beyond a

feeling

traditional pic-

the

for

purely

photographic image dawns in his work.

It is difficult to

he was aiming

pinpoint what

at in this

composition,

though he was certainly a forerunner approach."

Beyond

documentation, henceforth

"exactly

of

"the

direct

repeatable," appears straight photog-

17

tecture in which certain pictures

Louis-Desire- Joseph

QUART-EVRARD. The at Ypres. Positive tive,

Hippolyte FIZEAU. The Cathe-

Dame. Daguerreotype

converted into a copperplate engraving, 1842.

dead end

a

obtain direct positives on paper in

1839, Bayard

achieve complete authenticity. 14

231x174

paper negative.

re-

faithful catalogue of archi-

dral of Notre

Print

raphy.

Excursions daguerriennes form a

markably

house .

sors in the search for aesthetic quali-

After 1842, the optician Lerebours

able engraved plates without

(?)

from the original wax

in 1965

torialism,

them into

BAYARD. Old

16 Hippolyte

being restored, about 1848

ties.

who succeeded

1842.

170x135

disseminate the image.

skill

FIZEAU. Notre Dame,

south porch. Daguerreotype converted

to

first

exactly repeatable pictorial statements

ber

achieve splendid calotypes rivaling

considered an influential event in France. Published only four years after

Fizeau patented his process Septem-

fas-

world over, but

the

was taken.

shortly after the picture

to

The Alhambra. Aquatint by

publishers, the establishment in Lille

temporain, La Belgique, Dessins orig-

sacristy built

photography. By inventing a method

globe. Paris, Lerebours, 1842-1844.

large travel volumes ordered by Paris

them were L'Art

shows the old

15 Hippolyte

350x250

paired the reproduction of paintings. is

It

Statue of

Diana by Jean Goujon, Louvre

is

and the only known

building,

this

by Soufflot, which was torn down

MARVILLE.

Charles

from

Positive print

This photograph lack,

the

of

Reims Cathedral.

paper negative, 1854.

BLAN-

Louis-Desire-Joseph

9

from

prints

Positive

190x145

This south side of the Cathedral

is

1846

A number

BLAN-

Marketplace

from paper nega-

170x216 of proofs by Blanquart-

Evrard dated 1846 or 1847 are known.

They mark

a period

when

the Lille

photographer had finally mastered and perfected the calotype.

perhaps a plate rejected by Lerebours.

After 1844, Blanquart-Evrard used

extant photograph of

Talbot's method, learning from a phar-

It is the oldest

named Tanner. He soon

macist

and simplified

fected

ding a certainty

per-

the process, ad-

from paper negatives,

Positive proofs

1851. (right gable,

19 Details of the portal

Talbot's technique lacked.

west facade)

335x250

.

tion,

soaked in a solution of potassium

20 "Tower of the Kings"

iodide and silver nitrate. Development

the south tower).

was brought about by the use of

gal-

"The young

sim-

by stone, the cathedrals of Strasbourg and Reims in over a hundred

lic acid.

The

precision of his method,

its

and reduced exposure time, en-

plicity

couraged him

to

send a paper with a

description of the process and

proofs to the

Academy

trial

of Sciences in

In April of the same year, he gave demonstrations which were considered

pupils.

their

Regnault,

for

This

and

Biot,

stamp of

official

approval for photography on paper

many photographers

led

abandon

to

new

the daguerreotype in favor of the

The Parthenon.

Positive proofs

to .

him we .what we us...

saintly artists of

Middle Ages had foreseen the

the

daguerreotype in placing on high their

and stone carvings where birds

statues

alone circling the spires could marvel

and perfection

at their detail

entire cathedral

The

Piot, archeologist, art critic,

number in

travels

was the

French

first

He made

The

Sicily,

installment

first

a

of negatives during his

Italy,

and Greece. of

his

layer, in

wonderful

has built his monument." (H. de

several

for several years, at least until 1857.

date, unfortunately, not

one copy

to be found. His library catalogue

La Lumiere, March

109

pi.,

2

pi.,

Henri

Both

at the request of the

government Com-

mission of Historic Monuments.

Charles

NEGRE. Le Midi de

Positive prints

la

France.

from wax paper neg-

atives, 1852.

gres

and

began

Delaroche,

photo-

graphing

in 1851.

His friend Le Secq

was

adviser,

and Le Gray

his

Born

his

he specialized

in Grasse,

in recording his native province, leav-

France's ancient

monuments, under-

taken by the Commission of Historic

Monuments and

by Baron

initiated

Taylor and Merimee. Baldus, Bayard,

Le

Le Gray took part

Secq, Mestral,

in this project.

The

itineraries of the

"missions" are known.

Of hun-

L'Acropole

"Temples d'Athencs,

France,

many

photography

are

preserved in

office of the

de l'Architecture" in

atives by

21

Henri

Le

Maxime Du Camp, whose tian pictures sold well,

125 Egyp-

he launched a

subscription series with the publisher

The

Goupil. failure.

project proved a total

Only the

first

installment ap-

peared and a few plates plete set

sold;

no com-

was ever printed.

Paris.

the

monuments francais, 23

pi."

x250

a

LE SECQ.

wax paper

22 Henri

24 Aries, Saint Honorat.

337x432

The Musce

25

Abbey

of

Montmajour

295x224

26 Aries, Gate of Chestnuts.

227x316

Secq.

Chartres Cathedral.

from

Cathedral.

Heartened by the success of

quality.

"Direction

des Arts Decoratifs also owns 253 neg-

pi.,

LE SECQ. Reims

ing some sixty photographs of great

dreds of negatives taken throughout

LTtalie monumentale, 255

L'Elite des

signed by Mestral.

is

20,

(2nd Sale, 1891, No. 3637) describes the following illustrations: grecs.

collec-

collaborated in a trip undertaken

teacher.

Italie

months before Blanquart-Evrard's first album and new editions appeared

is

men

effects of sun-

shadow, and rain. M. Le Secq,

Lacretelle, in

five

monumentale appeared

To

Le Gray

seal of

although the negative in the

Charles Negre, painter, pupil of In-

on

This photographic documentation

330x227

for reproduction.

great

This print bears the

reconstructed, layer

is

from

scholar to use the calotype in research

and

370x292

graphic

he has seen for

eyes,

was part of a vast inventory study of collector,

proof from a

Positive

negative, 1851.

1852.)

tion (northeast angle).

and

the chateau.

wax paper

our own

paper negatives, 1852. Interior eleva-

Eugene

Gustave LE GRAY and MESBlois: The great staircase of

TRAL.

tion of the Societe Francaise de Photo-

too,

Eugene PIOT. The Acropolis:

18

nota-

never could have discovered through

light,

methods.

23

the steeples.

all

one might think the

January, 1847.

conclusive

have climed

335x250

Thanks

prints.

different

hand

"Souvenir of the old Pont-Neuf."

(east side of

has recorded, stone

artist

paper

This photograph was taken before the restorations, bearing the

His negative paper was thoroughly

a

335x250

negative, 1852.

the results that

to

from

in Paris. Positive print

Sculpture from

A

Charles

NEGRE.

Chartres Cathedral,

north side, 1854. positive proof

negative, 1852.

335

27 Paper negative. 28 Positive print.

LE SECQ. The

Pont-Neuf

740x537

732x510

These very large photographs were

probably taken in tbe summer of 1854

wide recognition for the perfection of

Auguste

SALZMANN.

and exhibited by the Societe Franchise

a similar picture.

Positives

by Blanquart-Evrard from

de Photographic in 1855. Negre had

camera of corresponding

to use a

and he very

likely

Perspective

built.

had one

exaggerations are

almost non-existent, which

The

feat.

negatives

is

a real

shown here

known

perhaps the largest

of

are that

NEGRE.

29 Charles

Chartres Cathe-

south tower. Negative on

wax

MARVILLE.

Chartres Ca-

from the Royal

thedral. Large figures

Positive print by Blanquart-

Portal.

Evrard from a paper negative, about

337x239

1851-1855.

"Marville,

still

a painter," said

are indebted to

lovely

calotypes,

abandoned

him

for several

process he soon

a

in favor of collodion

Chartres Cathedral,

south porch. Positive proofs from

bumen

al-

negatives on glass, 1854.

portal.

Niepce de Saint-Victor had perfected a formula

on

with silver

glass,

salts.

using white of egg

Negre used

this

method

to obtain grainless prints in-

tended

for

reproduction by photo-

gravure.

NEGRE.

Chartres Cathedral,

32 Positive print from

33

on

glass, 1854.

albumen nega-

615x465

The same photograph reproduced

by photogravure, 1855. Charles Negre studied

726x482 all

methods of

of the French In-

340x440

He had

photographed Normandy for the gov-

vence (from 1852 to 1855). the

Hypotheses put forth by the

famous archeologist

relative

He

used

wax paper method with unequal-

led dexterity. His negatives are trans-

On

by Salzmann was immediately

He

ac-

wrote in his preface: "Pho-

tographs are more than

tales,

they are

endowed with convincing brute force." Three copies of this work confacts

taining a total of 174 plates on Judaic,

Arabic, and Christian

known

monuments

are

to exist.

probationary pool.

BALDUS. The

the

other hand, the evidence submitted

39 Temple enclosure. Detail of the

parent and almost devoid of grain. 37 Edouard-Denis

the

to

monuments were supported only by drawings and dating of certain

cepted.

226x320

St.

Jacques Tower in Paris. Positive print

statue-columns.

tive

Place de

Negative on wax

ernment (1851), Auvergne, and Pro-

724x530

Charles

BALDUS.

Paris.

Baldus was also a painter.

from the central

31 Detail

Concorde,

paper, about 1852-1855.

516x709

30 General view.

promulgated by de

member

sketches considered dubious.

36 Edouard-Denis la

a trip

confirm

to

historical theories

stitute.

740x533

NEGRE.

Charles

Holy Land, hoping

to the

Nadar.

prints.

paper, 1854.

In 1851, A. Salzmann, the archeologist

and photographer, undertook

Saulcy, a

We

period.

dral,

paper negatives, 1856. 35 Charles

size,

especially

Jerusalem.

from paper negative, about 1854.

40 Valley of Josaphat, Absalom's

Tomb.

324x235

432x343

41 Ancient stairway carved into the

In this unusual view the tower's base

rock.

had recently been freed of the houses

42 Judaic sarcophagus.

which disfigured

it.

Unfortunate

res-

torations have not yet been made.

38 Louis

ROBERT.

Fountain in the

43-45

333x237

The Holy

233x327

Sepulchre.

332x237,

232x326, 325x235

46 Arabic fountain.

330x234

reproduction possible in his time, but

Park of Saint-Cloud, about 1851-1855.

Documentary photography

he was most successful with the hand

320x255

melds precision of detail and beauty

photogravure processes which he raised

to heights

to surpass

difficult

even today.

L'Horloge

set

Pavilion de

of execution.

The

first

picture

is

a

notable example of the merits of photographic evidence. In

this

photo-

Louvre. Positive

which were published by Blanquart-

about the construction of the pool:

albumen negative on

Evrard. His director, Victor Regnault,

the wall of the

undertook similar projects. Through

stones sometimes inserted between the

classic

700x521

theme of the period,

the Louvre was the object of

numerous

took

graph Salzmann provides information

about 1855.

This was a

when

He

and Saint-Cloud, certain of

at the

print from an glass,

the Sevres porcelain factory.

a fine series of architectural views in

NEGRE. The

34 Charles

Louis Robert was the chief painter at

rarely

restorations. Charles

out to rival Baldus,

who

Negre

received

Versailles

its

combined

character the

aesthetic

making

and

industrial

of porcelain

was

Temple covered

blocks, then a layer of pebbles

witfi

bound

by mortar, and overall, a smooth coat-

clearly a milieu favorable to the devel-

ing of waterproof mortar.

opment

could have rendered these details in

of photography.

No drawing

which the very texture of the matericonclusive value.

als is of

MARVILLE.

Charles

tives,

time for their

Paris

streets.

from collodion nega-

Positive prints

twenty-five pictures, acclaimed at the

about 1865.

authenticity: "while

47

Rue du Gindre

one could suspect

seized

is

one testimony beyond ques-

at the corner of

photography— and

this

is

342x259

of rue

des Marmousets at the corner

Landry.

St.

325x266

lum

Marville loved the picturesque and

knew how

to

old streets.

With

lend dignity to sordid feeling he recorded

down. Deliberately, he

chose rainy days

and the

glistened

when light

at

NEGRE. The

Vincennes. Positive prints from

collodion negatives, 1860.

53 Salute

ment.

to

cobblestones

was evenly

MARVILLE.

55

dis-

Paris, inside staircase.

City Hall,

The

Refectory.

glass collodion negative,

I860.

269x369

about

56

The

57

The Linen Room; enlargement.

228x170

Kitchens.

370x260

The

Dispensary.

59

The

Doctor's Visit.

225x175 215x165

ble institution for the care of disabled

III

had founded a

charita-

perfect focus, exact perspective, lumi-

workmen. In

nous shadows.

an order for a "monographic photoChartreuse

by Bingham from negative, April Ferrier, a

Societe

1,

a

glass

albumen

252x317

1865.

prominent member of the

Francaise

perfected the

Photographic

de

albumen

process, pro-

ducing prints of unequalled sharpness, density,

51

Unknown. The town

residence of

Lesdiguieres. Positive print from col-

lodion negative, about 1865. 52

Edouard-Denis

graphique" on

280x208

BALDUS.

non, floods of 1865.

Positive

from paper negative.

320x443

Avigprint

a trip to Algeria

panorama "The Fall Navy Department had

and the Minister of the Interior

had commissioned "The Crossing of the Linth." The "Panorama of Sebas-

1860,

Negre was given

this hospital, in short,

Gustave life in

LE GRAY.

the

camp

Scenes of military

of Chalons. Positive

from collodion nega-

plates printed tives, 1858.

63

The Guard

at

64

The Guard

entrenched.

65

View

dawn.

265x323

271x360

a journalistic report. Despite difficulties

due

to

poor lighting, he obtained

good pictures by using wide lens and small

a relatively

284x338

of the drill field.

66 Officers in a tent.

312x364

plates.

67 Officers watching a group of zou-

Colonel Charles

LANGLOIS.

Photo-

aves playing cards.

312x364

graphs of the Crimean War. Positives printed by Martens from paper negatives,

and luminosity.

He had made

vas with a 105 foot diameter.

fection: precise rendition of materials,

FERRIER. Grande

vic-

"wide angle screen"

truly

topol" was painted on a circular can-

58

Napoleon

Monastery. Positive print published

army conquests and

ordered from him the "Battle of Navarin";

Marville achieved documentary per-

50 A.

on a

tories

of Algiers"; the

340x425

Positive print

from a

enormous "Panorama,"

he offered the Parisian public, views

in 1830 for his

54 Mother Superior. 250x165

as a de-

stands at Waterloo,

last

was practically official. Pro-

prietor of an

of 360°.

324x440

tributed.

49 Charles

fender of the

8.)

Wagram and

a veteran of

of French

Emperor; enlarge-

the

As

(The Malakoff tower had been

September

his mission

Imperial Asy-

Haussmann

the old Paris quarters that pitilessly tore

Charles

photographer-colonel to

this

prevent the destruction of the traces of war.

of heart-rending eloquence."

Rue

of

ity

der the tragic impact of the moment,

tion: that of

48

the right time. It took all the author-

exaggeration in accounts written un-

there

rue de Mezieres.

merit and their

artistic

November,

The

Gervais Battery.

61

The

Korniloff Battery.

62

The Malakoff Tower.

The Emperor's

288x353

table.

69 Mass of August 15, before the

1855.

60

68

259x318

peror and Marshal Canrobert.

Em269x

369

253x316 225x318

In studying these pictures

it is

impos-

not to think of Fenton. But Le

sible

Fenton's and Robertson's accounts of

Gray, unlike the English reporter, was

Crimean War are famous; Lang-

not working under attack, and his

the

lois's is practically

unknown. Like

photographs of soldiers

at drill in the

6 to 14, Baldus covered the

Daguerre, Langlois was a panoramist,

early

morning dust have

flooded areas of the South of France.

but he was in the pay of the Empire's

which

his rival could not achieve.

From June Officially

commissioned by the govern-

ment, he brought back a report in

official

He

propaganda channels.

arrived

November

13, 1855, at just

70 Victor

man

REGNAULT.

seated by a

a

charm

Portrait of a

vacuum pump. Mod-

ern print from a

wax paper

negative

printed by Jean-Pierre Sudre, about

180x150

1851.

Regnault had succeeded in

consist:

71 Victor

REGNAULT.

tion

Acoustical

which earased the photographic

parts of the image, leaving only the

Modern positive print from original wax paper negative,

drawing.

about 1851. (Collection of the Societe

72 Victor

Francaise de Photographic)

experiment. Modern

experiments.

176x139

REGNAULT.

Acoustical

print from a

wax

189x145

ently sensitizing negatives by placing

Regnault suggested a new technique

paper negative, about 1851.

the receptacle containing the paper

for scientific drawings: he photo-

73 Victor

under a

graphed the experiment, drew the

instruments in the College de France.

urged the use of

contours in China ink, and then sub-

Modern

merged the drawing

paper negative, about 1851.

and the

silver salts solution

He

vacuum dome.

method even while

this

traveling.

attitude of painters toward photographers fluctuated

between contemptuous jealousy and more or patronage.

The

their critics, bristling with

Many had

painter.

an arrogant aggressiveness nourished

them on the same

to accept

their feet in

both camps, though the primi-

field,

ill-

that of the picturesque, the anecdotal, the "genre"

up

like

butchers and

washerwomen

in the carni-

begging these heroes to be so good, during the time

val, in

necessary for the operation, as to hold their smiles for the occasion,

the photographer flatters himself that he

COROT. Le

is

rendering

(Baudelaire)

when

the art of Niepce

and Daguerre was

expanding, a situation propitious for thriving confusion.

The rise

present section shows

how some

painters were able to

above the conflict by using methods the photographers had It also

demonstrates

how

certain primitive pho-

tographers approximated painterly effects without becoming ridiculous.

and grouping together buffoons, male and

subject. "In arranging

female, tricked

than in this period

taught them.

Primitive photographers challenged their rivals on an

chosen

wax

164x222

Furthermore, painting had never been more "photographic"

level as the

photographers avoided the extremes.

tive

print from the original

scenes of ancient history, tragic or noble."

benevolent

less

painter-photographers returned the scorn of

by the refusals of society

Laboratory

New Art

Conflicting Aspects of a The

in a cyanide solu-

REGNAULT.

This section does not pretend area where

advance any theory. In an

to

charm and ambiguity blend

so intimately,

it

seeks

prove that no rigid borderline exists between one art

at best to

and another, and

that there are alternatives to

mutual excom-

munication.

the most faithful original engravings

Corot smeared the glass surface with

quet de Belle Foriere. Positive print

possible.

an opaque substance and with small

from cliche-verre, about 1 858.

William M.

74 Camille-Baptiste

1

bou-

55x233

Ivins, Jr., in Prints

and

Visual Communication, states: "So far

The

"cliche-verre" technique

was

in-

vented"by the painter Dutilleux along

with two friends, Grandguillaume and Cuvelier. Corot, an intimate friend of

Dutilleux, began his

first

He

to

in 1853. least

is

sixty-five

known

experiments

have made

cliches-verre

May, 1853 and 1874, proof of

at

between his con-

tinuing interest in this medium.

The

cliche-verre

negative, entirely

was

in

fact a

handmade by

was concerned,

as the artist

true

en-

much more

it

was a

and simple process

drew

sticks

lines that

came

out black on the print. Coats of paint of different tions of

thickness created varia-

tonality.

was actually a

It

than etching. But because these prints

painting evolving into a photograph.

were neither etchings, nor lithographs,

76 Camille-Baptiste

and because they were not actually

brandt's

photographs

made with

a

camera,

COROT. Rem-

"Woodcutter."

Cliche-verre

transformed into a photogravure

they never became popular with col-

print, 1853-1855.

lectors or the public."

This was Corot's

98x62 attempt in the

first

This picture was made entirely with

cliche-verre

an etching needle.

original plate was destroyed,

75 Camille-Baptiste

graving onto collodion, or by painting

Ambush.

on

verre,

a glass surface. Cliches-verre were

direct

sharpened

COROT. The

Positive print of a cliche-

1858.

220x157

technique

two prints from

it

are

(1853)

known

Charles Negre transferred

.

The

and only to exist.

this

photo-

graphic image into steel by a method

.

he invented, thus obtaining a kind of

emerge gradually..." Lerebours, how-

etching shown here for the

ever,

DUTILLEUX.

77 Constant scape. verre,

Positive

time.

first

Land-

print from a cliche-

about 1855.

160x110

Dutilleux, a friend of Corot's since

famous painter the

1848, taught the

cliche-verre technique. Dutilleux

is re-

vealed here as a most capable techni-

DELACROIX.

Eugene

78

ger. Print

from a

On March

1

854.

1

drawn 68x200

(Collection of the Societe Franchise de

rendered,

Photographic)

81

I

new

am

how much

print toned with gold from paper neg-

ticularly of

ative,

October

Societe

19, 1863. (Collection of

About

art form.

I

concerned,

cliche-verre.

He

often went to Barbi-

I

can only

come

so

can only guess

I

from

at

in the little time left

nature's

It is

own

me

for

design,

79

Theodore ROUSSEAU. The

and

taste,

drawn with an etching needle.

21 8x

monuments

les

plus remarquables du

View

in Nor-

mandy. Daguerreotype reproduced on copper plate by Salathe, 1841.

148x

203

The

prints

shrubs.

CUVELIER.

Positive

print

and

Grass

from a 1863.

glass

(Collec-

tion of the Societe Francaise de Pho-

tographic)

198x258

Cuvelier apparently the

limitations

process.

In

the

The

and

Millet.

and

for

In this picture, on the

picturesque

arrange-

typical of Talbot, Bayard,

these pictures reflect the popularity of

in the

would have pleased Corot

228x170

Blanquart-Evrard, and Regnault, and

and

creates a

202x176

231x166

taste

stated:

takes advantage of the delightful soft-

ness of paper negatives

picture that

The

(?)

171x229

arbor.

ments was

re-

preceding print he

MM.

original negatives pre-

84 Composition with hat.

Dutch painting understood

com-

by

Photographic Between 1846-1848

p. 63.)

advantages of every photographic

globe. Paris, Lerebours:

Modern

by the Societe Francaise de

87 Attic.

82 Eugene

origi-

BAYARD. Four

Hippolyte

86 Bouquet of flowers.

and Photography,

markably well

80 Excursions daguerriennes. Vues et

promising

process.

timber that are about to disappear."

Cherry Tree. Print from cliche-verre,

277

new

85

negative, October 22,

otiierwise see only very feebly."

nality of this

The

in the forest.

more

which we

the tastes of the time, feel the

include some of the finest groups of

(Art

the tangible proof

reflect

but one can

served

the usefulness which they have now,

intensive study.

works

Eugene Cuvelier. He showed me some

possibility of studying such

on me that

took pleasure in the com-

still

Gassmann from

with

Amaury Duval,

pany of Charlet and Gavarni. His

dore Rousseau: "You must have seen

own country and

par-

Lacking talent himself,

Ingres's pupil.

positions.

photographs taken in his

painters,

Dupuis of the Comedie

Aaron Scharf has unearthed an interesting letter from Millet to Theo-

subjects are chosen

of

who had

of the painter-photographers

and

actors

Franchise, a friend of

Bayard

Eugene Cuvelier was the son of one

regret such an admir-

images would have had an influence

even

Photogra-

de

Francaise

198x257

168x170

In his youth, Bayard sought the com-

pany of

zon.

able discovery should have

The

in

the forest of Fontainebleau. Positive

very fine late!

a facsimile of nature..."

Eugene CUVELIER. Landscape

1854, Delacroix wrote to

into this

far as

is

taught Corot the technique of the 7,

photography in general he continued: "As

from a paper negative, January, 1844.

admirably, and the foliage, superbly

Poised Ti-

Dutilleux thanking him for initiating

say

boasted: "Small houses are accented

phic)

cliche-verre,

with an etching needle,

him

garden. Les Batignolles. Positive print

the

cian.

BAYARD. House and

83 Hippolyte

surmounted these problems and

"We

in this period. Talbot

find sufficient authority

Dutch school of

art for us to

choose scenes from daily

life as

rep-

resentational material."

The

final picture

ism what

it

here gains in real-

loses in picturesqueness.

We

come closer phy," and Atget

to is

"pure photograsoon to come.

other hand, he capitalizes on the intext

accompanying

this print

finite

sharpness possible in the glass

88

Anonymous.

"Amateurs almost despaired of

image. This picture offers a singular

print

being able to render views or land-

contrast to the preceding example, of

1855.

scapes

which Cuvelier was well aware.

states:

successfully

through

the

da-

guerreotype ... skies develop with extreme speed

consequently

...

shades of green, and

all

vegetation, only

Positive

331x263

This picture

is

reminiscent of

many

and

other compositions in a similar vein

notes on the methods used at the

by H. Le Secq, negatives of which are

showed the two prints witli

He

Still life.

from a paper negative, 1852-

side by side

Societe Francaise de Photographic

preserved in the Bibliotheque Nation-

and the Musce des Arts Decoratifs

ale

in Paris.

LE GRAY.

89 Gustave

Boulders in

the forest of Fontainebleau. Positive

mations

...

which

calls

EVRARD(?).

hibition of 1855.

Fontainebleau

of

decided to

woods. E. Lacan wrote that as

though

crucifix in

it

"looked

tion of Petiot-Groffier of Chalon-sur-

St.

Leu. Positive print from

326x227

paper negative, 1851.

Le Secq had masses. His

and

his sculptures,

lifes,

and the landscapes he selected

to

evoke were always seen from a new angle, in a light that imparts

and

depth

91 Edouard-Denis BALDUS. Windmill in Auvergne. Negative on wax

"It

more

find a

Emerson softness

ture

is

work of Peter Henry

the

in

eighties.

which adds charm

due

The

very

to the pic-

paper printing, and the

to

artist-photographer turned this basic-

awkward

allv

process to advantage.

produced such a precise focus that

ward

to-

the turn of the century, photog-

raphers sought to create an overlay of

340x445

a masterpiece.

is

mind, or perhaps Eugene

to

Later, the development of glass plates

liveliness.

paper, 1854.

of Ernest Cousin

Cuvelier. This "River's Edge" heralds the photographic

a feeling for light

still

comes

One

softness

which the primitives had im-

could not mediately achieved by natural means.

brilliant, translucent or

95 E.C. Agricultural implements. Posi-

and

tive print

windmill well situated

in the

background; the shadows alive

and nowhere opaque, even intensive

shades.

The

in the

lack

most

of

unfortunate,

chloride toning, 1852.

260x325

sky,

lends

from paper negative, with

ammonium

an

.

thography, 1852.

added sense of yet ruggedly

reality to this

(Exposition Universelle, Perier's

sombre

charming mountainside."

commentary

1855.

Paul

la

Cottage. Photoli-

98-101 Gustave

LE GRAY.

Positive prints

from

"Collodion emulsion was overly tive to

blue

BALDUS. Rocky

347x450

1855. is

doubtless the "fantastic land-

scape bristling with jagged rock for-

light.

As

a result,

sensi-

when

an exposure had been given that was long enough to record the landscape, the blue sky above was recorded

on

the negative as a solid tone: the print

consequently appeared with a white, cloudless sky. This was intolerable to

photographers painters,

and

to

who were emulating remedy

this

shortcom-

ing two negatives were often taken—

one a short exposure

to record

the

sky, the other longer, to record the

The two

landscape.

negatives were

masked; part of the print was made

from one, and part from the other." Photography,

Le Gray

of

p. 59.)

method

initiated this

of

"combination printing." La Lnmiere

year;

in

"This

the event of the

is

London

these

pictures are

REGNAULT. The

102 Victor

experimented with

der. Positive print

in the Bulletin

Landscape. Negative on paper, before

Seascapes.

glass collodion,

325x415, 325x415, 325x415,

1856.

in 1815, the four

and Davanne ob-

Evrard from a 1852(?).

Societe Francaise de Photogra-

92 Edouard-Denis

in Blanquart-Evrard's per-

sonal collection.

creating a sensation."

157x222

authors of this work, Lemercier, Lere-

phic, 1855, p. 192.)

This

This photograph comes from an

album once

"Using the asphalt process Niepce had

bours, Barreswill,

de

170x223

about 1850.

declared:

DAVANNE (?)

96 theoretically

BLANQUART-

Port in Northern France.

(Beaumont Newhall, The History

luminous entry. The waters are deep clear, the

637.)

325x415

253x322

The name

E.C.

Dwelling in the

salts

Several photographers had the initials

moments."

quarries of

340x449

94 E.C. River's Edge. Positive print

toning, 1852.

LE SECQ.

in the collec-

from paper negative, with barium

by Diaz, in one of his more inspired

90 Henri

Auvergne. Negative on

Saone, deceased in 1856.)

could have been painted

it

Village

edge of the

at the

settle

height

the

at

fame when Millet

and

BALDUS.

No.

1963,

print from paper negative,

Positive

This photograph was taken in the

of Barbizon school

London,

hibition,

97 Louis-Desire"

wax paper, 1854. (Once

est

the

Rosa," shown at the International Ex-

93 Edouard-Denis

for-

mind

most vigorous canvasses of Salvator

from a wax paper negative. Gold chloride toning, 1851. 176x250 print

to

tained images on grained stones which

Regnault,

could be printed on ordinary

Academy

litho-

Lad-

made byBlanquartwax paper negative,

207x286

who was

President of the

of Sciences, did experiments

graphic printing presses." This print

in the

realm of physics that remain

one of a collection which "contains

classic.

Along with Arago, Biot, Fizeau,

is

the

first

reproductions of photographs

succesfully

(Printing

made by their method." and the Mind of Man Ex-

and Foucault he followed

closely the

evolution of photography from

its

be-

ginnings. In 1847, he tried the meth-

ods of Blanquart-Evrard; in 1851, he

Regnault's works suggest a synthesis of

with a wide opening, and a diaphragm

became

French and English

"structured

a founder of the SocieHe' H£li-

in

tastes

land-

more

like the

human eye."

ographique, then President of the So-

scape. Unfortunately they impressed

He

Franchise de Photographic

only a restricted few since his larger

shorter time (a few seconds), even on

Regnault became familiar with the

landscapes were never exhibited in

paper.

techniques and art of English pho-

France.

This picture impressed many

tography during several

107 Charles

cieHe"

visits to

Eng-

land in the company of Herschel's son-in-law,

John Stewart,

also a pho-

tographer. Regnault, like Talbot, was

not only an incomparable technician

but also an

artist of rare sensitivity.

His choice of subject matter and his marvelous use of light bear evidence of a certain influence of English ro-

manticism. His son Henri became one of the masters of "historic painting."

The

latter's

fame was most probably

the reason for Victor Regnault's later rejection of photography, denying any creative potential in the art.

With

the exception of a few

his

Victor

REGNAULT.

until recently.

Landscapes

taken at Sevres and surroundings. Positive prints tives,

from wax paper nega-

Sevres and Gallardon.

Meudon.

440x357

105 Sevres, the Seine downstream near

Meudon.

Three

photograph in one of

shown

in the Salon of

different versions of this

photograph are known: with the sub-

the banks of the Seine.

305x382

These pictures were taken Several were shown

don Society of Arts a

REGNAULT.

111 Victor

of Negre's paintings in the exhibition

paper negative, about 1851.

and commented: "The daguer-

of 1861

which has not been men-

reotype

tioned by

name and has

received no

medal nonetheless enhanced

this ex-

Modern

This tableau

teenth-century minor artists like Bon-

comparable

108

NEGRE. Organ

Grinder.

from wax paper nega-

is

studies

by Charles Negre.

The organ St.

to

NEGRE. The 325x230

tive, 1851.

grinder knocking on

Louis.

same time

as

made

his

d£but

at the

Henri Le Secq, who was

equally enthusiastic for the art of the cathedrals

100x82

Vampire.

from wax paper nega-

Positive print

Charles Negre

1852.

Charles Negre's door, Quai Bourbon,

He

contemporary

vin and

.

Positive prints tives,

wax

204x153

reflects the taste of nine-

112 Charles

Charles

Cleaning

print from

." .

grinder.

(The bearded man

is

the pho-

165x215

which Victor Hugo had

in

in 1851 or

at the

Lon-

December, 1851.

foreword by J.F.W.

his friend with his

romantic vision of

Notre Dame, and shows him in a

proud posture.

To a contemporary critic this picture "made one think of Decamps' most

113 Charles

NEGRE.

Oil presses in

Grasse. Positive print from forceful drawings," while

and

sordid,

wax paper

"the wise

remind one of Meisson-

326x236

negative, 1852.

In the Salon of 1861, Theophile Gautier

admired a painting by Negre

He found

in

a

nier's

most scrupulously studied sub-

identical

jects."

(La Lumiere, September, 1853.)

delicacy similar to that of Buttura.

Negre exhibited a painting of the

Organ Grinder 110 Charles

to

this.

Our contemporary qualities here:

in the Salon of 1853.

catalogue of this exhibition

opened with

"Burden."

vegetables.

his velvet suit, yellowish, threadbare,

The

the He Saint Louis and has compared "Chimney Sweeps" with Daumier's

and from

old man's head, the minute details of

314x425

106 Sevres, the carpenter's house on

1852.

Adhe^mar notes that Negre

and Daumier were near neighbors on

the back. Th^ophile Gautier took note

ject front face, in profile,

tographer Le Secq.)

324x408

104 Side door of the Sevres Factory to

this

and

Murillo relives com-

scene

pletely." J.

109 Litle girl giving alms to the organ

between the Garenne de

and the road

Negre used

his paintings

at the

time: "In this naive, picturesque, striking

in a

popularized. Negre wished to associate

1851-1852.

103 Path

from a wax paper nega-

213x157

tive, 1852.

1861.

L'Acquaiuolo.

still lifes

albums between 1851 and 1855

work was unknown

Positive print

hibition

published by Blanquart-Evrard in his art

NEGRE.

make exposures

could thus

NEGRE. Chimney

Herschel and notes by his son-in-law

Sweeps. Positive print from

John Stewart, describing Regnault's

negative, 1852.

methods.

Charles

wax paper

160x215

Negre built a

lens

eye discerns other

luminous masses, over-

lapping of planes, and volumes evoking names of

less

obscure and more

recent painters.

114 Adolphe special

it

Positive print

BRAUN(?). Landscape. from a

glass collodion

Charles Aubry specialized in subjects

220x290

negative, about 1860(?).

for painters.

Collodion offers an extremely "sharp" eliminating

image,

with translucent paper negatives.

On

misty

are

passages

charm unknown

marvelously

draperies, re-

117

JEANRENAUD.

est.

Positive print

Path in the

from a

for-

250

x325

tive print tive,

from

Foliage.

from

is

nude models it is

had already been translated into seven or eight

The

process was

its

all

famous

over the world. sites.

By

He

asked travelers to bring back

1841, he

owned more than

sand daguerreotypes from Russia, Sweden,

hitherto only through travelers'

exposed

to foot in a

gauze veil

nestra.' " (La

Italy, the

Orient, and

tales,

to the eyes of scholars

grew it

less poetic,

cannot be gainsaid that photog-

powers during the Victorian d'Urville

roamed

era.

the Pacific in 1842, equipped with

a daguerreotype camera; at the same time Siebold photographed

Japan.

The

great photographic expeditions signalled the ebb of a

romantic view of the world. Gradually nations were

the world was

the people's

demanding

and curious ama-

The

ancient Egyptian

plus remarquables du

Harem

in Alex-

155x205

finest

engravers transposed these

Moscow.

Goupil-Fesquet roamed the Near East,

in their

reconstructions he

remain impressive in their accuracy.

added a

The album

showing the actual condition of the

Hector

Vernet and his nephew Frederic

monuments

the

prime.

155x210

For Lerebours, the painter Horace

To

panorama

daguerreotypes into aquatints which

includes views from Al-

geria, Syria, Russia,

121

each

realities.

monuments

globe. Paris, Lerebours, 1841-1844.

to see

other more clearly, and photographic realism kept pace with

reconstruct in one vast

andria.

.creates a

but travelers' dreams

presence in two and a half minutes.

120 Muhammed-Ali's

.

Lumiere, 1854.)

Excursions daguerriennes. Vues et les

.

.

raphy may have played a part in the colonial hopes of the major

a thou-

even America, but only reproductions remain.

directly

head

were ardently aroused, and

announce-

In 1839, the optician Lerebours began to collect daguerreotypes from

study

Gu^rin's celebrated canvas 'Clytem-

to

to un-

Dumont

pictures of

.

One

feeling similar to that evoked by

teurs. Literary exoticism

in Paris.

Known

hard

whom we showed them ." of a woman "swathed from

Portrait

put in use in the United States one month after

now

to Courbet.

struck by the resemblance of

those of Courbet, so

languages and more than thirty editions issued.

ment

painters to

reminiscent of Ingres;

few months after the dramatic revelation of the Daguerre

process, his tract

202x262, 250x201

tives, 1853.

222x162

more akin

is

Nudes. Posi-

glass collodion nega-

pictures "were greatly admired by the

subject

model

from

Posi-

The

is

BRAQUEHAIS.

118-119

tive prints

glass collodion nega-

the photographers'

467x373

The World, A New A

accessories,

The same model was photographed by Delacroix and Durieu in 1853. These

about 1855-1860.

"One

Posi-

a glass collodion nega-

about 1864.

Adhernar.)

be copied in color."

to

tive,

the

AUBRY.

116 Charles

artist

Anonymous. The Spring.

tive print

glass nega-

albumen(?), about 1859(?).

tive,

much

(Th^ophile Gautier.)

before.

115

the

appetite,' according to Del^cluze." (J.

in-

and backgrounds that now

need only

photography a

to

given

posing,

critics

towards 'bathers so monstrously hid-

eous as to make a crocodile lose his

formation, spared the models

ing planes, reflections, distances, and

derstand the hostility of the

by him

"Photography has produced much

the other hand, light shadings, reced-

corded, bringing

lifes

still

known.

are

achieved

effects

Many

aquatints by Himely,

set of

monuments. To

and Sweden.

HOREAU. Panorama of Egypt

and Nubia,

these

Paris, 1841.

this

end he used da-

guerreotypes brought back by Joly de Lotbiniere. Goupil-Fesquet

met him

on the same Nile boat, and together

made

122 Thebes. Hypostyle Hall, Karnac.

they

397x282

vey of Egypt.

the

first

photographic

sur-

where they took pictures that astonished this

Muhammed-Ali,

particularly

view of his harem taken in his

123 Luxor.

The

280x445

architect

Horeau attempted

BISSON to

freres.

Le Mont Blanc et ses du voyage de LL.

glaciers, souvenirs

.

photographic work published in Majestes I'Empereur et I'Imperatrice.

De

Clercq concentrated his camera on

France.

from

Positive prints

Paris.

124 Gouter Peak viewed from

Ger-

St.

Gouter Peak from Bionassay,

125

dressed as a Turk,

Dome

de Niage viewed from the

ley of

Contamines.

Dome

du Gouter viewed from Jonction.

The Bisson Mont Blanc

Maxime

DU CAMP.

and brought back

set of pictures,

although 217x167,

tion.)

they were unable to reach the sum-

from the 1852 215x166,

edi-

218x168,

220x168, 228x165, 168x226

To transport

tent-laboratory

a

and expose and develop extra plates at such altitudes

large

was an amaz-

DU CAMP.

127 Vicomte

VIGIER. Chaos

of Gav-

from paper neg-

arnie. Positive print

capitals at Baalbek. Printed in Paris

from paper negative, 1851.

The

seated figure

of Baalbek, fall is

255x343

ative, 1853.

to

made

282x216

may be Flaubert

I

Temple

never thought one could

in love with a colonnade; yet

true.

I

it

must add the columns seem

be chased in vermeil because of the

a careful photographic

color of the stone

study of the Pyrenees, in a hundred

and

Frieze

dressed as a Turk. "As to the

feat.

Vigier

Maxime

137

A

tireless traveler,

America

and the sun."

itself

glass collodion

268x400

for the

Charnay came

first

to

time at the age

From

1857 to 1865,

he studied Mexican ruins. During this

period in 1863, he visited Mada-

gascar;

Argentina, then Chile

later,

and Java

in 1878.

In 1897 he traveled

through Yemen.

His work on pre-Columbian architec-

Accompanied by twenty-five

bearers, they succeeded the following

from a

of twenty-three.

from paper negatives, 1851.

Palace of the

et mines du Nouveau Monde, Mexico-Paris, 1861.

225x167

Maxime DU CAMP. The Colossus of Abu Simbel. Prints made (Plates 103 to 107

ing

Nubia, Bas-

printed in Paris from

paper negative, 1851.

in Paris

remarkable

CHARNAY.

negative, 1861.

brothers tried to climb in 1860

140 Desire

Nuns, Chichen-Itza. Cites

Positive print

131-136

235x415

year.

the

213x148

negative, 1851.

130

230x402

126 The Grand Mulets and the

mit.

front of

in

val-

relief. Positive

a

Flaubert

Mousky house, January 9, 1850. Positive print made in Paris from paper

391x230

vais.

DU CAMP.

Maxime

129

lodion negatives, 1860.^

and Spain.

Syria, Palestine, Egypt,

glass col-

(Flaubert, letter to his mother, Octo-

ture

and the widespread influence of

his research

world

opened the eyes of the

the grandeur of the

to

New

World's cultures and renewed the enthusiasism like

awakened by predecessors

Stephens and Catherwood. His

photographs enjoyed

a

wide distribu-

wood engraving

tion

due

cess.

They provide valuable informa-

tion

on the condition of the Yucatan

to the

monuments

pro-

before restoration work.

views, often in picturesque style.

ber

Maxime

128

DU CAMP.

Nubie Palestine

et Syrie.

Egypte, Dessins

photographiques recueillis pendant les

annees 1849, 1850

Gide, and

Beaudry,

et 1851.

1852.

7,

1859.)

141 Desire

Louis DE CLERCQ. Voyage en Orient, 1859-1860. Villes,

Monuments

et

vues

pittoresques. Recueil photographique

Paris,

First

in-

138 Jerusalem, Sixth Station of the

280x213

Cross.

488x325

139 Jerusalem, Ninth Station of the

396x268

Cross.

Flaubert,

Louis De Clercq was twenty-three

to the Orient.

Although Flaubert pre-

when he brought back

this harvest of

photography, he

222 photographs published in five

to his friend. Of the two hundred pictures Du Camp brought back, about a hundred and

enormous tomes. Enchanted by the

to

despise

was of some help

fifty

were issued

Later, two or three the best

small numbers.

in

hundred

sets of

one hundred twenty-five were

printed. This was the

first

important

Orient from childhood,

De Clercq was

an energetic collector for forty

He

Louvre put on view

tion of six

a selec-

hundred rare objects

queathed by

410x335

This print was included in the proposed large edition, soon abandoned,

Desire

du Nouveau Monde.

CHARNAY.

Photographs of

his family.

collodion negatives, 1863. 142 Islet of

Madame

at Sainte Marie.

160x288 143 Village of Kisuman, coast).

(northwest

208x287

years.

died in 1901, and in November,

1968, the

Aztec Calen-

Madagascar. Positive prints from glass

In 1849, in the

tended

original negative.

of Cites et Ruines

stallment launched as a prospectus.

company of Gustave Du Camp made a journey

CHARNAY.

dar Stone, Mexico. Print from the

be-

144

"Tacon"

means

of

(filanjana or litter),

transport

in

Madagascar.

144x201 145 Rice beaters.

197x156

146 Raharla,

Queen's Minister.

the

147

149

of Betsimisaraka

women.

Arsenal. Negative

Boabab on

168x105

286x257 150 Vakoas in the Tamatave region.

244x202

sion in 1863,

photographs

diplomatic mis-

official

Charnay took

191x252

William

Ellis

155

twenty-five or thirty prints he left com-

254x188

first

pictorial report

and they show

us,

contaminated by modern 153

tant maritime expeditions,

amassed material of an

This

and botan-

Temple

ical nature.

story of his trip in

Le Tour du Monde

(1864), illustrated

with woodcuts. Several examples are

displayed with these photographs,

which had been Gustave hiti,

151

up

to this time.

157

VIAUD. Photographs

at

de

Islet

of

Motu

158 Turkish

Photolithograph,

263x204

Publication of Tremaux's Voyages

years,

during which new methods of

reproduction appeared in the book.

Blanquart-Evrard

traditional lithography from drawings,

unfortunately

The methods

re-

successively used were

mains unknown. The album includes

photography (which faded and had

four other pictures of ancient Indian

be replaced during publication),

only a partial approach to the question of

is

artists of the

Renaissance were deeply conscious of

human

forms.

to

lith-

ography traced from original photo-

and one of

graphs, and finally the most recent,

first

photolithography.

seers

facial expressions.

man.

Artists, scholars, philos-

have endlessly sought

Among them some

divining what passions, vices, or

to catalogue

tried

human

an opposite

traits left their

direc-

mark on

man's countenance.

Duchenne de Boulogne seems turies-old quest.

The

to

mark

the

end of

Extending his probings into the domains of the and sculpture, he successfully synthesized earlier findings which he incorporated in his work. His idiom was that of Le Brun, but Darwin was to make use of his work. specialists.

theater

Luca

Leonardo, and Diirer sought the vision of divine per-

fection in the ideal proportions of

tion,

steles.

lished in France.

the importance of the theoretical study of

and

255x194

stretches over a period of about fifteen

Mondlesir between Agra

facial interpretation.

ophers,

one of the statues on an

in Milet.

and Bombay, (Hindustan). The photographer who sent this picture to

study of man's countenance through even the most pene-

Pacioli,

of

from the preceding

Mankind

trating portraits

Studious

Tunis.

278x215

Poitevin process.

collection of photographs ever pub-

Bay of Papeete.

in

I'ar-

212x170

Jerusalem. This album forms the

of Ta-

View

avenue

Modern Hindu

temples, a view of Athens,

1859.

Faces of The

lost

entitled

is

of a courtyard

156 Lithograph

Plate 24, positive print

historical, geo-

graphical, anthropological,

Charnay wrote the

1851.

from paper negative.

View

photograph.

civilization.

Album photographique

Lille,

Charnay

du con-

on the

long before

tisteetde V amateur. Blanquart-Evrard,

on impor-

es

555x368

under the spon-

artists

.Parallele des

ous novelist Pierre Loti [Louis Viaud].

Gustave Viaud was a naval surgeon. The

sorship of English missionaries.

In the tradition of

.

154 Cover of one of the installments.

Gauguin, a Polynesia practically un-

contemporaneous with

.

modern

pictures, recently rediscovered,

island,

a series of

ique en Asie Mineure edifices anriens et

were made by the brother of the fam-

prise the

While on an

Voyages au Sou-

tinent africain... Paris, 1847-1863.

These

the island of Moheli.

TREMAUX.

Pierre

dan Oriental... Exploration acheolog-

on wax paper. Mod-

ern collotype print.

Madagascar widow.

those by

95x195

paper negative.

152 Fare Ute promontory with the

Group

212x167 148

Wax

Uta.

194x119

this cen-

rationalism of his systematic analysis of

each separate muscle, along with the fixing of every experiment

on photographic plates made unequalled material available

to

Anthropological research by the relle

to

Museum

d'Histoire Natu-

and by Prince Roland Bonaparte and Bisson

freres,

sought

provide insight into the general characteristics of the various

human

races. Asiatics

full face

and

and Scandinavians, masters and

profile, all

slaves,

solemnly revealed the dignity of their

race. Beside such scientific series, the portraits of

famous men may seem to us a curious gathering of colorful personalities. We know moreover that Nadar was directly associated with the projects of Duchenne de Boulogne. Scientific facts which he had assimilated by 1856 formed a criterion according to which he was able to disclose what "most human quality" lived

"These

in each individual.

"One

room

them

for 'the aura.' This

what

FIZEAU.

159 Hippolyte

Portrait of

from a daguerreotype, by the

Collotype from the original photo-

unknown.

graphs. Photographer

165 Peter Johan Abrahamsen. 160x118

Hurlimann was an extremely

He

engraver.

and

skillful

on the rue du Four

who lived on du Clierche-Midi, made use of neighbor Fizeau,

his

the rue his

lived

talents

The daguerreotype was

One of

this

1842 and the patent

in

1843 doubt-

method which

totally eliminated

the two drawbacks of daguerreotyping: brightness

Egypte

and the

single image.

BENECKE.

E.

Voyage en

en Nubie. Positive prints

et

by Blanquart-Evrard from paper negatives, 1852.

218x157, 174x218

Practically nothing

is

him

to

ing data on

took jobs in

Du Camp,

of

his activities.

official

in

thropological Collection of the Paris.

Mu-

Positive prints from

collodion negatives. Photographer un-

known.

190x150

Prince

163-164

of an old

woman

in a lace cap. Painted

246x

photograph, about 1850-1860.

290 168-170

BAYARD.

Hippolyte

Modern

prints

negatives,

about

portraits, calotypes.

from

the

original

Self

precision; however,

its

invented by

use in portrait-

making was unusual because

of the

220x166, 173x225, 225x163

1846.

REGNAULT.

174 Victor trait,

bareheaded.

wax paper

Modern

Self por-

print from

negative, about 1851.

200

xl54 This print,

In this work, Bayard used the Talbot

with eyes shut, would indicate the ex-

like

the nine following,

was made by Jean-Pierre Sudre from the original negatives preserved by the Societe Francaise de Photographic

posure was very long.

REGNAULT.

175 Victor 171

BAYARD.

Hippolyte Positive

trait.

print

Self por-

from collodion

trait

posed in complete

rigidity.

One

can

movements and

him

ex-

posed on the negative before he

as-

discern certain objects behind

a

woman

REGNAULT.

about 1851.

The wife.

Portrait of

in profile with eyes closed,

161x125

subject

Her

is

probably the

scientist's

eyes are closed because of

the long exposure.

his pose.

177 Victor

BLANQUART-

172 Louis

Desire

North American Indians. Positive

EVRARD.

Portrait of his daughter.

prints from collodion negatives, about

Positive calotype, 1846.

One

209

x!62 176 Victor

see faint traces of his

Self por-

wearing a cap, about 1851.

342x263

After uncovering the lens, the artist

Roland BONA-

225x170,225x170

process,

long exposure required.

Anthropological Collections:

1860.

negative,

Niepce, rendered details with great

sumed

PARTE.

albumen

210x155

about 1850.

The albumen

the Jap-

anese Embassy, born in Tokyo. An-

seum de

from

print

de

Self portrait. Posi-

167 Photographer unknown. Portrait

negative, about 1850-1855.

162 Fouka-Sawa,

NIEPCE

173 Claude Felix Able

SAINT VICTOR. tive

from

61x49

paper negative.

on paper.

allow-

bring back some interest-

man and

images

first

method, and posed himself. His pose,

known

Benecke whose technique was more refined than that of

ing

artists

of

were reason for the disuse of

160-161

unemployed

reotypes or to paint the

The death

registered by Fizeau in lessly

death

the

photographers' studios to color daguer-

tion already achieved.

BLANQUART-

Portrait of Jean-Baptiste

this

picture reveals the degree of perfec-

Hurlimann

EVRARD.

the earliest examples in

France of a portrait on paper,

French In-

at the

January, 1847.

in January, 1847. Positive print

blow of the miniature, and a number of

ments.

stitute in

Biot photographed in his laboratory

160x118

166 Ellen Nielsdatter.

carry out his experi-

to

shown

est efforts,

Louis Desire

90x68

Fizeau process, 1841.

lives forever before their eyes."

(Jean-Paul Sartre)

Anthropological collections: Laplanders.

Nadar photographed around I860 have years. But their gaze remains and the

many

world of the Second Empire

gives

incomparably sad beauty." (Walter Benjamin)

their

the engraver Hurlimann. Photograv-

ure

is

that

been dead these

the fleeting expression of a man's face, these

last time, in

old photographs leave

men

208x163

of the Blanquart-Evrard's earli-

dren

in

REGNAULT. Two

an

armchair,

about

chil-

1851.

135x130

The

children are the photographer's

sons. Henri, the younger,

on the

left,

became the well-known painter,

historical

and the Louvre acquired

sev-

eral of his paintings.

about 1851.

cradle,

Child in

This portrait of the famous physicist

A

at the

similar portrait

ence of Regnault

is

made

in

known. Biot was

deeply interested in the study of

REGNAULT.

to

around him. His sons and Vac-

light.

Portrait of

Claude Bernard, about 1851.

200x

160

Jer-

and Guernesey are stamped with

This may well be the oldest photo-

strong romantic vitality.

NEGRE.

189 Charles

scientists

had

181-182 Victor

REGNAULT.

of two scientists^-), about 1851.

traits

Negre took

this portrait of the cele-

preference for

it.

On

her tour of Rus-

she brought along

fifty

about 1851.

sion des passions, Paris,

Portrait of

J.

206x163

Renouard.

NEGRE. The

negative, about 1852.

painter

208x163

NEGRE. Three

friends

Negre (Yvon one of them), photo-

graphed on the banks of the Seine.

glass

and frontispiece showing

Duchenne de Boulogne's

280x190

191 Plate 32:

True natural laugh.

my

fell

purpose, nor keep peace

between

The

effect

and

197 Plate 72:

111x87

it!"

"The modeling

sides of the forehead

of the

impossible."

is

111x87

Duchenne de Boulogne continued Lebrun, which go back teenth century. ology. His

the

and even those of

projects of Lavater

He

to the seven-

used their termin-

aim was

to

to

examine each

determine

its

role

From

192 Plate 21: right: Painful left:

160x206

during their exile in Jersey.

from negatives on

graphs of every reaction of a mentally debilitated patient. ic

memory and

memory,

stimulus to remem-

111x87

further,

he

coon, and portrayed the agonized

compared 193 Plate 59: Fear.

Going

analyzed anatomical errors in the Lao-

111x87

194 Plate 63:

aesthet-

tained artificially through the applica-

countenance of a bering.

He made

comparisons, asking actors delib-

tion of electrodes.

111x87

woman whom

Lady Macbeth,

to

he

height-

ened with verses from Shakespeare.

Expression of terror.

These studies

in

comparative physi-

ology and psychology have broad im-

111x87

Positive prints

Shake

erately to duplicate expressions he ob-

from wax paper nega-

HUGO, Francois HUGO and Auguste VACQUERIE. Portraits

paper, 1852.

of

visitings

collodion

Charles

taken

morse,

muscle separately

the author at work, from the original

185 Charles

Yvon. Positive print from wax paper

about 1852.

re-

1852 to 1856 he took collodion photo190 Title

work.

tive,

from

Positive prints

205x142

Positive print

my

copies.

Guillaume-Benjamin Amant DUCHENNE de Boulogne. Mecanisme de la physionomie humaine on an-

about 1850.

of

thick

nature

Compared to the pretentious studies made by Pierson, this one has a charm

edition of

Charles

make

That no compunctious

brated tragedienne at Auteuil in 1853.

184 Anonymous. Portrait of a man,

186

cruelty;

direst

negatives, 1862.

REGNAULT.

a servant(?),

to the toe

in the play of facial expression.

190x160, 225x174 183 Victor

Of

188x150

lodion negative, 1853.

alyse electro-physiologique de V expres-

Por-

crown

Stop up the access and passage to

experimental physiology. In 1851,

already recognized his eminence.

the

top full

Portrait of

Rachel. Positive print from glass col-

sia

Claude Bernard had published only

me here, And fill me from

blood,

graph of the celebrated founder of

few notes, but fellow

Come, you

battlements.

a

and simplicity which explain Rachel's

a

Dun-

That tend on mortal thoughts! Unsex

querie used the calotype, collodion,

College

1847 by Blanquart-Evrard in the pres-

180 Victor

intensely interested

photography and gave incentive

those

sey

de France.

Under my

and albumen. The pictures from

194x154

and chemist was made

the fatal entrance of

can

Vac-

105x80

Hugo was

Victor in

Portrait of

Jean-Baptiste Biot, signed and dated 1851.

That croaks

150x80

spirits a

123x155

REGNAULT.

179 Victor

in profile.

Hugo and Auguste

188 Victor

querie reading.

REGNAULT.

178 Victor

Hugo

187 Victor

plications in themselves, but they take

195 Plate 64: Dread

torment. 196 Plate hoarse.

mixed with

pain,

111x87 8:

"...The raven himself

is

on

their full

mind some

that

importance

if

we keep

in

Adrien Tournachon took

of the pictures.

At that time

Adrien Tournachon (Nadar, the young-

,

joined

er)

with his brother

forces

From

the famous Nadar.

F£lix,

start they

were able

the

to analyze scien-

the slightest expression of the

tifically

human physiognomy. At tion of 1855, Messers.

titled

mime Debureau,

en-

"Expression of fear; concentra-

of a

man.

unknown.

Portrait

from a

Positive print

201 Theophile Gautier, bareheaded,

238x186

about 1857.

202 Theophile Gautier, wearing a cap,

284x210

about 1857.

238

xl86 204 Jean

Louis Ernest

about 1863

(?)

.

Meissonier,

Etienne

Nadar

(Gaspard Felix Tourna-

chon.) Portraits. Positive prints from glass collodion negatives.

is

name

without question the greatest

French photography.

in

expressive.

For him portraiture was

"the most valuable as well as the most

exacting" form of photography.

He

delved into the personality of every sitter

Works Lent

1864.

168x224

209 H.

(Imp.).

to the

Harbor

color photolithography.

with great perspicacity:

portrait.

1844. Daguerreotype engraving. 90x67

ROUSSET. Le

216 Henri

LE SECQ.

Bois de Vin-

Still Life,

Photographique

taisie

Fan-

from paper neg-

LE SECQ.

Fantaisie

Photographique

Vase of Flowers, n.d.

paper negative. 218 Henri

de Gravelle (Cote' de Pontenay)"

171

LE SECQ. Garden

tive.

from paper nega-

326x247

214 Henri

n.d.

from paper neg-

LE SECQ. Dieppe

Positive print [1930]

343x246

(?).

n.d.

from paper neg-

Portrait

of

Modern enlargement from

the original collodion negative, about 1870.

380x283

Emlen Etting and Marthe LaVallee Williams

Contemporaine, Litteraire , Artistique 1876.

tive.

trait

LE SECQ.

LE SECQ.

(ca.

tive.

of

page

Chartres.

Edward

BRAUN.

ca.

307x246

Rustic Scene,

BRAUN.

Albumen

lodion negative.

225

DISDERI

8c

NADAR (Felix Tournachon). PorCorot.

1854-59.

Much

later

of father's nega-

223x162

WIERTZ.

Edouard Manet.

1875.

type by Goupil et Cie.

t

Woodbury-

From

Galeric

Portrait of

n.d. (1860's).

En-

largement of a carte-de-viste collodion negative, painted

on by

the painter

Wiertz (probably Antoine).

226

REUTLINGER, Charles. Portrai

Camelias and

print from col-

447x487

Marechal Magnau.

Nadar

Flowers, n.d.

print from collodion nega-

Stei-

220x324

of Camille

Landscape.

from paper nega-

261x357

223 Adolphe

from paper nega-

Positive print

print by Paul

22 1

decorated

MARVILLE.

1857. Positive print

Lilac. 1856.

n.d.

On

120x82.

by E. Grasset.

224 Adolphe

tive, ca.

344x246

215 Henri

ative.

(?).

CARJAT.

207 Etienne Courbet.

353x278

220

LE SECQ. Dieppe

Positive print [1930] ative.

scene,

of en-

380x285

negative.

chen, 1937] from paper negative.

219 Henri

xl29

Portrait

Modern

1870.

largement from the original collodion

tive.

212 "Une des 16 travels du kiosque

about

from

353x256

1852. Positive print [by

107x190

rival.

CARJAT.

Etienne

206

Albumen

177x138

n.d. Positive print

one of the few great portrait

222 Charles 217 Henri

210 "Riviere Aimable. (Partie cou-

211 "Asile Imperial."

252x185

260x356

ative.

cennes. Paris, 1866.

213 Henri

is

reputation of his famous

"The

n.d. (ca. 1856).

1856). Positive print [1930]

verte)."

of

Exhibition by the George Eastman House

Positive print [1930]

FIZEAU. Double

Ildefonse

Portrait

photographers whose talent approached Nadar's, but whose memory

translated by

Two

CARJAT.

His

and most

199 Eugene Pelletan, about 1854.

BERTAUTS

that of the

is

the best."

collodion, September, 1862.

Daumier,

227x177

Scene.

know

263x200

portraits are utterly honest

208

do the best

205

Carjat

203 Hector Berlioz, about 1863.

198x150

List of

I

I

Victor Hugo. Positive print from glass

glass

collodion negative, about 1855-1860.

NADAR.

portrait

man

has been eclipsed by the better-known

tion, surprise, tenderness..."

198 Photographer

233

xl85

the exhibi-

Tournachon &

Co. enjoyed huge success with their portraits of the

200 Gustave Dore\ about 1854.

PIALLAT. Warehouse

573x108 of Ed-

moiul Ganneron, Speciality de materiel agricole.

Photolithograph. n.d.

(Imp. Bertauts.)

354x462

227 Anonymous. Return of the Troops

from

Italy. 1852.

Daguerreotype. 67x66

228 Anonymous. Portrait of a young

233 A.

Mme. DISDERI.

118x92: oval.

a

n.d.

Hand colored ambrotype.

95x74:

230

Portrait of the deceased

Dr. Amussat. Daguerreotype. 231

DELEMOTTE

Medeak. Daguerreotype. 232

Mme. DISDERI. Portrait of Young Military Man. Hand colored

GODQUIN.

73x98

98x72

Works Lent

244 Adolphe seille.

ALARY.

&

Portrait of a watch-

maker. Daguerreotype.

List of

1855.

67x56

BRAUN. 17'/2 xl2

to the

et

daguerreotype.

61x50: oval.

148x112

Brest et ses environs.

ca. 1856.

239 "Cimetiere de Plougastel, groupe

294x224

de paysans."

235 Anonymous. Portrait of a woman. colored daguerreotype.

241 "St. Mathieu, interieur." 268x200

119x

Edouard-Denis

90: oval.

fer

236 Anonymous. Portrait of a woman. Daguerreotype.

du nord.

BALDUS. Chemin

243

de

Paris, n.d.

242 "#24. Vue de Creil."

72x58: oval.

285x433

GODEFROY. Panorama of Paris.

237 Anonymous. Portrait of a woman.

1874. 9

Hand

prints from glass collodion negatives.

colored

daguerreotype.

73x

Exhibition by the Metropolitan 245 Adolphe 163/£xl4'/2

accordion folded positive

368x2512

60: oval.

Port of Mar-

Daguerreotype.

240 "#6. Chalet a Enghien." 260x395

Hand ALLEVY.

238 Anonymous. Portrait of a young girl.

234 M.

oval.

Portrait of a

96x69

man. n.d. Hand colored daguerreotype.

229 Anonymous. Portrait of a man.

BERTRAND.

man. Hand colored daguerreotype.

BRAUN. The

Garden.

Museum

of Art

246 Adolphe

Napoleon 24, 1860.

BRAUN. The

III at

Court of

Fontainebleau. June

(in three parts) 19i/8 xl5i/8 ,

19x15, 19x15

Acknowledgements Emlen Etting and Marthe LaYallee Williams translated Andre Jammes' text. In addition to writing a commentary and providing a bibliography, Robert Sobieszek contributed his understanding of the period in gathering the loan from the George

Eastman House Collection. William

E.

Parker read the text for consistency and pro-

vided editorial research. Richard Field, Assistant Curator of Prints, and Harriet Dalton, Curatorial Assistant of the Department of Prints and Drawings provided

knowledgeable assistance in preparing the exhibition. Alfred rapher,

made widi exceptional

Others

who have

fully

assisted or

quality the

many

J.

Wyatt,

encouraged the production of

this

Toomey, Registrar; Carl

photog-

work are most

acknowledged: Dr. Evan H. Turner, Director of the Philadelphia

Art; Gertrude

staff

necessary copy photographs.

grate-

Museum

Colozzi, Assistant Director for Services.

of

OF ART LIBRARY^ PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM Alfred

Sitz

Ceffrench.pnmitive oho

3 1876 00065 7987