Preface In establishing the Alfred Stieglitz est in the Center's long-range program.

Center, the Philadelphia Museum of Although little understood, it is a

Evan Turner,
Art reaffirmed its belief in the signifi- fact that photography had a consider-
Director cance of photography. During his dis- able impact upon the development of
tinguished years as Curator of Prints nineteenth-century art, as this exhibi-
and Drawings, Carl Zigrosser steadily tion shows. Over the years the Museum
acquired photographs for the perma- has been famous for the insights its

nent collection. This growth was en- exhibitions have provided into the
couraged in a most important manner work of many of the greatest masters
by Alfred Stieglitz's wish that the of the period.

Museum should inherit a certain part The Museum owes a great debt of
of his own personal photographic thanks to Andre Jammes, who has been
archives. the significant lender to the exhibition.
Thus Mrs. Dorothy 6f g^he The loans coming from other sources
IjLQtff^ys
gestion that th^^HachgJpfetef c J^J^glj m
Of^A9iS e Eastman House, the French
honor the standards for which Alfred Photography Society, the Metropoli-
Stieglitz stood throughout his life was tan 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. The variety

January, 1968, acquisitions extending of ideas this material has presented

the Museum's holdings have been no- to the layman, the art historian, and
table and a varied program has been the master photographer are well sug-

presented by its Advisor, Michael gested in the introduction by Minor

Hoffman, working closely with the White and in the commentaries by
Museum's present Curator of Prints Andre Jammes and Robert Sobieszek.

and Drawings, Kneeland McNulty. This exhibition is the result of a fine

Two previous exhibitions, Light" and 7

collaborative effort by Mr. Hoffman
a retrospective of the work of Robert and Mr. McNulty. That it should lead
Frank, have established high standards. to a new appreciation for this subject

With the presentation and publication and give impetus for further research

of French Primitive Photography, the would be an ideal development of the

Museum gives recognition to photo- Alfred Stieglitz Center's philosophy.
graphic history which is a major inter-
 introduction by Minor White

commentaries by Andre Jammes and Robert Sobieszek

Philadelphia Museum of Art

in collaboration with Aperture Philadelphia 1969

French Primitive Photography is an exhibition presented by the
Alfred Stieglitz Center of the Philadelphia Museum of Art from
November 17th through December 28th, 1969. It is published as
Aperture, Volume 15, Number 1, as a catalogue for the exhibi-
tion, and as a clothbound book for general distribution.

The publication is set in Baskerville by TypoGraphic Commu-

nications, Inc. It was printed by Rapoport Printing Corporation.
The paper, Caress Basis 80, was manufactured by Monadnock
Paper Mills, Inc. The design is by Sam Maitin.

Aperture, Inc. is a non-profit, educational organization publish-

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

municate with serious photographers and creative people every-
where. Address: 276 Park Avenue South, New York City.

Copyright 1969 by Aperture, 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 from the French Photography Society,

gratitude for his efforts to retain the George Eastman House, and the Metro-
first full flowering of photography a politan 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. To crystallize

and France at the same time, it was the show for Aperture the pictures
France that the muse of photography were edited into a contemporary view-
first graced. point. On another level, Andre Jammes
What more possible time for photog- lovingly recapitulates the then of the

raphy to appear than in the Second images with his captions. Our sequenc-
Empire when art was once again at a ing of the images puts them in the pres-

peak of verisimilitude, except those pre- ent because of all that time has done
vious times when the pendulum of vis- to them since.
ual expression swung to realism. How The French primitive photogra-
symbolic it was that among Hippolyte phers, as well as men of other nations,

Bayard's earliest photographs are unconsciously worked with and showed

images of plaster casts of classic Greek the major characteristics of unique
and Roman sculpture. Verisimilitude photography: scrambled time, commu-
in the art of the Second Empire had a nication without syntax, exactly re-
different aim than realism in classic peatable images, mutual inward mir-

Greece. In Greece the ideal was the per- roring of the photographer and the
fection of man; in the Second Empire world, the possibility of direct manifes-
the aim was the imitation of man. tation of the moment of revelation. Of
In his dual role of Managing Editor the latter, the picture Turkish Stele by

Publisher of Aperture and Advisor Pierre Tremaux is an example.

to the Alfred Stieglitz Center of the Apparently photography was born
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Michael unique, though at that period the
Hoffman first suggested the exhibition uniqueness may not have been as clear

to Andre Jammes in Paris, the summer as later. Painting and photographs

of 1968. It was through his efforts that looked so much alike that book repro-
the exhibition was organized for the ductions wipe out the differences easily,
Museum and this publication realized. if not to the expert eye, then certainly
The two hundred or so widely varied 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 its unique norm. Photography, in never entered their minds. But they
its history, has recorded and enlivened saw them every day. They frequently
philosophies about the changes of styles looked at the primary alteration of
in dress and machines, the mores of vision and scene incorporated in the

societies, equipment and materials, and negative. It was in their hands. By ac-

varied attempts to manipulate its cident, through technical failures, by

medium into an emulation of painting. trial and error printing, they also must
The unique photograph persists. For have seen positives that were deviations
example, the woman on the cover of from the realistic and literal.

this issue looked the long hard look The image survivals of the primi-

straight through the camera, through tives are full of deviations from the
time to each individual of us now. literal. Assumed to be technical flaws
People have been looking through today and thought to be stations on the
cameras the same way ever since. way to verisimilitude by the makers,
From the start, the photograph has they function now as manifestations of

retained its primary magic, that of be- moments of revelation both in the

ing able to record the fact, feeling, photograph of the subject and in the
and structure simultaneously at the changes brought about by inadequate

moment of revelation whether the technique and the changes time has

photographer saw it or not, then or wrought since.

later. The primitives worked with the Whatever these images started out

photograph, innocently or naively, so to be, they have become a kind of myth.

we read, in amazement at its power to Seeing them only as historical examples

reflect the detailed minutiae of sur- is missing half the message. They have
face, volume, and light. They were en- been changed by time. These images
tranced by and gave all their attention are both youthful and aged. A reversal
to the photograph and knew little or typical in photography occurs these
nothing of the medium. images we casually think of as grand-

The medium, however, was present parents turn into grandchildren! This

...in the negative. Only their objective is a myth we believe because as we be-

of verisimilitude kept them from ex- come parents, observing our children

ploring these negatives. They may have causes us to relive our childhood con-

never exhibited these negatives as if sciously for the first time, to understand

they were images, as we have done in the primitive for the first time.
Historical Commentary Robert Sobieszek

Public pictures by the camera were first made during the last
months of 1839, but neither these very early works nor subse-
quent photographs generated from a vacuum. Picture making
was as revolutionized by the camera as was the photograph a

part of current pictorial sensibilities. The height of Romanti-

cism's literary emotionalism had been reached in painting and
literature during the By the following decade, the inten-
1820's.

sity 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 classiciz-

ing during the forties and fifties. The concentrated terror and
energy of the Death of Sardanapalus (1827-1828) is noticeably by a public who knew little of art, the same public who had
absent from his later mural commissions. And when this artist's greeted photography enthusiastically.
romanticism is continued by the younger painter Theodore
Chasseriau, it is blended with the mannered classicism of his Throughout the century, Salon or "academic" painting was

teacher Ingres. unquestionably the most observed and well received; later
painters such as Meissonnier and Gerome continued many of
Undoubtably the most important and popular aspect of the characteristics of the juste milieu. The realism incipient to
French painting during the first years of photography was pre- this earlier group was carried even further toward a social as

cisely this amalgam of the romantic-picturesque and the calm well as a pictorial realism by artists like Courbet, Manet, and
abstraction of classicism. Not exactly constituting a style, a Charles Meryon. After the revolutions of 1848, there occurred
group of painters, the juste milieu, gained public notice and a concern for everyday subject matter second only to the Dutch
acclaim by being favored by the government of the July Mon- genre painters of the seventeenth century. As a movement,
archy. Paintings by Paul Delaroche, Horace Vernet, Robert Realism lasted slightly more than a decade, but it was an
Fleury, and L^on Cogniet were all successful in at least one attempt to satisfy public need for an understandable art. The
common goal: they told a simple story without confusion or more progressive critics claimed that traditional subject matter
obfuscation. A taste for pictorial exactitude was combined with was no longer applicable to modern life; the language of Classi-
a desire to be popularly agreeable, a combination that could cal antiquity and of Christianity could no longer be understood
only guarantee success. 1 Purely aesthetic qualities, such as the by the spectators of the Second Empire. 3 What was needed was
texture of paint, correctness of anatomy, and perspective were modern man and his social
a pictorial style that dealt with
subsumed by the storytelling and its subject matter. The writer environment. To this end both Realism along with the juste
Alphonse Karr described the popular attitude at the time. milieu and the landscapists and photography provided pic-
torial solutions.

The pub lie... pays no attention to these qualities which it does

not see; it troubles itself only with the subject. If it sees a battle, Photography was invented in France by Hippolyte Bayard
it wants to know which one it is; if the French are victorious, in 1839. The groundwork for Bayard's discovery was provided
then the painting is immediately better. 2 by the experiments conducted by the Englishman Henry Fox
Talbot. Although Talbot is usually accredited with the discov-
Subjects like Delaroche's Death of the Duke of 'Guise (1835) or ery, it is a matter of record that Bayard made and exhibited
Vernet's Arab Chiefs at Council (1843) are "romantic" in their positive, paper prints as early as June 24, while Talbot did not
history and exoticism. The disinterestedness of the treatment, make his definitive process public until late 1840. 4 The daguer-
however, and the almost journalistic presentation of the scene reotype process was worked on from the late twenties and pub-
dilutes any potentially emotional impact. At once, both the licized in August of 1839; daguerreotypy was not photography
abstractions of Classicism and the extremes of Romanticism were however. The daguerreotype is a unique picture on metal
avoided. The resultant realism and literalness were welcomed unable to be reproduced, while photography makes use of
a negative-positive technique that facilitates replication. The what displaced. 5 Yet around some of them the more noted celeb-
different pictorial qualities of the two processes are even more rities of Parisian art gathered. At the Bissons' studio, for ex-

important. The daguerreotype is marvelously precise in details, ample, one could have met the novelist Theophile Gautier, the
but the picture is fairly small in scale and the surface highly art critic Jules Janin, Delacroix, and Chasseriau. 6 Charles Bau-
reflective. The early paper photographs are capable of sensi- delaire knew the Bissons and admired both Nadar and Carjat.

tively rendering effects of light and mass more delicately than

The juste milieu painter Horace Vernet was in Egypt with the
the daguerreotype. Certain calotypes in the exhibition present
daguerreotypist Goupil-Fesquet in 1839, while ten years later
scenes or landscapes that appear to be literally suffused with an
atmospheric luminosity. Many of these pictures, especially Maxime Du Camp traveled the Orient with Gustave Flaubert.

In such a climate it was impossible for photography to be an

those by Bayard and Le Secq, are most exciting for us because

an important factor. Al- isolated cultural phenomenon.

of this delicate radiance. Scale is also

most the entire effect of these pictures would be destroyed if pre-

The primitives were not tangential to the main currents of
ciously presented in a minute leather case lined with velvet.
the period, nor were they beleaguered starving misfits. Photog-
raphy was given official pictorial sanction throughout the 1850's
From the beginning the early photographers, the '"primi-
by the government of the Second Empire. In 1851, the Com-
tives," attained the facility for creating incredibly accomplished monuments historique authorized Le Gray, Le Secq,
mission des
pictures. By no means were they primitive in their inability to
Baldus, Bayard, and Mestral to document the architecture and
fully utilize the materials given them. The stark expressionism,
scenes of the French nation. Later in the decade the Administra-
crude and monolithic forms, and the programmatic symbolism
of many primitive cultures are absent in their work. Rather,
there is a primitivism of simplicity, of reverence to material
nature, and of non-artifice except perhaps the artifice of direct-

ness.The majority of the photographers gathered in this exhibi-

tion made no attempt to duplicate specific painterly problems

or to translate paintings into their own medium. In France

this confusion of visual languages did not occur to any degree
until much later in the century. The primitives were fascinated
with the mystery and power that an unequivocal rendering of
their world would impart. There is something rather naive
about their approach to nature, an approach difficult to ap-
2
prehend after decades of 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 had resided and the

As Andre Jammes states elsewhere in this issue, many of the
Mayer freres' stereoscopic views of Dutch paintings are just two
early photographers were painters by trade when they came to
of presumably many such commissions. 7
the new device. Those that were not were at least in some way
connected with the recognized artistic community in Paris. During the following decade, due to wars and other economic
Bayard was a close friend of the painter Amaury Duval, a pupil considerations, the official purchase of photographs diminished,
of Ingres, the leader of the Classicist School. Gustave Le Gray, while individual patronage increased substantially. The albums
Charles Negre, the elder Bisson, Charles Marville, and Louis and portfolios that were privately commissioned remain among
Robert were all painters in their own right; some relinquished the unquestionable masterpieces of this period. In 1860, Bisson
the brush entirely while others continued in both media. These freres were assigned to portray Mont Blanc and its surrounding
names have left little mark on the history of art; for the most glaciers as a souvenir of the Royal Family's excursion into the
part they were not eminently successful as painters. Many of Haute Savoie. Charles Negre documented the Imperial Asylum
them issued from what generally has been called bohemianism: at Vincennes for the Emperor in the same year. And most likely

painters unsuccessful in making a name, writers existing by an it was during the first years of this decade that the Baron James
occasional article, and engravers whom photography had some- de Rothschild hired Baldus to photograph the views and archi-
tecture along at least two railroad lines outside of Paris. The two "the artist ought to be in his work like God in creation, invisible

large folio albums that resulted excluding a possible smaller and omnipotent. He should be felt everywhere but not be seen.
album whose attribution is in question present a new type of Art ought, moreover, to rise above personal feelings and nervous
landscape, an industrial landscape whose terminals, tracks, and susceptibilities! It is time to give it the precision of the physical
bridges are treated with as much understanding and pic- sciences, by means of a pitiless method!"'
1 -

8
turesqueness as any purely natural view. Close to twenty years
previous, Gautier understood that the by-products of industri-
Realism claimed as subject matter for the artist anything and

were much man's environment nature everything that belonged to nature, with the implicit emphasis
alization as a part of as
on material nature. The non-material subjects of fantasies and
romantic fictions were not considered legitimate areas for the
artist. 'Art... is a real thing," claimed the first editorial of the

art review Realisme, "existing, visible, 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 critics

and theoreticians of Realism welcome the photograph 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. The naturalism of the photograph,
its relative veracity in picturing a world of increasing interest,

and its apparent scientific objectivity could not but delight such
itself. In order to retain a vital currency, the arts had to portray an audience.
what was important modern society; furthermore, Gautier
to

claimed that "the modern Pegasus will be a locomotive." 9 Both More than anything else, photography contributed most
official government and individual commissions demonstrate heavily to a popular desire for pictures of the current world.

that while certain painters scorned the new process throughout In French painting there had been a steady progression since
the century, the photographers were not without a public and David toward a more topical and contemporaneous subject in-

a patron. Independence was granted to photography almost terest. David's pupil Gros painted a kind of monumentalized
from the beginning as long as it held to its internal limits. The reportage as early as 1804 by illustrating Napoleon not on the
major difficulties arose only when photographers self-consciously battlefield but in a pesthouse at Jaffa. The guise of the Emperor
confused their picture making with what was then High Art. may be heroic, but his surroundings are an actual part of con-
temporary reports. Even more journalistic was Gericault's
Photography evolved during its first few decades within an method working on melodrama The Raft
of his gigantic of the
intellectual environment that extolled scientific particularism,
Medusa Basing his picture on newspaper reports and
(1819).
materialism, and naturalism. Social philosophies like Positivism eyewitness accounts, Gericault succeeded in composing a baro-
continually emphasized the behavioral study of nature and of newsworthy episode with immediate
que rendition of a cur-
social objects. What was of importance was the reality that
rency. In 1835, the painter Boissard exhibited his Episode from
constantly affected a person; for the Positivists Auguste Comte the Retreat from Russia; all the heroism of Gros or the charged
and Ernest Renan, for example, the scientific examination and emotionalism of the Gericault are gone. In a rugged, snow-
objective understanding of material nature were the hope for
covered landscape lie two soldiers and a horse, dead and de-
the future. The artist was expected by the Positivists to see formed; and in the words of a contemporary editor, the work
nature much as the scientist did: with total disinterest and was "shocking in its truth." 12
objectivity. The movement called Realism in both literature

and painting drew heavily from this attitude. Scientific exacti- The pictorial reporting of contemporary scenes did not neces-
tude and faithful reproduction of reality were for Realism sarily limit itself to the most celebrated or dramatic. The com-
necessary for the work of art. Flaubert phrased it most succinctly mon and everyday was also a tenable concern. The 1830's and
when in 1857 he wrote: 1840's saw the novels of Alfred de Musset and Balzac replete
with descriptions of commonplace objects and vulgar realities. of the simple and unassuming that is common to all of the

The popular songs of Pierre Dupont during the late forties primitives. The same quality is found again later in the photo-

contained similar elements. An increased publication of popular graphs of Robuchon and Atget. Le Gray's marines or Le Secq's
woodcuts and engravings also occurred. Painting was not di- architectural scenes are more monumentally constructed than
vorced from these trends; in 1845, Baudelaire wrote: most, but this is a matter of degree not of kind; for a directness

the heroism of modern life surrounds and presses upon us

There is no lack of subjects, nor of colors, to make epics. The
painter, the true painter for whom we are looking, will be he
who can snatch its epic quality from the life of today and can
make us see and understand, with brush or with pencil, how
13
great and poetic we are

The everyday, both in genre and history painting, was to

become the most important subject, as was the landscape for
the Realist and the Impressionist. Current events and the com-
monplace were also of primary importance for the primitive
photographers. Colonel Charles Langlois, as well as Fenton and - ~~r
'

4 -

Robertson, had "covered" the Crimean War much as a present-

day photojournalist would. The absence of images of death and and relative simplicity are necessary for anything to be monu-
the delicate treatment of the print distinguish it markedly, how- mental, and for the primitive photographer, the lyricism of the
ever, from any twentieth-century parallel. The diasastrous floods real transcended other concerns.

in the south of France in 1865 were similarly reported by the

camera. Baldus' pictures of this event gained praises for their During the nineteenth century the known world extended
eloquence and their objectivity. itself far beyond the borders of France. Since the campaigns of
Napoleon at the beginning of the century, North Africa and the
"Reality became as a source of aesthetic joys equal or superior Middle East had become fascinating regions to the Parisian pub-
to any other" during this period. 14 A major part of this joy was lic. The pictorial artists in part reflected but also helped en-
due to a desire for the topographic evidence of place, for a natu- gender the popular delectation for the exotic. Gros had followed
ralistic knowledge of the world and man's creations. Photogra- Napoleon on his campaigns and had portrayed him in various
phy amply supplied the best evidences of the world; it was better locales. The Romantics like Delacroix and Chasseriau found in
than actual travelling since the photograph could be retained the Orient the vibrant colors, the strange atmosphere, and the
and referred to again. The thousands of negatives taken of the costumes and physiognomies so wonderful in their foreign coun-
monuments and views of France during the fifties alone pro- tenance. And although Delacroix claimed to have discovered in
vided a repertoire of detailed visual experiences unknown be- North Africa the reincarnation of classical antiquity, his pic-

fore photography. The primitive photographer came close to tures of massacres and hunts contain all the emotionalism of the
the botanist or naturalist in his direct approach to a systematic High Baroque. The Romantic painters and novelists had pro-
inventory of subject. Yet it was an inventory made by a natu- vided their audiences with a taste for the exoticism and mystery
ralist sensitive to what he observed, conscious of the effects of of the Orient, a taste that would remain active for many decades.
light upon the scene and the play of masses and contours in the
picture. He was also a primitive in that he was naively infatu- Orientalism in painting underwent at least one important
ated with what he saw and photographed. modification during the first half of the century. The earlier

artists Delacroix, for example, and even Ingres saw in foreign

Marville's oneric street scenes fascinate the 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
small side streets and corners that Hugo and Balzac wrote of their sensibilities. By mid-century the sensibility of many orien-
prior to the modernization of the city. Beyond nostalgic effect talists changed to one that accepted the apparent reality of the
are a clarity of vision, a poetic enchantment, and a glorification scene and subordinated the emotionalism of the artist's per-
 Commencing with Du Camp's Egypt, Nubia, Palestine, Syria in

1852, other photographers voyaged to the Near East and re-

turned with pictures unmatched in their singular pictorial

beauty. De Clercq's and Salzmann's views of Jerusalem, Tre-
maux's Sudan, and Du Camp's Egypt showed a world already
hinted at by literature and painting in hitherto unforeseen de-
tail.But more than sheer documentation, all of these pictures,
as Andr Jammes points out concerning Salzmann, combine a
precision of the minute with a textural beauty, a luminosity,
and a sensitively felt reverance toward what was photographed.
sonality to the detailed and exquisite rendering of nature. A few Some of Du Camp's general views could compare favorably pic-

years before Delacroix made his first voyage to Africa, Alexandre torially with any of Marilhat's oriental scenes such as his Orien-
Decamps was in Asia Minor, painting and sketching picturesque tal Caranvanserai (1840's) presently in the Philadelphia Mu-
genre subjects. At the same time, the most famous of the Realist seum of Art.

painters of the Orient, Prosper Marilhat, was traveling through

The musee imaginaire of the world extended beyond the Mid-
Syria, Palestine, and Egypt. Marilhat combined in his paintings
dle East. In the early forties, d'Urville and Siebold had made
the "idealism of a great artist with the exactitude of an architect
15
daguerreotypes of the Pacific and Japan, but the larger range of
or a botanist" ; it was this same artist, along with Eugene Fro-
the photograph brought these unknown regions to an ever in-
mentin, who was at the head of a long tradition of artists who
creasing audience. Gustave Viaud photographed Tahiti in 1859,
realistically portrayed the countries beyond the Mediterranean.
over thirty years before Gauguin arrived on the island. Periodi-
Painters like Berchere, Tournemine, Dehodencq, Belly, and
Guillaumet forgotten names provided the public with topo-
graphic evidences of strange places and visual records of a world
beyond their sight. The taste for the exotic was a product of 6
Romanticism, and even though these artists were far more topo-
graphic than Delacroix, they were as much a part of the roman- cally from 1857 to 1865, Dsir Charnay documented Central
ticizing sensibility as the earlier painter. Romanticism contained America and Mexico and produced some of the most mysterious
an incipient naturalism almost from its beginnings; the natu- and arcane images of the period; in 1863, he interrupted his
ralistic orientalists could not totally divorce their art from the
literary or exotic subjects popularized by Romanticism.

The 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 Wyld and de Lessore, entitled
Voyage pittorresque dans la region d' Alger, was published. The 7

years 1840 to 1844 were marked by the large work (over one
hundred plates in two volumes) 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 as late as 1897 he voyaged to Yemen.
Moscow, Stockholm, Jerusalem, Baalbec, and Damascus. Theo-
The delectation for exotic foreign lands was not limited to
dore dAligny published his etched Vues des sites les plus cele-
monuments and views; the physiognomies of different races were
bres de la Grece antique one year later.
also popularly demanded by interested ethnologists and an

What engraved or etched views of various countries could pro- ever curious populace. E. Benecke photographed the Egyptians
vide by way of information and delectation, the photographic and Nubians in the same year that Du Camp was recording their

print could do as well, if not better, at times. The decade of the monuments. The Museum de Paris began its scientific collection

fifties witnessed an incredible array of photographic orientalism. of photographic portraits of Japanese and Chinese ambassadors
 Realist would have desired, the clarity of outline, and the larger-

than-life disposition of the figure comparable to Ingres's por-

traits of the same period are but a few of the theoretically con-
flicting elements in these pictures. Yet these elements are respon-
sible for the strength and the presence of this veritable gallery of

notables. The officializing portrait style of Ingres and many of

the juste milieu portraitists is repeated in a number of works by
Disderi, purportedly the figure who single handedly destroyed
the art of the photographic portait. The pose according to for-
mula, the artificial props, and the facile treatment of the sitter

at this time, over a decade before Gerome would paint his

grandiose Reception of the Siamese Ambassadors at Fontaine- 9

bleau (ca. 1864). Photographic portraits of North American became, after Disderi, the constants of cheap, commercial studio
Indians and Laplanders were made at the beginning of the portraits. And while Mme. Disderi put together a delightful ser-

sixties by Prince Roland Bonaparte, representing the earliest ies of views in and around Brest, it would be difficult to consider
visual anthropological records of these peoples. These portraits her husband a primitive photographer in the context of this

do not affect any aesthetic viewpoint in order to produce an exhibition. His pictures are included only by way of contrast to
"artful" rendering of the visage; again, as with the primitive those by Regnault, Nadar, and others.

photographers of scenes and architecture, an uncomplicated and

direct attitude on the part of the picture maker produced a Increased ubiquity of the photograph, as well as different
clear and immediate understanding of the subject. Straightfor- aesthetic criteria, saw the end of primitivism in photography.

ward immediacy becomes an aesthetic in itself. Commercialism, the cinema, automated processing, and pic-

torialism replaced the simplicity and intuitive charm of the

The general shift in pictorial art during the first half of the early photograph with other values just as valid but extremely
century was from an overt lyricism and charged expressiveness divorced in kind. One type of primitive photographer continued
to a more detached and calm naturalism; not an absolute evolu- however: le flaneur photographer. He is a picture maker who
tionary progression by any means, the change was more a grad- strolls along the streets and roads of his environment and cap-
ual displacement of one cultural sensibility by another. French tures on film the scenes and images of modern life. In 1858,
primitive photography was not really affected by this shift. Be- Victor Fournel said:
cause of the point in time at which it appeared and because of
its own internal structure, photography was unable both cul- ...It is not given to everybody to be able to amble [fldner]
turally and technically to realize as broad a latitude of styles as naively, that man is a mobile and empassioned daguerreotype
had painting. Yet the diversity among the pictures in this exhi- luho secures the most subtle traces, and in whom is reproduced,
bition attests to the new medium's incredible potential for with their changing reflections, the march of things, the move-
varied stylistic approaches. The soft, gentle lyricism of Reg- ment of the city, the multiple physiognomy of the public spirit,

nault's potraits equal in strength and grandeur to any of David beliefs, antipathies and admirations of the crowd. 16
Octavius Hill's or the dramatic chiaroscuro illuminating the
profile of Victor Hugo recall the romanticized portraits of Dela- Five years later, Baudelaire wrote of what he thought to be
croix or Corot. Nadar and Carjat are singularly independent of the ideal modern artist. "Observer, philosopher, flaneurcall
any school of portraiture. The simplicity and ruggedness that any him what you will;... he is the painter of the passing moment
and of all the suggestion of eternity that it contains." 17 It was
Notes
this attitude that led Le Gray to photograph the scenes of mili-

tary life in the camp of Chalons in 1858 at precisely the same 1. Leon Rosenthal, Du Romantisme au Realisme, Paris, 1914, p. 224.
time as Jean-Leon Gerome painted a monumental version of the 2. Alphonse Karr, Les Guepes, April, 1840, p. 67.

same scene in a Russian camp. Negre was a flaneur when he 3. 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.
4. Georges Pontoniee, The History of the Discovery of Photography, trans, by
Edward Epstean, New York, 1936, p. 186.
5. Gisele Freund, La photographie en France au dix-neuvieme siecle, Paris,
1936, p. 49.
6. Nadar, Quand j'etais photographe, Paris, n.d. 1900, p. 203.

7. Pierre Angrand, "L'Etat mecene, periode authoritaire du Second Empire

(1851-1860)," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, LXXI (May-June, 1968), p. 315.
8. Examples of all three albums are in the collection of the George Eastman
House, Rochester, New York.
9. Theophile Gautier, "Salon de 1846," La Presse, (March 31, 1846).

10. 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.

13.Charles Baudelaire, "The Salon of 1845," in Art in Paris, 1845-1862, Salons

photographed his organ grinders, as was Manet when painting and Other Exhibitions, trans, by Jonathan Mayne, London, 1965, p. 32.
14. Rosenthal, op. cit., p. 386.
the Music in the Tuilleries (ca. 1860), and as Atget was when he
15.Rene Lanson, "L'Orient romantique," in Louis Hautecoeur and others,
portrayed the street vendors of Paris after the turn of the cen- Le Romantisme el I'art, Paris, 1928, p. 264.
16. Victor Fournel, Ce qu'on voit dans les rues de Paris, Paris, 1858, p. 261.

17.Charles Baudelaire, "The Painter of Modern Life," in The Painter of Mod-

ern Life and other Essays, trans, by Jonathan Mayne, London, 1964, pp. 4-5.

List of Illustrations

1. Delaroche: Death of the Duke of Guise 1835

2. LeSecq: The Pont-Neuf, Paris 1852
3. Baldus: Chemin de Per du Nord ca. 1855-65
4. Marville: Paris street ca. 1865
5. Marilhat: Oriental Caravanserai (John G. Johnson Collection,
11 Philadelphia)
6. Viaud: Tahiti 1859
7. Charnay: Aztec Calendar Stone, Mexico
tury. Lartigue, Brassai, and Kertesz are all of the same idiom, as
8. Gerome: Reception of the Siamese Ambassadors at Fontainebleau ca. 1864
is Cartier-Bresson. Finally the family snap-shot, pictures by 9. Hugo, Vacquerie: Victor Hugo in profile 1852

anonymous amateurs and by unknown provincial documentar- 10. Gerome -Recreat ion in a Russian Camp 1858

many 11. Negre: Organ Grinder 1852

ians all reflect of the identical sensibilities toward me-
dium and subject: a naivete, a simplicity of approach, and a
primitivism of spirit.
 Selected Bibliography 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,
This bibliography is by no means exhaustive. Only the most important and Paris, 1964.
most readily available citations have been included. Individual articles in
Henri Jonquieres, La vieille photographie depuis Daguerre jusqu'a 1870,
periodic literature of the period have not been listed because of size limita-
Pr.ris, 1935.
tions. The two major photographic reviews of the 1850's and I860's however,
have been cited. Alexander Ken, Dissertations historiques, artistiques et scientifiques sur la

"The photographie, Paris, 1864.

Anon.. Victor Hugo Album," Image (Rochester), I, No. 7, (Oct. 1952),
pp. 1-2. Charles Kunstler, "Nadar et les catacombes," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, LXVI
Anon.. "Earlv Photography in Yucatan," Image (Rochester), (July-Dec. 1965). pp. 91-96.
II, No. 5 (May
1953), pp. 28-29. Ernest Lacan. Esquisses photographiques a propos de I'Exposition Un'wer-
selle et de la Guerre d'Orient, Paris, 1856.
Aragon. E. Sougez, George Besson, F. Tuefferd, "La photographic ancienne,"
Le Point, XXIII, n.d. (ca. 1942). Ernest Lacan, "Physiologie dtl photographe/1853," Terre d'Images, No. 2
Pauline V. Asher, "Photography." Pre-Impressionism 1860 1869, a formative (March-April 1964), pp. 217-235. Reprints of four articles that originally
decade in French art and culture, (Exhibition catalogue), Davis: University appeared in La Lumiere, 1852-53.
of California at Davis Memorial Union Art Gallery, 1969, pp. 75-77. Raymond Lecuyer, Histoire de la photographie, Paris, 1945.
Charles Baudelaire, "Le public moderne et la photographic," ("Salon de Lo Duca, Bayard, Paris, 1943.
1859") Curiosites esthetiques, Paris, 1923. pp. 264-272. Trans, as "The Mod-
La Lumiere, Paris, 1851-1861.
ern Public and Photography." bv Jonathan Mavne in Art in Paris, 1845-1862,
Salons and Other Exhibitions, London, 1965, pp. 149-155. Nadar, Q_uand j'etais photographe, Paris, n.d. (1900).

George Besson, Photographie francaise 1859-1955 , Paris, 1934. Beaumont Newhall. "The Daguerreotype and the Traveler," Magazine of
Art, XLIV (May 1951).
(George Besson), Vn Steele de technique: Etablissements Braun & Cie., n.p.
(Paris), n.d. (1948). Beaumont Newhall. "Delacroix and Photography," Magazine of Art, XLY
(Nov. 1952), pp. 300-303.
L. D. Blanquart-Evrard. La photographie, ses origines, ses progres, ses trans-
formations, Lille, 1869 & 1870. Paris: Bibliotheque Nationale, Xadar, (Exhibition catalogue; preface by
Etienne Dennery. ) Paris, 1965.
H. Th. Bossert and H. Guttmann, Les premiers temps de la photographie,
1840 1870, Paris, 1930. Paris: Bibliotheque Nationale, Vn siecle de vision nouvelle, (Exhibition
catalogue bv Jean Adhemar and Jacqueline Armingeat). Paris: 1955.
Michel F. Braive, L'Age de la photographie, Bruxelles. 1965. Trans, as The
Photograph, A Social History, by David Britt, New York, 1966. Gerda Peterich. "The Calotvpe in France and Its Uses in Architectural Docu-
Michel F. Braive. "The History and Legend of Nadar," Camera (Lucerne),
mentation," unpublished thesis. University of Rochester, Rochester, 1956.

XXXIX, No. 12 (Dec. 1960), pp. 13-16. Gerda Peterich. "Louis Desire Blanquart-Evrard: the Guntenberg of Pho-
Philippe Bum
"Exposition de la Societe Francaise de Photographie." Gazette
,
tography," Image (Rochester), VI, No. 4 (April 1957), pp. 80-89.
des Beaux-Arts, II, 1859, pp. 211-221. Georges Potonniee. Histoire de la decouverte de la photographie. Paris, 1925.
Yvan Christ, L'Age d'or de la photographie, Paris, 1965. Trans, as The History of the Discovery of Photography bv Edward Epstein,

Yvan Chirst, "Les premiers vovageurs photogTaphes," Jardin des arts, No.
New York, 1936.
152-153 (July-Aug. 1967), pp. 26-37. Jean Prinet and Antoinette Dilasser, Xadar, Paris, 1966.
Yvan Christ. "Le temps des crinolines a travers les vues stereoscopiques," Claude Roy, "Le Second Empire vous regard," Le Point, LIII-LIV, 1958.
Jardin des arts, No. 91 (June 1962). Aaron Scharf, Art and Photography, London, 1968.
Anne d'Eugnv and Rene Coursaget (ed.), Au temps de Baudelaire, Guys et
Aaron Scharf, "Camille Corot and Landscape Photography," Gazette des
Xadar, Paris, 1945. Beaux-Arts, LIX, 1962, pp 99-102.
Essen: Museum Folkwang. Die Kalotypie in Frankreich. Beispiele der Land-
Aaron Scharf and Andre Jammes, "Le realisme de la photographie et la
schafts-, Architektur- und Reisedokumentalionsfotographie, (Exhibition cat-
reaction des peintres," L'Art de France, IV, 1964. pp. 174-189.
alogue), Essen, 1965.
Hazen Sise. "The Seigneur of Lotbiniere His 'Excursions daguerriennes,' "
Essen: Museum Folkwang, Hippolyte Bayard, ein Erfxnder der Photographie,
Canadian Art, IX, (Autumn 1951), pp. 6-9.
(Exhibition catalogue), Essen, 1960.
Bulletin de la Societe Francaise de Photographie, Paris, 1 855- 1 91 4-4-.
Louis Figurier, La photographie au salon de 1859, Paris, 1860.
La photographie en France au dix-neuvieme
Emmanuel Sougez, La photographie, son histoire, Paris, 1968.
Gisele Freund, de siecle. Essai
sociologie et d'esthetique, Paris, 1936. Trans, into Photographie German as Emmanuel Sougez, "This Nadar," Camera (Lucerne), XXXIX, No. 12
und biirgerliche Gesellschaft, eine kunstsoziologische Studie by Walter Ben- (Dec. 1960), pp. 23-26.
jamin, Miinchen, 1968. F. A. Trapp. "The Art of Delacroix and the Camera's Eye," Apollo, LXXXIII,
Paul Gruyer, Victor Hugo photographe, Paris, 1905. No. 50 (April 1966), pp. 278-288.
Andre Jammes, Charles Xegre photographe, Paris, 1963. 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 of the sides of
the forehead is 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 Andre Jammes
The unusual expression "primitive photography" re- plates," as Baudelaire so aptly put it. Later, other prac-

quires a definition; while it is obviously easy to give a titioners dealt with stereoscopy and pornography.
title to an exhibition, it is more difficult to justify it. "Shortly after the rise of photography, thousands of

French primitive photographers flourished during eager eyes were glued to the holes of the stereoscope

a relatively brief period, roughly from 1850 to 1865 al- as if gazing through the skylight to infinity. The love

lowing exceptions for forerunners and latecomers. of obscenity, which is as active in the natural feelings

Theirs is an art of discovery and of pioneering. From of man as self-love, did not allow so splendid an occa-
the very first, they adapted to the new techniques at sion of satisfying itself to escape." These invectives of

their disposal and drew out the best effects. They relied Baudelaire found their mark, and rightly so, but it

as much on instinct as on talent. These primitives were would be too simple to classify all photography as the

neither amateurs nor professionals; they were both, in outlandish abomination he abhorred. Baudelaire
a period when this distinction had not yet been estab- never attacked nor despised the works we have brought
lished. Almost all were painters, and for them photog- together. The author of the Fleurs du Mai dedicated
raphy became a means of enriching their art or as a his famous poem "Le Voyage" to Maxime Du Camp,
means of survival. Some rich amateurs like Le Secq be- and "Le Reve d'un curieux" to Nadar. He treated as
came professionals, but specialists like Le Gray and fanatics "the new worshipers of the sun," yet he readily
Negre returned to their brushes and easels. posed for Nadar, who was present at his deathbed, and
The only true professionals adept at photography for Carjat, friend of the poets and idealists.

ever since its discovery were the daguerreotypists at Baudelaire and the adherents of "art for art's sake"
whom "squalid society hurled itself, like a single Nar- would not concede photography the smallest wedge in

cissus, to contemplate its vulgar image upon the metal the realm of pure art. They wished it kept "the very
humble servant, like printing and shorthand which claimed his photographic past. Flaubert deplored the

have neither created nor supplanted literature." We Legion of Honor being bestowed on Du Camp for his

seek to examine it in this same way in its humility. photographs while poets were in exile.

And this is why we emphasize above all its documen- Generally this was a period of grace, very brief and
tary value, believing firmly that beyond plain statement very complete, before new techniques toward the end

photography "intrudes on the domain of the intangible of the century opened new vistas.

and the imaginary" which it had been denied. The Societe Francaise de Photographie has made it

These primitives then are the people Baudelaire possible to fill a serious gap in this exhibition by loan-
accepted these first skillful makers of the calotype, ing several invaluable prints by Hippolyte Bayard, who

these archeological adventurers, these investigators of in June, 1839, organized a show in Paris of photo-

historic monuments, these scrutinizes of the human graphs printed on paper. The richness of this collec-

countenance these very primitives who were to be tion reveals, for the first time, the range of Victor Reg-

annihilated by the manufacturers of portrait visiting nault's talents, and future historians will doubtless

cards. place him among the top ranking founders of photog-

Baudelaire's venom, in any case, was not aimed at raphy. Some visitors not in sympathy with the restric-

Xiepce's disciples until 1859. Until then early photog- tions observed in making our choices may find gaps in

raphers enjoyed a high public esteem. Reactionism the selection, but we trust that while viewing many
had yet to set in. Du Camp was proud of his Egyptian pictures hitherto unseen they will become aware of

calotypes in 1852, although twenty years later he was the wealth of material still hidden away in lost boxes
ashamed of them. Saddened by the death of his son the which, gradually unearthed, will help us to reevaluate
famed historical painter, Regnault also completely dis- our ideas of the history of photography.
"Exactly repeatable pictorial statements"

It is not by chance that one of the first works shown in the exhibi- manual or purely photomechanical. The documentary function
tion is the reproduction of a print by Joseph Nicephore Niepce. of photography to which it was humiliatingly limited proved in
This picture is one of the first experiments by the inventor of time to be its prime asset, the very essense of its originality.

photography; it is also a 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 tlii s record. mentary evidence they were laying the foundations for a new
Photography was really born with Niepce; as a unique object language. Was the Jerusalem stonework that Salzmann repro-
and despite its charm, the daguerreotype should only be consid- duced Jewish, Roman, or Christian? This was fundamental, but
ered as a step in the evolution of a technical process. Photogra- there was also the light on the steps of a stairway, the texture

phy only came to full fruition with Talbot, Blanquart-Evrard, of the time-ravaged walls. This secondary pictorial feature, pos-
and a few others who were finally able to secure multiple repro- sibly intentional, was not merely the realism that Baudelaire
duction from the single negative. Except for the purpose of considered slavish but a new mode of expression intrinsic to
comparison, the daguerreotype figures in this exhibition only photography. We find in this new form a delight which the
to the extent that it became duplicable in some form, whether primitive originators sensed only dimly.

1 Nicephore NIEPCE. Portrait of This negative print may date from lection of casts, June, 1840. Direct
Cardinal d'Amboise. Photoetching, Bayard's first experiments, early in positive print (?) .. (Collection of the
1827. Printed in 1862 from the orig- 1839, or after the reports of Talbot's Societe Francaise de Photographic)

inal tin plate for J. Chevrier, Mayor work. The picture was produced 256x304
of Chalon-sur-Saone, dedicated to J. simply by exposing the sensitized
6 Benjamin DELESSERT. Reproduc-
Niepce de Saint-Victor, who later re- paper, on which rested the objects
tion of the "Holy Family" of Marcan-
dedicated and presented it to Ernest themselves, to the sun.
tonio Raimondi, about 1852. Positive
Lacan, Editor-in-Chief of the publica- 3-4 Hippolyte BAYARD. Two still
print by Blanquart-Evrard from the
tion La Lumiere. 162x130* lifes: collection of casts, about 1839- negative on paper. 238x167
Strictly speaking, Niepce's first suc- 1840. Direct positive prints. (Collec-
This is the first example of the repro-
cessful efforts do not concern photog- tion of the Societe Franchise de Pho-
duction of an artist's complete works
raphy but rather photomechanical tographic) 161x174, 138x210
through photography. From 1854 on,
processes. Bayard sensitized a sheet of paper in Delessert was to use the photoetching
The original seventeenth-century silver nitrate, allowing it to darken process of Niepce de Saint-Victor, thus
print had been made transparent by in the light. He then resensitized the coming closer to the quality of the
the use of melted wax. Niepce then paper in potassium iodide just before original.
put it in contact with the tin plate using it. In the darkroom a complex
smeared with bitumen of Judea. After inversion took place; the picture be-
7 BISSON freres. Ecce Homo.
L'Oeuvre de Rembrandt reproduit par
exposure to the sun the bitumen hard- came positive. As a unique object, like
la photographic decrit de commente
ened in places where the sun had the daguerreotype, the picture could
par M. Charles Blanc. Printed by Le-
penetrated the print. Acid then etched not be reproduced, nor did it have
mercier from negative on glass, 1854-
the parts that had been dark in the the splendid sharpness of the daguer-
1858. 424x353
print, thus reproducing an etching reotype. Bayard arranged an exhibi-
close to the original. (N.B.: the date, tion of some thirty of his pictures This was the first album published by
1824, given by Chevrier in his dedica- June 24, 1839, about a month before the brothers Louis-Auguste and
tion is incorrect.) the techniques of Niepce and Daguer- Auguste-Rosalie Bisson. It was fol-

re were revealed during a sitting of lowed by numerous publications on

2 Hippolyte BAYARD. Nature print-
the Academy. This was the first exhi- art, architecture, and science.
ing: feathers, material, print, about
bition of photographs in the world. 8 BISSON freres. The Knight, Devil
1839-1842. (Collection of the Socidte1
Francaise de Photographic) 245x208 5 Hippolyte BAYARD. Still life: col- and Death. Oeuvre d'Albert Durer

Sizes are in centimeters

photographie. Positive prints from Reims Cathedral. Positive print from this building, and the only known
glass negatives, 1854. 245x187 paper negative, 1854. 252x345 proof. It shows the old sacristy built

BLAN- by Soufflot, which was torn down

9 Louis-Desire-Joseph 11 Charles MARVILLE. Statue of
shortly after the picture was taken.
QUART-EVRARD. St. Ursula and Diana by Jean Goujon, Louvre
Fizeau patented his process Septem-
Her Companions Painted by Mem- Museum. Blanquart-Evrard print from
ber 12, 1843.
Album photographique
ling Plate 32: paper negative, about 1851-1855.
de I'artiste et de I'amateur, 1851. 202 350x250 15 Hippolyte FIZEAU. Notre Dame,
xl33 south porch. Daguerreotype converted
This photograph is the seventh in
The lack, of sensitivity to certain colors into a copperplate engraving, 1842.
Paris Photographique by Blanquart-
of the early emulsions greatly im- 170x135
Evrard, one of the most beautiful of
paired the reproduction of paintings. the Lille publications. The album 16 Hippolyte BAYARD. Old house
This example is from the first collec- should contain thirty-five pictures, but being restored, about 1848 (?) . Print
tion of photographs published in Lille there is no known complete set extant. made in 1965 from the original wax
by Blanquart-Evrard, who from 1851 paper negative. 231x174
Excursions daguerriennes. Vues et
to 1855 operated a veritable small fac- The daguerreotype was a dead end in
monuments les plus remarquables du
tory of assembly line prints. Besides photography. By inventing a method
globe. Paris, Lerebours, 1842-1844.
large travel volumes ordered by Paris to obtain direct positives on paper in
publishers, the establishment in Lille 12 The Alhambra. Aquatint by Sa-
1839, Bayard had really achieved little.

produced numbers of albums: among lathe from a daguerreotype. 150x205 However, after 1842, he adopted Tal-
them were L'Art religieux, L'Art con- bot's negative-positive system and be-
13 Bas-relief from Notre Dame. Exe-
temporain, La Belgique, Dessins orig- came one of the first in France to
cuted by the Fizeau process. 175x138
inaux, Gravures celebres, and Etudes achieve splendid calotypes rivaling
Daguerreotypes made from 1839 fas-
photographiques. Almost all of these England's best products. Bayard also
cinated artists the world over, but
have disappeared. indubitably outdistanced his predeces-
their effect would have been very lim-
The appearance of these faithful re- sors in the search for aesthetic quali-
ited if means had not been found to
productions of works of art must be ties. Moving beyond traditional pic-
disseminate the image.
considered an influential event in torialism, a feeling for the purely
After 1842, the optician Lerebours
France. Published only four years after photographic image dawns in his
engaged engravers of extraordinary
the Annals of the Artists of Spain by work. It is difficult to pinpoint what
skill who succeeded in faithfully dupli-
"William Sterling, these reproductions he was aiming at in this composition,
cating daguerreotypes. Soon Fizeau,
are of a quality highly superior to though he was certainly a forerunner
who was only twenty-two years old,
those produced by Talbot. To quote of "the direct approach." Beyond
managed to convert them into print-
William Ivins, they were "the first documentation, henceforth "exactly
able engraved plates without manual
exactly repeatable pictorial statements repeatable," appears straight photog-
intervention.
about works of art which could be raphy.
accepted as visual evidence about Excursions daguerriennes form a re-
17 Louis-Desire- Joseph BLAN-
things other than mere iconography. markably faithful catalogue of archi-
QUART-EVRARD. The Marketplace
It was no longer necessary to put faith tecture in which certain pictures
at Ypres. Positive from paper nega-
in the accuracy of the observation and achieve complete authenticity.
tive, 1846 170x216
skill of the draughtsmen and the en- 14 Hippolyte FIZEAU. The Cathe- A number of proofs by Blanquart-
gravers. These reports were not only dral of Notre Dame. Daguerreotype Evrard dated 1846 or 1847 are known.
impersonal but they reached down converted into a copperplate engrav- They mark a period when the Lille
into the personality of the artists who ing, 1842. 190x145 photographer had finally mastered
made the objects that were repro- and perfected the calotype.
This south side of the Cathedral is
duced."
perhaps a plate rejected by Lerebours. After 1844, Blanquart-Evrard used
10 Charles MARVILLE. Treasure of It is the oldest extant photograph of Talbot's method, learning from a phar-
macist named Tanner. He soon per- Positive proofs from paper negatives, in Paris. Positive print from a paper
fected and simplified the process, ad- 1851. negative, 1852. 335x250
ding a certainty to the results that
19 Details of the portal (right gable, This photograph was taken before the
Talbot's technique lacked.
west facade) . 335x250 restorations, bearing the hand nota-
His negative paper was thoroughly tion, "Souvenir of the old Pont-Neuf."
soaked in a solution of potassium 20 "Tower of the Kings" (east side of

iodide and silver nitrate. Development the south tower). 335x250 23 Gustave LE GRAY and MES-
was brought about by the use of gal- "The young artist has recorded, stone TRAL. Blois: The great staircase of

lic acid. by stone, the cathedrals of Stras- the chateau. Positive proof from a
The precision of his method, its sim- bourg and Reims in over a hundred wax paper negative, 1851. 370x292
plicity and reduced exposure time, en- different prints. Thanks to him we This print bears the seal of Le Gray
couraged him to send a paper with a have climed all the steeples. . .what we although the negative in the collec-

description of the process and trial never could have discovered through tion of the Societe Francaise de Photo-
proofs to the Academy of Sciences in our own eyes, he has seen for us... graphic is signed by Mestral. Both
January, 1847. one might think the saintly artists of men collaborated in a trip undertaken
the Middle Ages had foreseen the at the request of the government Com-
In April of the same year, he gave
daguerreotype in placing on high their mission of Historic Monuments.
demonstrations which were considered
statues and stone carvings where birds
conclusive for Regnault, Biot, and Charles NEGRE. Le Midi de la France.
alone circling the spires could marvel
their pupils. This official stamp of Positive prints from wax paper neg-
approval for photography on paper
at their detail and perfection The atives, 1852.
entire cathedral is reconstructed, layer
led many photographers to abandon Charles Negre, painter, pupil of In-
on layer, in wonderful effects of sun-
the daguerreotype in favor of the new gres and Delaroche, began photo-
light, shadow, and rain. M. Le Secq,
methods. graphing in 1851. His friend Le Secq
too, has built his monument." (H. de
18 Eugene PIOT. The Acropolis: was his adviser, and Le Gray his
Lacretelle, in La Lumiere, March 20,
The Parthenon. Positive proofs from teacher. Born in Grasse, he specialized
1852.)
paper negatives, 1852. Interior eleva- in recording his native province, leav-
This photographic documentation
tion (northeast angle). 330x227 ing some sixty photographs of great
was part of a vast inventory study of
Eugene Piot, archeologist, art critic,
quality. Heartened by the success of
France's ancient monuments, under-
and collector, was the first French Maxime Du Camp, whose 125 Egyp-
taken by the Commission of Historic
scholar to use the calotype in research tian pictures sold well, he launched a
Monuments and initiated by Baron
subscription series with the publisher
and for reproduction. He made a
Taylor and Merimee. Baldus, Bayard,
great number of negatives during his
Goupil. The project proved a total
Le Secq, Mestral, Le Gray took part
travels in Italy, Sicily, and Greece. failure. Only the first installment ap-
in this project. The itineraries of the
no com-
The first installment of his Italie
peared and a few plates sold;
five "missions" are known. Of hun- plete set was ever printed.
monumentale appeared several
dreds of negatives taken throughout
months before Blanquart-Evrard's
France, many are preserved in the 24 Aries, Saint Honorat. 337x432
first album and new editions appeared
photography office of the "Direction
for several years, at least until 1857. 25 Abbey of Montmajour 295x224
de l'Architecture" in Paris. The Musce
To date, unfortunately, not one copy
des Arts Decoratifs also owns 253 neg-
is to be found. His library catalogue 26 Aries, Gate of Chestnuts. 227x316
atives by Le Secq.
(2nd Sale, 1891, No. 3637) describes
Charles NEGRE. Chartres Cathedral,
the following illustrations: "Temples 21 Henri LE SECQ. Sculpture from
north side, 1854.
grecs. 2 pi., L'Acropole d'Athencs, Chartres Cathedral. A positive proof
27 Paper negative. 740x537
109 pi., LTtalie monumentale, 255 pi., from a wax paper negative, 1852. 335
L'Elite des monuments francais, 23 pi." x250 732x510
28 Positive print.

Henri LE SECQ. Reims Cathedral. 22 Henri LE SECQ. The Pont-Neuf These very large photographs were
probably taken in tbe summer of 1854 wide recognition for the perfection of Auguste SALZMANN. Jerusalem.
and exhibited by the Societe Franchise a similar picture. Positives by Blanquart-Evrard from
de Photographic in 1855. Negre had paper negatives, 1856.
35 Charles MARVILLE. Chartres Ca-
to use a camera of corresponding size, In 1851, A. Salzmann, the archeologist
thedral. Large figures from the Royal
and he very likely had one especially and photographer, undertook a trip
Portal. Positive print by Blanquart-
built. Perspective exaggerations are to the Holy Land, hoping to confirm
Evrard from a paper negative, about
almost non-existent, which is a real historical theories promulgated by de
1851-1855. 337x239
feat. The negatives shown here are Saulcy, a member of the French In-
perhaps the largest known of that "Marville, still a painter," said Nadar.
stitute. Hypotheses put forth by the
period. We are indebted to him for several
famous archeologist relative to the
lovely calotypes, a process he soon
29 Charles NEGRE. Chartres Cathe- monuments were
dating of certain
abandoned in favor of collodion
dral, south tower. Negative on wax supported only by drawings and
prints.
paper, 1854. 740x533 sketches considered dubious. On the

Charles NEGRE. Chartres Cathedral, 36 Edouard-Denis BALDUS. Place de other hand, the evidence submitted

south porch. Positive proofs from al- la Concorde, Paris. Negative on wax by Salzmann was immediately ac-

bumen negatives on glass, 1854. paper, about 1852-1855. 340x440 cepted. He wrote in his preface: "Pho-
tographs are more than tales, they are
30 General view. 516x709 Baldus was also a painter. He had
photographed Normandy for the gov-
facts endowed with convincing brute
31 Detail from the central portal.
force." Three copies of this work con-
724x530 ernment (1851), Auvergne, and Pro-
taining a total of 174 plates on Judaic,
vence (from 1852 to 1855). He used
Niepce de Saint-Victor had perfected
the wax paper method with unequal- Arabic, and Christian monuments are
a formula on glass, using white of egg
known to exist.
led dexterity. His negatives are trans-
with silver salts. Negre used this
parent and almost devoid of grain. 39 Temple enclosure. Detail of the
method to obtain grainless prints in-
probationary pool. 226x320
tended for reproduction by photo- 37 Edouard-Denis BALDUS. The St.
gravure. 40 Valley of Josaphat, Absalom's
Jacques Tower in Paris. Positive print
Charles NEGRE. Chartres Cathedral, Tomb. 324x235
from paper negative, about 1854.
statue-columns. 432x343 41 Ancient stairway carved into the

32 Positive print from albumen nega- In this unusual view the tower's base rock. 333x237

tive on glass, 1854. 615x465 had recently been freed of the houses 42 Judaic sarcophagus. 233x327
33 The same photograph reproduced which disfigured it. Unfortunate res-
43-45 The Holy Sepulchre. 332x237,
by photogravure, 1855. 726x482 torations have not yet been made. 232x326, 325x235
Charles Negre studied all methods of 38 Louis ROBERT. Fountain in the 46 Arabic fountain. 330x234
reproduction possible in his time, but Park of Saint-Cloud, about 1851-1855. Documentary photography rarely
he was most successful with the hand 320x255 melds precision of detail and beauty
photogravure processes which he
Louis Robert was the chief painter at of execution. The first picture is a
raised to heights difficult to surpass
the Sevres porcelain factory. He took notable example of the merits of
even today.
a fine series of architectural views in photographic evidence. In this photo-
34 Charles NEGRE. The Pavilion de Versailles and Saint-Cloud, certain of graph Salzmann provides information
L'Horloge at the Louvre. Positive which were published by Blanquart- about the construction of the pool:
print from an albumen negative on Evrard. His director, Victor Regnault, the wall of the Temple covered witfi
glass, about 1855. 700x521 undertook similar projects. Through stones sometimes inserted between the
This was a classic theme of the period, its combined aesthetic and industrial blocks, then a layer of pebbles bound
when the Louvre was the object of character the making of porcelain was by mortar, and overall, a smooth coat-
numerous restorations. Charles Negre clearly a milieu favorable to the devel- ing of waterproof mortar. No drawing
set out to rival Baldus, who received opment of photography. could have rendered these details in
which the very texture of the materi- twenty-five pictures, acclaimed at the the right time. It took all the author-
als is of conclusive value. time for their artistic merit and their ity of this photographer-colonel to
Charles MARVILLE. Paris streets. authenticity: "while one could suspect prevent the destruction of the traces
Positive prints from collodion nega- exaggeration in accounts written un- of war. (The Malakoff tower had been
tives, about 1865. der the tragic impact of the moment, seized September 8.)

there is one testimony beyond ques- As a veteran of Wagram and

47 Rue du Gindre at the corner of as a de-
tion: that of photography and this is
fender of the last stands at Waterloo,
rue de Mezieres. 342x259
of heart-rending eloquence." his mission was practically official. Pro-
48 Rue des Marmousets at the corner Charles NEGRE. The Imperial Asy- prietor of an enormous "Panorama,"
of rue St. Landry. 325x266 lum at Vincennes. Positive prints from he offered the Parisian public, views
Marville loved the picturesque and collodion negatives, 1860. of French army conquests and vic-
knew how to lend dignity to sordid tories on a truly "wide angle screen"
53 Salute to the Emperor; enlarge-
old streets. With feeling he recorded of 360. He had made a trip to Algeria
ment. 324x440
the old Paris quarters that Haussmann in 1830 for his panorama "The Fall
pitilessly tore down. Deliberately, he 54 Mother Superior. 250x165
of Algiers"; the Navy Department had
chose rainy days when cobblestones 55 The Refectory. 340x425 ordered from him the "Battle of Nava-
glistened and the light was evenly dis- rin"; and the Minister of the Interior
56 The Kitchens. 228x170
tributed. had commissioned "The Crossing of
57 The Linen Room; enlargement.
49 Charles MARVILLE. City Hall, the Linth." The "Panorama of Sebas-
370x260
Paris, inside staircase. Positive print topol" was painted on a circular can-

from a glass collodion negative, about 58 The Dispensary. 225x175 vas with a 105 foot diameter.

I860. 269x369 59 The Doctor's Visit. 215x165 Gustave LE GRAY. Scenes of military

Marville achieved documentary per- Napoleon III had founded a charita-

life in the camp of Chalons. Positive

fection: precise rendition of materials, ble institution for the care of disabled
plates printed from collodion nega-
perfect focus, exact perspective, lumi- tives, 1858.
workmen. In 1860, Negre was given
nous shadows. an order for a "monographic photo- 63 The Guard at dawn. 265x323
50 A. FERRIER. Grande graphique" on this hospital, in short,
Chartreuse 64 The Guard entrenched. 271x360
Monastery. Positive print published a journalistic report. Despite difficul-
ties due to poor lighting, he obtained 65 View of the drill field. 284x338
by Bingham from a glass albumen
negative, April 1865. 252x317
good pictures by using a relatively 66 Officers in a tent. 312x364
1,
wide lens and small plates.
Ferrier, a prominent member of the 67 Officers watching a group of zou-
Societe Francaise de Photographic Colonel Charles LANGLOIS. Photo-
aves playing cards. 312x364
perfected the albumen process, pro-
graphs of the Crimean War. Positives
printed by Martens from paper nega-
68 The Emperor's table. 288x353
ducing prints of unequalled sharp-
ness, density, and luminosity. tives, November, 1855. 69 Mass of August 15, before the Em-
peror and Marshal Canrobert. 269x
51 Unknown. The town residence of
60 The Gervais Battery. 259x318
369
Lesdiguieres. Positive print from col- 61 The Korniloff Battery. 253x316
In studying these pictures it is impos-
lodion negative, about 1865. 280x208
62 The Malakoff Tower. 225x318 sible not to think of Fenton. But Le
52 Edouard-Denis BALDUS. Avig- Fenton's and Robertson's accounts of Gray, unlike the English reporter, was
non, floods of 1865. Positive print the Crimean War are famous; Lang- not working under attack, and his
from paper negative. 320x443 lois's is practically unknown. Like photographs of soldiers at drill in the

From June 6 to 14, Baldus covered the Daguerre, Langlois was a panoramist, early morning dust have a charm
flooded areas of the South of France. but he was in the pay of the Empire's which his rival could not achieve.

Officially commissioned by the govern- official propaganda channels. 70 Victor REGNAULT. Portrait of a
ment, he brought back a report in He arrived November 13, 1855, at just man seated by a vacuum pump. Mod-
ern print from a wax paper negative 71 Victor REGNAULT. Acoustical tion which earased the photographic

printed by Jean-Pierre Sudre, about experiments. Modern positive print parts of the image, leaving only the

1851. 180x150 from original wax paper negative, drawing.

about 1851. (Collection of the Societe 72 Victor REGNAULT. Acoustical

Regnault had succeeded in consist: Francaise de Photographic) 176x139 experiment. Modern print from a wax
ently sensitizing negatives by placing Regnault suggested a new technique paper negative, about 1851. 189x145

the receptacle containing the paper for scientific drawings: he photo- 73 Victor REGNAULT. Laboratory
and the silver salts solution under a graphed the experiment, drew the instruments in the College de France.
vacuum dome. He urged the use of contours in China ink, and then sub- Modern print from the original wax
this method even while traveling. merged the drawing in a cyanide solu- paper negative, about 1851. 164x222

Conflicting Aspects of a New Art

The attitude of painters toward photographers fluctuated scenes of ancient history, tragic or noble." (Baudelaire)
between contemptuous jealousy and more or less benevolent Furthermore, painting had never been more "photographic"
patronage. The painter-photographers returned the scorn of than in this period when the art of Niepce and Daguerre was
their critics, bristling with an arrogant aggressiveness nourished expanding, a situation propitious for thriving confusion.
by the refusals of society to accept them on the same level as the The present section shows how some painters were able to
painter. Many had their feet in both camps, though the primi- rise above the conflict by using methods the photographers had
tive photographers avoided the extremes. taught them. It also demonstrates how certain primitive pho-

Primitive photographers challenged their rivals on an ill- tographers approximated painterly effects without becoming
chosen field, that of the picturesque, the anecdotal, the "genre" ridiculous.
subject. "In arranging and grouping together buffoons, male and This section does not pretend to advance any theory. In an
female, tricked up like butchers and washerwomen in the carni- area where charm and ambiguity blend so intimately, it seeks

val, in begging these heroes to be so good, during the time at best to prove that no rigid borderline exists between one art
necessary for the operation, as to hold their smiles for the occa- and another, and that there are alternatives to mutual excom-
sion, the photographer flatters himself that he is rendering munication.

74 Camille-Baptiste COROT. Le bou- 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. 1 55x233 William M. Ivins, Jr., in Prints and sharpened sticks drew lines that came
Visual Communication, states: "So far out black on the print. Coats of paint
The "cliche-verre" technique was in-
of different thickness created varia-
as the artist was concerned, it was a
vented"by the painter Dutilleux along tions of was actually a
much more direct and simple process tonality. It
with two friends, Grandguillaume and painting evolving into a photograph.
than etching. But because these prints
Cuvelier. Corot, an intimate friend of
were neither etchings, nor lithographs, 76 Camille-Baptiste COROT. Rem-
Dutilleux, began his first experiments
and because they were not actually brandt's "Woodcutter." Cliche-verre
in 1853. He is known to have made at
photographs made with a camera, transformed into a photogravure
least sixty-five cliches-verre between
they never became popular with col- print, 1853-1855. 98x62
May, 1853 and 1874, proof of his con-
lectors or the public."
This was Corot's first attempt in the
tinuing interest in this medium.
This picture was made entirely with cliche-verre technique The
(1853) .

The cliche-verre was in fact a true an etching needle. original plate was destroyed, and only
negative, entirely handmade by en- 75 Camille-Baptiste COROT. The two prints from it are known to exist.

graving onto collodion, or by painting Ambush. Positive print of a cliche- Charles Negre transferred this photo-
on a glass surface. Cliches-verre were verre, 1858. 220x157 graphic image into steel by a method
 .

he invented, thus obtaining a kind of emerge gradually..." Lerebours, how- 83 Hippolyte BAYARD. House and
etching shown here for the first time. ever, surmounted these problems and garden. Les Batignolles. Positive print
boasted: "Small houses are accented from a paper negative, January, 1844.
77 Constant DUTILLEUX. Land-
admirably, and the foliage, superbly (Collection of the Societe Franchise de
scape. Positive print from a cliche-
rendered, is a facsimile of nature..." Photographic) 168x170
verre, about 1855. 160x110
81 Eugene CUVELIER. Landscape in In his youth, Bayard sought the com-
Dutilleux, a friend of Corot's since
famous painter the the forest of Fontainebleau. Positive pany of actors and painters, par-
1848, taught the
cliche-verre technique. Dutilleux is re-
print toned with gold from paper neg- ticularly of Dupuis of the Comedie

vealed here as a most capable techni- ative, October 19, 1863. (Collection of Franchise, a friend of Amaury Duval,
cian. the Societe Francaise de Photogra- Ingres's pupil. Lacking talent himself,
phic) 198x257 Bayard still took pleasure in the com-
78 Eugene DELACROIX. Poised Ti-
pany of Charlet and Gavarni. His
Eugene Cuvelier was the son of one
ger. Print from a cliche-verre, drawn
who had works reflect the tastes of the time,
of the painter-photographers
with an etching needle, 1 854. 1 68x200
but one can feel the promising origi-
taught Corot the technique of the
On March 7, 1854, Delacroix wrote to nality of this new process.
cliche-verre. He often went to Barbi-
Dutilleux thanking him for initiating
him new
zon. Aaron Scharf has unearthed an Hippolyte BAYARD. Four com-
into this art form. About
interesting letter from Millet to Theo- positions. Modern prints by MM.
photography in general he continued:
dore Rousseau: "You must have seen Gassmann from original negatives pre-
"As far as I am concerned, I can only
Eugene Cuvelier. He showed me some served by the Societe Francaise de
say how much I regret such an admir-
very fine photographs taken in his Photographic Between 1846-1848 (?)
able discovery should have come so
own country and in the forest. The
late! The possibility of studying such 84 Composition with hat. 202x176
subjects are chosen with taste, and
images would have had an influence
include some of the finest groups of 85 The arbor. 171x229
on me that I can only guess at from
timber that are about to disappear." 86 Bouquet of flowers. 228x170
the usefulness which they have now,
(Art and Photography, p. 63.)
even in the little time left me for more 87 Attic. 231x166
intensive study. It is the tangible proof 82 Eugene CUVELIER. Grass and
The taste for picturesque arrange-
of nature's own design, which we shrubs. Positive print from a glass
ments was typical of Talbot, Bayard,
otiierwise see only very feebly." negative, October 22, 1863. (Collec-
Blanquart-Evrard, and Regnault, and
tion of the Societe Francaise de Pho-
79 Theodore ROUSSEAU. The these pictures reflect the popularity of
tographic) 198x258
Cherry Tree. Print from cliche-verre, Dutch painting in this period. Talbot
Cuvelier apparently understood re- stated: "We find sufficient authority
drawn with an etching needle. 21 8x
markably well the limitations and in the Dutch school of art for us to
277
advantages of every photographic choose scenes from daily life as rep-
80 Excursions daguerriennes. Vues et
process. In the preceding print he resentational material."
monuments les plus remarquables du
takes advantage of the delightful soft-
The final picture here gains in real-
globe. Paris, Lerebours: View in Nor-
ness of paper negatives and creates a
ism what it loses in picturesqueness.
mandy. Daguerreotype reproduced on picture that would have pleased Corot
copper plate by Salathe, 1841. 148x
We come closer to "pure photogra-
and Millet. In this picture, on the
phy," and Atget is soon to come.
203 other hand, he capitalizes on the in-
The text accompanying this print finite sharpness possible in the glass 88 Anonymous. Still life. Positive

states: "Amateurs almost despaired of image. This picture offers a singular print from a paper negative, 1852-
being able to render views or land- contrast to the preceding example, of 1855. 331x263
scapes successfully through the da- which Cuvelier was well aware. He This picture is reminiscent of many
guerreotype ... skies develop with showed the two prints side by side and other compositions in a similar vein
extreme speed ... shades of green, and witli notes on the methods used at the by H. Le Secq, negatives of which are
consequently all vegetation, only Societe Francaise de Photographic preserved in the Bibliotheque Nation-
ale and the Musce des Arts Decoratifs mations ... which calls to mind the hibition, London, 1963, No. 637.)

in Paris. most vigorous canvasses of Salvator 97 Louis-Desire" BLANQUART-

Rosa," shown at the International Ex- EVRARD(?). Port in Northern France.
89 Gustave LE GRAY. Boulders in
hibition of 1855. Positive print from paper negative,
the forest of Fontainebleau. Positive
print from a wax paper negative. BALDUS. about 1850. 170x223
93 Edouard-Denis Village
Gold chloride toning, 1851. 176x250 and crucifix in Auvergne. Negative on This photograph comes from an
This photograph was taken in the for- wax paper, 1854. (Once in the collec- album once in Blanquart-Evrard's per-

Fontainebleau at the height tion of Petiot-Groffier of Chalon-sur- sonal collection.

est of
of Barbizon school fame when Millet Saone, deceased in 1856.) 340x449 98-101 Gustave LE GRAY. Seascapes.
decided to settle at the edge of the Positive prints from glass collodion,
94 E.C. River's Edge. Positive print
woods. E. Lacan wrote that it "looked 1856. 325x415, 325x415, 325x415,
from paper negative, with barium salts
as though it could have been painted 325x415
toning, 1852. 253x322
by Diaz, in one of his more inspired "Collodion emulsion was overly sensi-
Several photographers had the initials
moments." tive to blue light. As a result, when
E.C. The name of Ernest Cousin
90 Henri LE SECQ. Dwelling in the an exposure had been given that was
comes to mind, or perhaps Eugene
quarries of St. Leu. Positive print from long enough to record the landscape,
Cuvelier. This "River's Edge" heralds
paper negative, 1851. 326x227 the blue sky above was recorded on
the photographic work of Peter Henry
the negative as a solid tone: the print
Le Secq had a feeling for light and Emerson in the eighties. The very
consequently appeared with a white,
masses. His still lifes, his sculptures, softness which adds charm to the pic-
cloudless sky. This was intolerable to
and the landscapes he selected to ture is due to paper printing, and the
photographers who were emulating
evoke were always seen from a new artist-photographer turned this basic-
painters, and to remedy this shortcom-
angle, in a light that imparts depth allv awkward process to advantage.
ing two negatives were often taken
and liveliness. Later, the development of glass plates
one a short exposure to record the
produced such a precise focus that to-
91 Edouard-Denis BALDUS. Wind-
sky, the other longer, to record the
mill in Auvergne. Negative on wax
ward the turn of the century, photog-
landscape. The two negatives were
raphers sought to create an overlay of
paper, 1854. 340x445
masked; part of the print was made
softness which the primitives had im-
"It is a masterpiece. One could not from one, and part from the other."
mediately achieved by natural means.
find a more brilliant, translucent or (Beaumont Newhall, The History of
luminous entry. The waters are deep 95 E.C. Agricultural implements. Posi- Photography, p. 59.)
and clear, the windmill well situated tive print from paper negative, with Le Gray initiated this method of
in the background; the shadows alive ammonium chloride toning, 1852. "combination printing." La Lnmiere
and nowhere opaque, even in the most 260x325 declared: "This is the event of the
intensive shades. The lack of sky,
London
96 DAVANNE (?) . Cottage. Photoli- year; in these pictures are
theoretically unfortunate, lends an creating a sensation."
thography, 1852. 157x222
added sense of reality to this sombre
"Using the asphalt process Niepce had 102 Victor REGNAULT. The Lad-
yet ruggedly charming mountainside."
experimented with in 1815, the four der. Positive print made byBlanquart-
(Exposition Universelle, 1855. Paul
authors of this work, Lemercier, Lere- Evrard from a wax paper negative,
Perier's commentary in the Bulletin
bours, Barreswill, and Davanne ob- 1852(?). 207x286
de la Societe Francaise de Photogra-
tained images on grained stones which Regnault, who was President of the
phic, 1855, p. 192.)
could be printed on ordinary litho- Academy of Sciences, did experiments
92 Edouard-Denis BALDUS. Rocky graphic printing presses." This print in the realm of physics that remain
Landscape. Negative on paper, before is one of a collection which "contains classic. Along with Arago, Biot, Fizeau,
1855. 347x450 the first reproductions of photographs and Foucault he followed closely the
This is doubtless the "fantastic land- succesfully made by their method." evolution of photography from its be-
scape bristling with jagged rock for- (Printing and the Mind of Man Ex- 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 a founder of the SocieHe' Hli- French and English tastes in land- "structured more like the human eye."
ographique, then President of the So- scape. Unfortunately they impressed He could thus make exposures in a

cieHe" 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 at the

tography during several visits to Eng- 107 Charles NEGRE. L'Acquaiuolo. time: "In this naive, picturesque, and
land in the company of Herschel's Positive print from a wax paper nega- striking scene Murillo relives com-
son-in-law, John Stewart, also a pho- tive, 1852. 213x157 pletely." J. Adhe^mar notes that Negre
tographer. Regnault, like Talbot, was and Daumier were near neighbors on
Negre used this photograph in one of
not only an incomparable technician the He Saint Louis and has compared
his paintings shown in the Salon of
but also an artist of rare sensitivity.
Three different versions of this
"Chimney Sweeps" with Daumier's
1861.
His choice of subject matter and his "Burden."
photograph are known: with the sub-
marvelous use of light bear evidence
ject front face, in profile, and from 111 Victor REGNAULT. Cleaning
of a certain influence of English ro-
the back. Th^ophile Gautier took note vegetables. Modern print from wax
manticism. His son Henri became one
of Negre's paintings in the exhibition paper negative, about 1851. 204x153
of the masters of "historic painting."
of 1861 and commented: "The daguer- This tableau reflects the taste of nine-
The latter's fame was most probably
reotype which has not been men- teenth-century minor artists like Bon-
the reason for Victor Regnault's later
tioned by name and has received no vin and is comparable to contemporary
rejection of photography, denying any
medal nonetheless enhanced this ex- studies by Charles Negre.
creative potential in the art. ."
hibition . .

With the exception of a few still lifes

112 Charles NEGRE. The Vampire.

Charles NEGRE. Organ Grinder. Positive print from wax paper nega-
published by Blanquart-Evrard in his
from wax paper nega- tive, 1851. 325x230
art albums between 1851 and 1855 Positive prints

his work was unknown until recently. tives, 1852. Charles Negre made his dbut at the

REGNAULT. Landscapes same time as Henri Le Secq, who was

Victor 108 The organ grinder knocking on
taken at Sevres and surroundings. equally enthusiastic for the art of the
Charles Negre's door, Quai Bourbon,
from wax paper nega- cathedrals which Victor Hugo had
Positive prints He St. Louis. 100x82
tives, 1851-1852.
popularized. Negre wished to associate
109 Litle girl giving alms to the organ
his friend with his romantic vision of
103 Path between the Garenne de grinder. (The bearded man is the pho-
Notre Dame, and shows him in a
Sevres and Gallardon. 324x408 tographer Le Secq.) 165x215
proud posture.
104 Side door of the Sevres Factory To a contemporary critic this picture
113 Charles NEGRE. Oil presses in
and the road to Meudon. 440x357 "made one think of Decamps' most
Grasse. Positive print from wax paper
forceful drawings," while "the wise
105 Sevres, the Seine downstream near negative, 1852. 326x236
old man's head, the minute details of
Meudon. 314x425
his velvet suit, yellowish, threadbare, In the Salon of 1861, Theophile Gau-
106 Sevres, the carpenter's house on tier admired a painting by Negre
and sordid, remind one of Meisson-
the banks of the Seine. 305x382
nier's most scrupulously studied sub- identical to this. He found in it a

delicacy similar to that of Buttura.

These pictures were taken in 1851 or jects." (La Lumiere, September, 1853.)
1852. Several were shown at the Lon- Our contemporary eye discerns other
Negre exhibited a painting of the
don Society of Arts in December, 1851. qualities here: luminous masses, over-
Organ Grinder in the Salon of 1853.
lapping of planes, and volumes evok-
The catalogue of this exhibition
opened with a foreword by J.F.W. 110 Charles NEGRE. Chimney ing names of less obscure and more

Herschel and notes by his son-in-law Sweeps. Positive print from wax paper recent painters.

John Stewart, describing Regnault's negative, 1852. 160x215 114 Adolphe BRAUN(?). Landscape.
methods. Charles Negre built a special lens Positive print from a glass collodion
negative, about 1860(?). 220x290 Charles Aubry specialized in subjects derstand the hostility of the critics

for painters. Many still lifes by him towards 'bathers so monstrously hid-
Collodion offers an extremely "sharp"
are known. eous as to make a crocodile lose his
image, eliminating effects achieved
"Photography has produced much in- appetite,' according to Del^cluze." (J.
with translucent paper negatives. On
formation, spared the models much Adhernar.)
the other hand, light shadings, reced-
posing, given the artist accessories, 118-119 BRAQUEHAIS. Nudes. Posi-
ing planes, reflections, distances, and
draperies, and backgrounds that now tive prints from glass collodion nega-
misty passages are marvelously re-
need only to be copied in color." tives, 1853. 202x262, 250x201
corded, bringing to photography a
(Th^ophile Gautier.) The same model was photographed by
charm unknown before.
117 Anonymous. The Spring. Posi- Delacroix and Durieu in 1853. These
115 JEANRENAUD. Path in the for-
tive print from glass collodion nega- pictures "were greatly admired by the
est. Positive print from a glass nega-
tive, about 1855-1860. 222x162 painters to whom we showed them ." . .

tive, albumen(?), about 1859(?). 250

The subject is reminiscent of Ingres; One study of a woman "swathed from
x325
the model is more akin to Courbet. head to foot in a gauze veil . . .creates a

116 Charles AUBRY. Foliage. Posi- "One is struck by the resemblance of feeling similar to that evoked by
tive print from a glass collodion nega- the photographers' nude models to Gu^rin's celebrated canvas 'Clytem-
tive, about 1864. 467x373 those of Courbet, so it is hard to un- nestra.' " (La Lumiere, 1854.)

The World, A New Portrait

A few months after the dramatic revelation of the Daguerre teurs. Literary exoticism grew less poetic, but travelers' dreams
process, his tract had already been translated into seven or eight were ardently aroused, and it cannot be gainsaid that photog-
languages and more than thirty editions issued. The process was raphy may have played a part in the colonial hopes of the major
put in use in the United States one month after its announce- powers during the Victorian era.

ment in Paris. Dumont d'Urville roamed the Pacific in 1842, equipped with
In 1839, the optician Lerebours began to collect daguerreo- a daguerreotype camera; at the same time Siebold photographed
types from all over the world. He asked travelers to bring back Japan.
pictures of famous sites. By 1841, he owned more than a thou- The great photographic expeditions signalled the ebb of a
sand daguerreotypes from Russia, Sweden, Italy, the Orient, and romantic view of the world. Gradually nations were to see each
even America, but only reproductions remain. other more clearly, and photographic realism kept pace with
Known hitherto only through travelers' tales, the world was the people's demanding realities.

now directly exposed to the eyes of scholars and curious ama-

Excursions daguerriennes. Vues et presence in two and a half minutes. reconstruct in one vast panorama the
monuments les plus remarquables du The finest engravers transposed these ancient Egyptian monuments in their

globe. Paris, Lerebours, 1841-1844.

daguerreotypes into aquatints which prime. To these reconstructions he

remain impressive in their accuracy. added a set of aquatints by Himely,

120 Muhammed-Ali's Harem in Alex-
The album includes views from Al- showing the actual condition of the
andria. 155x205
geria, Syria, Russia, and Sweden. monuments. To this end he used da-
121 Moscow. 155x210 guerreotypes brought back by Joly de
Hector HOREAU. Panorama of Egypt Lotbiniere. Goupil-Fesquet met him
For Lerebours, the painter Horace and Nubia, Paris, 1841.
on the same Nile boat, and together
Vernet and his nephew Frederic
122 Thebes. Hypostyle Hall, Karnac. they made the first photographic sur-
Goupil-Fesquet roamed the Near East,
397x282 vey of Egypt.
where they took pictures that aston-
ished Muhammed-Ali, particularly 123 Luxor. 280x445 BISSON freres. Le Mont Blanc et ses
this view of his harem taken in his The architect Horeau attempted to glaciers, souvenirs du voyage de LL.
 .

photographic work published in

Majestes I'Empereur et I'Imperatrice. De Clercq concentrated his camera on
France.
Paris. Positive prints from glass col- Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and Spain.
lodion negatives, 1860.^ 129 Maxime DU CAMP. Flaubert
140 Desire CHARNAY. Palace of the
dressed as a Turk, in front of the
124 Gouter Peak viewed from St. Ger- et mines du
Nuns, Chichen-Itza. Cites
vais. 391x230
Mousky house, January 9, 1850. Posi-
Nouveau Monde, Mexico-Paris, 1861.
tive print made in Paris from paper
125 Gouter Peak from Bionassay, Positive print from a glass collodion
negative, 1851. 213x148
Dome de Niage viewed from the val- negative, 1861. 268x400
ley of Contamines. 230x402
130 Maxime DU CAMP. Nubia, Bas-
A tireless traveler, Charnay came to
relief. Positive printed in Paris from
126 The Grand Mulets and the Dome America for the first time at the age
paper negative, 1851. 225x167
du Gouter viewed from Jonction. of twenty-three. From 1857 to 1865,

235x415
131-136 Maxime DU CAMP. The he studied Mexican ruins. During
Colossus of Abu Simbel. Prints made this period in 1863, he visited Mada-
The Bisson brothers tried to climb
in Paris from paper negatives, 1851. gascar; later, Argentina, then Chile
Mont Blanc in 1860 and brought back
(Plates 103 to 107 from the 1852 edi- and Java in 1878. In 1897 he traveled
a remarkable set of pictures, although
tion.) 217x167, 215x166, 218x168, through Yemen.
they were unable to reach the sum-
220x168, 228x165, 168x226 His work on pre-Columbian architec-
mit. Accompanied by twenty-five
bearers, they succeeded the following 137 Maxime DU CAMP. Frieze and ture and the widespread influence of

year. To transport tent-laboratory capitals at Baalbek. Printed in Paris his research opened the eyes of the
a
and expose and develop extra large from paper negative, 1851. 282x216 world to the grandeur of the New
The seated figure may be Flaubert World's cultures and renewed the en-
plates at such altitudes was an amaz-
ing feat. dressed as a Turk. "As to the Temple thusiasism awakened by predecessors
of Baalbek, I never thought one could like Stephens and Catherwood. His
127 Vicomte VIGIER. Chaos of Gav-
fall in love with a colonnade; yet it
photographs enjoyed a wide distribu-
arnie. Positive print from paper neg-
is true. I must add the columns seem tion due to the wood engraving pro-
ative, 1853. 255x343
to be chased in vermeil because of the cess. They provide valuable informa-
Vigier made a careful photographic tion on the condition of the Yucatan
color of the stone itself and the sun."
study of the Pyrenees, in a hundred monuments before restoration work.
(Flaubert, letter to his mother, Octo-
views, often in picturesque style.
ber 7, 1859.) 141 Desire CHARNAY. Aztec Calen-
128 Maxime DU CAMP. Egypte,
Louis DE CLERCQ. Voyage en Orient, dar Stone, Mexico. Print from the
Nubie Palestine et Syrie. Dessins
Monuments vues original negative. 410x335
1859-1860. Villes, et
photographiques recueillis pendant
pittoresques. Recueil photographique This print was included in the pro-
les annees 1849, 1850 et 1851. Paris,
138 Jerusalem, Sixth Station of the
posed large edition, soon abandoned,
Gide, and Beaudry, 1852. First in-
Cross. 280x213 of Cites et Ruines du Nouveau Monde.
stallment launched as a prospectus.
488x325 139 Jerusalem, Ninth Station of the Desire CHARNAY. Photographs of

Cross. 396x268 Madagascar. Positive prints from glass

In 1849, in the company of Gustave
collodion negatives, 1863.
Flaubert, Du Camp made a journey Louis De Clercq was twenty-three
to the Orient. Although Flaubert pre- when he brought back this harvest of 142 Islet of Madame at Sainte Marie.

tended to despise photography, he 222 photographs published in five 160x288

was of some helpto his friend. Of the enormous tomes. Enchanted by the
143 Village of Kisuman, (northwest
two hundred pictures Du Camp Orient from childhood, De Clercq was coast). 208x287
brought back, about a hundred and an energetic collector for forty years.

fifty were issued in small numbers. He died in 1901, and in November,

144 "Tacon" (filanjana or litter),
means of transport in Madagascar.
Later, two or three hundred sets of 1968, the Louvre put on view a selec-
144x201
the best one hundred twenty-five were tion of six hundred rare objects be-
printed. This was the first important queathed by his family. 145 Rice beaters. 197x156
146 Raharla, the Queen's Minister. Uta. Wax paper negative. 95x195 Pierre TREMAUX. Voyages au Sou-
194x119 dan Oriental... Exploration acheolog-
152 Fare Ute promontory with the
Group of Betsimisaraka women. ique en Asie Mineure .Parallele des
147 Arsenal. Negative on wax paper. Mod- . .

212x167 edifices anriens et modern es du con-

ern collotype print. 191x252
tinent africain... Paris, 1847-1863.
148 Madagascar widow. 168x105 These pictures, recently rediscovered,

were made by the brother of the fam- 154 Cover of one of the installments.
149 Boabab on the island of Moheli.
ous novelist Pierre Loti [Louis Viaud]. 555x368
286x257
Gustave Viaud was a naval surgeon. The 155 View of a courtyard in Tunis.
150 Vakoas in the Tamatave region.
twenty-five or thirty prints he left com- 254x188
244x202
prise the first pictorial report on the
156 Lithograph from the preceding
While on an official diplomatic mis- island, and they show us, long before
photograph. 278x215
sion in 1863, Charnay took a series of Gauguin, a Polynesia practically un-
photographs contemporaneous with contaminated by modern civilization. 157 View of one of the statues on an
those by William Ellis under the spon- avenue in Milet. 255x194
153 Album photographique de I'ar-
sorship of English missionaries.
tisteetde V amateur. Blanquart-Evrard, 158 Turkish steles. Photolithograph,
In the tradition of artists on impor- Poitevin process. 263x204
Lille, 1851. Plate 24, positive print
tant maritime expeditions, Charnay
from paper negative. 212x170 Publication of Tremaux's Voyages
amassed material of an historical, geo-
This is entitled Modern Hindu stretches over a period of about fifteen
graphical, anthropological, and botan-
Temple at Mondlesir between Agra years, during which new methods of
ical nature.
and Bombay, (Hindustan). The reproduction appeared in the book.
Charnay wrote the story of his trip in The methods successively used were
photographer who sent this picture to
Le Tour du Monde (1864), illustrated traditional lithography from drawings,
Blanquart-Evrard unfortunately re-
with woodcuts. Several examples are photography (which faded and had to
mains unknown. The album includes
displayed with these photographs, be replaced during publication), lith-
four other pictures of ancient Indian
which had been lost up to this time.
temples, a view of Athens, and one of ography traced from original photo-
Gustave VIAUD. Photographs of Ta- Jerusalem. This album forms the first graphs, and finally the most recent,

hiti, 1859. collection of photographs ever pub- photolithography.

151 Bay of Papeete. Islet of Motu lished in France.

Faces of Mankind
The study of man's countenance through even the most pene- Extending his probings into the domains of the
specialists.

trating portraits is only a partial approach to the question of theater and sculpture, he successfully synthesized earlier find-
facial interpretation. ings which he incorporated in his work. His idiom was that of
Studious artists of the Renaissance were deeply conscious of Le Brun, but Darwin was to make use of his work.
the importance of the theoretical study of human forms. Luca Anthropological research by the Museum d'Histoire Natu-
Pacioli, Leonardo, and Diirer sought the vision of divine per- relle and by Prince Roland Bonaparte and Bisson freres, sought
fection in the ideal proportions of man. Artists, scholars, philos- to provide insight into the general characteristics of the various
ophers, and seers have endlessly sought to catalogue human human races. Asiatics and Scandinavians, masters and slaves,
facial expressions. Among them some tried an opposite direc- full face and profile, all solemnly revealed the dignity of their
tion, divining what passions, vices, or traits left their mark on race. Beside such scientific series, the portraits of
famous men
man's countenance. may seem to us a curious gathering of colorful personalities.
Duchenne de Boulogne seems to mark the end of this cen- We know moreover that Nadar was directly associated with
turies-old quest. The rationalism of his systematic analysis of the projects of Duchenne de Boulogne. Scientific facts which
each separate muscle, along with the fixing of every experiment he had assimilated by 1856 formed a criterion according to
on photographic plates made unequalled material available to which he was able to disclose what "most human quality" lived
in each individual. "These men that Nadar photographed around I860 have
"One last time, in the fleeting expression of a man's face, these been dead these many years. But their gaze remains and the

old photographs leave room for 'the aura.' This is what gives world of the Second Empire lives forever before their eyes."

them their incomparably sad beauty." (Walter Benjamin) (Jean-Paul Sartre)

159 Hippolyte FIZEAU. Portrait of Anthropological collections: Lapland- est efforts, shown at the French In-
the engraver Hurlimann. Photograv- ers. Collotype from the original photo- stitute in January, 1847.
ure from a daguerreotype, by the graphs. Photographer unknown. Louis Desire BLANQUART-
Fizeau process, 1841. 90x68 EVRARD. Portrait of Jean-Baptiste
165 Peter Johan Abrahamsen. 160x118
Hurlimann was an extremely skillful Biot photographed in his laboratory
engraver. He lived on the rue du Four 166 Ellen Nielsdatter. 160x118 in January, 1847. Positive print from
and his neighbor Fizeau, who lived on paper negative. 61x49
The daguerreotype was the death
the rue du Clierche-Midi, made use of
blow of the miniature, and a number 173 Claude Felix Able NIEPCE de
his talents to carry out his experi-
of unemployed artists took jobs in SAINT VICTOR. Self portrait. Posi-
ments. One of the earliest examples in
photographers' studios to color daguer- tive print from albumen negative,
France of a portrait on paper, this
reotypes or to paint the first images about 1850. 210x155
picture reveals the degree of perfec-
on paper. The albumen process, invented by
tion already achieved. The death of
167 Photographer unknown. Portrait Niepce, rendered details with great
Hurlimann in 1842 and the patent
of an old woman in a lace cap. Painted precision; however, its use in portrait-
registered by Fizeau in 1843 doubt-
photograph, about 1850-1860. 246x making was unusual because of the
lessly were reason for the disuse of
290 long exposure required.
this method which totally eliminated

the two drawbacks of daguerreotyp-

168-170 Hippolyte BAYARD. Self
174 Victor REGNAULT. Self por-
ing: brightness and the single image.
portraits, calotypes. Modern prints
trait, bareheaded. Modern print from

160-161 E. BENECKE. Voyage en from the original negatives, about

wax paper negative, about 1851. 200

Egypte xl54
et en Nubie. Positive prints 1846. 220x166, 173x225, 225x163
by Blanquart-Evrard from paper neg- This print, like the nine following,
In this work, Bayard used the Talbot
atives, 1852. 218x157, 174x218 was made by Jean-Pierre Sudre from
method, and posed himself. His pose,
the original negatives preserved by the
Practically nothing is known of with eyes shut, would indicate the ex-
Societe Francaise de Photographic
Benecke whose technique was more posure was very long.
refined than that of Du Camp, allow- 175 Victor REGNAULT. Self por-
ing him to bring back some interest- 171 Hippolyte BAYARD. Self por-
trait wearing a cap, about 1851. 209
ing data on man and his activities.
trait. Positive print from collodion x!62
negative, about 1850-1855. 342x263
162 Fouka-Sawa, official in the Jap- 176 Victor REGNAULT. Portrait of
anese Embassy, born in Tokyo. An- After uncovering the lens, the artist a woman in profile with eyes closed,

thropological Collection of the Mu- posed in complete rigidity. One can about 1851. 161x125
seum de Positive prints from
see faint traces of his movements and
Paris. The subject is probably the scientist's
collodion negatives. Photographer un- discern certain objects behind him ex-
wife. Her eyes are closed because of
known. 190x150 posed on the negative before he as-
the long exposure.
sumed his pose.
163-164 Prince Roland BONA- 177 Victor REGNAULT. Two chil-
PARTE. Anthropological Collections: 172 Louis Desire BLANQUART- dren in an armchair, about 1851.
North American Indians. Positive EVRARD. Portrait of his daughter. 135x130
prints from collodion negatives, about Positive calotype, 1846. 208x163
The children are the photographer's
1860. 225x170,225x170 One of the Blanquart-Evrard's earli- sons. Henri, the younger, on the left,
became the well-known historical 187 Victor Hugo in profile. 150x80 That croaks the fatal entrance of Dun-
painter, and the Louvre acquired sev- can
188 Victor Hugo and Auguste Vac-
eral of his paintings.
querie reading. 105x80
Under my battlements. Come, you
spirits
178 Victor REGNAULT. Child in a
Victor Hugo was intensely interested
That tend on mortal thoughts! Unsex
cradle, about 1851. 123x155 in photography and gave incentive to
me here,
179 Victor REGNAULT. Portrait of those around him. His sons and Vac-
And fill me from the crown to the toe
Jean-Baptiste Biot, signed and dated querie used the calotype, collodion,
top full
1851. 194x154 and albumen. The pictures from Jer-
Of direst cruelty; make thick my
sey and Guernesey are stamped with a
This portrait of the famous physicist blood,
strong romantic vitality.
and chemist was made at the College Stop up the access and passage to re-

de France. A similar portrait made in 189 Charles NEGRE. Portrait of morse,

1847 by Blanquart-Evrard in the pres- Rachel. Positive print from glass col- That no compunctious visitings of

ence of Regnault is known. Biot was lodion negative, 1853. 188x150 nature
deeply interested in the study of light. Negre took this portrait of the cele- Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace

brated tragedienne at Auteuil in 1853. between

180 Victor REGNAULT. Portrait of

Claude Bernard, about 1851. 200x Compared to the pretentious studies The effect and it!" 111x87

160 made by Pierson, this one has a charm

197 Plate 72: "The modeling of the
and simplicity which explain Rachel's
This may well be the oldest photo- sides of the forehead is impossible."
preference for it. On her tour of Rus-
graph of the celebrated founder of 111x87
sia she brought along fifty copies.
experimental physiology. In 1851,
Duchenne de Boulogne continued the
Claude Bernard had published only Guillaume-Benjamin Amant DU-
projects of Lavater and even those of
a few notes, but fellow scientists had CHENNE de Boulogne. Mecanisme
Lebrun, which go back to the seven-
already recognized his eminence. de la physionomie humaine on an-
teenth century. He used their termin-
alyse electro-physiologique de V expres-
181-182 Victor REGNAULT. Por-
sion des passions, Paris, Renouard.
ology. His aim was to examine each
J.
traits of two scientists^-), about 1851. muscle separately to determine its role
Positive prints from glass collodion
190x160, 225x174 in the play of facial expression. From
negatives, 1862.
1852 to 1856 he took collodion photo-
183 Victor REGNAULT. Portrait of
190 Title and frontispiece showing graphs of every reaction of a mentally
a servant(?), about 1851. 206x163
the author at work, from the original debilitated patient. He made aesthet-
184 Anonymous. Portrait of a man, edition of Duchenne de Boulogne's ic comparisons, asking actors delib-
about 1850. 205x142 work. 280x190 erately to duplicate expressions he ob-

185 Charles NEGRE. The painter 191 Plate 32: True natural laugh. tained artificially through the applica-

Yvon. Positive print from wax paper 111x87 tion of electrodes. Going further, he

negative, about 1852. 208x163 analyzed anatomical errors in the Lao-

192 Plate 21: right: Painful memory,
coon, and portrayed the agonized
186 Charles NEGRE. Three friends left: memory and stimulus to remem-
countenance of a woman whom he
of Negre (Yvon one of them), photo- bering. 111x87
compared to Lady Macbeth, height-
graphed on the banks of the Seine. 193 Plate 59: Fear. 111x87 ened with verses from Shakespeare.
Positive print from wax paper nega-
194 Plate 63: Expression of terror. These studies in comparative physi-
tive, about 1852. 160x206
111x87 ology and psychology have broad im-
CharlesHUGO, Francois HUGO and plications in themselves, but they take
195 Plate 64: Dread mixed with pain,
Auguste VACQUERIE. Portraits on their full importance if we keep in
torment. 111x87
taken during their exile in Jersey. mind that Adrien Tournachon took
Positive prints from negatives on 196 Plate 8: "...The raven himself is some of the pictures. At that time
paper, 1852. hoarse. Adrien Tournachon (Nadar, the young-
 ,

er) joined forces with his brother 200 Gustave Dore\ about 1854. 233 portrait I do the best is that of the

Flix, the famous Nadar. From the xl85 man I know the best."
start they were able to analyze scien-
201 Theophile Gautier, bareheaded, 205 Etienne CARJAT. Portrait of
tifically the slightest expression of the
about 1857. 238x186 Victor Hugo. Positive print from glass
human physiognomy. At the exhibi-
202 Theophile Gautier, wearing a cap, collodion, September, 1862. 252x185
tion of 1855, Messers. Tournachon &
about 1857. 284x210 Carjat one of the few great portrait
Co. enjoyed huge success with their is

portraits of the mime Debureau, en- 203 Hector Berlioz, about 1863. 238 photographers whose talent ap-
titled "Expression of fear; concentra- xl86 proached Nadar's, but whose memory
tion, surprise, tenderness..." has been eclipsed by the better-known
204 Jean Louis Ernest Meissonier,
reputation of his famous rival.
198 Photographer unknown. Portrait about 1863 (?) . 263x200
of a man. Positive print from a glass 206 Etienne CARJAT. Portrait of
Nadar is without question the greatest
collodion negative, about 1855-1860. Daumier, about 1870. Modern en-
name in French photography. His
198x150 largement from the original collodion
portraits are utterly honest and most
NADAR. (Gaspard Felix Tourna- expressive. For him portraiture was
negative. 380x285
chon.) Portraits. Positive prints from
"the most valuable as well as the most 207 Etienne CARJAT. Portrait of
glass collodion negatives.
exacting" form of photography. He Courbet. Modern enlargement from
199 Eugene Pelletan, about 1854. delved into the personality of every the original collodion negative, about
227x177 sitter with great perspicacity: "The 1870. 380x283
translated by Emlen Etting and Marthe LaVallee Williams

List of Works Lent to the Exhibition by the George Eastman House

208 BERTAUTS (Imp.). Harbor 216 Henri LE SECQ. Still Life, Fan- Contemporaine, Litteraire , Artistique
Scene. Two color photolithography. taisie Photographique n.d. (ca. 1856). 1876. 120x82. On decorated page
1864. 168x224 Positive print [1930] from paper neg- by E. Grasset.

FIZEAU. Double ative. 260x356

209 H. portrait.
222 Charles MARVILLE. Landscape.
1844. Daguerreotype engraving. 90x67 217 Henri LE SECQ. Vase of Flowers, 1857. Positive print from paper nega-
ROUSSET. Le Bois de Vin-
Fantaisie Photographique n.d. (ca. tive. 261x357
Ildefonse
cennes. Paris, 1866.
1856). Positive print [1930] from
paper negative. 353x256 223 Adolphe BRAUN. Flowers, n.d.
210 "Riviere Aimable. (Partie cou-
Albumen print from collodion nega-
verte)." 177x138 218 Henri LE SECQ. Chartres. ca.
tive. 307x246
211 "Asile Imperial." 107x190 1852. Positive print [by Edward Stei-

chen, 1937] from paper negative. 224 Adolphe BRAUN. Camelias and
212 "Une des 16 travels du kiosque
353x278 Lilac. 1856. Albumen print from col-
de Gravelle (Cote' de Pontenay)" 171
lodion negative. 447x487
xl29 219 Henri LE SECQ. Rustic Scene,
n.d. Positive print from paper nega- DISDERI WIERTZ.
213 Henri LE SECQ. Garden scene, 225 8c Portrait of
tive. 220x324 Marechal Magnau. n.d. (1860's). En-
n.d. Positive print from paper nega-
tive. 326x247 220 NADAR (Felix Tournachon). Por- largement of a carte-de-viste collodion
trait of Camille Corot. Much later negative, painted on by the painter
214 Henri LE SECQ. Dieppe (?). n.d.
print by Paul Nadar of father's nega- Wiertz (probably Antoine). 573x108
Positive print [1930] from paper neg-
ative. 344x246 tive, ca. 1854-59. 223x162
226 PIALLAT. Warehouse of Ed-
215 Henri LE SECQ. Dieppe (?). n.d. 22 1 REUTLINGER, Charles. Portrai t moiul Ganneron, Speciality de mate-
Positive print [1930] from paper neg- of Edouard Manet. 1875. Woodbury- riel agricole. Photolithograph. n.d.
ative. 343x246 type by Goupil et Cie. From Galeric (Imp. Bertauts.) 354x462
227 Anonymous. Return of the Troops 233 A. BERTRAND. Portrait of a 238 Anonymous. Portrait of a young
from Italy. 1852. Daguerreotype. 67x66 man. Hand colored daguerreotype. girl. Daguerreotype. 148x112
96x69 Mme. DISDERI. Brest et ses environs.
228 Anonymous. Portrait of a young
ca. 1856.
man. n.d. Hand colored daguerreotype. 234 M. etMme. DISDERI. Portrait of
118x92: oval. a Young Military Man. Hand colored 239 "Cimetiere de Plougastel, groupe

daguerreotype. 61x50: oval. de paysans." 294x224

229 Anonymous. Portrait of a man.
240 "#6. Chalet a Enghien." 260x395
n.d. Hand colored ambrotype. 95x74: 235 Anonymous. Portrait of a woman.
oval. 241 "St. Mathieu, interieur." 268x200
Hand colored daguerreotype. 119x
ALLEVY. Portrait of the deceased 90: oval.
Edouard-Denis BALDUS. Chemin de
230
fer du nord. Paris, n.d.
Dr. Amussat. Daguerreotype. 67x56
236 Anonymous. Portrait of a woman.
242 "#24. Vue de Creil." 285x433
231 DELEMOTTE & ALARY. Daguerreotype. 72x58: oval.
243 GODEFROY. Panorama of Paris.
Medeak. Daguerreotype. 73x98
237 Anonymous. Portrait of a woman. 1874. 9 accordion folded positive
232 GODQUIN. Portrait of a watch- Hand colored daguerreotype. 73x prints from glass collodion negatives.
maker. Daguerreotype. 98x72 60: oval. 368x2512

List of Works Lent to the Exhibition by the Metropolitan Museum of Art

244 Adolphe BRAUN. Port of Mar- 245 Adolphe BRAUN. The Garden. 246 Adolphe BRAUN. The Court of
seille. 1855. 17'/2 xl2 163/xl4'/2 Napoleon III at Fontainebleau. June
24, 1860. (in three parts) 19i/8 xl5i/8 ,

19x15, 19x15
 Acknowledgements

Emlen Etting and Marthe LaYallee Williams translated Andre Jammes' text. In addi-
tion to writing a commentary and providing a bibliography, Robert Sobieszek con-
tributed 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 J. Wyatt, staff photog-
rapher, made widi exceptional quality the many necessary copy photographs.

Others who have assisted or encouraged the production of this work are most grate-

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

Art; Gertrude Toomey, Registrar; Carl Colozzi, Assistant Director for Services.
 PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM
OF ART LIBRARY^

Sitz Ceffrench.pnmitive oho

Alfred

3 1876 00065 7987