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Michel Frizot THE NEW HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY INTRODUCTION The age of light Michel Frizot t the very beginning of the novel Bouvard et Péuchet, Flaubert, describing Bouvard’s apartment, observes that on the chest of drawers, “flanking the looking-glass, were daguerreotypes portraying his friends”. A little further on in the story Bouvard receives from the notary a letter informing him of the inheritance which will decide the destiny of the two accomplices According to Flaubert, “it was January 20, 1839"; the notary’s letter was dated January 14, 1839.' It was precisely one week earlier, on January 7, that the French Academy of Sciences first became of a completely mew process which was given the name of daguerreotype. Yet at that date 2 single portrait had been produced by the ss, which was not sensitive enough for this ation. The presence of daguerreotypes in droom of someone like Bouvard would be ally plausible only from the end of the Although they were commoner atthe time aubert was writing his novel (1874), they still be much more appropriate in a bour- me than in that of a minor civil servant. aubert was by no means ignorant of photo- techniques (during his tip to Egypt in 849-1851 he was accompanied by his friend Maxime Du Camp, who, equipped with his amera, produced numerous paper negatives there). For want, no doubt, of precise documenta- tion Flaubert simply did not possess a particularly cleat idea of the place of the daguerreotype in history, in the period during which his literary creation lived Jn some ways, undertaking a history of photog- raphy today is rather like being a writer: seeking ‘out information, collecting images, and writing a sind of adventure story ~ the life of photographs ~ hy merely in the role of an artistic accessory, numble servant of the ans“, as Baudelaire \ it in his critique of the 1859 Salon. ately, photographs remained on the side- nes, as-much because of their method of production and usage as their significance as images. The history of photography may there- fowe be traced by assuming this difference, and recognizing that this process has an ontological significance, While the history of painting was an analysis of the variables of formal or iconograph- ‘cal codes, the history of photography has had to. invent for the viewpoint of social evolution marred by the ted ese too few general works, it emerges ographic history cannot be a chronolog. ntinuum arbitrarily attached 10 the d its technique. It can result only from count which is peculiar to its serial nature, its temporal point (in the sense of the place view is taken), and the degree to age departs from what is regarded od (what has been na given pe raphic") hy works quoted but numerous studies magazines? show how itis in photog: If har the methods and means by which ed are to he found. By examining photography in its history innova: I become apparent to us. we need to define what we mean by aphy”. Above all, it is an ensemble of sparate images which possess in common 1 that they were created by the action of » a sensitive surface, For some, photog. an objective view of the world, a means oducing a record. For others, the vision is totally subjective, and the photographer an artist. who reaches agreement with reality and appropri- ates it to themselves in order to reveal it all the better. We have tried to break down this dicho- and art in order to empha size the variety of practice a photographic should not be forgotten that images have a desti- tomy between im nd intentional usages nation which determines in advance their form, their size, and their quality, a destination which is often objective and to which the historian must the family album, the frame on the mantelpiece, the art book advertising hoarding, the cemetery. We have therefore con. sidered that all photographs are subject to the action of “fields” ~ influences, affinities, reference r more openly: the archive, the artist's folder, points, social determinants, conventions of inte pretation — not only to technological determi nism, Most people use photography to obtain an image with someone or something in mind - a person, a use or function ~ an aim which may or may not be fulfilled. The history of photography can open itself up more widely only by consid ering private photographic practice as much as use by the media, the former being the real reflec tion of photographic reality even if it has not yet reached museums and galleries not be In comparison with painting, which may be likened to an icon, photography reveals to us a sense of the fortui tous, the image-making possibilities of everything, that occurs optically. It appears to us like the y-like message, modest but anodyne but essential. After all photography is really nothing more than a detector of photons, those particles which signal judged by what it photography represents’ carrier of an epipha tenacious, to our eyes the innumerable events of the ee ee 4 stevwsom, Sarah Bernhard Nava Studio, Pigeon Shooting atthe Hotel Excelsior, Venice Lio, circa 1900, Y 4 ere Pa fgets Cm 198) Her josera BYEON, ball, Teachers! se, New York Towards a history of photographs photography is sometimes attacked Since a historical study is always sor suspect it of perpetuating an gamble on what the very notion of history w ds .e that seeks to subject the present —_ in the future, we have favored the content ies based on the model of the past. photographs rather than the actual fh nis reason, our aim is to undertake a photography. In this book each author .phs considered as working what seems to us a valid historical poi wn time, over the century anda —_ with regard to each defined subject, to first made its appearance. that the photographer and the spectator: snot be neatly summed up asa __ face to face within their different historic an evolutionary sequence. It _ tives. The integrity of the entire work, d an archaeological approach to obvious differences in the authors’ vi e dentifying the strata and estab- pology ofthe language of photography selected not on the basis of some t 1e implications and interaction of these aesthetic standpoint, but because, in ou any given moment. It is a question of best represent the wide variety of p epting only to deal with a multitude of images, The aim of the selection proce ¢ events”, as Foucault put it." This type of how the whole of society is actively or pa ‘ory does not consist simply of recognizing the __ involved in, or through, photography. sequence of stratified layers. Rather, it is the rela- to be seen how these “modes of b Sonship between a certain number of circum- within everyday life for photography § stances which defines the archeological artifact the rapidity first of engravings, then © which constitutes a photograph, those circum- and finally of books, magazines, a stances which brought itinto being and which led general. It is the end-product of th fy game ¢ _ 1oitsburial ~ only to be “read” aft sa tt been brought to the surface again, which itself ‘endows it with an unexpected new aura. A history Wishing to consider pk of photographs is an examination of a combi: recreate ob oe a aden (92 neir place in a corpus which some would like to eneous, the definition of the various notography has often been stretched to. sbsurd limits: scientific photography, report ‘urrent affairs, fashion, advertising , art ~ catego: es which demonstrate a tacit lack of acceptance hese fields grafted onto the primary art form. simplistic catego: ries, whose function is mainly one of professional nvenience, we have sought out the essential fer core of photographic unity within which aphy", that broad, fh includes both artistic all form part of work, which manifests itself igraphic studio, the family album, the inthe p tisement, the tourist view, the exotic image hese are autonomous units with their own, emal history, bound together more or less nd unfurling at varying speeds. For the historical development of these categories has nlace at different rates, running down “a exist at all, knowing that we cannot avoid from G. Bourceois Suni, gentle historical slope’,'! so that the evolution of — the outset all pre-existing schemata. Getting out Raymond, tography is marked by phases of sudden of a strictly historic narrative and the restrictions private colle n. rapid § field of photography is not an easy matter for participants is or disconcerting periods imposed by the a priori limitations of the z objective, bey the necessary chro- in a multi-authored collection. If this work still f techniques and use, is firstly the history carries, despite our best efforts, the marks of s - what was expected of the images former categories, nevertheless it should be ‘ory of optical science possibly to discover within it different criteria for d (and invented) by re: Then, the history of the mi ach time its function was renewed. space, thus recreating the visual foundation of ig ways of access to another type of photog- ing of _ raphy which had scarcely been given breathing- Prunne Dunseu, >, is 19 make some inroad into modem society, and stressing photography's role The Aviator, (social, popular, family, media as one of the most visible indices of the quest for {fs oe fotografi to ask why a photograph should — modemity Antwerp. Y LIGHT MACHINES On the threshold of invention Michel Frizot ‘Can we imagine, today, how the idea of photography could have evolved at the beginning of the nineteenth century ~ when we consider that only a few minds were even able to understand the basic principle, and even they had no idea of its potential? In the small enclosed contemporary world of scientists and natural philosophers, the most common and popularly understood idea was that of the machine ~ the place where ‘energy might be transformed and transmitted. It was to this concept that the action of light would have to be adapted. The Frenchman Nicéphore Niépce was to be the first to conceive and realize such a “light machine” for producing images. fficially at least, photography was invented in 1839. It was in this year that “photog- raphy” was made public - or at least a particular photographic process (actually the daguerreo- type), followed immediately by very different techniques (those of W. H. Fox Talbot and H. Bayard) and by controversy over the exact role of Nicéphore Niépce, who had died in 1833. ‘What, then, had happened before 1839 which allowed this technique to appear, succeed, and place itself “on the market"? Photography today has very little 10 do with the “photography” invented in 1839, or a little before. The question of the antecedents of a practice which has become both commercially successful and popular is more philosophical than might first appear. It is not simply a question of research for its own sake, seeking in the past those once famous forgotten people who might have been the first to have such and such an idea, some tentative experiment which today would be regarded as a decisive moment in a carefully planned evolutionary sequence leading inevitably towards a hypothet- ical goal which would be called “photography”. It rather, a question of ing how a echnlog: ical concept could centuries, sometimes gathered by chance, which Bete or * permits the construction of a technical hypoth- esis, and, little by litte, makes possible the concept sears, and its realization, ~ A mental attitude which foresees what the future — process can and must be ~ aiming intentionally at ="* creating almost instant natural images, together with a desire to reach that promised land, now perceived as being nearly at hand and attainable ‘through experimentation. ‘Such a method of proceeding should not neces: sarily be viewed or presented in the Raton | ae “precursors”. Constant research into earlier and earlier achievements should not disguise ignorance of the real chances of pe adopting such a methodical approach, From the extant sources it would seem that before 18 orion peasant ma PYRE ats Pl yp sgl Dan e Nicérwont ano Cust Working drawing forthe Drrolonhore Insut nati ‘ea Propriee Industrielle Pats eo Desig’ Pat Nona © classify. It is an invention outside the norm, : , which is determined ~ depending whether one following the death of his brother Cl considers the technical side (the camera) or the previous year: “heliography con finished product (the image) - by several defini- ously reproducing the image sions, each of which is keen to prove its pedigree, camera obscura by the action of light, its legitimate lineage in the annals ofboth the arts gradations from black to white’. and the sciences. sponds pretty well with the « More than a century and a half later, it is mpting «© assimilate photography within the physical or chemical change ¢ “ality of nineteenth-century inventions by Furthermore, when, in 1816, dering it as a "machine", a term which was spoke of such research 10 ‘o it in numerous writings around they had already been very © spoke of the daguerreotype as la perfecting a *machine” ve). In mote precise terms, a piece tized the “pyréolophore’s a ‘ographic apparatus, ancient or modem, powered by vegetable ( <2vy; isa wansformation machine which (coal orasphalt) matt ; Luminous energy in order to produce an in competition with the “2nd sable with is gradation of black installed in some ships. phot 40m 2 more modem viewpoint, the machine controlled all resceraPhic process could also be defined asthe ally at era level. In 4 ation of an automatic machine for transmit. it c ting information, a recording apparatus along the same lines as the gramophone, invented a few decades later. The birth of photography implies a kind of Copernican revolution in the science of Optics, recognizing the action of “the luminous ‘Auid". Thus, nature was no longer merely 10 i d (p hine L is non aso Se oot ana i as ee wee it not forthe fact ha they haat pu serio submed o Lazare Camo scheme for I ironacic pump to replace an eaier machine anne and in 1811 they embarked wih ena se ane eulination of woad, Talbot bimsel She applications involving ain ~ and he took teil be recalled farthermore, that in the Signe by Torelli ox Bérin for the theatre were rut “machines changeable scenery, deus ex china, special effects and clouds Drawing machines We have seen that via Niépce's initial research, photography maintained a relationship with scientific machines. However, it was also linked ‘with machines used by artists, “drawing machines” which used optical devices to follow the outline ofa face ora landscape by projecting it onto a flat surface, rather than drawing it by eye. A develop: ment of the apparatus that Leonardo da Vi and Diirer had already described, the drawing machines of Dubreuil (in La Perspect 1663) or Christopher Wren (1669) consisted of semi-transparent paper attached to a frame through which the landscape to be drawn was viewed through a fixed eyepiece. By the end of the eighteenth century profiling machines had been practique, developed based on the concept of a silhouette produced by the projection of light (sun or lantern), the profile being subsequently reduced chanically (using the “pantograph” invented 43). The “silhouette”, a cut-price type of maliciously named after one of Louis controllers in 1759, formed the my extolled by In his Physiognomische 1778) he sought to character by the study of indi to determine the link between { the exterior’, a pseudo-science of oes not present itself” to the influence of silhouettes on subsequent portraiture has been much exagger- ed. However, it should be noted that Lavater's nk includes an engraving of "a faithful and ‘convenient machine for taking silhouettes" by the Projection of light. Another “drawing machine” (2 pantograph coupled with a wanslucent window like that of Direr) was put forward by Gilles-Louis Chrétien as part of his invention, the “physionotrace” ~a profile, to which anatom- teal annotationsshad been added, was scaled down by a horizantal pantograph. While the Ee he practice of physioy silhouette was cut out of black paper or some “A Faithful and Convenient other material and mounted on a white or gold Sahin far Talins background, the physionotrace was engraved on afer. K. Lava, Es sla copper, allowing numerous copies to be pro- Pepe saeeste tn duced in ink. Towards 1830 there appeared the Bibliotheque Nationale, Pats “Gavard machine” or "diagraphe", and Boucher's “coordonographe”.* It is in this context of the mechanization of drawing that the development of the camera ‘obscura in the eighteenth century must be under- stood. This was the determining force for the birth of photography whose very core and mech: nism it provided ~ the machine for transforming energy. The camera obscura concentrates, by means of a lens, the rays of light transmitted by a distant object and projects, onto the surface opposite this, lens, an upside-down image of the scene (even this simplified description is nevertheless 100 a A New stisroRY OF PHOTOGRAPHY ravainle of the camera be Arstendam. 1671 Bitiomca Nctoal Madd equipment for travelers (Talbot used one in his tour of aly in 1833). The evolution of the camera obscura can be traced from antiquity. Originally the camera was indeed an actual room, totally enclosed, with a hole in one wall which, by the effect of diffrac- tion of the light coming through it, produced an image of the scene outside on the opposite wall The first recorded reference is by Aristotle, in the fourth century BC, conceming the observation of eclipses. It recurs in Alhazen (Ibn al Haitham, eleventh century) and Roger Bacon (thirteenth the manuscripts of onardo da Vinci (which had long been un- century), and then in blished and, therefore, unknown).’ Finally, it is described in the Magia naturalis of Giovanni Battista Della Porta (Naples, 1553),* the fore- : ‘ography. It appears that it 568, introduced the lens in aprove image sharpness (Della Porta dit in his 1588 edition), which era obscura into an optical instru reflecting the Renaissance interest in spective. These camera obscura were sil actual ns which the observer had to enter to contemplate the image produced. vas not until the seventeenth century that the canta obscura became a portable instrument, The first representation of this apparatus, which prob- ably measured a foot square, occurs in Zahn’s ‘Oculus artificialis° This clearly shows a lens in a metal tube and an internal mirror to tum the image the right way round in the horizontal plane. The famous work of Kircher, Ars magna bse contain, in the 1671 edition,” a similar lesigh. This could be used for copying landscapes ‘onto oiled (thus transparent) paper placed on the ‘lass screen which acted as the receiving wall of the camera. As a device used by magicians and charlatans to create “apparitions”, the camera obscura became quite common in the seventeenth Kepler'' as well as by painters (Canaletto, among. others) Luminous magic ‘The invention of photography has often been described as the inevitable merging of optics (the camera obscura) and chemistry (the light- sensitivity of certain substances). However, obser vations on these two aspects coexisted for a century or two without any idea of bringing them together. The goal had to be clearly defined before the means of achieving it were discerned. and (sometimes in vain) adopted. In order 0 understand the first fumbling attempts at inven 18 we have to go back in our imagination to the uncertainty and mystery of the age, the confusion of a period still pervaded with the notion of “natural magic”, which paid little heed to physico- ‘chemical matters = Around 1800, a knowledge of chemistry — depended on numerous scattered observations, many of which could have been very productive, but which could lead to nothing without imagi- nation and method, Nevertheless, the photosen- sitivity of silver salts was known as long ago as the thirteenth century when Albertus Magnus that light tured them black. However, experiments in an essay written in i lished le mad soaked in silver nitrate, The work of Scheele, who weak up and completed these observations #2 eer became better Known, a8 was that of Jean Exnebier "who studied photochemical changes dh namerous types of wood and resin (sandarac sod guaiacum, which Nigpce mentions) and plant auracts. The most decisive (though ultimately Sinsuceessful) pre-phorographic experiments were those carried out by Thomas Wedgwood who ‘with, Humphrey Davy, published in 1802 An Nesunt of @ Method [..]" Wedgwood copied Gihouettes or drawings om glass by placing them in bright light onto. material (paper or pale- olored leather) soaked in silver nitrate. These sérawings’, however, could only be kept in the dark asthe salts continued darkening in the light. Wedgwood tried to obtain comparable images in camera obscura, but was unsuccessful. Even in their wildest dreams, none of these experimenters could have had any inkling of the future develop sent of photography. in 1819 a well-known British scientist, Sir John Herschel, discovered sodium hyposulphite and its silver chloride dissolving properties. It was not tantil pyenty years later, in 1839, with the competi- tion among inventors to lay claim to primacy in the discovery of photography, that Herschel passed om to his friend Fox Talbot this straightfor ward method of “fixing” the residual salts, that is, producing actual photography it seems that it was in 1816 that Nicéphore Niepce carried out his first experiments on light, at a time when his work on the pyréolophore appears to have reached its peak, but when finan ial problems were becoming more and more essing. Claude Niépce, then living in Paris, was conscious of Britain’ technical pre-eminence and moved to London in August 1817. He sent increasingly optimistic reports, whilst also incu ng new debs in the perfection of “the machine” Nicéphore, alarmed by his exultation, tunveled ta be at his sick brother's bedside and only then discovered the extent of his dementia and the folly of the discoveries he had claimed. Claude died in February 1828. During the period 1816-1828 Nicéphore was ‘buoyed up by his hopes for another invention, another “machine”, whose evolving concept tered ffom the practice of lithography Gorse dhichin 1796 Seufelde), Th aivention would. he hoped, make up for hit ‘earlier failures and provide him with some finan- (1813-1815), but without success. Nevertheless, it was this pioneering technique for the produc- tion and distribution of images which deter mined the attraction of the camera obscura for Nicéphore Niépce. In. essence, this involved obtaining on a locally obtained lithographic stone placed in the camera, the direct impression ofa "view", capable of being transformed, after a minimum number of operations, into an inked and printed image. Sometimes Niépce injected {gases to speed up the reactions in the camera, as if it was a combustion chamber similar to that used in the pyréolophore. Even if the base materials and proceduires varied, there was one constant aspect of his research which initiated the concept of photography from 1816. Its developmental stages are well known. A clear understanding of the ultimate goal was quickly arrived at, although the results did not follow as quickly (see box). After about twelve years of intermittent research, Nicéphore Niépce obtained some qualified success ~ images on pewter - one of which is preserved 10 this day. He showed these to British scientists during his long stay in London at the end of 1827, in the hope of making some money out of his process. These demonstrations, however, were not spectacular enough to arouse support and enthusiasm, as the daguerreotype would later. Heliography, as Niépce described it in 1829 in is Notice sur Mhetiographie, may be divided into two different methods: = Copying, by the action of light, existing images (engravings) which had been made transparent bby means of vamish, The light-sensitive interme- Portable camera obscura for drascing from nature, fom Brsson's Psu Paris 1781 private collection 7 Coke am, oO 1 siete Anton 46 a Pana sen Saji 558 anew 36 Us nee a Tea wane, en Da wey a Joseph Nicéphore Niépce From alchemy to the work of light expérmentat Passer (89. the Jouttiy Abbens tim wich buat steamshies), the Society tor the Ercounpement of Natons! Industy, and even Enters Cant. However, te enguaye snd yen Sst contagion of ther work on. physon. Shemica heroes was si imbued with the 15 in Klaproth's Dictionnare de sign of the camera obscura was dé Nollet’s Legons de physique. i Guyor's Nowelles Récrbs- tons, and in Bison's Physique, a commonly ‘vaitble works. Niéoce's great mart was to ad- ere stubbomiy ta key idee ~ producing mute Copies of images by a method derwad from en- ‘grvng fon metal orthography fon stone), using 44 matnx prepared dlrecty by the action of ght From this sprang his two research objectives: ‘ravings, which his process wou prove lucrative moans of estibution g 2. Obtaming direct images of nature in 8 ra obscura with he same onyetive o p ing multiple copies as grayed plates, Un Cath in 1823 Nigpce sought to etch i} i Plates, 2 stubbornness which his assed | Daguorre ertozed. Thess two methods based fn the action of ght were Brought together 1829 under the name “beiography Research nto the frst category went ahead ‘quite qucky from 1822. A print made wang cent by moans of varnish or oi was placed on ‘supporting medium ~ las, then stone, copbat ‘and, fraly, power (1828) ~ covered in a ight | sensitive substance (usualy bitumen of Judeah | tic the action of ight rendered insokble in lavender oll. The exposed metal areas ofthe plate, coresponding to the lines of the origina were then etched using acd, Fram 1827 ‘onwards, Niéoce enlisted the help of the Pats. engrave: Lemaire Examples of oth pewter plates and original Prints survive, reproducing commercial engrave ings of welknown patings: Cardinal of Ambose, a landscape by Claude Loraine. the Holy Family after Rophael, etc. This process provided the ‘made! fer “phote-mechanical” research the re- sroduction of photographs by printing, ar cared out by Nispoe de SaintVictor and Poitevin ‘The second research objective (whish em ployed the camera obscura) stated in 1616, Using siver chore on paper ~@ process whieh was considered a failure (Niépee was not able to conceive the notion of a reversible “nege- tive"). From 1816 to 1820, he undertook numerous trials on paper, stone, and metal with usiacum resin, phosphorus, Dippel ol inst ing hydrogen, carbon dioxide or acid epour into the camera obscura. In 1826-1827, he mainly used bitumen of Judes on pewter, 8; seems, for the View from the Window atthe estate of Le Gras, near Chalon-surSeone, which Niopoe left to his British spokesman, over, and which was reciscoveredin 1952 The year 1829 saw the introduction of a siver-costed copper plate on which bitumen of -ludea and socine ware combined (to produce the blackening of the ight parts of the image. collaboration with Daguerel. However, Melo ‘Graphs taken from nature stil required expo ure times ranging from half an hour to several hours. Siver-plated copper wes the support Used for the dequereotype process which LouisJacques Mandé Daguere perected between 1833 and 1637, when he exploited technique used for the view of Niépce's estate, Le 952. This view from the Je Varennes (a pewter is in window at Saint-Loup plate undoubtedly dating the University of the Gernsheim Collection a Teas, Austin. : n 1829, however, the Niépces’ indistinct images could not really be viewed as a complete soocess. It was at this point that the great Daguerre arrived - theatrical scenic artis, director of the Paris diorama, and the only researcher Capable of achieving success after Niepce's death n methods which were marked by obstinacy and The first contact between the two men January 25, 1826, following an indis creet remark by the optician Chevalier, Niépce's supplier. Daguerre, whom Niépce met his way to London, made a strong impression on the provincial scientist. who, following his ondon failures, detected in him the possibility of unhoped-for assistance in overcoming numerous obstacles - including his imperfec mber 14, 1829, sealing their partnersh a the partne hip, and Daguerre "brought in a new com! 2s stubbornly resolved to perfect ile Daguerre and n me (which bain a definitive stage in a final men led ui ates (silver. d to Niépce) decisive for Daguerte's denly, on July hich features in i ge to survive, without At the time of Niépce's death, the concept of photography had reached maturity. However, there was still no practicable or commercially iable process. It is not impossible that during the same period other researchers had_ obtained equally encouraging results. In 1833, a French technician isolated in Brazil, Hercule Florence, is the action of light on paper treated with silver nitrate to “print” labels and oramental devices which had been scratched onto a glass plate blackened with soot.!® We also know that, from 1835, Talbot carried out experiments on the sensi- tivity of silver salts, and obtained in the camera according to his private diary - to have used. obscura a negative of a bay window. However, he ttached no further importance to this, absorbed 1s he was by his unceasing scholarly research.” Although the “photographic” problem was poten- 4 tially resolved, as would be shown by future events, the invention, in a form which would be of practical use, did not yet exist. The mechanism of the light machine was not yet perfected, yet Daguerre, who. was highly skilled in theatre machinery, was now. in a potentially successful position. The engraver Lemaitre fully understood that Daguerre was capable of combining machinery and light when he wrote about him to Niépce: “I believe him to possess a rare intelligence in everything to do with machines and the effects of light." Oblique view of Nicérwons Niece’s Driginal ebiograph (see below), presented to the Iniversity of Texas, Austin Nicérnone Nutrex, View from the Window at Le Gras, ‘modem reproduct (enhanced contrast from the onginal heliograph, 1826-1827, Univenity of Teas. Austin. 1, Se 8 Hey, Hae me 28a ar i eee Ghnden 1900 and Loeb 1839-1840 Photographic developments Michel Frizot Photography was not invented by one petson. Nor was it the result of a single inspired moment of genius. ‘Economic, political, and social circumstances counted just as much as scientific criteria, kicky observations, and the intuition of a few clever men. During a period of two critical years (1839-1840) photography took a decisive path, whose success and survival - which were not achieved straight off ~ determined its technical future and its fields of application. At the end of 1840, the general principles of “photography”, which would ‘be based on the concept ofthe “negative”, had scarcely been sketched out. 1 was on August 19, 1839, in the Institut de France, that the brand-new technique of the daguerreotype was tevealed to the world and the birth of photography was proclaimed. The Institur’s session was official, accompanied by speeches, and destined to be recognized as an historic date, Daguerre himself, the inventor honored that great day, was unable to utter a ‘word, and js said to have asked Francois Arago to ead the technical communication he had prepared. Even on that day, photography could hot escape the official protocol which regulated ‘who was allowed to speak and was dominated by the imposing figure of Arago.! ‘The meanderings of history In fact, everything took place outside this historic place and date, Details of the nature of the daguerreotype image had been known for several ‘months, following indiscretions by members of ‘the three-man commission entrusted with study- ‘ng the discovery.” However solemn the actual ‘event, it was only a part of the evolution of an Fea stones: January 31, 1839 was an important date in photographic history, the day when W. H. Fox Talbot (already well known to Jean-Baptiste Biot, one of the members of the French Commission fon the daguerreotype) tead before the Royal Society in London a paper which he had hastily put together in order to prove that he was the pioneer ‘in the art of photogenic drawing. or the process whereby natural objects can trace them- selves, without the help of the atis’s pencil” This, too, was photography, six months before it was officially recognized. Also earlier than the official date was an event which took place on May 20, 1839, when an unknown man, Hippolyte Bayard, met Arago ~ Daguerte's fervent supporter ~ and showed him some “direct positives’ which he had been producing in a camera obscura since March 20. Equally historic were the final « oe a A NEW HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY Wa Hoy Fox Tt0r, tnd Window Fox Talbot Museum, Tacock Abbey Daguereonne, presente a the cad conceis n onder to ates dese 10 hi situ uy to reconstruc the chronology af penoeal n this {mall discoveries from_ publications, journals, and official communications is possible to follow, step by step, the ive mind, the wander- meanderings of the inv ings, and the false tails which are the continual fate of ideas, whether technological or not Three figures dominate the years 1839-1840, contributing, with varying degrees of success, to perfection of photographic techniques: Louis- Jacques-Mandé Daguerre, William Henry Fox Talbot. and Hippolyte Bayard. Others may have played a seminal role, not forgetting the guiding hand of Nicéphore Nigpce, who died in 1833, and who so influenced Daguerre. These three did not all “go into photography” at the same date and with the same stubborn determination for it is certain that these men, of unequal scientific capabilities, did not know exactly what they were seeking. All that they had in common was their ‘goal ~ the chemical fixing of images produced by the rays of the sun, in particular those formed in the camera obscura. Daguerre had been carrying ‘out research since 1826, when he made contact with Nigpce, whose experiments went back to 1816. [tis now certain that Talbot started experi- menting in this field in 1834: in August 1835, he obtained a “negative” of a window, of very small nat, measuring just over an inch square, tinuing his experiments until he -ago's first official communication on otype in January 1839. As for Bayard, it was the leaks of 1838,‘ or Arago’s without ¢ hich encouraged him to At present, however, we are unable previous projects or ambitions Daguerre’s secret Following Niépce’s death on July 5 1 remained in charge of the contract signed on December 14, 1829, Nicéphore's heir, Isidore Niépee, who, not active, continued t0 follow the p “of talent” who specialized in th the panoramas which were so fash time, He had achieved a certain rer 1822 with his diorama, where illusionist cles were staged using lighting effects combi with huge paintings. His success led him an establishment in London and worth Légion d'Honneur. Furthermore, his skills made him appreciate the advantages: camera obscura. At the time of Niépce's d joint research, to which Daguerre "perfecting of the chambre noire®, appeared progressing on the basis of the technique to obtain, by means of the obscura, metal engraving plates suitable for. unlimited reproductions of “views”, Ni€pce's opinion the best sensitive sub bitumen of Judea. Daguerre regarded this as too slow, without apparently being able « suggest a more effective substance, despite d of heat, gases, and even liquids in his ca into contact with polished silver’. The ingenious process of the daguerreotype gradually became formulated around the iodine on a silver plate. Niépce had mentioned iodine in his Notice “in order blacken the [pewter] plate". Daguerre used it asa sensitizing agent for silver and obtained “results” utes (‘Niépce was still using expo of several hours), “inverted” images (neg which he was unable to fix, Until 1833, the men seem to have kept to their own perso research, communicating mainly by (Daguerre in Paris, Niépce in Chalon- Everything changed with Nieéphore death, and from then on Daguerre seemed. follow two parallel courses: the research by Nigpce, and his own personal ‘which were taking a different path. tn’ Daguerre formulated the idea of an “produced promptly" but invisible “latent’). He continued his additional clause be added to the contract 835) whereby “M. Daguerre having [...] ne possibility of obtaining a more ult in terms of speed, with the h he has discovered’ to be accorded to 835, he was confi precise: “I have achieved y, to re-establish the ture and to arrest every aving reversed the image, Daguerre using the properties of mercury revealed the image by selectively 8 those parts of the surface of the plate i that v exposed to light. Al s required was * wash to eliminate the first material” (iodine). This problem, how. ever (which would not have impeded a scientist ike Talbot), was still unresolved in February 1837, by which time Daguerre was obtaining, tinages in “seven to ten minutes”. He was, never- ‘theless, determined to get rid of every trace of the jodine which formed part of his “secret” (we now. know that a common salt solution would have done the trick). In June 1837, Isidore Niépce came to Paris to sign a “definitive contract” whereby he had to recognize that *M. Daguerre [...] has introduced me to a process of which he is the inventor’. This contract mentions two processes: Nicéphore Niépce’s, which had scarcely changed, and the process which Daguerre had perfected on his own, and which he bap: tized (April 28, 1838) the “daguerreotype”. After an abortive attempt at obtaining shareholders, Daguerre, who had made contacts at the court of Louis-Philippe, was granted that Arago should announce the result of his work, without divulging its details, to the Academy of Sciences (lanuary 7, 1839). He envisaged “getting the government to buy this discovery”. After a fire at the diorama on March 8, 1839, it was agreed that a life annuity of 4,000 francs should be granted to each of the signatories of the contract (Isidore Nigpce and Daguerte), linked in addition to a bonus of 2,000 francs to Daguerre for. “the secrets ofthe diorama’. Lous Jacques Saxo Dace, The Lowe from the Left Banke ofthe Seine, Saguerreotype, 1839, Musée National des Techniques CNAM., Paris Fossils and Shell 7 Paris ve was implicitly recognized ay. father of the “daguerreotype” process, though quarrels subsequently developed role of Niépce senior. Arago submitted a the Chambre des Députés on July 3, 1839,. Gay-Lussac did the same at the Chambre deg on July 30. The process was unveiled and ¥ to the world” on August 19, 1839 (even Daguerre had taken out a patent in Engla August 14 which excluded the principal nation from this generous French donati hago event” ofthat day calmed ag for the service of humanity," a force for progress: “France nobly endows the whole the progress of the arts and sciences.” Aragoy: had already played down Bayard's role, wo later lend his weight to refute Talbot's claims by” emphasizing that another “compattion ise had obtained a successful result before him, Mare Antoine Gaudin, one of the first “daguer reotypists”, present at this famous session off ‘Academy, described the fever which gripped first amateur photographers. “Soon the surrounded a newly initiated member. He toldus that it involved iodine and mercury, without ving further details. Finally the session closed and the secret was out [...].A few days later [uh = each of us wanted to copy the view from eur | windows. Fortunate indeed was the man who on the first attempt obtained a silhouette of | roofs against the sky: he went into ecstasies over chimney-pots.” A brochure was immedi ately published which went into several French editions in 1839 alone as well as numerous foreign-language editions. The daguerreotype (see following chapter) was a reliable process, 5 despite its undeniably complex manipulations, demanding extreme care in preparation. After 4 few months of fine-tuning it was accessible to all, | and the results were judged to be astonishing. Today, we know about fifteen daguerreolypes dating from 1839, attributed to Daguertey including a triptych offered to Arago (now if Perpignan museum), and another given 10 the arrangements of statuettes, views of Paris, collections of fossils and shells Fox Talbot's determination After his first experiments im 18341 (successful, although he did not realize it at time) Talbot undertook other scholarly wo his background was completely different | that of Daguerre. A specialist in classical langu and mathematics, he was in contact the best minds in science, It was only in January 1839, when news of Arago's communication was published, that he realized his lack of foresight Possessing only limited information as to the nature of Daguerre’s work, he had (wrongly) imagined that it was closer to his own research, and he set about proving his anteriority. From the January 25, he displayed photogenic drawings (a process used from 1834) at the Royal Institution, and he read a paper on the subject to the Royal Society on January 31. Allthe “drawings” which he displayed employed the same principle. A flat object, such as a piece of lace, grass, a flower or foliage, was placed on a sheet of paper soaked in silver nitrate or chloride and placed in sunlight for ten to thirty minutes. Areas unprotected from the sun's rays went black while the paper beneath the object remained white. The main problem was how to prevent the whole image darkening whilst one was actually Jooking at it - the question of “fixing” the image dissolving the residual salts which had not been reduced to black metallic silver. At first, Talbot seasalt (sodium chloride) and potassium iodide. Soon, however (February 1, 1839), his friend Herschel gave him the idea of using sodium hyposulphate as a fixer (still in use day). It should be mentioned that in the {of contemporary research one element of he ion today judged crucial (the use of s never patented and was freely distrib: uted. In Paris, Biot received this information directly and openly from Talbot, and presumably suaekis mediately used this to Daguerre who im -e different types of image qversee! tonal values, in which dark tones light” or transparent parts his photogenic drawings, on a dark background ~ of the and using the solar fe madly, his cut out, enlargements of very small objects lit by sunlight, fascinating because they were difficult © draw, even under a microscope. Finally, bis images produced by the camera obscura, obtained ‘ called his “mouse-traps", which produced a bit of magic: natural magic’. With these, said Talbot, one could “copy the portrait of a distant object. the facade of a building’.* Talbot also saw that one could reverse negative images, sither by taking them again or by making them. \wansparent and printing shem in order to “bring Jpack the shadows and light areas to their original values” (on February 28, 1839, ina letter to Talbot. Herchel first proposed the word photograph), ecause full details of the daguerreotype had not yet been divulged, there were reckoned to be similarities between the two processes. Talbot did not want people to accuse him of plagiarism, and he did not as yet know that daguerreotypes were made on metal plates? Thanks to his ensuing correspondence with Biot, Talbot realized that his process and Daguerre’s had nothing in common, either in technique or appearance (a shiny metal plate compared with matte paper). Daguerre prepared, in February, to set forth a process on paper in order to goad Talbot into action; he had not yet communicated anything of his method! In this war of uncertainty, and despite Talbot's rapid improvements, it is clear that from April 1839 “M. Daguerre's images far surpass those which are produced over here [in Britain}."* It was already known, however, that the daguerreotype had one major drawback’ it allowed only a single copy to be made, and successive copies could not be produced. This was to be the trump card of the English process. However, when visiting Paris, Herschel could not conceal his admiration for daguerreotype images, which he judged “miraculous” for their precision and tonal detail, their “soft, faithful gradation of light and shade, which far surpasses all painting’, and their very short exposure time (three minutes in sunlight). Nevertheless, Talbot exhibited 95 photogenic drawings at a meeting of the British Association in Birmingham, a complete presenta tion of the possibilities offered by his invention ~ impressions of plants in white on a dark back= ‘Warns Heyy Fox Tats, Orchid Leaves, April 1839, photogenic dawing, Joka Paul Getty Museu Malibe fa power oe 9 2G mabund fo fl ad he sea a The daguerreotype, total impressi ion of reality ‘Above ol, Mors rele thatthe tho exposure, which at this time: wey minutes, wou! not lla traffic on the boulevard t0 appeat, their tment being 100 ra to eave anim the serstve srfsce, "Menng aes impression. The boulevard, though ex had started out as a coal merchant, -_axownous, jook up daguerreotyping_ be P dor Manchester, od profits. In this motivation he was no 8 Undated daguerreotype, different from his contemporaries, who came Univesity offs from many different walks of life and in some ™™* cases continued to practice their old occupations because the new trade did not always eam them enough to live on. If one looks at the training and former occupations of those who. interested themselves in photography, the whole gamut of professions is represented, though “artists” alone make up a good fifth of the number, and “techni- 2 tawny 5-50 cians’ over a tenth, Among the amateurs, spe- 24 ranma nee cially the earliest. experimenters, physicists, Swain eth chemists, and other scientists predominate. How. ever, there were also many opticians and preci- 2, ca ca qutsastmene sion engineers who tried out the process so as to isan inde ome be able to show expertise when selling the Sata cameras and photographic materials, Around three-quarters of all daguerreatypists came from majority of 4 portrait ive the location and and boast of what he ms in the studio were being unaffected by the t waiting times, a sliding scale of Porirua ad pony ponte se inade only for successful pictures, acceptance of ee nS 10 reproduce pictures, willingness re than in the furnished, the fact weather, sh portraits they had produced to widely, In the second half of the 44 pering business in a major city about 5,000 pictures annually, while cotypist in a smaller town would: than half that number produced 35~40,000 daguerreorypes. The demand for portraits was eq services besides portraiture oF gave tions of microscopes, various machines org items of interest. Particular regions! favored according to the time of year, because of the poor light, many daguen from northern parts of the United migrate southwards, Similarly, in the North German photographers would the island of Nordemney, because of variations in regulations led to a pi certain regions, for instance, the where, in contrast to the German states, no needed to be obtained and there were no restrictions on where or when a di ‘might ply his trade. Wherever these itinerant daguerreot peared, while the pictures themselves often be a novelty, the way in which ffered was not. For there was a long trad taveling tradesmen and salesmen, and 4 people were used to seeing them. Ifbus well in a particular town, one of the might sometimes stay for longer, oF setting up a studio there. Equally, the § might come to an end at the first because the pictures were only 1 there were no customers. After typists first made their appearance i 1839, the new technique became tively quickly in medium-sized in smaller places. The rreot covered tremendous distances. For Weninger, starting out from Hamburg in 1841, Copes Odense. and counted Gallen he was charging an entrance fee if people wished to see his work, Prom August 13 to 27; 1840 he exhibited 47 daguerreotypes of his own, including 39 portraits, first in his home town, then, in the following month, October in Munich, then in Augsbu in Zurich, in. nd Vienna and, finally, in Stutigart2” Sellers of, daguerreo- typing equipment and materials who wanted to lure the public into their premises operated in a similar way, though only in a sing place. Both, pictures and photographic apparatus were also shown at trade and industrial exhibitions, doc menting the progress made in the production and use of the new technology, At the Exhibition of the German Customs Union” held in the Berlin Arsenal from August 15 to October 13, 184, four daguerseotypists and the same number of manufacturers. of cameras oF other ‘equipment were represented at any given time.”* ‘The far greater attention paid to the daguerreo- type process in France was evident at the “Exposition des Produits de Liindustrie Frangaise” held in Paris in 1844, where about 1,000 pictures were exhibited, including works by Venice St" Mart’ Basiticn, Venice, ‘eval of south wal Raskin © Ruskin Galles embridge School Isle of Wight 4 Axowmions, Burial Place of Henry Clay's Son in Mexico, daguerreotype rea 1847, ff Westen Art, Fost Wont 36 Sen, “De angst ‘The subjects (1839-1853) At the New York exhibition, as atthe portrait predominated. Yet alongside of the president, famous artists, andi contemporaries, the visitor could fing range of applications, ranging fiom ton of “Shakespeate’s Seven Ages” bya Brothers and other genre scenes to the of Cincinnati made up of six (qua dagoeteoyped by Newpon and fied the Moon by the Bostonian A. Whipp of the Niagara Falls» Every conceivable seemed to be included in this array, which reflected the encydopedie common among daguerreotypists, Thig images was not governed by the trait this one respect was far superior to all other influenced the way it was used. The set to work as though there were a nea compile a catalogue of all possible pheng Such a purpose can dearly be seem instance, in the many attempts at prod constructed, and successfully used, a camera i an angle of vision of over 150 degrees Hg because of the difficulty of handling the Jrical plate, Marten’s design did not gain ep hig gs ica elie eearaa eae eae 's to produce comprehensive document ges reflect the prevailing idea that only tudy of visible things made it possible mpare them and so gain insight inte nections between all events oF processes a the past and present. With almost scientific meticulousness j objects, and events were pict «corded. In 1850-1851, J. W. Jones brought! 1,500 pictures from the Rocky Mount nd the Missouri plains. In September 18431 German A. Schaefer took more than 50 piel 1 the reliefs in the temple complex of Borob he process in the Dutch East Indies. He intended, HOWe® tnd the that the project should last for four or five Je which opened and result in a collection of 4,000 10) ‘rked the high- plates.” Starting in 1842, the Paris port dague c daguerreotype process a 4 to its spread and public visibility pictures of his daughter over a period of in that part of the world. Although the majority NS came from abroad, in - At times of great social, economic. and urban change there is a heightened: of the past and of what is passing, and 4,685 exhibito the “Photographie Section only Ame can photogaphem an tine son represented? with one exception, @ way of preserving it. In this erreotypes of 200 portraits of natives of New —Whune ealand and elsewhere taken with the aid of | Soumoar una is physionotypes by Dr. Dumoutier during a world panorama made people tour in 1840. They then converted them into lith- of dasverteourpes: Sadness tie ographs, The Société Ethnologique de Paris was Intemational Museuen of for other techniques founded in the same year. Four years later, its first Photography Geom When, in the autumn president, Serres, proposed that a “photographi missioned a museum” of human races be assembled. res of the m The interest of the public, as opposed to that of jerranean countries and of some scientists, focused more on prominent people a sel imtended to Politicians were accorded a whole gallery of their 00 views, only 110 own, All 900 members of the Paris Chamber of h series Deputies and Senate were to have their pictures 4 7 41, the Bisson taken by Bisson from 1841 onwards. Over 100 rt k on eproduction as American Senators were daguerreotyped by E Anthony in 1844, and the parliamentarians of the first German Assembly of 18 |-1849 in Frankfurt < Asommous, - undated daguerreotype hee Nationale, found pictorial chroniclers in Biow and others. Inj all three cases the portraits were published in the Paris form of lithographs. It was also Biow who recorded, in about 50 pictures, the catastrophic fire which raged in Hamburg during March 5-8, 1842, but his images of the ruins give only a retrospective view of the consequences of the event.™ In 1853, however, G. N, Barnard was on the spot in time to apture the burning grain silos at Oswego, New York. The wish to make all phenomena visible also extended to those things that could not be seen by the naked eye ~ a momentary movement 6 objects that could be discerned only through the telescope or microscope. Even before 1839 Daguerre had succeeded in making a micro- photograph of the “spinnerets of a spider". On January 3 he showed A. von Humboldt what the latter called a “portrait of Luna’. The pictures taken on April 2, 1845 by Fizeau and J.B. L. Foucault show the sun and sunspots. In fact, there was no subject that escaped the daguerreotypists’ cameras, They took pictures of ANEW HISTORY OF PHOTOG Paris in the Daguerreotype the rules of composition af tu i to 9 consteints, thas une woth artiste waditons they there was enough light esting ; rieved, They favorized visuel sonstity A large numberof dogeum rasing din of to the realty of ancient architecture (in partic: ” nee Thon thelmages bang wrvaly rect end ot manior top flor of 8 bulng. Aen 6 Seorget thet the daguereo- daguereonypists, MA. Gali Vansported the eal everyone wanted 16 take the Vl swhere t could window, By doing tis, they have been known only through image of the subject into pla venirs (mostly thographs of monu- the monuments which erase in the 4 not escape the truth of the Panoramic views: fe the most {840 and 1844 114 representations of this, sometimes ° and such views were published inthe form of itho- the workshops of Lerebours (lens theresearchintomechance perspective which the tite Excursions deqveréennes. Object had | ‘ ove weed, 6 t0 composition, providing a nar | seen hich ‘ i irnsic qual landscape in opesition to the stale | m ‘ical, and etemal interpretation, Tha: Wi wey of daguereotypes of Fred ven bieen@ magica! presence, suchas the VOW lace Neuf taken fram the le de eit 7 * 9 town appears as a single entity, like an parchment, unfuring its intent : ‘ving social organism (which shorty at : ‘would be reorganized by Haussmann being cir Thanks to the publicity whieh q oni em to his process, such images of 8 ny, The asyrometical ; the monuments in the way were dgtibuted throug 1 sn town wich 9s Europe, reaching royal cous land of wich they form In ther, Paris could be “ ‘ere the entre web of the -magaited by the microscopic " uiben.sowionment. is. drawn, including its the previously unknown ee hen aise modest buldings, ts shope, and ta. sna, tee ae ca My text. whch vero preteens te a sade and te Seago feature on & par with the most prestigious Fees eee mtsies: Bit te atecute sroupe of button, withost any posable of being aitbrushed out ‘One should add that many deguerreorypists ete amateurs who had received no trating in domestic scenes and of actors posing in costume in the studio, and captured the appearance of street traders as well as architectural details; they searched out stranded ships and frequented the ails of international exhibitions, they tumed covered mountains and on arranged stilllifes and nude usually stereoscopic and buted with no indication of their provenance. In the whole cosmos, whatever the eye could see provided subject matter for the daguerreotype. The decline of the non-reproducible image To conquer the world with a new vision is not however, the domain of daguerreotyping alone Gronce H. Jonson Miners near Sacramento, daguerreotype Matthew Isenburg Collection but the aim of all photographic techniques. < “Crow's masa, Accordingly, despite differences of emphasis ~ linked to the size, nature, and ease of handling of the surface bearing the image - the makers of calotypes adopted the same themes and subjects. No prior rights attached even to portraiture, except where patents limited the use of a partic ular process. Thus, in Frankfurt am Main, on December 17, 1844, E. Tanner, a Londoner and pupil of Talbot, advertised that he produced, “portraits on paper". Only two months later the first studio announced that it too could supply such portraits, and by the end of 1845, all five daguerreotypists in the city had mastered the calotype process. Frankfurt became the center of this technique in Germany, even though daguerreotyping was still carried out alongside it until the mid-1850s." This was by no means an isolated case photographers being skilled in the use ¢ Organ-grnder, daguereonpe cara 1348, Incemational Museum of Photograpy, George asta ose, Rochester. used both massive demand for pictures, ment each ploiting daguerreotype had awakened but 1 18 bought a satisly. The less well-off sections of thes der to class also wanted their likenesses to Be all for posterity and included in the gf sre famous contemporaries, relatives, and i The uniqueness of the daguerreotype : pecial feature ~ and its greatest drawbaek i a5 faithful reproduction of the subj : fh concemed, photography on paper did Nat i nt an advance. However, the da ; process, still very much a craft, was an af 4 i nism in the age of the Industrial { ss fostering the use of images by alam \il_dme when photography was aleady ial | the attention of the many. People 10 4 ints on picture of themselves, The dagie 3 lied first to could satisfy some of them, but it pi : i half : portrait on the pedestal of i tographs in carte-de- was only with the large-scale rep Production of some of the contemporaries by the photographie Together na anuthods became possible. the private portrait truly evolved ini Berth te tris o abun the society. Just ap Holton ea Se souls sponsible for the could not attain significance iy Mesgnpe a si ‘ative and the copyist for the prims ~ led to published, so in = history of pho Fle Motowephs on paper becoming considerably — daguenteoiype Process was, one however, there was the handwritten manuscript. materials by industri This stus cheaper. Above all, the images rare ese caeeeeies oe oa limited visual fk and to absorb t by tested sea of Daguerreotypes The mirror of nature " rysals, gla vases filled wit Tar, objects that were ted or black, glazed or pol ished such as Frscan vases". Foucault's views thuough the microscope, pictures of sunspots by ical instruments (displayed bn Landon in 851) and his quart crystals (shown in Paris witness to an experimental meth ry and builds up data before drawing onclasions. Topography, monuments plans Sealpruse, and archeology, all played a part in forming the vated imern ‘ndsral prods” which was brought together for the fr time in Condon in 4851 (the Great Fxhibision ielf feansted in daguerteorype). in London too the stereoscopic press was uve. which partilaty used daguerseotypes,(Claudet onal se pale of was the bestknmwn exponent). The way the images were mounted in the stereoscope tent sel cespeally wll ( the refinement of hand colores they were the speciality of Bello, Braguebais. and Gouin. A fivolous vex pornographic character parent dese imag fom the Ouse. reals of the genre sene-—a new form of on—found an echo in the raphic acess. Bacon Humbert de Molar nde poral. Though rarely signed phot fone ofthe founders, made members of his amily for his servants pose in scenes fom rural if hit ‘ei posing om his ic-bed (1848) of wansforming histeward ino a pesonesin chains hus the daguerteanpe appeared. a oF shone are moments wien art and science come together an image laboratory, an event i he Bis tony of epresenaton which, unt it was supe feed by. other techniques, appears wave peoduced a flourish of wsual novels which ate ule know ody. che aot Wass H. Fox Taxon, all a negative. In theory, this image was xecond sheet of photo- reversible by exposing sper placed beneath it. However, Talbot's Jows negative oo rere insufficiently dense in the sh meron aod ponte pins tobe produced (ne ‘Ratt sue om August 183, which shows Time window, in which Talbot was delighted let datinguish the individual panes of to be glass, Apparently, however, this was taken no further.) It was at this stage, in 1835, that, discou raged pethaps, Talbot abandoned his photographic work it order to devote himself to mathematics and classical languages. Then, at the end of 1838, rumors of a French invention reached him. of 1839 the question of At the priority over Daguerte provided the impetus for sini “s © aot a peop ne i ale Hone to capably of mule thereof pling wai ge pina’? war pacietie oe to encourage Talbot to provide a mores ss intended for travelers and artists, paper process int Jity of the operation being a condition The revelation of the calotype tember 1840 Talbot discovered, by chance process “to which [he] gave the name of calo the Greek kal 1 a notebook re ful) e progress of the discovery, from September 20 to 1840. Exposures of one hour were suddenly reduced to a few minutes or seconds; the image support was paper prepared with silver nitrate, acetic acid, and gallic acid. An image did not appear during the exposure in the camera 3s 1 the silver salts, on which the light had -d for a very short time, were darkened at a speeded up the reaction. Apart from the se of obtaining a negative which could subse ly be used to produce as many positive images as one liked, the value of the process lay ove all in the other characteristic linked to the Jerating agent (gallic acid) ~ the f int image.* This separat aking a photograph and ive visible. Today this remains photographic process. ademy of Sciences in Paris : s discovery, news of which w i mpression may be seen, f ntest beginning of the picture alrea here in all its in a perfectly invisible state. By ich I shall later disclose, the ar as if by magic. It really is k a few portraits (his wife 40; Amélina Petit, on nutes), and he photographed om ‘of one minute taken out for the calo- ographic Process) on 8 the very same day when, in the Je we priority, Bayard made a the French Academy of a similar process), and it was on August 20, 1841. The text mentions gallic acid, development, 4 application to portraiture, but, auri sly, does not protect the one feature which, in jew, makes the calotype so original: the ntermediary function of the negative. A second taken out on fune 1, 1843, gave a more etailed account of the procedure and introduced Some improvements. These were designed to make the negative more transparent for printing, and to produce “photographs” which could be publications, something which with his Pencit of re begun in 1843 (a patent was taken out in the United States in 1847 and subsequently taken, would shortly achieve up by the Langenheim brothers). The successive operations required for the production of a calo- 842): 1. Brush a solution of silver nitrate on to a sheet type were as follows (patent no. & of paper. Leave it to dry, then apply a solution of potassium iodide. This paper can be kept for along, time and is not particularly light sensitive. 'o use, coat the iodized paper, in darkness, with a mixture of silver nitrate, gallic acid, and acetic acid. This makes the paper very light 3. This “calotype paper” is placed in the camera obscura, in the focusing plane of the lens which has been properly adjusted, made and the exposure 4. The exposed paper, on which no image is visible, is treated in the laboratory with a further coating of gallo: itrate of silver, which makes the appear ina few minutes 5. Finally, the image is fixed in a solution of hypo, then washed in water and dried. The procedure for printing a positive from the negative is worth describing in detail, since it would in future form the basis of most photog- raphy. Prints were made on salted paper ~ paper soaked in a solution of sodium chloride (common salt) then coated (using a brush) with silver nitrate solution and dried. The negative is placed in direct contact with this "positive" paper in a ‘Wain H, Fox Taino Rouen, May 16, 1843, of Photography, Film and Television, Bradford te ee ait Severn ib, 5 Ay oh Som Pa, annoy FSPORY OF PHOTOGRAPES ee ever ecomesgere revue hanes wiley Srcmenccl tt ae Sterne ale would te ApoO oF behind The Fen! of Natur sampler for the merit of cag Contans shots of porcelain the stat of thngs in a given are \ooicately Vansparent la versions of the bust of Patoeag, that photograph could be of san A Scone in ibrary Bookcase containing a wich can be interpreted as a it interest. In his commentary oth ‘touches on the possibilty of taking ph inthe dark, using ultrewiolt ight i X) is just that: a haystack wh leaning against it. The accompa tary discusses photography's aby completely sccurete mage dow: cerallest blade of sttaw and to deli compositions Including Wont. and: multitude of minute details which ‘ruth and realty of representation, artist would tak tion inthe Duteh ste thet Talbot a a apd sketch of something en ‘almpsed arrangement that eng resque” thoughts, feelings, and 35800 Finally, Talbot used the only 25 3 complet vpe's potenti use in. porate Jreving though here the figures are shot rom: of. He. makes. an. astonishing) b 38S us an insight into how his eon nust have fet about the new medium figures take no longer time %0 a single figures would require, sine the picts them allat once, howeved a may be". Unquestionably, this Gives U6 ‘ory image competition with the di >y inspecting despite the fact that moti he print is then made, gave more detailed and attractive th hypo, thoroughly washed, and dried. Talbot spoke of applying his process t tural and landscape work during RES Following Collen, Antoine F. |. Cl Use and distribution cessfully attempted, in 1844, to calotype for portraiture. His Pim August 1641, the miniaturnt Henry Collen, taken up again on Talbot's b had bought a license from Talbot. had used Henneman in 1847, in a ed the lac ay nature 6 tet of ier de ‘eae as goa i eading were published 23 photo: the foot Robert n, who was through the influence i Brewster of St. Andrew's i said we opened a portrait {encouraged by Talbot, who had not taken out @ patent for Scotland). It seems that it was following a meeting in Edinburgh of the Church of Scotland, then splitting from its English counterpart, that the painter Hill contacted Adamson with a view to taking poruaits for a great commen Pethe event. Theit collaboration, in Shared technical and artistic Fesponsit to. last until Adamson’ prematine january 1848, much longer than they ja teen, Individuals Or groups posed in they {the process was slow, and required the to remain completely still for one or ya full daylight), in a natural seting ¢ with curtains, tables, flowers, and other Hill and Adamson, (Who signed thei graphs jointly as “executed by R. Ad the artistic direction of D. 0. Hill?) dig themselves to simple portraits. They die compositions, going into villages to fishermen or photographing masons the Scott Monument. From the outset Adamson created a distinctive photogray thus demonstrating that in expert process could achieve perfection. Unlike artists, they did not see themselves as gga observers, restricting themselves to a pi approach, often agreed in advance. In four these pioneers of location photography pra at least 3,000 photographs, some of which published as albums or sold as individual p During the 1840s calotypes were given the name of Sun Pictures. The first group of pi tioners emerged from the immediate social family circle of Talbot: his cousins John Dill Llewelyn and Calvert Richard Jones, who boii a specialty of views of Welsh ports, seaside and moored boats, were later joined By Story-Maskelyne, Llewelyn’s son-in-laws undertook a family journey to the Mediter hoping to make the best use of the ealotypel sunny climate (Malta, Naples, Rome, 1845-18 and set about providing images for the studio print shop in Regent Street, In Italy he nother member of the family, Kit Talbot! 1 photographed famous monuments (sult Coliseum), boats in harbor, and general ind on his return specialized in producing nied with watercolors. Negotiations with aiming for closer collaboration came (0 The Rev. G. W. Bridges had learned 7 process from Henneman in 1845, also 1 view to using it during a Mediterranean 1852. In 1846 he met the Rev. Calvert 19 Kit Talbot. They uaveled together 10) Pompeii, and Naples. Bridges, who his own through Greece, Egypt and the! (a nineteenth-century Grand Touf) have taken 1,700 negatives, many of ¥ printed in the Reading Establishment plans for several illustrated publ Palestine As It Is appeared, in 1858- Calotype Club was formed {renamed the Photographic Club in 1848), around Rober Hunt. Peter Fry, Joseph Cundall, Hugh Owen, Hugh Diamond, and William Newton. This treated a certain amount of competition as regards In 1847 the partly to rival French devel fopments in the technique, where it enjoyed its fest popularity in the late 1840s, Benjamin the 1 calotype process great Brecknell Ture! English countryside and rural working life in larg format from 1849 to 1862 (by which date calotyp- ists appeared rather old-fashioned); his participa tion in an exhibition at the Society of Ars in 185; ‘caused much comment, John Shaw Smith, of Cork undertook a tour of Europe and the Middle East in 1852. A doctor, Thomas Keith, who had been introduced to the calotype by Hill and who ‘me technically very proficient, photographed ‘assiduously photograp becat Edinburgh be warance of the city, Occasionally, he would also Adamson's subjects, adopting a een 1851 and 1856, recording the different style A number 0 demise of the talborype (Talbot's calotype in the jesciption). In 1851, atthe events would led to the gradual strict sense of the patent Great Exhibition in London, where it was possible 30 photographs from six countuies (in Jaguerreotypes), everyone could Juding many techniques and their respective qualities. In the same year, Scott Archer published dex is collodion on glass process. For the jenneman produced 20,000 prints made from the Ferrier brothers’ glass nega tives and Hugh Owen's calotypes. Daring the winter of 1851-1852 Roger Fenton, who had been a pupil of the painter Delaroche in 1841-1843, at the same time as Le Secq, Le Gray, and Negre, made his way to Paris. His aim was to discover more about the creation of the Feliographic Society, from which Davo 0. Hi asp ROweET ‘enehaven Fishermen, ‘Victoria and Albert seu, London, Causerr Rican Jones, ‘The Brig “Palacea’, Malta, 1e45-1846 ee r ad The Heliographic Mission n . or einer i ding For Le Seca; Onéans, the: - " of an ist ove Charente, UGS aed a = ee ynd ts etal tothe Gray; Charente, at ee ° : more 1. ord Bua ‘ ne shed er oraphecs, among The. Mission: eae which toy are not ak ost ergorent Approx ves survive © the Aechives Ideposted at the Musée reputives 40 at appear to ha ie the excumstancos, setting up of the Helographie recess in pertculat ‘and genera, the negatives. brought ‘ceive the welcome thay fey noted, sngriy, he a ‘ed them away in € photogranns, nd numerous ed to be made in ceation to on the restoration of these bud € challenge was to find a che producing and dstrouting In 1851, this ambition remained ut scnnical reasons. However, Is ny 90 attempt was made 1851 there was a good works” inked with the Soc . ‘we creation of such an enter nara 3 thmsel¥ skeptical abot Wh t Mission's monuments project In cesstul, ath \was no unt the 1870s tates ; tion of the Historical Monuments ol z would commission the a ment with a huge end more whole of France (his negatives are. of the decade, the Archives. Photographiquesh 7 albumen had been the fist ofici te appear some of ahotography’s 84 ss had used information, preservation of atly date, used —faithfuiness of recording = at #) hs Mission Romantic nostalgia was bi ows: Fontaine- the rmessage of the “eneiehtS"< . the Lyonnais, and Dauphine i sf a3 Provence for Baldus; Normandy for the Photographic Society would evolve in 1853, ” his trip to Russia in the of which Talbot refused the presidency. What _H. Delamotte used it for hi is more, Fenton had introduced dry waxed paper ‘negatives (an improvement due to Le Gray). He himself experimented with the technique during France adapts the calotype Until 1846, the calotype, which was encountering difficulties in Britain, was relatively unkno France. In Paris, only Hippolyte Bayard se it seriously - with some personal 5, having aban ive, which the French red. Most ably, Hippolyte Bayard played a key role in Christi proces Hirporvre Bava, ook many pho f Pari including the famous Montmartre Sell portrait, anicularly during 1847. His garden scenes, self portraits, and groups reveal aptitude for the Paris resque practice and followed the innovative trend that Bayard had already displayed with his Self 4 Drowned Man (1840) nother eatlycalotypist, Louis-Adolphe Humbert de Molard, produced accomplished calotypes in The Dust-cart}, La la Lage ale (1848). His tools, in_ particular, rentional pictu Gustave Le Gea, Le Bas Bréau, Forest of neblea, 2 1853) John Paul Getty Museum, Malibu with varying degrees ie day-to-day OccUP® vor re-enacted by his family = @ farmers (shelling beans, bleeding day, preparing for the hunt, @ recorded local scenes (3 yaas-1848; he composed dreuccess, tableaux depictin tions and rustic lab gamekeeper the pig), wash: En nr aginen sed) in asile cose tonsyards" arvever, twas Louis-Désiré Blanquart-Evrard: ty, who a Lt daper keen om chet a iment wih unprving te clo ay aon independent, without 289 Proce Tid the inventor ofthe process, Talbot othe taglah caloppists, on the ol low Talbots advice) systemati- 1 hand, were Modifications B Guillot- of the English process appeared: A. Gi Saguee, a physician, published his method for taking photographs on paper in September 1847 (Paris, V. Masson). While retaining the basic prin- inclined to fo ple ~ negative-positive, latent image ~ the process underwent important modifications, in in which the particular conceming the way various solutions were applied to the paper support. Instead of applying them with a brush, which produced irregularities, Blanquart- Evrard floated the paper on the surface of the solution in order to impregnate the surface evenly (a tech- nique which Bayard also used), Furthermore, English; it was thinner, less more coherent pulp, and Capturing the subtleties of Finally, Blanquart-Evrard_ com the stage of applying silver developing the latent image (usin ‘without quoting Talbot ( egal action for counterfe process in 1847."*The still dam ‘was exposed for 10 to 20 weather. A positive print on made from the negative by sunlight, using a printing. fia Evrard noted the important branch of photography” ought 1 provide the man of the world ries of his peregrinations and the objects of his affection, sci reproductions of mechanical and natural history, and historians, and artists with picturesque view detailed studies of the great antiquity and the Middle Ages, people.” This program does not differ § ‘Talbot (or of Daguerre, as pre in 1839). However, Blanquart specifications were precise, sin for standardized industrial which he introduced into the would prevent the prints from fa as ofien happened to those made b He envisaged “carrying out photo simple paper, a certain and easy people who are less accomplished lating chemicals", and sending: with pre-prepared paper (for the would be ready to be sensitized Positive prints would be made The idea of the “photographic (an establishment which would production of large numbers of Heliographic Society (which: calotypists and other people w participate in the promotion oft 1 deliveries of the Album photo- de amateur were made in Jhment was responsible for prints, the negative remaining perty” of the photographer. The dry waxed paper negative process master of photography on paper appeared at this time ~ Gustave le Gray,!” son of a Paris dlord, painter, and pupil of Delaroche. Having spent time in Rome until 1847, he began to experi- ‘ment with the process after his return (is likely that land yas eosin mins ates ‘Victor Recut, Portrait of Madame Regnault, circa 1852, Societe Francaise de Photographie, Paris he already had a practical knowledge of daguerteo- types, glass negatives, and collodion negatives, of which he was one of the first users), He won an award at the Exhibition of the Products of Industry in 1848, and set up a workshop at the Porte de Clichy to the north of Paris, He perfected a type of paper which absorbed chemicals more uniformly and possessed enhanced sensitivity ~ waxed paper, prepared by soaking it in melted beeswax, the sur- plus absorbed by a hot iron. The pre-sensitized paper (using silver salts) was used dry in the camera obscura (hence the name - dry waxed paper). A possible delay of several days, even weeks, between eee ‘or PnoTOGRAPHY a new nisrory OF? Calotypist circles the frst gathering of = were Soyr than adopt 3 2 eds. Through Bayaia Journ, aed Regraut ié Freise de Photographie) bea! swings to tis communty of ideas an fiend See etotsn 9 Fine Normandy, eilyoe water from 1848 the ca Sty ict 0 sumone tospee, ew, tor exemcle, Humben de Molerd, 4 Fersinend Tilard thom Bayeux), and Bpeot Grom Rouen; the letter, who Burgundy, Neephore : : ser tt he oe wena won 300 cs evo plone a thermore, studies of shadows i Meciow #7 je, rather than simple photoaraBhie re ugo at re tne Huge a Jas Victor Hug SuPPON Becaratore publication of a book on Jersay illustrated with photographs. This project, however, never got eyond the planning stage, it is therefore speak of a regional acle centered in Normandy, within which each person worked on several projects 2 calotype process was formally Talbot, either through direct ators (Hanneman) or with the close jonets who had become friends, rm exchanged information and prints \uded Revs. George Bridges and 5 who both traveled to Italy specific Fy Out the calotype process) - Jones. Blanquar-Evrard played aS fotype. In his own day he Pi Mone cw and printing workshop. 1t is because of him that so Verwctamslt VEms Tay images are preserved today and the names of 40 many photographers known which wou otherwise be lost. ee ete all of ths enormous ouput ha notyet been tracked down. Many photographs are Sail awaiting identification and attribution ~ 24 volumes, containing more than 550 photographs. ‘lanquar-Evrard published and sold his orig inal salted-paper prints mounted individually on ‘ard and titled, with an indication that they came from his workshop, or brought together in ‘unbound “albums” issued in parts, the custom in publishing at that time. The way he divided up . the photographs was not predetermined but was ples of many different types of mainly a response to commercial pressures, from an Indian temple (Alexis reflecting the way in which negatives were way of a fragment of the Pan provided by various travelers, some of them painting by Van Eyck, to a cedan Tnows Kam _roareurs, whose work varied greatly widely in majority of his output ? GrnpresCometer, quality and sculptural monuments: LAr ‘Etsber “The Allum photographique de Vartiste et de tecture ét sculptiré (cg iy Lbnsies Edinburgh. amateur, which appeared first, contains exam- tecture, Bayard and Renard for p 1854), La Belgique (Desplanques, 1 du Rhin (Marville, 1853), $j oe (Guillaume Claine), Melanges (paintings and views of Patis by Man rt Venice by Walther, 1851-1853), Mon Paris (Fortier), Paris photographique (M Le Secq and anonymous 1851-1853), Recueil photogra photographiques (Bayard, Fortier, 1853), e Certain monograph albums ( single photographer) seem 10 4 (Thomas Sutton), Souvenirs de Robert), and Souvenirs des Pyrénées Given contemporary interest in “imaginary museum’ of all the: collections of reproductions are | art contemporain (on the 1853 $ and Renard, 1854), - ‘The most creative images wer those which gave the phote freedom of choice in their su Prints were then grouped toget “studies” (see the following dos ie Bes ‘The printing works cl would enter the era of reproduction and photo: ‘mechanical processes, which led eventually to the illustrated press. The photographic diaspora Unlike the modem photographer, the calotypist did not work spontaneously. His technique demanded patience. Due to lack of interest in these works for more than a century, many photographs have been lost. Fortunately, how. yumber of copies made, ever, thanks to the large images have survived: Marville photographing, the banks of the Rhine, Louis Roberts poetic ‘vision of Versailles, Fenton’s travels in Russia, and Le Gray's trip with Dumas to Palermo at the time of the events of 1860. Certain photograph tention was to produce images to be sold in shops were quite specialized: Louis d'Olivier and Julien Vallou de s whose Villeneuve, for example, specialized in studies of naked artists’ models. The latter also produced studies of drapery, clothed models, and human “types” (servant, monk, Algerian woman, peasant, etc), which were published by Lemercier in 1853, As already noted, after 1850 photography in France enjoyed a period of growth for several years thanks to the commercial distribution of photographs. Many photographers who achieved fame around 1860 had first worked with the calo- type. They continued its “grand manner’ style thanks to the use of large-format negatives and a bteadth of composition, even though they moved to glass negatives. Technical considerations are not always para mount in regard to changes in a photographic aesthetic. Fortunately, the photographer's vision ‘owes mote to their ability to circumvent any tech: nical constraints. With the majority of calotypists, their use of a cumbersome and slow process does not permit us to consider them simply as “primi tives" - the calotype process was an accomplished. craft form and the years when it was in use should certainly not be considered as merely a trial period. Enthusiasts in Britain,” where the calotype originated, remained close to Talbot, forming circles of kinship and mutual exchange of infor mation (see box). However, their work was not distributed to any large extent after the semi- failure of The Pencil of Nature. The debate concerning Scott Archer's use of glass negatives, about 1853, led both to an initial decline of the calotype and to the setting up in London of the Photographic Society, which tended to support the new technique of collodion glass negatives OF PHOTOGRAPHY A wp tsToRY The British abroad also formed a significant Particularly in India. Sometimes these French processes. As British mission at Ava Tripe used the calotype es m ‘5. His views were published in at Bangalore, He worked in Madras from. 1856 to 1860. Tripe distinguished himself with calotypes showing imposing architectural facades. John Murray who worked as a military docor in Agra, India exhibited his views in London in 1857 (a portfolio was published in 1859 entitled Picturesque Views of the Northwestern Provinces of India), John Shaw Smith, a skilful exponent of 5 process, traveled in the ‘and and Egyptin 1850-1852. Weelhouge wasn the! in 1850, 2 mong the mast beautiful calotype process. In other European photographers appeared in. afer the arival ofthe collodi we should mention, in (especially his views of the the Bavaria statue) as well (photographs of the Mi Legnica).” x In Italy, Giacomo Caneva Practical Treatise in 1855. Hise taken up by Ludovico Tumis large-format views of the It ‘were attracted by this process. The calotype (by which we negative processes) was not dreamed of by the new “heli destined to become virtually e age of five or six years. Ne formed a period of grace for entirely perfected technique, humerous countries and open of communication, knowledge pleasure, Eminently suitable for pretation, the calotype defined. and a mode of existence for ph cably linked with the technical production. ‘The symbolic value of the obligatory use of an intern delay in appreci. image was left in the latent state, ticeship ~ combining the (optics and chemistry) and the of art. In many respects, the his raphy reflects this fine balance technique. = the pant decade on wo the technique ofthe hasbeen reconsidered, after ong neglect: ihotographs produced by this method are ed. Often jdged too “primitive” dhey cak the ules imposed by moder yj auch a hose of sharpness oF rapid ‘Whether dey liked i of 04 cal sd 1 resolve fundamental sexbetic os = t0 which eiical writing in around 25 wanes ~ and invent a type of image wiih Inter photographic developments ated. ve majority of languan-tveand's ouput, for- “toil preserved, provides an untvaled collec: cs, of bot what might Rave intersted. is "cusomes and whae was considered “photograph | le. taldag the serious technical constraints nto Blanquart-Evrard, photographic publisher signs principles of reading and relationship with reality. Of coun al this was bated on the graphic Tangages hen in fore bathe debate fcises on departures from the aotm. onthe daplacemen of ‘the senses wiought by photographic automatic ‘whieh replaced. the manual dexerity of the painter, and on the symbolic transference process ‘which the direct, optical rappor with that which the camera has really “sen” cannot be avoided. ‘We have brought together here a few of the ‘most original = the most resoitly photographic “ofthe inages published by Blanguar Evan, who chose negatives from the output of fens, ‘mateu, and professionals, and edited the pins foto thematic ponfolies. The photographs chosen here belong to thiee innovative albums: Eider Ptotaphiqus, Eades e panes, Kersae pow _phique, The tem eds (ides) refers to the racic of painter 10 whom these views afer ature are in theory adresed. But even when he ‘photographer has become mubserient 10 the ‘pani this doesnot lead to serve imlation of. conventional works. The photog: rapher creates a new rpe of image whose pictorial ‘uivalens, whether drawn ot engraved, may be found only superically. The studies of wees by -Manille or Benecke, the anonymous al iews in fact precede a numberof ass of the Barbizon school, Laydieaw’s snow of fost eflcs precede impresionism, andthe nial scenes with people are more tealaic than painting of the Realist School, which had only recently appeared in Pats Benches Lf A Caio Woman owes nothing 10 cena, but inves the science of “thno- photography” Repaaults “site” dirs the ery ature of sles the atmosphere of the Image and the arangemen of obec and farm produce, lke the satura quality of the suround Ing space, contadic all those artical comina- tions which would have made it = composition ‘based on the les, Afer the strangeness of the ‘hem te THE TRANSPARENT MEDIUM From industrial product to the Salon des Beaux-Arts Michel Frizot ‘The very process by which a picture is made influences th xe world the Image inhabits as well as its content and. veaning, For this reason, it has never been easy to change photographic production techniques. The advent of, the glass negative brought a fresh appreciation of the subject a “appeared in the 1850s. Photographic manuals were packed with recipes and variations which processes ‘opened the way to individual adaptations. But one thing did not chan, wing from nature” acquired a degree of precision that into the light-sensitvity of photographic materials. “Copy considerably enhanced the effectiveness of photography nd new ways of tapping into reality. Many new 1ge- there were still ongoing experiments eee Ree cece we ome toes + Per age ot produce. though pores Fees cok tages mee Seer eee eee ae oe ee -sey ede yeep gence sqiccess. This was due mainly to the circumstances {the imes, such as the continuing high cost of « lecaniques involved. Consequently, the cost ges was such that, on the whole, they y for the alfluent. Because the calotype requited so much manipulation, Blan- ‘-Evrard’s attempts at standardization were sufficient to boost production and push prices, Indeed, most technical advances in photography were aimed at controlling and redlucing the time needed for the various phases of the process. As early as 1859, the advantages of the calotype ‘over the daguerreotype - a unique image on metal ~ bad become apparent. It was clear, however, ‘that other techniques were needed to speed up ed simply she seamen ati eet ie younger cousin of Nieéphore Niepce, Abel Ni pam “use glass plates as a support. The technical solu- tion he came up with consisted of binding silver salts to the non-absorbent surface by means of a permeable and adhesive coating. He experi- mented first with starch and then diluted egg white (albumen). The dried plate was then sensi- tized by immersing it in a solution of acidified silver nitrate which soaked into the albumen coating, This albumen-on-glass process! produced “remarkably pure and detailed images’ but was nevertheless slower than the calotype. In 1851, Blanquart- Evrard published a paper. on it, spreading the idea more widely. Le Gray also published a paper referring to the subject in 18502 The process was very much in the public eye. Fox ‘Talbot even tried to patent it in his own name in December 1849 and again in June 1851. Positives ‘were printed both on the traditional salted paper and on a paper lightly coated with albumen intro- ‘duced by Blanquart-Evrard in 1850.’ But in the same period the Englishman Scott Archer was experimenting with a more sensitive process, still using glass plates, which was to be the standard method in photography for several decades. It also opened up totally new aesthetic possi started coating his. plates with 4 Gustave Le Geax, ‘Wave Breaking, Ste, cites 1856-1859, Bibliotheque Nationale, Pati do Secor dvoond 0 oe eco wt earn 887 ced corpeao be serene ecu. Evan woe, ‘Rernisecneoves pes ered ey Soran. abet 180 1 ot ond these iter, Gusts Le Gy speed org Stason one, kaso Eger Seo Secret OB1- 1657, wh. TBS, was 10 coo up nth a ci etd which wos 2 Seo at anon, ho wes Be. et caaonpoces Ginen e pomer enka, ives 10 ond mde by sosig cote cohlse i sds The ret was 6 ogy erin wig sree fo gas. Wit aon of pomoumy & eure fo bezane “shcopepe olden ie then icky 20 po Pe ok Und: be shortened to as little as one second. The use of or the wet-plate process, was not Patented and from 1851 the method spread.‘ In collodion the same year, “photographic printing press” ‘ut mass-produced original phot ographs from Paper negatives until the business went bankrupt in 1855. ‘The glass negative resolved a num! umber of prob- tems that had beset photography fiom its early ‘ne glass pate & washed in a mixture of pumice ard alobol. The iodized colodion is poured over the pate, which the photographer Ste corstuly in each direction to ensure comletely even coating. A certain amount of manual derery i needed for tis, 05 is 8 degree of muscu strength when handing large-ormat plates The plate i let 0 aly in yellow light for 2 short whe. Using a rod, tis then immersed in f bath of 12 pans water to one part siver nitrate. As sen as the plat takes ona creamy- ‘white color eter about thee minutes}, it must be drained ond paialy died. While stil wet, it is inserted into 8 special plate holder inside the camera and exposed for few seconds Once the exposure has been made, the photographer develops the plate by pouting @ solution of ferrous sulphate or pyrogalic acid sand the image fixed (coremoniy known niditions, exposure times could Blanquart-Evrard set-up his 1 Lille, turning sn ascutono ver pirate From Le Magatin Presa, 183 ‘as hypo) oF potassium ‘and given a protective positive proof is then ob contact print on paper tized with siver chloride Fast exposure gave good: ties of tonality. The proce feir-qualty portraits at @ ‘the other hand, the number the process meant that the 64 heavy and bulky, making © troublesome. ‘The use of collodion ona ga Jed to 2 spinoff known a5. lanother of Scott Archers inve the ferotype or tity, which was by Hannibal L. Smith in the United 1856. These variants were: portraiture ‘There was much debate at th aesthetic advantages of the c slightly blurred and grainy 10 possess a more “pictorial” words it was closer to the ‘ven then, it had to be sensitized immediately, Traveling photographers had to cany around ‘chemicals, water, and accessories, not to mention the glass plates themselves. Paradoxically, unlike le Gray's dry-waxed paper process, the new process was moving away from reducing the amount of materials required and separating the steps involved (preparing the sensitized support and making the exposure). At this time, only contact prints were made since the technique of negative enlargement had not yet been intro duced. Nevertheless, in the 1850s there was a passion for bigger prints (frequently 30 x 40 cm or more) which, of course, meant that the nega- tive itself had to be large. Clearly, this did not make transport or handling any easier.* However, at the start of the 1850s, a number of factors came together which boosted the popu- larity of the glass negative, to the detriment of its paper counterpart. It was clear at once that much ‘was at stake, as was illustrated by a famous trial held in London (1854), Talbot held the calotype patent. He sued a photographer called Laroche (a pseudonym used by Silvester) for using the collo- dion process. Laroche was backed by the liberal and progressive lobby, including Roger Fenton.* Talbot laid claim to Scott Archer's method on the basis that it employed the general negative/posi- tive principle, as well as developing and printing, which were already part of the calotype process. He ignored fundamental differences in the mate- rials used. Even though the (lay) judge appeared alienated by the technical arguments, he ruled against Talbot and dismissed the suit. Scott Archer's process was therefore recognized as autonomous and “different” enough to slip through Talbot's grasp. Jn Britain at least, the future of photography was decided in that courtroom since developments for years to come might have been fettered by patents, just as had happened to the calotype in the past. ‘The basic principle of photography as a free enter- prise (since it had indeed been “given to the world” in the form of the daguerreotype in 1839) did not, then, become a legal reality until 1854. Other things then occurred which were to establish photography in its own right, something its practitioners had been attempting for some years twas, however, the new glass negative technique that benefited most from the change, especially in view ofthe rapid decline of the calotype. Photography gains recognition ‘At the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, the estab- lishment in 1851 of the obligatory legal deposit of photographs, because of their similarity to prints, set the seal of legitimacy on photography, Putting it on a similar footing to its rivals (painting, printing, engraving). At the same time, it also afforded copyright protection and rights for all photographs sold. In 1851, the Société Heliographique was founded in Paris, to be replaced in 1854 by the Société Frangaise de Photographie. Similarly, a Photographic Society ‘was set up in London in 1853, They both encour- iad aged the spread of a practice which in France and Printing phowographic prowfs inthe open ir {from ghas-negatives. «conlacisin a panting ame), ‘mage from a stereoscopic, circa 1860, pavate collection -ArcivesPhonoraplanques was during this transi the daguerreotype + of magazines started ection with the fledgling associ ations (La Lumidre, Bulletin dle la Societe Francaise Photographie, Journal of the Photographic Society, These, and countless other works and manuals," Populaviaed different echniques, They were not simply setting out to play at chemistry, but were ‘aimed at better adapting techniques to the subject a positive image. This ‘was often confused. daguerreotype, whose: ferrotypes (or tintypes) photographers worked on: negative was laid down coated in black paint. During the 1850s photography's favor. One situation and economic both France and. Britain crowned in 1837; Napoles in 1852). Other factors at p ‘were their constitutions, empires, and the frenzied | and technological developm of manufactured goods. Th attempts to rationalize town a (especially in Paris). Broad transport improved, and sewerage introduced, after wh enhanced by fountains and complex infrastructure improx city-dwellers. Photography modern “invention” ~ diving suits, Volta’s battery, the telegraph, and anesthetics® its part in the onward march and “civilization”. ‘The very status of photogr adopted once and for all dur shifiing. This was due both to by the authorities and the choic public. Together, they boosted and commercial importance of p the first time, it was included im ‘Countless technical shows char of new products and processes Pr photography was growing in P see that photography had g the upper echelons of production. Photographers status of their “art” tial arts and crafts. The Great t industry Pavilion on the Champs-Elysées. It was ot undit 1859 that photographers were (almost) Qnisfied. The Salon des Beaux-Arts itself was roused inside the Industry Pavilion and “the Museum Commissioners settled for a compro- hnise. they placed the photography section right ‘pext to the exhibition of paintings and engrav- ings, but made separate entrances for the two. in other words, they spelled out the distinction." ‘The photographic display was organized by the Société Francaise de Photographie, which hhad already mounted its own shows in the Rue Drouot gallery in 1855, and in Le Gray's gallery at 35 Boulevard des Capucines in 1857. Nevertheless, it had still not quite succeeded in gaining the acceptance it wanted for the new artistic medium. ‘The transparent image Did the use of glass plates create its own aesthetic? The new type of negative support certainly contributed to substantial changes in the way photography was approached. These ‘were not limited to the process itself or to the practices and customs of the practitioners involved. What also came into play was the 5. THE TRANSPARENT MEDIUM mental attitude with which the photographer pproached reality, how he conceived what could dnd had to be done to obtain an image. In effect, the “philosophy” of the calotype had more or less tuumed paper negatives into an obstacle since they received an impression in light, fixed it, and absorbed it to make an image that was intuitively understood as a semi-opaque print. On the contrary, the “new” photography on glass intro- duced (unknown to those involved) transparency {nto the medium. This transparency was as much in the material sense as in any subjective meaning. In terms ‘of image, what appeared on the glass-negative seas a thin light brown-yellow transparent coating, of collodion carrying the image. At the same time, the support used in printing (albumen paper) was thinner and less grainy since the albumen made it glossy and shiny. By about 1855, the photographic print - by then ‘commonly known as a “photograph” ~ produced from a glass negative was really a new, fairly standardized “object”, a far cry from the matte finish of the salted-paper print and its colored variants (green-blue as well as red) at the heart of the photographic virtuosity of people like Le Secq orLe Gray. Disoe, Marbles, 435, Iiblotheque Nationale Pass notographic societies the own vcs purposes, nes mee va Bator members wera Le Gay, Le Seca, the scholsr egraut, he or enoroceal ecember 22. 1852 ot Be The, tu, OM fo the Protooaehic “te on protege ote woe eon de Monson aoe ; ae re sacety) JO sine ho. Foya)PhOtOG rapa oo rsicend Jotere re naw n Gath gna eT erat owe att sy wae photography. War photographs have been compared by Ext Kinget 40 fossils, stich offer only “the raw material for contemplation” and need to be supplem The French officer and panorama painter, the od by “immagi inventor of the military panorama, Jean-Charles Langlois, had, together with his assistant Léon Eugene Mebédin, been commissioned by the French War Ministry to take photographs in 185: ‘and 1856 for a panorama of the victorious battle of Sebastopol, exhibited in Paris in 1860. Langlois ‘was, forthe firs time, using photography as a rapid medium, not least to satisfy the shareholders in his specially founded limited company. However, the intense cold and the unfavorable light conditions in December 1855 brought him close to despait. He wrote to his wife on December 20, 1855, “One ‘has to hep coming back to that temible word, VV — et patience, when time presses.” The instantaneous medium of photography Photography, submit to the passing of time in the foand ‘exposure times of several hours’? Another British photographer of the Gi War was James Robertson. Already well for his work in Greece, he was It Constantinople when the allied #0098 there in April 1854, In June 1855 he the Crimea together with his assistant a rapher of equal importance, the naturalized British subject, Felice Ante Pethaps Robertson knew that Roget after making preparations to photog attack on Sebastopol on June 18 (which to all expectations, ended in failute) = his photographic van and, having. cholera, had left Balaclava on June 26395 show no military action as such, Bul that he took around Malakoff and after the city’s capture on Seplemiben am different. approach. Rather than} expanses apparently untouched BY see in Fenton’s photographs, Robe 2s destroyed by artillery (which he could graph without any danger), the craters renches of siege warfare, and the bomb- 1s of the Russian generals - visible uction. His pictures convey a strong the catastrophic damage suffered 4 towns and give at least a sugges sive loss of life. Robertson's photo: y the albumen glass plate process) an Fenton's to later photographs American Civil War, the Franco- the frains from showing corpses. res taken by other photographers s later show dead bodies as well as dings ns by James Robertson and Felice sh colonial wars have also survived. ce themselves from British control, Hindus slims of the East India Company ‘mutinied in 1857 and, in Delhi, proclaimed the Mogul Bahadur Shah It the Emperor of India. Afier bloody battles the mutiny was finally Suppressed and India became a part of the British Empive. Photographs show Indians executed by hanging (1857) and the ruins of the Secundra Sagh at Lucknow, scattered with the remains of indians killed in the fighting (1858). Robertson remained in india, but, in 1859, Beato, whom the and Paris Commune. Times dubbed ‘a knight of the camera’, joined the British military expedition to China, to cover the events of the Opium War. At Tientsin, on. ‘August 21, 1860, he took several photographs shortly after the bloody storming of the Taku forts. Bodies lay scattered within the fortress, and Beato took photographs from various angles. An eye-witness reported: “I walked round the ram parts on the West side. They were thickly strewn ‘with dead ~ in the North-West angle thirteen were lying in one group round a gun. Signor Beato was there in great excitement, characterising the group as ‘beautiful’ and begging that it might not be interfered with until perpetuated by his photo- ‘graphic apparatus, which was done a few minutes afterwards." The historical event, unlike the horrors surrounding it, i stylized into a picturesque composition. The eye of the photographer is thus able to document violence and, at the same time, hide the reality of war behind the cloak of picto- rial composition ~ “artistic effect”. Photography, as a pictorial epilogue, depicted the empty stage where the drama had taken place. ‘The eye of history {In an essay written in 1859, the American essayist and doctor Oliver Wendell Holmes refers 10 the fundamental shift ftom substance to form "ori O'Suaivas The Batol at Getysburg (American Chil Wer, July 1863, New York Public Library ¢ Asonsw Jost Russet, ‘Stone Wall, Rear of Fredericksburg. {American Civil War) May 3, 1863) Libary of Congress ‘Washington, Ol Manet's Execution of Emperor Maximilian hand four pai Both the gene ‘the conception of the photos: the “execution By: 1 a erie Todo vork were closely linked to the new phen- required four attempts elon “the 0 cn of photagranh final painting, which be signed h as not b wy be the nature of a historeal giving tthe date ofthe uniquay aphy ~ "this greatest of rthly conditions” - espe ic photography, which, next as now the main commer: potography at hand when a flash roduc of The time is perhaps flight, as sudden and brief as that of the lightning which shows a whirling wheel standing stock-still, shall preserve the very instant of the shock of contact of the mighty armies that are even now gathering,"®* Holmes had, as early as 1859, worked outa philosophy of photography that was extraordinarily farsighted. ‘With photography, said Holmes, form was from ow on separated from matter: “Give us a few Regatives of a thing worth seeing, taken from ‘ifferent points of view, and that is all we want of 4t, Pull it down or bum it up, if you please.” version of the painting, the se-caled “Boston tings. on of Dawd or Goya after net himael aways sored cites of the Gia an hstoveal paiting ‘ecustion withthe fhe ying to ba 96 the detais oiven it ha today that Manet ca 10 conesining the sel 23 eyurtness accounts, wreted press, and. phot after the execution hag 20 tet photographs was. most probably know 10 us fom 2 whale pontaits of the Mean a buna site near Quevetaa, On the one hand, Matt pa photographs 26 do event — the “passport other, he invited French sa oe ocnen eS considered a stiite-with ea ho wat ccd of bog fen eae cndotied the edi onl on aaa oon rental al conor wi ol ea in all senses ofthe word: the pi the Emperor, supplamemted fanet, June 19, 1967" REELELE S193 2 = According to Democritus! in which the nineteenth. newed interest and to which fine membrane-like images things - the eidolon ~ have not so disappear if the object ft emanate disappears: the pho ‘on the other hand, can survive erie object is lost. An inversion of 3 taken place and the age of i at themselves by the archives of the event, Holmes therefore recommends setting world, in which people and buildings ids, and the idylls of natute would all be waded. Historic events would from henceforth send us stereographs of At that time the Franco-Sardinian alliance was fighting the wstrians in support of Italian unification, and jolmes mentions stereographs of the battles of and Melegnano. “Here are the encamp- the ign. This is the battlefield of Magenta with 1 grass and splintered trees, and the soldiers’ a about + child Holmes is he stereographs made by the ay, young maiden or ten whom accompanied Napolgon II's against Austria. According to another rary report, these photographs showed re horribly disfigured. Holmes's ality points far beyond his ears before the First histbrian the American Henry et, in the foreword to his ten- History of the Civil War, wrote Civil War is the only major be illus rial record which is indisput history that can “really ly illuminating, and the final stion of detail picture book” of war to the w B, Brady, at that time the ographer in the USA. In 1839, suerte, together with Samuel B. pened his first portrait studio in 44. Tom Maloney was to confirm sion when he wrote in 1944 that xe Brady's pictures the indispensable rce for the study of the American Civil Wat, the Civil War’; photography 10 wer merely documems but “is the eye that ve battle in the making as well as the battle lady photographed the war from the Union side. I Balzac still saw himself a5 the secretary nd stenographer of his era, Brady ~ marking the shift fom writing to the visual medium ~ was able co call himself “the eye of history*. In June 1861 American Photogeaphical Society resolved to enter into talks with the War Department with a view to obtaining official sanction for photographers to move about between the front lines as military photographic reporters. In September of that year the Society's president, John W. Draper, reported that these efforts had been unsuccessful. Despite this, Brady had already equipped himself with two “photo- ‘graphic wagons” for the fist major bale, that of Bull Run, Virginia, on July 21, 1861. Although the War Department showed litle interest, Brady ‘obtained the necessary papers and carried out his “reporting together with a newspaper editor and an artist. While the equipment of other photogra: pphers fell into the hands of the Confederates as “spoils of war", Brady's photographs were hailed as those of a “veteran”. "Brady never mistepre- sents’ it was said, contrasting him with the news- paper reports, Between January and April 1862, Tirady trained mote than ten photographers. The best-known, besides Alexander Gardner, were T. —§ Frascots Aux, Emperor Masivaan’s Shir Afr his Eeeution, $ Kakou Collection ‘Sharh Tame cone ees teidaer ee ao coiye Cook sev. Barnard and Georee i % the various scenes of 4 gnflict. In the four ye ars of that destructive wal : ‘over 8,000 photographs a ey han revealed tat the ARHY Of ve potomac issued passes 0 2 total of 300 sed Pad 35. separate OPE rkhe coordinated a epee Saber the Fist military technology ~ . the Pe photos vorographers whos Fonts iy Confederate and Union two0Ps wr iene lack wagon the “Whatizit-ragon *dhewehice Fleeing soldiers, it was for the steam-driven machine teen developed by Gatling in an ich could fie upto 500 shots 2 minute se mediately took to their heels when they the fro ion threaten from 10k gun that had just * Avall events, continues the wc Sntemporary report, “it is certain that they did get away from Brady as easily as they did from There are few photographs showing ial fighting. Brady and his photographers were Sc: pesent at all the great batles (Fredericksburg and Antietam in 1862, Gettysburg in 1863, Petersburg, 4), but almost all their photographs show int after the devastation places before or ight by the battle. Minute examination of at Gettysburg has shown - ° phs taker that some of the pictures were posed ~ some retrospectively, even years later - and some of : Brady's assistants had to play the part of dead ted by Brady machinery of with unprecedented directness Brady exhibited some of his pi commented: “Mr. Brady has bring home to us the terrible re ness of war. he has not bro them in our door-yards and has done something very lke itt his gallery hangs a. little placard, Antietam’ [...] These pictures distinciness. By the aid of the m the very features of the slain guished.”™ The photographic equipment may be seen as the first instance of development of vision, weapons, that has been familiar to us ever World War. “It is the same intelig Est Janger, looking back o the Fis ‘which even from a great distance Gin target an opponent precisely, to the seco the meter, with its weapons of d which also strives to record that event down to the smallest detail with the muzzles of fifles and’ were trained day after day on the [--° The qualitative difference in raphy may be shown by comparison Fenton's photograph of the valley already mentioned, and a picture by O'Sullivan the War, published in two volumes and illustrated with one hundred includes O'Sullivan’s photograph Gettysburg battlefield of 1863. Unlihe picture, this shows the bodies of sd scattered and distorted. Alexander was as a member of his team that © his photographs ~ wrote about this symbolically entitled The Harvest of a picture conveys a useful moral: if blank horror and reality of war, in @P its pageantry. Here are the them ald in preventing st falling upon the nation." Whell graph was, perhaps, posed is Of tance, Its effect derives from the cance of graphy value in It was only during the Paris Cs commercialization and systematic war photography began. Prussian War only isolated albums, mainly of carted belonging to French or known to have survived. graphy for the conduct of war was 1. Disdéri, who taught photo: rench army, had pointed out its in his book L’Art de la Photographie nded the vision of commanding, now able to survey the battle detached from reality “is that raphs, portant,” wrote Disdéri large number of photographers, sent everywhere at all times, long the whole batile-line oF , ready to record uninterruptedly is of imerest in the scenes that hotographs by Brady, Gardner, and cchieved only limited distribution, F phy during the Commune played a portant role than ever before. News: 1s such as L'Iustration and Le Monde illustré wvings made from photographs to illus: vighly topical events, Drawings receded into hie background, and photography had the field ‘o aself~ apart from the deliberately non-tealistic artoon, the one form of visual sepresentation ‘ict interpreted events crtially.®® Whether one should speak here of photographic reportage is uestionabie however, for mast of those who aw the illustrated reports had witnessed the events themselves, so that one might say that the event was closer to them than its reproductions were The photographic reporter suffered the disadvan- tage of being ‘a photographer in his own county’. Of the events themselves - the defense and the storming of the barricades, the bloody week, starting on May 21, in which between 20,000 and 30,000 communards were Killed, the countless executions ~ no photographs survive, faked photomontages. The photographer Eugene Appert had, with official permission from the Thiers government, taken photographs of captured communards and of executions carried out by both sides, which he tused to make montages. For the series Crimes de la Commune, heads were cut out of pictures, added to bodies obtained by photographing people in costume acting as models, and fitted into a specially constructed setting. The picture created in this way was rephotographed and sold as a genuine image. Events were reconstructed and faked for propaganda purposes. In these “photo- , as Armand Dayot remarked, looking pack in 1901, historical truth was sacrificed to the picturesque. by Disdéri, Alphonse:}. Ligbert, B. Braquehais, and A. Collard. show Aurmonse Laur, de Tél de Vil aris, Afer the Fie May 1871 private collection Pens The Paris Commune rricades and ruins - though oft distinguish between the effects of the Commune and of the Prussian occupation of Paris ~ and central, very visual, events such as the fa Giithe victory column on Place Vendome, Of last mentioned picture alone, 50,000 copies in cane-de-visite format were sold to Britain in the Year 1871." Photogiaphs like the one by been used since the 1860s as a mea Incvelual portraits ae ‘cornmupards). These Wra e ‘low the pub to soe the ren’ (Appe was i Bu 1876, cotures, Even command fective pores wets such as the commas Stina mining the scien 60 fe al oot inthe -onecerela aaa wich might id of public onda ul in ports of on foams communards who were: eld: executed - all kept upto date Bah companied by handwit tus, physical sopearance, role ssiles prisons. 1s kAO#mh 's were also used: a Famous overturned Venere edi urbet has bean identified! The ¢ tudio was set up in tht ‘ to (Maxime Du Camp). 4 e taken in the hospitat and the ofhetr ‘ d tse, an exceptionlly 6 ‘numbered corpses placed in coins Disderi of dead communards lined’ and numbered had now become a historic spectacle of war. I is well-known that photograp ing criminals, was the und communards. Frontier police ies of each one With the phy became a weapon of istics of war, The suppos- raphic documentation of ament of nationalism. As a sque of 1872 on the ulated that 40 million people neteenth century the words: “With the beads of all the victims one could build a vault of heaven with the same perspec tive as the one that we see [That sky of severed hheads has been produced anc! is maintained by the spirit of conquest, by antipathies and dissensions between nations. O reason! 0 justice! © goodness! When will your kingdom come?” Ten years earlier, Disdéri had ended his chapter con the usefulness of photography to the army with the exhortation, “En avant! Eruption of Mount Vesuvius, April 26,1872 private collection. THE URBAN MACHINE u architecture and industry glvire Perego se enisnce aly 8 in antiquity, the words machin and df meant the ame thing, mac ifs was vveted to a warsmachine or hydraulle apparatus, the framework of which fooked like s builting so used for architectural works ~ for example, Milan Cathedral or Brunelleschi's dome ‘Cathedral.’ This observation opens our eyes to the all-powerful nature of technology, the «nine prinipte within dhose intellectual creations, machines, and constructions It alse provides 0 ve int of departure for research into the two-fold influence of mechanization in the nineteen .chind the photographic Tens ~ the camera obscia. oT sion of photography has genuinely ingiing and inventive work gaGiaiY “tts om in art quite as great Foci teen by the public and ouside tars ay, ution in art quite as great opened the way, unseen by th public and outside Creescue lng ovvtion of ‘allways has academic icles, tone ways of =i Neen 1060 * erin ae the opinion of Somebodies of work afestling for nes Sak" Ineaons Museum 7 Sat a stevens, of mace and the ache they esved oa © Se ea Rooker i she (1886), was able to grasp Some frequently of astonishing visionary quality « nrough. metaphor and weretbe work afin Te vunder-valued at On a oe ee ; and sensibility and forgotten. chat this was simply a case of : act it was a gemuine case of Pune Wesey DaNorte Interior of the Crystal Palace Tess 1854, Mewopalitan seu of Art New York s running in parallel - 2 rnverging in a creative process ‘most in secret. Indeed, during century, the feelings aroused bY progress only rarely found x cssion ip official an In the word of : sentation, it fell ta) Herne still manginal one of photomtaPhy, sion to the products of industry afta of cture in metal. Between the two; the + of our modern culture, we find a deep WARS. auionship, a partnesship which laid. the FOS ions for a decisive optical revolution: Wei iowed us to understand a new concept OFS aS Lhe photographes, therefore, Plays sy annbuted to ait, of mee Pe outside world (thats, the new “on and contemporary SOo6: Y different from one other Bat 3 as born what we call modern ait ~ long before the works of fine art conceived anc-garde artists around 1910, The artistic nagination in this. way i principle sac Spore ic son ote aout ‘nent ofa cally dem coche Yanks t imo the aussta filles “tinder task of 1 ‘fio of capital iis aim municip and Chatles recor Huss splend Peof the vie sence | produ isthe: phot slight 1e metamorphoses of the city the transformation of f the nineteenth centunf pened at the height of railway mania 1850 and 1870, Paris suddenly beat archetypal Great City of the second hall nineteenth century, the metropolis of the) ial age. In no other city at this time upheavals produced by industrial devel ‘manifest themselves with such fore. disencumber large buildings, sacks in stich away as to make them : the eye and afford easier acess on . tion and a simplified defense in time ie second principle was the improve nfory conditions inthe ety by systemat: ‘ahing the filthy medieval alleyways ng grounds of infectious disease aphy, which “had tumed itself ermanent adjunct. of History took up the ideas of his time to their g to the Emperor in 1865; ministration the city has assumed the constantly in touch with every jemporary mind. The history of the vans sil to be made.” In 1865 this was he set up the Tram historiques ~ a commission composed of councillors < who appointed the photographer to take “before and after” pictures transformation of the city which s going to tum into “the most rious of European capitals dion, conserved today almost in their entirety at dmire Manville's work today share the Bibliotheque Historique de la Ville de Pars, ‘These undated photographs were taken over a ie the body of photographs period of at least twenty years, from 1858 to ve vreaucrats of his day, Marville 1878, the probable date of the photographers ef that time to have left to the death, Manille often got in just before the Large and important body of demolition-men. Thanks to his work. man} aspects of the old Paris and the new city in the aking were recorded for posterity. Marville explored both the geographical aspect of the enterprise and its topographical impact. From the te conwuetion of the Grandes Halles ~ Baltar’s Palio art a state of entranced reverie in the ‘ving contemporary man a mirror 10 thine. vertiginous underside of things: “© of the body, the unconscious mind: —— “The roving railway-men” *Claude Monet [...] has exhibited some superb interiors of railway stations this year. One can hear the trains thundering into the maw of the station, the smoke billowing out under the vast station canopies. That is the painting of today, framed in these beautifully wide modern settings. Our artists should discover the poetry of stations, as their fathers found it in forests and rivers." When Emile.Zola wrote these lines in 1877 photogra- phers had long been aware of the poetic character of the technological “motif” - the hymn to indus- trial beauty. One such was Edouard-Denis Baldus, who is the subject of a wholesale reinterpretation at present - as one of the great “primitives” of the 1850s, but also as the “most American” of French nineteenth-century photographers and the “first ‘modernist photographer." ‘His visual innovations ushered in the lyrical aspect of modem sensibility. His favorite subjects iaducts, stations, railway lines ~ gave him the Eoouanp-Dess Barus, Toulon Station, Aum ofthe Railway from Paris to Lyons dnd the Mediterranean sircal 861 Musée d'Orsay, Paris. Avowmous, de Rothschild, a series of albums about the Paris: Howse Viaduc, neat Boulogne branch of the Chemin de Fer du Nord. United Sixes 1893, A second alb n was produced on the occasion of the extension to Toulon of the Marseilles-Lyons line, Although recent work has called into ques tion the received opinion that Baldus was the sole author of these images (in particular for the Chemin de Fer du Nord stretch), Baldus’s Photographs, whether simple or daring in eed: ees composition, are striking in their ge, ind monumentality, and in their descriptive documents, Rich in these "new landscapes" engender travel, to explore the land of Fr aesthete, Baldus (who was also ; planned his routes alternating subjects and scenery. His modemnisg: neys always finish on a superb seascapes at Bordeaux. The years 1850-1890 were marked the industrial movement, but by po indicative of a trend from stupefied the visitors at intemational The sculptor Horatio Greenough consi the mechanics of the United States hay outstripped the artists, and have by the their bold and unflinching adaptation, true track, and hold up the light for operate for American wants, be they w will." In this era, which witnessed the congt West, from Chicago to the Pacific, the photographers” introduced Yankee recently torn apart by the Civil We beauty of the new territories, symbdls country’s renewed vigor. These men = Tima O'Sullivan, Carleton E. Watkins, Andrew Russell, Eadweard Muybridge, John K. Hi ell, George N. Barnard, son, William Herman Rau, inspired by a passion to 1, became photographers in truthful account of what dgeable, generous-minded, action, working with a host y companies (Pennsylvania alley Railroad, U.S. Military ic Railroad, Central Pacific ific, Denver and Rie Grande with government scientific srvey, Hayden’s Survey, US: vey, the ethnology department » Institution), These jack-of-all- iventurous lives worthy of a Jack and collected on their fragile plates an extraordinary body of work andscapes, natural phenomena, the { the railway. The interest of the land 15 and frontiers: the railway was & vnsion and peril, the tangible sign of 8 vad become dynamic, a space that become subject to geometry. The “frontier” retreated ever further westward, the new territo- ries attained the rank of states, and those Native ‘Americans who had not been exterminated were pushed down towards Mexico, The wide open spaces of America remained a zone to be crossed by cowboys, Indians, wandering trappers and gold prospectors, hoboes, and steam trains. The triumphalist ethic of political and economic forces gave rise to an image of a natural world waiting to be conquered: man had to use all his strength to force it to yield up its riches. This commitment led photographers to extol the spec- tacle of these indomitable machines, these loco- motives rushing towards communion between men, good relations between States, friendship between peoples. Russell's photograph entitled East and West Shaking Hands, May 10, 1869, marking the meeting of the lines, known as Promontory Summit, symbolizes all this. It can pe seen as suggesting the dream of a golden age, extended to all humanity: the photographer is inviting us to celebrate victory in a promethean ‘struggle linking the immensity ofthe land to Axon J. RUSSELL, Wind Mill at Lara 1867-1868, New York Public L AxonewJ.Russeu, people who live in it. These great pioneers, East and West Shaking precursors of classical American photography, Hands, Promontory Poin tush, who scoured Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Texas, and Sierra Nevada for grand panoramas and dizzying viewpoints, assembled a splendid body of work, a hymn to the deep heart of America advancing towards the conquest of power, liberty, and the elements. In a century split from beginning to Yale University Lib end by a deep division between art and tech- nology, the nineteenth-century flowering of photographic images accompanying works of architecture constituted a revolution in itself. A of pe new ion and represe1 ation opened to other sph us ayle 1 carried off the od the il dering which was ” 1870, and then by laadmark building, in inaugurated under the Januaty 5, 1875, by Marshal ‘opper and iron skeleton nsluxuniandy decorated in a lie inte forms drawn from a was not confined 10 a of the building, Ia 2 story elingarebitectae™ onsgraphic peogeam o0 veorkanen, painters, sulpon, Opera by Delmaet and Durandelle — Drusinesses which took part in tbe rk on the new Opera building photog randelle al photographs were gahered ito collections of miore than 100 print (with some the progress of the building works and the different phases of the construction, 1d decorative omament (1865-1872), ‘which. in particular show various stages of ‘onstruction (which css sections and elevations cannot do). 1 romantic by natute, Charles Garnier mute peor me, when | contemplate the me when the ‘Opera wil be no-more than 2 rein, | do x0 not Stoop without reget: but cam tnahfully say ubat Tam sony shal no longer bem this world wen brambles and sy are cimbing over the devastated walleof the edifice” In onder yo preserve the memory ofthe diferent sages ofthe construction, photoxsaphs were take ‘very time any important changes ocurred on the ste.“ later, one wanted to prosuce men raph about the Opera” Chases Garber aed i ‘ne of his numerous pom “the ‘would make this publication ‘With a mathematical, almost clinical retary the photographers Delmaet and Durandelle became, for a while, architectural anatomist — theis images of metal girders trusses, frameworks ronal columns, cat aoe ae teen dpe eon egy bce rane, cod ser oe spo sale feedae ol cube cen new reat coin wach tape fe acres ofthe ee the inages tk te i fee eee Tele ted Deets Was one a the first masters of their craft : . vie Perego sPEED OF PHOTOGRAPHY 14 Movernent and duration Michel Frizot stvng been ied inescapably to long exposure times for part of th ar of the nineteenth century, photographers penemynmenee 60 cs eral ‘ns which were imperceptible inthe continuum of vison became obserable inthe photographic image owever, 0 realize this technical potential also required a mastery, at all levels, ofthe sped of intervention ~ 1 pede synchronicity in the respective times of subjec photographer, and event, which required an epeoved technics! capability that could respond to variations in timing Paradoxically, one of hese systems ouited -with the cinematograph - in the recompostion of time, ‘oatrany to what retrospective projections of history tend to affirm, the recording of me as not a particular aspiration of pineteenth-century. photographers or lovers of photography, at least in the form in which it was the end of the century. They were quite kao satisfied with the exposure times necessary to obiain pictures of the major part of the explorable ‘universe, with the exception of (almost) every: thing tha d The representation of a moving object has 0 absoh tion and does not correspond to: fixed ct cause it depends on the relation ship bet ‘e speed at which the object is ‘moving, end the distance between itand the static 2ineas path, for instance) Relative speed The photographic states (impact of feet on the ground, mule contractions, the beating of wings) on a mag piece of blackened paper. Record, wile dom trace: these were the key-words of his appro the essence of which was to combine wsid evidence with a precise registration ofthe pasa: of time. renowned for his research into the eit In 1878, when he discovered Muybridgs ial photographs of horses, Marey realize >tography could become an instrumental: exceptional precision for recording. His diss pointment when he saw the non-sequential si: shots of birds in flight produced by Muybridgel 1881 stimulated him to carry out his plan seque that pl was constructed at the end of 1881 ples, and used in the « of 1882. He wrote, “I have a photo. pe aun which has nothing murderous about j wnich takes a picture of a bird flying or an rn less than 1/500 ofa second. Ido shether you can feally imagine such a 1 is something surprising.“* Apart from nposure time, the gun had another Kinetic 1 took a series of 12 images a second. e areal gun, with the sight at shoulder. id a lens in the barrel and a reech within which was a sensitive nn one pressed the trigger. Jate, treated with gelatin-silver .mulsion, stopped 12 times behind the et in the light for 1/720 ofa of the photographic gun in st not, however, be exagger- s one stage in the develop: jhe smallness of the images, sight, and the absence of a passage of time made it intificneeds. onophotograph camera, june 1883 fulfilled the nents by “bringing together series of sequential images, positions that a living at a particular pace, occupies in 2 series of given moments”.!? The novelty, ison with Muybridge’s procedure, 1, and in superimposing images, taken other, by the single, fixed lens. This «the subject, which for preference had n using a single camera as recording, was the area where the subjects moved, a mobile cabin on a rail facing the black background. electric cables transmitting synchronizing signals and a rapidly-rotating clock placed in the field of vision. The apparatus itself, named the chronophot ographe, was a camera, taking 13 x 18 cm plates, equipped with a special shutter system - a disc 1 mete in diameter, with several windows which effected the illumination of the plates at intervals regulated by the speed of rotation. ‘The subjects covered by chronophotography, especially in the period 1883-1887, were of a great variety, combining all Marey’s particular interests, in the area of physiology: how people walk, run and jump, the different movements of the horse (walk, trot, gallop). a great many birds (a pigeon, a seagull, a pelican, a heron), and kinetics in general (falling bodies, a bouncing ball). After 1890, more specialized studies brought chronophotography to bear on the movement of the jaws, breathing, the stabilizing of a ship, riding a bicycle, et. Meanwhile geometrical (or partial) chronoph- tography had appeared, in which a man moved news Juuss Mase How a tan Runs, hronophotogzaph, 1883, pegative on plas), (College de France Ar Marey’s fixed plate hromophotograpy machi with tem siedsk hat acts as {shutter (on the ground is the sensitze-plate holder), 1683 model, and plan of workings ofa similar model 1582. hie or strongly lit, move in front of a black which would make ne impression nsitive surface, This photographic ‘he whole experimental area that Ma Gh. the Bois de Boulogne = a dare in front of the black ind, dressed in black, but with white lines on his limbs and joints. In this way, Marey managed to isolate scientifically useful information which is normally hidden in the general shape of the subject, by reducing that shape to moving lines and dots. These chron photographs were authe ic graphs of movement white lines on black ground) since the experi nts took place under conditions of almost mathen atical accuracy, lent themselves to the measurement of both dimension and time. The applications of these images were more limited but they allowed the experimenter to achieve great pre sion (Elephant Wa ng) The n f chronophotography as a concept, little remarked upon at the time, lies in three areas: the use of photography to record a phenomenon ~ of any kind - scientifically; the production of non-realist, even strange pictures of real objects; and, finally, the progressive solution of the prc of recreating movement. Marey with Albert Londe, who often paid tribute to him, c ause of his position in the university elite to turn photography at the end of the nine- e ntury into a credible, workable labora to i, freed from the picture-making complexes of artistic representation aradoxically, these scientific photographs odies dematerialized by their own speed, he fleeting way that our eye can perceive them uid current of sight. The magical reunion 1 single image of moments that are separate and which together form a unity (a movement), was not to find its philosophical and vetic correlatives until the beginning of the twentieth century, despite Marey’s numerous Publications, culminating in two key works: The Flight of Birds, which was vital for aviation (1890). and Movement, 1894." For a brief period, chronophotography by the Marey method found a reflection in the United States in the work of the painter Thomas who had supported Muybridge’s a — insistent that one should directly from the nude model (which eausenge ographs. In the summer gp spurred on by the example of Muyhay who had begun his photography at Philadeligg he adopted the rival system, Mares fied pag method, which he continued using until summer, 1885, taking pictures of naked men walking, running and jumping." From 1888, Marey made further improvemens © his system. To prevent even partial supenimpa sition of the images, which could prevent thea from being read properly, he opted for a sensitive surface which moved in conjunction with he First of all he used a glass plate) followed by sensitized paper. In 1890, he was able to take advantage of the recently invented Celluloid film which Eastman had put into the Kodak camera. Marey’s first film (a hand whidt opens and closes) was published in July 1889." However, despite having performed some crucial work, Marey has not been considered ® He intentionally restricted its application to research, and it Wa used elsewhere (see box). Photography, whi had brought forth a Noweringof new imag the shutter could be operated with precision at variable speeds, was to find itself ‘once agai, reduced to a uniform speed by the regular pace the cinematograph, though, it is true, with different perspectives. instantaneous phote exposures, precursor of cinematography Albert Londe, a photographer Professor Charcot to head the | cing a single camera with multiple ery of cameras used at Palo Alto pressed into a single camera, arranged in circle (3.x 3.cm on wate), a single rotating dlise with a rsucession of exponeres elated vork mechanism. This piece of appa. sly invented in 1883, made it ord pathological movements feptic fits, and hysterics) with a Smcy that could be modulated at + was limited to nine circular ps cular print had another camera_made lenses arranged in three ranks «elve pictures measuring 7 x cm). The successive shots were nagnets and could be pre cur at interval ranging from at variable sted in recon is to 1/10 of a second, as in no way inte movements that he was recording. him to make a movement taking place ite background (outdoors or ed to the goal he had tain an exactly timed succes: shots upon which it was Id also be used simply as edical work at Salpetriere ership with Paul Richer to nent quite similar 10 jother ex-pupil of Charcot ht anatomy at the Paris. These photographs au Richer’s sketches for most { the outlines adapted by plates is none other than nding a staircase which ave influenced Duchamp's nymous painting (1911- ie's publications, the Atlas of Horse with Le Bon (1895)- documentary ‘Chronophotographs 's (1903) stemmed very clearly redical applications to which his fined him. The second book 15, bout the movements of horses the wave pictures being of an ascetic conceptual work of the: 18708 's), However, at the beginning of entry Londe’s ingenious method s plates was already archaic 7hs aph (and, above all, the High-speed woh perfected by Bull, & pOpH OE 1» unlimited source OF the usefulness of photographic speed is not limited to the swifiness of the snapshot. It is part of a totality of practices that can be used in a modular way and adapted to all kinds of situa tions. The recording of flashes of lightning in darkness, for instance, only requires the lens to be Constantly open, whereas the recording of an explosion requires perfect synchronization, with precise exposuretime, One really ought 10 tll about a modulation ‘of speed, an idea that is more awkward to put into practice, Oomar Anschiiz, a Prussian photographer fiving in Lissa, also worked on the idea of dapting the speed of reaction to the subject Staring in 1882, he made his name with snap Shots using gelatin-slver bromide emulsions {imovements of horses and cavalry, artillery maneuvers): which he obtained using a roller- blind shutter ‘of his own invention.” From 1885, ‘psing. batteries of cameras modeled on ‘Muybridge’s he took successive series ‘of pictures a Raoes, Hie ate adapred sels technique for Pines wibjecty slong, the lings of Animal Locomotion “Anschutz also played a part ‘in the ‘work which led imperceptibly (© the cinema, ‘Auneer Lowe, Analysis ofthe flash produced by various Iagnesivm photographic powders Societ Franca de Photographie, Pas Peters Nee Study of Pathological Locomotion, hronophotograph with rine ene appar Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts Pars. Aunext Lonoe, ging of he Upper Lis (ovith reve tens Apparat), cea 1893, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts Pars. using his electrotachyscope (1887) to project real photographic slides on glass. He placed these in a Ting around the circumference of a c rotating disc, lit by electric sparks synchronized with the passage of each ir e in front of a window. Here again, the cyclical projection of a score of photographs could show only one or two , Anschiitz does have been the first to succeed with this refinements he made inthe system and 1894 did not result in a notices rent in its intrinsic limitation ag An Englishman, A. M. Worthing pinpoint the instant of exposure witha sion in order to capture differen jy brief phenomenon which he began. 1894 ~ a ball falling into a misuse of milk and the ring of turbulence thug To make the moment of photography impact coincide, he caused another simultaneously. This second ball set g that lit the subject and produced the heous image. By co-ordinating the gg exposure with the entry of the ball andy tion of the ring, Worthington obtained 4 of images that are independent of one but give the illusion of a continuous images of a cinematographic kind (fn Je three microseconds)."* It can be seen arrangement of the visual material adopy these methods does not always produ account of scientific reality The problem of producing numerous/p heous photographs in a very short spacep (to capture an object which is moving speed) is the same as that of taking @ Photograph, at a given moment, of a ven fa moving object, like a rifle-bullet. It was in that Ernst Mach carried out the first experiment in photographing the hyperbolic shodewavethal” accompanies a projectile. In 1888, in Prague he used a spark in a dark environment (the came pen) to obtain an extremely he precise instant when front of the lens, so, a short-circuit between sible on the photograph) Mach show variations in shock stributed by Fut uutur of the fixed image, Marey's remained a simple curiosity stion of the representation of the invisible ~ emerged in the Giovanni Lista” has conclu rey’s example was first perceived painters as both a model and @ tion that had to be transcended by val expressiveness, Only subsequently did it 1em towards a redeployment of photo practice in conjunction with the idea of hus, we find that as early as the first mani= Foturist painting there is a reference t© pil 1910), Boccioni, the principal theo { Futurist painting, also knew the work fon, who sometimes supports is aRBH= ments by reference to chronophotography, while ‘writings were published and known in were not confined to the deconstruction of movement, Rather, they were aiming to activate a vital force within the space of. the picture: a modem tremor, the effect of speed. The three States of Mind paintings by Bocciont in 1911 mix the optical scanning of movement a la Marey with a vaporizing of the image not unlike the transcendental photographs of the period ~ the direct transference of the energy of the object nto the plate. However, the dynamism on which Boccioni was working, as with Severini (Dynamism of a Dancer, 1912) and Balla (Dynamism of a Dog ona Leash, May 1912}, was not limited to the Ghronophotographic model. The reduplication of forms was introduced not so much to give an optical reconstniction of movement as to evoke in the picture the vital intensity of the kinetic phenomenon." ‘Of all the Futurist pictures which appear to be principally based upon the photographic decom position of movernent, Ball's Lite Girl Running ae Balcony (1912) is the closest to Marey's geo- ‘metric chronophotography, as are also the Plastic ‘Synthesis of the Mowements of ‘Woman (1912) by Arex Low ‘Wave, from Infrom, from Album de romophorgnaphies ‘docurencates [J 1903, Iiliotheque Nationale, Pas Mon Descending a Staircase, ‘rawing after successive photographs by Ausext oxo fron Paul Richer, Physoigi artistique de Homme en Mowtemert Pars, 1895, Orrouan Axsewitz, suamtancous pictures: throwing a stone, ssve photographs on folding card, otheque Nationale Paris M. Wormuncton, cous photographs of plashes in a liquid, circa 1908, Science Museum, London. ¥ Russolo and Elasticity (1912) by Boccioni, which explicitly refers to the superimposition of pictures of a horse's legs. All these paintings are, in fact. conceived in a Cubist or pointillist style which incorporates a iteral _chronophotographic decomposition of movement as a language for translating speed. The most chronophotographic (and Futurist) picture of these years is Nude Descending a Staircase (1911-1912) by Marcel Duchamp, who belatedly recognized his debt to Marey. Futurist painting was not, therefore, specifically waiting for a photographic model more in accord with its own trends. It was in May-June 1911 that the brothers Anton Giulio and Arturo Bragaglia began their experiments in producing continuous records of movement in front of a black background (Salutando, July 1911), charac terized by “the evanescence of the form, which is supposed to render the immediacy of the kinetic event” (G. Lista). These were not chronophoto- photodynamism, n attempted to render dy form namism It seems not to have been ning of 1913 that the Bragaglia ntact with the group of a8 a result of which they intro entuated phases into their photo- e the impression of a jerkier ngh a clearer image was being thers came into down, In February 1913, Boccioni, § Russolo took part in sessions of pho The Photography of Movement was a t Futurist photodynamism, written’ Bragaglia, which loudly proclaims and difference in relation to the graphy of Marey. Bragaglia attacks: siders 10 be the static nature of (where every pose, since itis clear, bile), takes up Rodin’s arguments instantaneous, and preaches a dy ridiculously contracts living motions“ In June 1913, after exhibiting his dynamics’, Anton Giulio Bragaglia pub work Fotodinamismo Futurista. After some: arguments against chronophotography, hes that he gives pride of place to the trajectory than the seizing of the moment, “not o start and the finish, or even at some point as chronophotography does, continuous way, from the beginning to [photodynamism] can also render the st between-movement of an action’ > However, it goes without saying that with his semi-evanescent images, could support of the painters, who were the! in the Futurist movement, and who | work on form, Consequently, the Bragaglia srs were excluded ftom the Futurist group in of 13 In 1914 Boccioni, who was certainly the {o this immaterial representation of energy, dessely adopted plastic dynamism, which was see cubist in style, with more clearly-defined mmes The ephemeral research done by Anton vaio and Arturo Bragaglia, whose combativeness pe seen in pure form in theit deliberate disasso- ‘jon from chronophotography, did not supplant \imevs mode! of multiple images for use by vrinters, a model which was, in any case, already ene superseded by other, stronger, ideas. Anton Bragaglia then tumed to directing for the b stayed faithful to the trans- 4 speed. With the resurgence of 1 the First World War, many din photography a flexible so had avant-garde applications ayograms, superimposition of ). Arturo Bragaglia, who had phic studio and made Futurist rimposing images, took up ntodyn sain in 1929. In fact, it was not of photodynamics which prevailed, but the idea, which underlies much Futurist work, that there are forces ~ energy, speed and life ~ that can be made visual The photographic side of the movement was also revived by aerial photography. Masoero, the stuntpilot, took his camera with him and carried out photography during flight, maintaining that The Cinematograph de eet ae gehen agg etme, the probes rag Se nena of et Sn, using @ rangi a ve, with @ frequency: The seme appa 7 ws patente j ee vistened chara svojecton eck pla : 5 rs performance toa ai : 2t the Grand Cale, 14 boule ember 28, 1896. The BO: | ¥ one minute, Even Be ‘in aviation produce unique Bauhaus light-shows (1926-1922) al forms and that aerial photography was an of multiple exposures in darkness and 6 of speed ia ie ncamsmiam, giving @ sensation traces a wegen 9 gm nm. In 1935, he completed techniques, however, were 10.10 Perimposing photographs. the artistic milieu influenced by in Schlemmer photographs, By the end of the entail 4% Feininget, based on the incorporated the notion of Of speed in its pure for his motion effects by su ‘One can also see and in those of 1 avor simply the fastest exposure is an adaptation of photo nd the effect became possible 1, suited to the subject ss_ which the sensitivity of photo: There was shutter-speed, and a succession of shots could peed of the cinematograph (16 images per second). However, it was still possible to do long-exposure photography, in darkness, waiting fora flash of lightning What unites these systems is the search for rn opening the lens and the occurrence of the ph phenomenon) which one wishes to photograph ~ clearly identifiable, or imprecise and allusive. Thus, we find several series of photographs of Lote Fuller in her dance of the veils dating from around 1893-1900. Some (by Theodore Riviere or Taber) are clear and show a shape produced in a snapshot by the effect of the veil, but in reality imperceptible to the eye (Raoul Larche took up this theme in sculpture), Other (anonymous, Musée Rodin) use a longer exposure time to produce the phantom-like appearance ofa constantly metamorphosing form. The freedom of choice available to the modem photographer of the 1920s opened the way to trea- ting time as a controllable instrument of their wi In the 1930s, Harold Edgerton, at the Mass. achusetts Institute of Technology, demonstrated ‘anew the value of the method devised by Marey {and perfected by Bull) when he used very rapid sparks to illuminate movement ~ combining a Continuously open shutter with repeated ultra- rapid snapshots, ‘The modemity of photography, ubjectas itis to the speed ofits agent light, does hot necessarily reside therefore in the greatest possible speed, but in the dominance of photo- yaphic speed within the parameters of the chosen synchronicity betwé nomenon (or phase of a Auvrox Giuuo Busca Phovodynamic ping entio Stadt Anton Giulio Bragagha Avorn, oie Faller dancing, siren 1900-1905, Musée Rodin, Pars

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