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VACQUERIE, AUGUSTE (1819–1895)
French photographer and writer

Auguste Vacquerie was a very close friend of the Hugos,
who considered him as a member of the family. His
brother Charles married Leopoldine Hugo, the writer’s
elder and beloved daughter. The consorts both drowned
in the river Seine near Villequier, in 1843.
After a classical education, he turned to critique and
journalismHe co-founded in Paris the political newspa-
per L’Évènement, with Paul Meurice, his good friend
from College Charlemagne, Charles, and François-Vic-
tor Hugo. On the 2nd of December 1851, threatened as
a republican and opponent to Napoleon’s dictatorial
regime, he left France. Later he moved to Saint-Helier,
Jersey Island, with the two Adeles, the wife and daughter
of Victor Hugo, who joined them in August 1852. They
stayed there till October 31 1855, when they had to move
to Saint-Peter-Port, Guernsey Island.
In Jersey, Vacquerie had to adjust to his new condition
of exile, as well as the Hugo family. Far away from his
busy social life dedicated to political and journalistic
activities, he mainly turned to literature. But along with
Victor Hugo, Charles and François-Victor, he was part
of the Jersey et l’Archipel de la Manche book, a project
launched by Victor Hugo, supposedly in two volumes.
The fi rst one, rather inexpensive, included poetry writ-
ten by Victor Hugo himself. The second volume, more
luxurious, was to include texts on Jersey’s history and
institutions, and photographs taken by the Hugos sons
and Vacquerie. For him, this book was a rather basic
work, far from the interest he had at this time in theatre
plays. He hoped it would be an opportunity to make
money quickly.
Vacquerie greatly admired Delacroix aesthetic and
was infl uenced by the latter’s concept of photography.
Vacquerie mostly worked with negatives on paper,
which offered more delicate contours. Yet, he used

glass plates as well. Positives were printed on salted

paper, a technique he seems to have learnt from Charles

Hugo. Not satisfi ed with his fi rst attempts, he worked

hard on improving his technical skills, as witnessed by

letters to his friend Paul Meurice or to his family (see

unpublished letters to his mother, sister (Mrs Lefèvre)

and nephew Ernest Lefèvre, kept at Musée Victor-Hugo

at Villequier).

Auguste Vacquerie usually used small size prints

(roughly 10 × 7 cm.), organizing his pictures with great

attention to harmony, according to curves, light and

shadow balances. Although it is hard to discern Charles

Hugo’s or Auguste Vacquerie’s authorship when not

clearly established, Vacquerie’s portraits end-up as a

remarkable set.

Beside Victor Hugo’s portraits, he shot pictures of

many exiled people there (like the Le Flô children or

Augustine Allix) or visiting friends (Paul Meurice and

his wife) that the corresponding French colony in Jersey

still looks very vivid. Focusing on details, he brings to

life the daily routine of the exile, like Mrs Hugo read-

ing Châtiments dressed in a peplum-like drapery, and

the passing of the seasons, pictured in close-ups of the

green house sofa with hanging roses above or the garden

under the snow. In his images, Vacquerie never parted

from his own sense of humor: he pictured his cat sleep-

ing as a pendant to a portrait of Hugo, during a reading

of Phèdre tragedy.

Vacquerie also made as many as 43 self-portraits.

These images show a clear infl uence of Victor Hugo’s

portraits: the poses are strikingly similar. Many of Vac-

querie’s self-portraits are grouped along with portraits

he did of his family (his mother, sister, nephew, etc.) in

an album he gave them (now kept at the Bibliothèque

nationale de France).

Lastly, Vacquerie developed a clear interest in still

life, a genre that set him apart from the rest of the Jer-

sey Atelier and the Hugos’ photographic production.