1441
In spite of Vance’s abilities, and good reviews, the
New York exhibition failed. There were three possible
reasons:
The public had lost interest in West coast news
Vance set the admission price too high
Vance neglected to promote the exhibition adequately
In February1853, Vance attempted to sell his collec-
tion, but it took fi ve months before being auctioned to
an entrepreneur from St Louis, Missouri, who exhibited
them with his own work in the spring 1854. A review
appeared in the Photographic and Fine Art Journal two
years later, but by then, all three hundred images had
disappeared.
Scholars argue that they may have been destroyed
by fi re, or sold for their metal content, and optimists
maintain Vance’s Views of California may yet re-emerge
to receive renewed recognition. In 1946, Ansel Adams
had already acknowledged the master’s touch when he
praised “the clarity of line and edge, the simple arrange-
ment of mass, the beauty and richness of tonal values
[and] above all, the integrity and forthright simplicity of
Vance’s photography and the evidence of his devotion
to the enduring qualities of the world about him.”
Vance’s work is located at:
The Bancroft Library's California Heritage Collection
The Getty Museum
California State Library, Sacramento
Oakland Museum of California
Ron Callender
See also: Talbot, William Henry Fox; Daguerre,
Louis-Jacques-Mandé; Cartes-de-Visit; and
Photographic Art Journal (later Photographic and
Fine Art Journal).
Further Reading
Hively, Wm. (ed.), Nine classic California Photographers, Cali-
fornia: The Friends of the Bancroft Library, 1980.
Johnson, D.H. and M. Eymann (ed.), Silver & Gold: Cased
images of the California gold rush, Oakland: University of
Iowa Press, 1998.
Palmquist, P.E. and T.R. Kailborn, Pioneer Photographers of the
Far West: A biographical dictionary, 1840–1856, Stanford:
Stanford University Press 2000.
VARIN FRÈRES
Pierre-Amédée (1818–1883), Pierre-Adolphe
(1821–1897), and Eugène-Napoléon
(1831–1911)
French photographers and printmakers
Descendents of an old dynasty of tinsmiths and
printmakers established in Châlons-sur-Marne, near
Reims, Amédée, Adolphe, and Eugène Varin studied
printmaking in Paris. They became very successful in
the 1850’s and created many reproductive prints after
paintings from the Salon, mostly for the publisher
Goupil. Amédée and Eugène worked collaboratively
and often co-signed the prints. In the same vein, their
photographs are diffi cult to attribute to one or the
other brother.
Little is known about the Varin brothers’ photo-
graphic activity, which began around 1845–46 (a few
portrait daguerreotypes from this time have survived).
During the 1850’s, they produced salt paper prints:
landscapes, family portraits and intimate scenes, and
architectural views and cityscapes taken during travels in
the provinces, especially in La Rochelle. Aesthetically,
their photographs rely on a solid artistic education and
are reminiscent of amateurs photography of this era. The
Varin brothers were not involved in the photographic
world, and their photographic practice appears discon-
nected from their careers as professional printmakers.
They rarely used photography as an aid for printmaking,
nor envisioned it as a publishing technique. However,
Quentin-Dailly, a publisher in Reims, released a port-
folio of their views of the city.
Pierre-Lin ReniéVEDANI, CAMILLO
(active 1853–1870)
Italian-born studio owner and teacher
An Italian photographer active in Brazil between 1853
and 1870, Camillo Vedani had two studios in Rio de
Janeiro, fi rst on Assembléia St. and later on Ouvidor St.
He also taught drawing and Italian to make ends meet.
He spent fi ve years in Salvador, Bahia (1860–1865). The
photographs he took there overlap with and complement
views taken by Benjamin Robert Mulock (1859–1862).
Vedani also photographed the Bahia and San Francisco
Railway terminus after it was completed. He produced
stunning images of the city of Salvador, characterized
by a bold style and an esthetic that was ahead of its
time. He returned to Rio in 1865 and put together two
albums of views of Salvador and Rio dating from 1860
to 1870. A label on one album reads: “Landscape pho-
tographer.... Will travel anywhere to photograph views
and establishments.” Brazilian collector Gilberto Ferrez,
the grandson of Marc Ferrez, discovered the albums in
the 20th century, which are now at the Moreira Salles
Institute, Rio de Janeiro. Vedani also produced an album
of photographs of Rio taken between 1865 and 1875.
Both Gilberto Ferrez and photographer Pedro Vasquez
have published his photographs. His works have been
exhibited in Rio and São Paulo.
Sabrina Gledhill