141
cinematography and Roentgen’s X-rays—emerged in
the mid-1890s, Belgian photographers were quick to
take advantage. The botanist and microphotographer
Henri Van Heurck (1858-1909) experimented X-ray
photography intensively from January 1896, while the
versatile Alexandre [Drains] (1855–1925) exhibited his
fi lms of the Tervueren colonial exhibition in 1897. The
take-up of both applications was much more rapid in
Belgium than for photography itself, due in part to the
transformation in infrastructure and economic power
which had taken place in the previous 50 years.
Within the photographic branch itself, industriali-
sation meant the division of labour and a move away
from artisan-dominated structures. By 1900 the main
business of a number of photographic printers, notably
Jean Malvaux of Brussels, was supplying halftone
blocks for illustrated magazines, such as L’Illustration
européenne. The man behind the camera was only one
skilled operator on a long process line. The new century
dawned with photography catering to a mass market and
requiring large scale industrial production of cameras
and continuous production of paper and plates. Despite
facing stiff competition from foreign imports, some lo-
cal fi rms benefi ted from this scaling-up. They included
the Royal Photographic Manufactory of cameramaker
Louis Van Neck (1853–1917) and the specialist emul-
sions and photographic paper plant founded by Lieven
Gevaert (1868–1935).
Steven F. Joseph
See Also: Niépce, Joseph Nicéphore; Beard, Richard;
Wolcott, Simon, Alexander and John Johnson;
Dubois de Nehaut, Chevalier Louis-Pierre-Theophile;
Fierlants, Edmond; Claine, Guillaume; Asser, Eduard
Isaac; Courbet, Gustave; Hugo, Charles and François-
Victor; Baudelaire, Charles; Nadar; Ghémar, Louis;
Marconi, Gaudenzio; van Monckhoven, Désiré
Charles Emanuel; Maes, Melchior Florimond Joseph;
Dandoy, Armand; Misonne, Leonard; Marissiaux,
Gustave; and Roentgen, Wilhelm Conrad.
Further Reading
Abeels, Gustave, Les Pionniers de la photographie à Bruxelles
[The Pioneers of Photography in Brussels], Zaltbommel:
Bibliothèque Européenne, 1977.
Buerger, Janet E., The Last Decade: The Emergence of Art Pho-
tography in the 1890s, Rochester, New York: International
Museum of Photography at George Eastman House, 1984.
Claes, Marie-Christine, La collection des Pictorialistes [The
Pictorialist Collection], Brussels: Musée du Cinquantenaire
(MRAH), 1998.
(Coenen, Roger and Luc Verkoren), Camera’s uit België en
Nederland 19de en 20ste eeuw [Cameras from Belgium and
the Netherlands 19th and 20th century], Antwerp: Museum
voor Fotografi e, 1991.
Coppens, Jan, Laurent Roosens and Karel Van Deuren, “Door
de enkele werking van het licht”: Introductie en integratie
van de fotografi e in België en Nederland [“By the sole ac-
tion of light”: Introduction and Integration of Photography in
Belgium and The Netherlands], Antwerp: Gemeentekrediet,
1989.
Joseph, Steven F. and Tristan Schwilden, “Sunrise over Brus-
sels: the First Year of Photography in Belgium,” History of
Photography, 13 (1989): 355–368.
Joseph, Steven F., Tristan Schwilden and Marie-Christine Claes,
Directory of Photographers in Belgium 1839–1905, Antwerp
and Rotterdam: Uitgeverij C. de Vries-Brouwers, 1997
Magelhaes, Claude [pseudonym of Coppens, Jan] and Laurent
Roosens, De fotokunst in België 1839–1940 [Photo-Art in
Belgium 1839–1940], Deurne-Antwerp: Afdeling foto en
fi lm, ‘Het Sterckshof’ Provinciaal Museum voor Kunstam-
bachten, 1970.
(Moreau, Yves and Nadine Dubois), La photographie en Wallonie
des origines à 1940 [Photography in Wallonia from its Origins
to 1940], Liège: Musée de la Vie Wallonne, 1979.
Van Goethem, Herman, Photography and Realism in the 19th
Century. Antwerp: the Oldest Photographs 1847–1880, Ant-
werp: Ronny Van de Velde, 1999.
Vercheval, Georges (editor), Pour une histoire de la photographie
en Belgique [Contributions to a History of Photography in
Belgium], Charleroi: Musée de la Photographie, 1993.BELITSKI, LUDWIG (1830–1902) AND
VON MINUTOLI, BARON ALEXANDER
(1806–1887)
Ludwig Belitski was born January 15, 1830, in Liegnitz
/ Silesia. From 1845 to 1847, he visited the city’s school
for arts and crafts, and in 1848 he was made apprentice
to the mechanicus Haertel in Liegnitz. It was there that
he started to work as a photographer to Minutoli. In
1854, Belitski moved to the neighbouring town Teplitz
to open a photographic studio, and later moved in 1856
to St.Petersburg, and then in 1860, to Hamburg. From
late 1862 on, Belitski operated his own studio in Nor-
dhausen/Harz until his death on July 1, 1902. He died
as one of the most recognised craft photographers in
Germany, having published a large number of articles
under his name and being a honory member to a great
number of associations.
Alexander Baron von Minutoli was born December
26, 1806, in Berlin. He studied law and economics at the
universities of Berlin, Bonn, and Goettingen where he
was promoted in 1828. After several years of journeys
where he became one of the most effective collectors
of antique and historical items. In 1843 he bought the
mosaics from the apsis of Santa Michele in Ravenna for
the Prussian king. After, he took up state positions from- In 1839 he was made offi cer for industrial poli-
tics in Liegnitz, a position he held until his retirement
in 1865 onward. In 1863 he bought a former knight’s
farm at Friedersdorf on Queis where he lived until his
death on December 17, 1887. His private collection of
more than 7,200 items formed the basis for the Berlin
Museum of Arts and Crafts.