418
family and headed for Nîmes, leaving his wife and her
family to maintain the Brest photography studio.
He spent his time in Nîmes researching the new col-
lodion-on-glass negative process and experimented with
Gustave Le Gray’s waxed paper negative technique. Col-
laborating with Joseph Jean Pierre Laurent, he was able
to cut the exposure time for collodion negatives down
to two seconds. They also researched ways to reinforce
paper negatives. His fi rst of several books Manuel opéra-
toire de photographie sur collodion instantané (1853)
summarized his Nîmes research.
Disdéri returned to Paris in 1853 and established
Disdéri et cie. at 8, boulevard des Italiens, described
by Ernest Lacan in La Lumière as “the largest [studio]
in Paris.” It was spread across two fl oors. The fi rst fl oor
consisted of a sales area, a framing studio, a recep-
tion room. Above, there were two large terraces with
skylights, an elegant salon for the ladies and separate
laboratories for the preparation of plates, collodion, and
printing. An astute marketer, Disdéri had initiated a cor-
respondence with La Lumière before his arrival in Paris
which created a buzz in Parisian circles and set the stage
for what was to become a prosperous enterprise.
It was at this studio that Disdéri fi rst introduced a
large Parisian public to a new photographic portrait
format—the carte-de-visite. Though he did not invent it,
Disdéri is the photographer most closely associated with
the carte-de-visite because he patented it in November- His studio quickly became one of the most popular
places to have one’s portrait taken. Disdéri developed
standard settings and poses for his carte-de-visites. Typi-
cally, he would show his subjects in a full-length pose
in an interior setting with a column, potted plant, and/or
curtain in the background. At times he also seated his
DISDÉRI, ANDRÉ-ADOLPHE-EUGÈNE
Disdéri, André-Adolphe-Eugène. Prince Lobkowitz.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Gift, 1995 (1995.170.1) Image © The
Metropolitan Museum of Art.