513
and animal products, among other things. This classi-
fi cation made a strong statement about photography’s
accepted role and applications. It was clearly celebrated
as one of the most important inventions of the nineteenth
century with Louis Daguerre’s name being carved on
the façade of the Palais de l’Industrie along with other
great men. Photography’s status as an art form was,
however, hotly debated.
Photography was categorized in the twenty-sixth
industrial class, “Letter and Block Printing, Photogra-
phy” and had its own subcategory which included both
photographic equipment and photographs. The submis-
sions were selected by each country’s subcommission
and were exhibited in different locations throughout the
Palais de l’Industrie as the exhibition space was divided
between the different countries. An element of competi-
tion was created by the fact that an International Jury
awarded four levels of prizes (grand gold medal, the
fi rst class medal, the second class medal, and honorable
mention.). Interestingly, half of the jury was French and
the other half of the jury was comprised of members
from foreign countries proportional to the number of
exhibitors. Not surprisingly, French exhibitors greatly
outnumbered any other country and made up the major-
ity of the prize winners. Approximately 180 different
photographers were represented at the 1855 Exposition
Universelle; 92 of them were French. The others came
from Britain, other European countries, the British
colonies, the United States, and Turkey.
There was a great focus on the latest technical in-
novations in photography in the countries’ exhibitions.
The 1850s were a period of much experimentation and
progress in the fi eld with France and England leading
the way. By 1855 daguerreotypes were losing popularity
and paper photography, both colotypes and collodion,
were seen as the wave of the future because of their
reproductive capabilities as well as their non-refl ective,
easier to view surfaces. This trend was refl ected in the
entries at the Exposition Universelle.
The types of photographic works shown embodied
popularly-held contemporary views of acceptable ap-
plications of photography. They can be divided into
three broad categories: scientifi c and documentary aids,
industrial and commercial applications, and artistic
tools. In the scientifi c and documentary category, Dr.
William Reade’s photographs of the moon and Wil-
liam Sherlock’s studies of clouds were touted in much
of the Exposition Universelle commentary for their
applications to astronomy and meteorology. Auguste
Adophe Bertsch and Camille Arnaud’s microscopic
photography of insects, wood, and vegetable fi bers were
also highlighted. Dr. Hugh Diamond’s photographs of
mental patients’ facial expressions were praised for
their important applications to the study and care of
mental illness. Louis Rousseau and F. Jacques Moulinreinforced the concept that photography could be used in
the fi eld of ethnography by showing images of Hottentot
men and women who were seen as ethnological objects
of fascination in the mid-nineteenth century. Works by
photographers of the Mission Héliographique, a project
sponsored by the French government to document the
country’s architectural patrimony were complimented as
ideal examples of photography’s documentary uses.
Photography was also celebrated for its industrial
and commercial uses. Adolphe Braun was awarded a
fi rst class medal for his fl oral studies, which he used in
his wallpaper and textile design business. Louis-Désiré
Blanquart-Evard and A.A. Fockeday were praised for
developing a technique that enabled them to produce
infi nite numbers of prints from the same negative, thus
greatly affecting their illustrated book publishing busi-
ness. A number of portraitists also exhibited at the Ex-
position Universelle, including André-Adolphe-Eugène
Disdèri, Nadar, and Mayer and Pierson. Photography
offered an inexpensive alternative to the oil-painted
portrait, affording a much larger portion of the popula-
tion the opportunity to have a portrait made.
Photography’s application as a study tool for art-
ists was widely supported in the 1850s. Examples by
photographers such as Gustave Le Gray, André Gir-
oux, Henri Le Secqq, and John Dillwyn Llewelyn of
reproductions of works of art as well as portraits and
landscapes which could be used by artists as an aid in
their painting and sculpture were also exhibited.
While the focus at the 1855 Exposition Univer-
selle was on the marvels of the technology itself and
photography’s role and function as an important tool in
a range of fi elds, there was a strong undercurrent in the
exhibition’s reviews, reports, and other commentary that
also discussed photography’s status as an art form in its
own right. Many of the same works discussed above for
their applications in the various fi elds were also promot-
ed by some critics for their aesthetic merits. Similarly,
a contingent of critics expressed great disappointment
in the fact that photography was relegated to the Palais
de l’Industrie rather than the Palais des Beaux-Arts, a
position which would have granted it more recognition
as an art form. While opponents of photography’s artistic
qualities focused on the mechanical elements, propo-
nents emphasized the degree of choice and creativity
involved in composing a photograph from the angle, to
the lighting, to the framing. On a side note, there was
also a great aesthetic debate in the 1850s which found its
way into Exposition Universelle commentary surround-
ing the retouching of photograph. Many saw retouching
as deterring from an image’s veracity and sincerity.
The next exposition universelle to be held on French
soil was thirteen years later from April 1 to October 31,- In the intervening years, photography had made
signifi cant technical advances and had exploded in
EXPOSITIONS UNIVERSELLE, PARIS
Hannavy_RT72353_C005.indd 513 7/5/2007 11:18:37 AM