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association did not last more than six or seven months.
Its publication La Lumière—fi rst issued on February
9th, 1851—played a crucial part in promoting paper
photography as well as its models and aesthetic quali-
ties in common with painting, architecture and sculpture
until the end of the 1850s when the publication ended
long after the dissolution of the Society.
The year of 1851 was also key in terms of interna-
tional acknowledgment for French photography. The
fi rst World Exhibition in London within the impressive
Paxton Crystal Palace had been one of the major inter-
national events of mid-19th century. It gave photogra-
phy a place to be shown in conjunction with paintings,
sculptures and architecture, and for photographers one
of the fi rst opportunities to publicly exhibit their skills
and gifts. Many daguerreotypes had been shown from
different countries. The show emphasized the quality
achieved by the fi rst photographic processes and French
calotypists illustrated how well they improved Fox
Talbot’s invention.
Blanquart-Evrard opened his photographic printshop
that same year in Loos-les-Lille. Between 1851 and
1855, he published more than twenty portfolios gather-
ing salted paper prints such like L’Album de l’Artiste
et de l’Amateur, Etudes d’après nature, L’Art religieux.
Many famous French and Belgian calotypists worked
for him: Hippolyte Bayard himself, Charles Marville,
Henri Le Secq, and Victor Regnault for instance. In
1852, Egypte, Nubie, Palestine et Syrie [Egypt, Nubia,
Palestin and Syria] was the fi rst book with photographic
illustrations which included Maxime du Camp’s pho-
tographs taken in 1849 and 1850 during his trip with
Gustave Flaubert. Despite the aesthetic qualities of
Blanquart-Evrard’s images, the factory closed in 1855,
only four years after its opening. The cost of fabrica-
tion—the overall process involving the participation
of many skilled workers—was high and well above
engraving costs. Additionally, in spite of the care given
to print photographs nothing could be done to prevent
the salt paper prints from fading with time.
France’s largest photographic exhibition during this
time took place in 1855 within the Exposition Univer-
selle, Paris.’ Organized by the Société française de pho-
tographie [the French Photographic Society] this event
was not considered a part of high art, and as such had
not been permitted for inclusion in the Fine Arts divi-
sion and instead was categorized as an Industrial device.
Founded in 1854 the Société française de photographie
gathered many members of the Société héliographique.
Victor Regnault was honorary President, Eugène Durieu
was the fi rst President until 1858. A periodical Bulletin
was issued and it reported on photographic events but
also on the association’s activities. General assemblies
as well as Board meetings proved to be central places for
French and Foreign photographers to show their work
or to present their technical innovations. The key role
played by Alphonse Davanne when he became President
in 1867, as he enhanced the association involvement in
scientifi c, economical and political circles. In 1859 the
fourth exhibition of the Société française de photog-
raphie was permitted within the rooms of the Annual
Salonfor the fi rst time.
Portraiture still remained the main photographic sub-
ject and the core of French photographic industry. In his
rue Saint-Lazare studio Nadar welcomed between 1854
and 1860 most of the major artists of his time. Thanks
to his acute judgement, and the attention he gave to his
sitters, he made sensitive portraits where psychological
likeness supported by physical likenesses. At the end
of the Second Empire more than 1200 photographers
were registered in Paris. Photographers’ studios gath-
ered enough tables, chairs, tools, and toys to furnish a
large Parisian fl ats. These studios typically had wide
windows to let as much light in as much as possible for
better photographs. The wooden walls of the studio were
often painted to create the illusion of varied landscapes
of gardens, forests, and seasides behind the sitter. Beside
the bric-a-brac stood Nadar in his commercial boulevard
des Capucines studio where all the walls were red as
were the furniture and even the photographer’s clothes.
In 1850s the invention of the carte de visite boosted
portraiture business. Celebrities’ portraits were sold to
be kept in albums. Such an economical success lured
many people. During those years photographers careers
went up and down with fi nancial success often being
followed by bankruptcy. Gustave Le Gray, Mayer and
Pierson, and Nadar met fi nancial diffi culties and closed
their Parisian studios for a while, or even permanently.
Furthermore, after years of success where the many in
high Parisian society had came to sit for photographs
in his studio, Disdéri died destitute at the end of the
1880s.
Since the end of the 1840s many improvements
had been made to photographic technical process. The
waxed paper negative devised by Gustave Le Gray gave
the print both density and precision. By the mid-fi fties
the collodion glass negative invented by Frederick
Scott Archer was used by most French photographers
for the short exposure times it allowed and the quality
of the fi nal print. As early as 1839 the new invention
raised many dreams reinforced by Arago’s public an-
nouncement. Photography appeared as the ideal way of
reproducing the whole world and its marvels. It seemed
to be the most effi cient assistant to scientifi c research
as well. French photographer’s ability combined with
their connections to both artistic and scientifi c circles
made this almost true. In 1851 the French Commission
des Monuments historiques, founded in 1837, hired
fi ve photographers—Gustave Le Gray, Auguste Mes-
tral, Edouard Baldus, Henri Le Secq and Hippolyte