554
Science in Context, edited by Bernard Lightman, Chicago:
University of Chicago, 1997, 378–408.
Woodbury, Walter, “Photography as Deceiver” in International
Annual of Anthony’s Photographic Bulletin, no. 2, 1889,
282–85.
FRÉCHON, EMILE (1848–1921)
Emile Fréchon is considered an orientalist photographer.
Fréchon moved to Algeria with the rapid development
of tourism in search for exotism. Born in Normandy,
in 1848, he worked as a journalist until Jules Gervais-
Courtellemont asked him—in 1887—to come to Algeria
to manage his photographic company.
Fréchon photographed the desert and was one of the
fi rst to do so. In the beginning of the 1890s Fréchon
photographed the oasis of Biskra that he later pub-
lished in L’Algérie pittoresque et artistique which was
released by Gervais-Courtellemont in 1892. In 1895, he
fi nally established his own studio and sold his images
to European tourists. In addition to maintaining his
own studio, he continued to trade with another studio
in Etaples, located in the North of France and spent his
time between both countries.
The Photo-Club de Paris, which displayed pictorial
work in France, received his work and exhibited it in
1894 and 1895 in their Salon and published his pho-
tographs in their Bulletin. Fréchon developed a style
close to that of the drawings typical France’s naturalistic
paintings. Critics called him the “photographic Millet.”
Indeed, he prefered landscapes to the urban aesthetic and
liked to play with the oriental light to obtain backlight-
ing. He died in 1921.
Marion Perceval
FREDERICKS, CHARLES DEFOREST
(1823–1894)
According to Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, 11
September 1858, “Frederick’s Photographic Gallery,
585 and 587 Broadway, was brilliantly illuminated with
colored lanterns. The words ‘Photographic Temple of
Art’ were formed by hundreds of lamps, covering a
semi-circular arch of sixty feet in curve. The windows
and balconies of these magnifi cent Daguerrian rooms
were crowded during the day with spectators, almost to
the interruption of business. There is no more popular
photographic gallery in New York than this, and nowhere
are portraits obtained with greater fi delity.”
Having learned the daguerreotype process from
Jeremiah Gurney—from whom he bought his fi rst cam-
era—Fredericks travelled and photographed throughout
South America for nine years before briefl y operating a
studio in Paris in 1853.
His fi rst New York studio opened in 1854, and for
a short period 1855–56 he and Jeremiah Gurney were
in partnership.
One of the fi rst to introduce the carte-de-visite into
America, Fredericks, for a time, also held the US Pat-
ent rights for the family album with its familiar slots.
His studio had a prodigious output of both carte and
cabinet format images, and continued in business until
c. 1890.
Woodblocks based on his portraits of eminent fi g-
ures—such as Samuel Walker, President of Nicaragua,
and Commissioner Simeon Draper of the New York
Police—regularly appeared in Leslie’s Illustrated
Newspaper.
John HannavyFREEMAN, ORRIN ERASTUS
(1830–1866)
American photographer
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Freeman was listed in
the 1857 City Directory as a saloon keeper. His great
grandfather had been a colonial governor and local law-
yer, his grandfather a surgeon and his father was a house
builder. Encouraged by stories of his younger brother
Albert’s fi nancial success as a merchant in Shanghai,
Orrin accompanied his mother and other brother,
Melvin, on a four-month journey to China, arriving in
March, 1859. He arrived in Shanghai with ambrotype
equipment, determined upon starting a career in China
as a photographer. Oddly, he chose the inland city of
Soochow (present-day Suzhou), rather than Shanghai,
to open his fi rst studio. That seems to have been unsuc-
cessful and he then advertised his studio’s re-location to
Shanghai in July 1859. Although moderately success-
ful, he decided to move to Japan. By early 1860 he was
operating Yokohama’s fi rst commercial studio and also
trading in photographic equipment and other goods.
Within a year of establishment, he was approached
by Ukai Gyokusen, a wealthy merchant, who made
Freeman a substantial offer for his ambrotype camera,
equipment and lessons. Ukai would become the fi rst
professional Japanese photographer and Freeman, no
longer connected with photography, would go on to
amass a fortune as a Yokohama merchant. He died sud-
denly of paralysis in 1866 and is buried in the Yokohama
Foreigners’ Cemetery. [One of his ambrotypes is held by
the Numazu City Archives of Meiji History, Japan.]
Terry BennettFRÉNET, JEAN-BAPTISTE (1814–1889)
French painter, photographer
As a young man he entered the Academy of Fine Arts
in Lyon; in 1834 he went to Paris where he attended