947
See also: Africa, North; Genre; Nudes; Orientalism;
and Stereoscopy.
Further Reading
Aubénas, Sylvie, L’Art du nu au XIXe siècle: le photographe et
son modèle, Paris: Hazan/Bibliothèque nationale de France,
1997.
Bajac, Quentin, and Dominique Planchon-de Font-Réaulx, Le
daguerreotype français. Un objet photographique, Paris:
Musée d’Orsay, 2003.
Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Galerie de photographie, Des
photographes pour l’empereur: Les albums de Napoléon III,
Paris, 2004.
Lacan, Ernest, Esquisses photographiques, Paris: Grassert,
1856.
Marbot, Bernard, After Daguerre: Masterworks of French Pho-
tography (1848–1900) from the Bibliothèque Nationale, New
York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1980.
Moigno, François, “Biographie: M. Moulin,” Revue pho-
tographique, December 5, 1855.
Moulin, Félix-Jacques-Antoine, L’Algérie photographiée, Publi-
cation Nationale, Paris: Moulin, c. 1859.
Nazarieff, Serge, “Félix-Jacques-Antoine Moulin.” In Early
Erotic Photography,edited by Nazarieff, Cologne: Benedict
Taschen, 1993.
Rouillé, André, “Le document photographique en question,”
L’Ethnographie, spring 1991
Rouillé, André, and Bernard Marbot, Le Corps et son image: Pho-
tographies du dix-neuvième siècle, Paris: Contrejour, 1986
Van Monckhoven, D., “La photographie en Algérie,” La Lumière,
March 22, June 21, and June 28, 1856.
MOUNTAIN PHOTOGRAPHY
Mountain photography encompasses both mountain
systems as landscape forms and the mountain summit
as a photographic platform for recreational and scien-
tifi c purposes. Both types of photography embodied
similar technical obstacles. For the purpose of this
article, the defi nition of a mountain will be that offered
by the National Geographic Society: any landform
with an elevation of more than 1,000 feet (300 metres)
above the surrounding land and a pointed summit; the
former distinguishes a hill from a mountain while the
latter separates a mountain from a plateau. Most of
the signifi cant challenges to photography as a science
occurred in mountain ranges at altitudes where photo-
graphic chemistry and optics become near to impossible
due to climatic conditions (freezing temperatures or
zero visibility factors). Because of the Euro-American
dominance in the fi eld of world exploration, examples of
mountain photography are mainly drawn from European
and North American sources.
The European Romantic arts movement of the late
18th and early 19th centuries helped set the stage for
mountain photography as an art form. Artists them-
selves, once photographic technology improved enough
by the 1880s, also used photographs as an aide-mémoire
in two ways: in place of and as a complement to fi eld
sketches, or more directly as the visual source for their
art. Prior to the widespread introduction of halftone
printing at the start of the 20th century, photographs
were reproduced through a variety of photomechanical
processes, not all of which were equally successful at
accurately rendering the tonal and other visual qualities
of a photograph.
Apart from purchasing original photo prints, includ-
ing stereograph views and glass lantern slides, of moun-
tain scenes, those interested in acquiring such images
could buy view albums or books in which were photo-
mechanical reproductions of mountain photographs. The
three most accurate methods of reproduction prior to the
adoption of halftone printing were the photogravure, the
collotype and the Woodburytype. European and British
publishers dominated this market in the 19th century.
Among the more prominent of these fi rms were the
Alinari brothers (Fratelli Alinari), Adolfe Braun, George
Washington Wilson, and James Valentine.
The three mountain systems which resulted in the ear-
liest notable achievements in mountain photography and
large numbers of photographs are the European Alps, the
Asian Himalayas and the North American Rocky Moun-
tains. To a lesser extent other mountain ranges in North
America, South America, Russia, Asia, Africa, Australia,
and New Zealand also attracted photographers.
The daguerreotype process was fi rst used to pho-
tograph both the Rocky Mountains and the Alps. The
United States Army Corps of Topographical Engineers
surveyor and explorer John C. Frémont was the fi rst to
bring a daguerreotype kit into the Rocky Mountains be-
tween June and October 1842 on his initial foray into the
Western United States. He was completely unsuccessful
at his efforts to photograph mountain scenery in Wyo-
ming that August. A second expedition in 1843–1844
by Frémont to the Rocky Mountains also included a
daguerreotype kit, but no written record survives of its
use. Frémont’s third expedition in 1845 included an art-
ist, Edward M. Kern, but no daguerreotype equipment.
Due to his political activities in California between 1846
and 1848, Frémont ended up resigning from the U.S.
Army. He led two further, privately fi nanced expedi-
tions through the Western U.S. with a goal of surveying
a route for a transcontinental railroad. On the last of
these, in 1853–1854, he hired New York City artist and
daguerreotypist Solomon N. Carvalho (1815–1897). A
second photographer who used the calotype process,
Mr. Bomar, was also hired, but his services were later
dispensed with. Despite having no outdoors photographic
experience, Carvalho appears not to have hindered the
expedition with his photography. According to Palmquist
and Kailbourn (2000), it took him up to two hours to
produce each view, with most of that time required for
removing and repacking his equipment.