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painting exhibition. Subsequent exhibitions opened on
the same day as the Salons, which rejected all submis-
sions in photography. The Société’s exhibition commit-
tee also organized French representation in exhibitions
in other countries. SFP members exhibited as a group in
Brussels in 1856, in a large space dedicated to French
photographic achievement. This was also the case in
reciprocal arrangements the SFP entered into with the
Royal Photographic Society (RPS) of England; in the
RPS exhibitions of 1858 and 1863, SFP members were
accorded their own section or rooms.
By far the most press recognition and critical at-
tention accorded to photography was directed to the
exhibitions of the SFP. With the exception of the 1855
exhibition, every later exhibition was accompanied by
a catalogue which listed photographers by name and
nationality, described the subject of submitted images,
and identifi ed both negative and print processes. They
constitute an invaluable resource for researchers. In
addition, the Bulletin devoted extensive coverage and
detailed reviews to all of the SFP exhibitions, as well as
the photography sections of the Universal Expositions
of 1855 and 1867, and international exhibitions of pho-
tography in Brussels, London, Edinburgh, etc.
The scientifi c focus came to dominate the SFP to the
exclusion of the arts towards the end of the nineteenth
century. Within the Bulletin there are fewer references
to artistic projects by members; discussions of issues
of aesthetics, never prominent, disappear. The criteria
for evaluating work presented in the SFP exhibitions
increasingly focused on technical competence. As the
nineteenth century drew to a close, the SFP came more
and more to function as a scientifi c academy in which
scientifi c and technical issues could be presented and
debated, and as a repository for technical examples.
Prizes for technical innovation were offered under the
aegis of the Société and a number of technical challenges
were posed by the Société with awards determined by
committees made up of members with scientifi c back-
grounds. This insured that important innovations were
presented fi rst to the SFP for publication in the Bulletin.
Scientifi c and technical submissions ranged from that
of Edmund Becquerel, a founding member, who pub-
lished the results of his experiments with heliochromy,
or recording the colors of the light spectrum on da-
guerreotype plates, to Alphonse Poitevin’s presentation
of a photolithographic printing process. But the SFP’s
preoccupation with scientifi c and technical questions
created an increasing sense of disenfranchisement for
members who aspired to artistic photographic practice.
Ultimately, although some maintained membership in
what was clearly the most prestigious photographic
organization in France, they and others formed organi-
zations that refl ected more closely their interests. Such
an organization was the Photo-Club de Paris, founded
in 1894 by SFP member Robert Demachy and others,
to address the interests of artistic photographers. The
Photo-Club’s fi rst exhibition (1895) was titled the First
Exhibition of Photographic Art, a rather heavy-handed
effort to distinguish their program from the exhibitions
of the SFP. This division of artistic practice from the
overwhelmingly scientifi c and technical bent of pho-
tographic organizations, such as the SFP, was echoed
by similar organizations in London—Linked Ring
Brotherhood—and Vienna—Das Kleeblatt (The Clover
Leaf)—and New York—The Photo-Secession.
Société française de photographie continues to this
day as a research center. Their holdings include superb
collections of images—contemporary and historic,
examples of rare photographic processes and types
of equipment, as well as members’ archives which
include papers and photographic prints and negatives.
The Société maintains a library devoted to historic and
contemporary photography. In 2006, they list their hold-
ings at 10,000 books and fi ve hundred photographic
journals from twenty-four countries. This includes
extensive holdings of early photographic journals from
around the world. The collection of early photographs
can be counted among the most important of French
photographic collections. Publication of the Bulletin
continues, and is joined by a journal devoted to historical
and critical research, Études photographique. The SFP
continues to promote the study of photography—both
its history and contemporary use—through lectures and
its collection.
Société française de photographie (www.sfp.pho-
tographie.com), 71, rue de Richelieu, 75005 Paris,
France.
Kathleen Stewart Howe
See also: Société héliographiqueFurther Reading
Buerger, Janet E., French Daguerreotypes, Chicago and London:
University of Chicago Press, 1989.
Bulletin de Société Français de Photographie, Paris, 1855–.
Janis, Eugenia Parry, and Andre Jammes, The Art of French Calo-
type with a Critical Dictionary of Photographers, 1845–1870,
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1983.
McCauley, Elizabeth Anne, Industrial Madness: Commercial
Photography in Paris, 1848–1871, New Haven and London:
Yale University Press, 1994.
Poivert, Michel, “La SFP rejoint la BnF.” Revue de la Bibliothèque
Nationale de France, 2, 1994.SOCIÉTÉ HÉLIOGRAPHIQUE
In the early stages of the history of photography, many
people were experimenting with the new medium. The
calotype process, which is a paper negative process,
was one of the most important techniques of the time.