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participated as well, receiving a bronze medal for their
photographic prints on paper. The relatively small world
of participants of innovative photographic “amateurs”
considered every photographic invention as an occasion
to think over their own photographic process, to ration-
alise it, and to try to fi gure out how to make it better.
Shortly after, the Bisson brothers became the coveted
fi rm for architectural photographs, and not just in France,
but post 1854, in Spain and Italy as well. They enjoyed
the freedom of independent contracting, but were also
wary of working for themselves. Their freedom allowed
them to choose the photographic themes and fi elds, who
they worked for and what type of work they did. For
instance Auguste Rosalie was employed by the Scientifi c
museum in Paris (Musée d’histoire naturelle), and the
Louvre (with Charles Blanc) to make reproductions
for a publication on and of the etchings of Rembrandt.
Their concern though lay in the fact that their choices
and livelihoods were their own responsibility.
In 1854 the Bisson brothers became acquainted with
the Alsatian industrial Daniel Dollfus-Ausset, who had
been interested in the two photographers since 1849, and
asked them to travel to the Alps to take photographs of
the glaciers. Dollfus-Ausset researched how the glaciers
developed and retreated. Unfortunately, his discovery
was criticized in by the scientifi c community. Auguste
Rosalie Bisson’s fi rst attempt to reach the summit of
Mont Blanc, in August 1859, to photograph the Alps
failed. A second expedition in July 1860 became pre-
maturely terminated because of abrupt weather. On July
24, 1861, Auguste Rosalie reached the top and took
three photographs. It was written by the photographic
journal “La Lumière” that “two very good” and one
was simply “good.”
In June 1854, the Bissons presented the amazing
“Panorama—copie de cour de Louvre,” 105 × 45 cm.
The panoramic view was created by three compounded
negatives, and was used by Dollfus-Ausset to serve
his academic purposes at the Academy of Sciences. In
August 1855, August Rosalie spent nearly a month in
the Alps taking photographs from the mountains and
the glaciers. The “Panorama of the Aar-glacier,” 182 ×
50.5 cm, was one of the fi rst photographic commentar-
ies about a natural glacier. In August 1855, Auguste
Rosalie photographed the landscape of an earthquake’s
aftermath. This fi rst photographic report after an earth-
quake, depicted the Alps in a way that no one had ever
seen and was a sensation in the Parisian photography
and scientifi c circles.
At the end of 1855, the brothers set up a limited
partnership with a large contribution from Dollfus-
Ausset. Their new commercial address on Boulevard
des Capucines was known to be the fi nest in Paris. The
years 1856 to 1858 were the most successful of their
historical enterprise. The fast expansion and popularity
of the studio attracted even royalty, when in 1858 the
emperor, Napoléon III and the empress Eugénie, visited.
Participation in international exhibitions, where by their
frequent mention by other photographers, perpetuated
the idea that the “Bisson frères” were known as one of
the most important photographers not only in France, but
in Europe as well. The diversity of the Bisson brothers’
talent, from reproductions of etchings of Rembrandt’s, to
the photography of Dürer’s architecture, and especially
the photographs from the Alps, drew not only artists and
amateurs to the luxurious reception rooms on the Boule-
vards des Capucines, but also large audiences that often
wanted their portraits taken. The Bisson brothers became
wealthy from these profi ts and used them to cover all the
costs of the photographic expeditions to the Alps.
In the end, both brothers generated little “profi t” from
those burdensome and life endangering expeditions. Not
even one of the photographs from top of Mont Blanc or
a composition of Napoléon III was included in the two
family albums. In fact, it was rumoured that Auguste
Rosalie’s successful expedition to Mont Blanc contra-
dicted the reports of his contemporaries, the expedition
companions, as well as of the editor of “La Lumière,”
Ernst Lacan, whose authority remained typically un-
questioned. Interestingly, no photographs exist of the
failed climb up the Mer de Glace in September of 1860
by Napoléon, Eugénie, and the Parisian Court.
The extensive travels of the Bisson brothers in
France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, and Italy
as well as the commercially disastrous expeditions in
the Alps allowed Dollfus-Ausset to withdraw from the
limited partnership “Bisson frères.” “Bisson frères”
was given 5 years to liquidate their debt, but failures in
marketing, opportunities and stubborn independence
marked the end of the fi rm in 1863. On December 29,
1863 the company declared bankruptcy and on January
1, 1864 their photographic studio closed forever.
Milan ChlumskyBiography
Louis Auguste Bisson was born on April 21, 1814, and
died on May 12, 1876 in Paris. Louis Auguste took
drawing lessons at home, studied architecture, and
later became an architect of the Parisian municipal
administration in 1838. In 1841, Louis Auguste was
most likely given instruction from Daguerre himself.
Enthusiastic about chemistry, he opened a Daguerre
studio for portraits with his father. He better developed
the procedure by shortening the exposure time. Within
three years he claimed six patents, and presented them
to the Academy of sciences. In 1847 he established
his own studio, and developed an interest in Galvanic
plastic. The revolution of 1848 destroyed the basis of the
industrial fi rm that he ran with Armand-Pierre Gaugain.