409
ity not possible with mass produced materials entering
photography since the 1880s. They were part of late
19th Century individualist reaction to industrial society.
Demachy one of the fi rst to use gum printing, he was
also a pioneer of bromoil printing. He was not only a
user of these processes, but one of their most prominent
advocates, writing about their practice. Gum printing
allowed the photographer to have a hand in manipula-
tion and in the choice of textures, colours, and papers
closer to what was possible to painters or etchers. These
printing processes were no more than a means to his idea
of an interpretative photography, the only one where the
photographer could put his creativity to work, thus creat-
ing an art piece, not only a mere reproduction of a scene,
they were in the heart of pictorialist photography theory
and practice. The use of these processes led to the critics
and public acclaim of Demachy’s work, however there
were also negative reactions. Naturalist photographer P.
H. Emerson was a critical voice, considering Demachy’s
work theatrical and ill composed. Others had a less criti-
cal point of view, but regretted the overstatement.
He was an adept user of the telephoto lens, and
also wrote about it. This lens would allow him to get
a smaller depth of fi eld, desirable to his interpretative
photograph.
The female nude and the landscape, especially when
including water, account for some of his best known
photographs. Many photographers, up to the late 20th
century, tried to imitate him, even in his fondness for
photographing very young girls. Some of the work
inspired by Demachy had, even during his time, consid-
erable success, however in most instances the imitation
often lacked Demachy ́s artistic quality. Using children
and prepubescent girls in his nude photographs was
not an attempt to make them erotic, but was instead
an attempt to lower his erotic intensity, and the use of
unconventional forms of printing like gum and bromoil,
increased this effect. He made other photographs with
oriental themes, urban scenes, especially when showing
the kind of picturesque quality found in northern France,
or the atmospheric effects prized by pictorialists. He was
also an adept of speed as theme for photography, one of
the most important fads of early 1900’s photos. Speed
was a major concern for all society, and for photographer
was a means of showing great skills. Less known are
his folk costume pictures.
Fog in the river, the raging sea, little dressed girls in a
pseudo oriental scene are among the most popular 1900
pictures, they were made over and over again, but their
popularity owes mostly to Robert Demachy who made
them fi rst, and in an such an outstanding way, that in-
spired admirers and imitators for over half a century.
With his fellow Frenchman Constant Puyo and Amer-
ican Alfred Steiglitz he is considered one of the great
masters of pictorialist photography, however, unlike
Stieglitz he did not create an organized movement.
In 1914 the First World War was beginning; the
artistic movements, born in the late 19th century, were
coming to an end. Photography was to go through
major changes: the Linked Ring was dissolved in
1910; the Photo-Secession would survive a few years
more, but Camera-Work would be the fi rst magazine
to show new, opposed to pictorialism, approaches to
photography.
Robert Demachy stopped photographing in 1914;
it is not possible to say whether he was aware of the
changes going on photography. He reportedly never
touched a camera again. In 1931 his friend Puyo orga-
nized a retrospective exhibition of his work. He gave
part of his collection, which included work by himself
and other photographers, to the Royal Photographic
Society, another part to the Paris Photo-Club.
Nuno de Avelar Pinheiro
See also: Expositions Universelle, Paris (1854, 1855,
1867 etc.); Wet Collodion Positive Processes; Royal
Geographical Society; Brotherhood of the Linked
Ring; Gum Print; Stieglitz, Alfred; and Pictorialism.Further Reading
Besson, Georges, M. Robert Demachy, Marseille Revue Photo-
graphie, June 1907, 81–82.
Jay, Bill, Robert Demachy, 1859, 1936, Photographs and Essays,
Academy Editions, London, 1974.
Ménard, Cyrille, “Les Maîtres De La Photographie : Robert De-
machy,” Photomagazine, no. 15 to 21, April, May, 1911.
Robert Demachy—Photographe, Contrejour, Paris, 1980.
Robert Demachy, Paris, Nathan, 1997.DEMENŸ, GEORGES EMILE JOSEPH
(1850–1917)
French born inventor, chronophotographer, fi lm
maker, and physical education instructor
Born at Douai, France, 11 June 1850, Georges Demenÿ’s
mother’s name was Adéle (née de Vignron); his father
Philippe Joseph Demenÿ was a musician. Georges stud-
ied at Douai and Lille, then in Paris with physiologist
Etienne-Jules Marey. From 1882 Demenÿ worked as
Marey’s assistant at the Station Physiologique, photo-
graphing sequences of animal and human movement,
from 1888 on strips of paper and later on celluloid.
In 1892 Demeny patented the Phonoscope, for direct
viewing or projection of a short sequence of such pho-
tographs mounted around a disc.
Demenÿ broke away from Marey, in order to com-
mercialise his invention. He designed the important
‘beater movement’ camera, and produced charming