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MALACRIDA, JULES
(active 1840s–1890s)
French optician and photographer
Malacrida’s date and place of birth remain unknown
such as the elements about his childhood, training, death
or possible heirs. Optician and daguerreotypist of the
fi rst times, he was active since 1840. Between 1848 and
1860, he cooperated with the Dr. Henri Jacquart to make
daguerreotypes on anthropological pieces and animals
from the Museum d’Histoire Naturelle. In La Lumière,
Ernest Conduché spoke in praise of these works—for
the major part collected in the Catalogue des objets
renfermés dans la Galerie d’Anthropologie du Museum
du Jardin des plantes (1857)—whose specimens were
shown at the Academy of Science by Geoffroy Saint-
Hilaire.
In 1850, he portrayed theatrical celebrities of his
period and published a book dedicated to them with
Charles Gabet. Set up at rue du Coq Saint-Honoré, 7,
he was arrested in 1851 for distributing Félix-Jacques-
Antoine Moulin’s academic nudes. More severely
convicted than the author—indeed, circulation was
increasingly stigmatized by law than creation—Malac-
rida was condemned to one year of imprisonment and
to pay 500 francs. During the trial, the President of
the Seine Assize Court presented the incriminated
photographs such as ‘‘so obscene that giving their
titles would be an outrage.’’ Few years later, Malacrida
associated with photographers and nudes diffusers
addressed a petition to the Interior Minister to protest
against the seizures they were subject. However, their
petition to the authorities didn’t receive the desired
reaction, and consequentially their situation became
one where with this petition, the government had at
its disposal the names of the academic nudes actors
market making it easier to target, control and censor
their activities.
After this episode, he produced a series of portrait
and scenic genre studies (36 negatives) entitled “Etudes
d’après nature” published by Lemercier and registered
for copyright purposes in 1853. This same year, he
moved to rue de Vivienne, 12. Like his colleague Mou-
lin, Malacrida started a more conventional career and
left Paris for Toulon (south of France) in the beginning
1860’s for an unspecifi ed duration. He went on producing
portraits, scenes of genre and negatives of monuments in
collaboration with his wife. In 1870, he appeared once
again at rue de Vivienne in the Parisian business registries
and was supposedly active until 1895.
In 1980 and 1982, several Malacrida’s daguerreo-
types were sold respectively at Christie’s (London) and
Drouot’s (Paris). At the moment, informations relating
to his course and work are sparse and mainly combined
with Félix-Jacques-Antoine Moulin’s name and their
justice issues.
Frédérique TaubenhausBiography
Optician and daguerreotypist active from 1840 to 1895,
he is essentially mentioned today for the diffusion of
Félix-Jacques-Antoine Moulin’s academic nudes and
for the trial which resulted in 1851. Nevertheless, a
major part of Malacrida’s career has been dedicated to
production of anthropological and zoological negatives,
theatrical celebrities portraits as well as an important
number of portraits, scenes of genre and photographs of
monuments whose became his specialities, particularly
after his justice issues.
See also: Daguerreotypes; Félix-Jacques-Antoine
Moulin; and Nudes.Further Reading
Bajac, Quentin, Planchon-de-Font-Reaulx, Dominique, Le Da-
guerreotype Français: Un Objet Photographique: exhibition
catalogue, Paris, Musée d’Orsay, May, 13–August, 17, 2003;
New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, September, 22,
2003–January, 4, 2004.
Beaugé, Gilbert, La photographie en Provence 1839–1895,
Editions Jeanne Laffi tte, 1995.
Frizot, Michel, Nouvelle histoire de la photographie, Larousse,
2001.
Gabet, Charles, Malacrida, Jules, Musée daguerrien: album des
célébrités théâtrales. Portraits et biographies, 1850.
La Gazette des Tribunaux, Juillet 1851.
La Lumière, 1858.
Nazarieff, Serge, ‘‘Félix-Jacques-Antoine Moulin,’’ Early Erotic
Photography, Tashen, 2002.MALONE, THOMAS AUGUSTINE
(c. 1823–1867)
Malone was a competent chemist who worked with
several early photographic processes but was usually
remembered for his association with Talbot. Little is
known of his early life. In 1844 he worked with Hip-
polyte Fizeau and Antoine Claudet etching daguerreo-
types before being recruited by Nicolaas Henneman to
work at Talbot’s Calotype establishment at Reading.
It was Malone that did much to refi ne and improve
the Calotype process. When the establishment closed
in 1847, Henneman and Malone opened a Calotype
studio in London’s Regent Street, which was funded
by Talbot. Further support from Talbot allowed Malone
to travel to Europe to meet distinguished photographic
scientists. Around 1851 ill health caused Malone to
leave the Regent Street business. After recovering, he
became a lecturer and held posts at the Royal College