Category: landscape

The High Museum of Art website

Exhibition: ‘The Family Album of Ralph Eugene Meatyard’ at the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA

Exhibition dates: 12th December, 2025 – 10th May, 2026

Curator: Gregory Harris, the High Museum’s Donald and Marilyn Keough Family Curator of Photography

Ralph Eugene Meatyard (American, 1925-1972) 'Untitled (cover)' 1962 from the exhibition 'The Family Album of Ralph Eugene Meatyard' at the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA, December 2025 - May 2026

Ralph Eugene Meatyard (American, 1925-1972)
Untitled (cover)
1962
Gelatin silver print
Estate of Ralph Eugene Meatyard
© Estate of Ralph Eugene Meatyard

Gestures on what it is to be human

In the nearly eighteen year history of constructing this archive there has never been a posting on the American photographer Ralph Eugene Meatyard (American, 1925-1972) which tells you a/ how rare exhibitions of his work are today and b/ how under appreciated his art is in recent times when compared to his white, male contemporaries such as Harry Callahan, Minor White and Aaron Siskind. Thus it is a great pleasure to promote this exhibition on Art Blart. I just wish I had more photographs to show you!

His work is polarising. People either hate it or love it. I’m in the latter camp. I admire Meatyard’s disturbing? challenging photographs where youth and innocence meld into a dystopian old age of special beauty, where other worlds of which we know very little are brought close to our imagination.

I admire them for their unconventionality, for their spectral aspect … that fluid dichotomy between reality and fantasy, dreams and nightmares, where the mask comes to stand for another state of being of its subject1 – shadowy, other-worldy phantoms brought into our presence through romantic-surrealist, abstract realisms – un/earthly in/corporealities, bodies and people who are both grounded in the present and transmogrifying in a tumult of magic realism (a literary and artistic genre that seamlessly blends fantastical or mythical elements into otherwise realistic, mundane settings, treating the supernatural as normal).

This unexplained magic, fluid time contains a social critique of childhood, family and adulthood and (most importantly) mortality, merging real-world settings with unbelievable elements.

Meatyards’s staged scenes – often using exposure, shadow (in Jung referencing the unconscious, hidden part of the personality), depth of field, or motion blur – suggest “an absurd fantasy set in the dilapidated houses and banal suburban environs near his home in Lexington, Kentucky … [which] reveal Meatyard’s search for inner truths amid the ordinary.” (Text from the High Museum of Art)

His photographs contain elements of his imagination in segments of the actuality around him, an interface of emotion and feeling about the world which is reflected back to us through his experimental, fantastical images. His subjects simply exist in youth and old age and resonate (that musical influence) “within the infinite possibilities of this fictional world.” Thus, in this fictional world, the masks serve “… to equalise his subjects and shift focus elsewhere – to the poignant juxtaposition of otherworldly faces on human bodies, to the ambiguous and unknowable in human nature.”2

The unknowable in human nature. The phenomenal (appearances) and the noumenal (the harsh reality of things-in-themselves).3 Interstitial. Interspatial. The space between…

Dreams and realities, masks and identities, emotions and fluidities.
Gestures on what it is to be human.

Dr Marcus Bunyan

1/ “The word “persona” originally refers to a theatrical mask worn by actors to depict the roles played by them…

The ego refers to our centre of consciousness which is responsible for our continuing sense of identity throughout our life and the persona is the social mask that we put on. We all embody different masks in different settings, as it is our way to adapt to the demands of society, playing an important part in shaping our social role and in how we deal with other people.”

Anonymous. “The Persona – The Mask That Conceals Your True Self,” on the Eternalised website, December 24, 2021 [Online] Ciuted 20/03/2026

2/ Anonymous. “Ralph Eugene Meatyard: Cranston Ritchie,” on the Artsy website Nd [Online] Cited 20/03/2026

3/ The phenomenal world is the reality we experience through senses and mental structures (space/time), while the noumenal is the unknowable, objective reality existing independently of perception, such as God or the true nature of objects.

Many thankx to the High Museum of Art for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.

“I seek to create a picture that has implications which may be explored for a new concept of thinking – a picture seen largely from the subjective viewpoint. The man of ideas and ideals will search for and find elements of his imagination in segments of the actuality around him. My pictures are an extension of myself and invite the viewers to participate in my thinking about the object pictured.”

Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Lexington Camera Club, Creative Photography – 1956 catalogue statement

“I adhere to the techniques of the earliest and most sincere workers of the camera – straight, unmanipulated pictures. That which I present is that which I see. However, I work a great deal in romantic-surrealist as well as abstract for I feel that ‘more real than real’ is the special province of the serious photographer.”

Ralph Eugene Meatyard, quoted in Beaumont Newhall, “New Talent in Photography USA,” Art in America 49, No. 1, 1961

Installation view of the exhibition The Family Album of Ralph Eugene Meatyard at the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA

Ralph Eugene Meatyard (American, 1925-1972) 'Self-portrait (frontispiece)' c. 1964-1966 from the exhibition 'The Family Album of Ralph Eugene Meatyard' at the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA, December 2025 - May 2026

Ralph Eugene Meatyard (American, 1925-1972)
Self-portrait (frontispiece)
c. 1964-1966
Gelatin silver print
High Museum of Art
Purchase with funds from Joe Williams and Tede Fleming, Jane and Clay Jackson, and an anonymous donor
Estate of Ralph Eugene Meatyard
© Estate of Ralph Eugene Meatyard

As an optician by profession, Meatyard’s photography training was largely self-taught. He grew up in Normal, Illinois, and eventually moved to Lexington to take a job at the Tinder-Knaus-Tinder optical shop. Through his occupation, he became fascinated by visual perception, but he did not pick up a camera until the early 1950s when his first son, Michael, was born. He began experimenting with photography and joined the Lexington Camera Club, a group of serious amateur photographers that met regularly to share their work. Meatyard made this self-portrait outside a warehouse in downtown Lexington. The composition, with the artist standing next to the word yard, is a playful visual take on his unusual surname.

A largely self-taught photographer, Ralph Eugene Meatyard (American, 1925–1972) was a pioneering and inventive artist who created some of the most original images of the mid-twentieth century. His work defies easy categorization as he experimented across various genres and subjects, and throughout his career, he maintained the ethos of an amateur, approaching photography with a sense of affection, discovery, and surprise. He is best known for his staged scenes that suggest an absurd fantasy set in the dilapidated houses and banal suburban environs near his home in Lexington, Kentucky. These scenes, often featuring his family as actors and using props such as masks and dolls, reveal Meatyard’s search for inner truths amid the ordinary.

This exhibition, coinciding with the artist’s centenary, features the thirty-six prints that comprise the artist’s first monograph (Gnomon Press, 1970) – one of only two books he published in his lifetime – which Meatyard intended to stand as his definitive artistic statement. All thirty-six prints were recently acquired by the High for the Museum’s permanent collection. Through his idiosyncratic selection of images, this exhibition explores how Meatyard’s singular approach and voracious curiosity expanded photography’s expressive and conceptual potential.

Text from the High Museum of Art website

Ralph Eugene Meatyard (American, 1925-1972)
Untitled (plate 1)
1960
Gelatin silver print
Purchase with funds from Purchase with funds from Jane and Clay Jackson
© Estate of Ralph Eugene Meatyard.

Ralph Eugene Meatyard (American, 1925-1972)
Untitled (plate 7)
1963
Gelatin silver print
Purchase with funds from Joe Williams and Tede Fleming
© Estate of Ralph Eugene Meatyard

Since his untimely death in 1972, American photographer Ralph Eugene Meatyard has come to be regarded among the most pioneering and inventive artists of the medium, and his expressive, surreal photographs are widely celebrated today. This winter, the High Museum of Art presents “The Family Album of Ralph Eugene Meatyard” (Dec. 12, 2025 – May 10, 2026), an exhibition featuring 36 photographs that Meatyard considered his best work, created for one of only two monographs published by the artist in his lifetime. The High recently acquired the prints from his estate, making the museum one of the leading repositories of his photographs in the world.

“Ralph Eugene Meatyard created some of the most original photographs of the mid-20th century, and the prints in this exhibition are exquisite examples of his innovation and creativity,” said the High’s Director Rand Suffolk. “We are grateful to his estate for the opportunity to acquire and present these works and to celebrate his unorthodox yet remarkably generative practice with this exhibition.”

Born in Illinois in 1925, Meatyard eventually settled in Lexington, Kentucky. Because of his professional training as an optician, he was fascinated by visual perception, but he did not pick up a camera until the early 1950s. He began experimenting with photography and joined the Lexington Camera Club, immersing himself in the city’s creative community, which included artists and writers Van Deren Coke, Jonathan Williams, Wendell Berry and Thomas Merton.

Over the next 15 years, Meatyard maintained the ethos of an amateur, approaching the medium with a sense of affection, discovery and surprise. He experimented across various genres and subjects, including portraiture, abstraction, landscape and gothic narrative, constantly seeking to distort proper vision through photographic processes and the unconventional narrative structures that would make him an innovator of the medium.

He is best known for his staged scenes that suggest absurd fantasies, played out in the dilapidated houses and banal suburban environs of Lexington. Often featuring his family as actors and including props such as masks and dolls, the scenes reveal his search for inner truths among the ordinary. Though he wasn’t unknown in his lifetime – he exhibited, lectured and showed his work regularly throughout the 1960s – he worked both geographically and conceptually outside of the mainstream of photographic modernism, and it wasn’t until after his death that his reputation began to grow steadily.

More than a dozen books of Meatyard’s photographs have been released to date, but he only published two monographs in his lifetime. “Ralph Eugene Meatyard” (Gnomon Press, 1970), edited while he was dying of cancer, is a survey of what he considered his best work. He hoped the book would stand as his definitive artistic statement, offering his own perspective on his distinctive photographs.

This exhibition features rare prints the artist made of the 36 photographs in the book. These include signature photographs from Meatyard’s “Romance” series, which depict his family in fantastical scenarios, staged in abandoned buildings and bucolic landscapes. The series subverts the traditional family snapshot with a sense of the uncanny, combining youthful innocence with a sense of mortality. Meatyard often referred to these pictures as “romantic-surrealist,” and their fictional aspects were motivated by his desire to make photographs that weren’t bound by reality but were still grounded in the world as we see it. The exhibition also includes a selection of Meatyard’s portraits of writers, poets and artists from his circle, including Merton, Williams, Berry and Guy Davenport, among others. Collectively, the photographs create an unconventional family album by one of the most distinctive artists of the post-war period. The exhibition delves into Meatyard’s personal perceptions of his photographs and his process as a maker and will underscore the important influence of his artistic and intellectual contemporaries in Lexington, all of whom greatly affected his work. It also explores how Meatyard’s singular approach and voracious curiosity expanded photography’s expressive and conceptual potential.

“A family album is a relatable practice of memory, storytelling, aspiration and fabrication familiar to almost everyone,” said Gregory Harris, the High’s Donald and Marilyn Keough Family curator of photography. “While these works echo that nostalgic format, they also offer plenty of surprises and an extraordinary window into Meatyard’s life and creative process. We’re thrilled to share them with our audience.”

“The Family Album of Ralph Eugene Meatyard” is presented in the Lucinda Weil Bunnen Gallery for Photography on the lower level of the High’s Wieland Pavilion.

Press release from the High Museum of Art

Ralph Eugene Meatyard (American, 1925-1972)
Untitled (plate 17)
1962
Gelatin silver print
High Museum of Art
Purchase with funds from Joe Williams and Tede Fleming
Estate of Ralph Eugene Meatyard
© Estate of Ralph Eugene Meatyard

Meatyard suffered a heart attack in 1961. After this brush with mortality, he gave himself ten years to master photography. A sense of anxiety runs through many of his photographs. This image of a vacant masked face with hands pressed against its cheeks and a shard of broken mirror floating above embodies the persistent sense of pressure and tenuousness motivated by the finiteness of time.

Meatyard began editing the Gnomon Press book soon after he was diagnosed with cancer in 1970, and the looming reality of his fragility no doubt informed his selection of images. Arnold Gassan echoed the need to confront death in the longer, unpublished version of his essay for the book.

Ralph Eugene Meatyard (American, 1925-1972)
Untitled (plate 18)
1963
Gelatin silver print
Estate of Ralph Eugene Meatyard
© Estate of Ralph Eugene Meatyard

Ralph Eugene Meatyard (American, 1925-1972)
Untitled (plate 19)
1960
Gelatin silver print
Estate of Ralph Eugene Meatyard
© Estate of Ralph Eugene Meatyard

The 36 photographs include a number of signature portraits from Meatyard’s series Romance, and portray his family members, sometimes masked, inhabiting abandoned southern landscapes. Meatyard challenges the idea of traditional family portraits. In some images, children play in deserted rooms, maintaining their innocence in disconcerting environments. They are not afraid or amused – they simply exist within the infinite possibilities of this fictional world. In one image, an unrecognisable figure jumps out of a window into a yard where a little boy awaits. The movement of the jumping figure makes it resemble a spirit appearing to the boy in a dream. In creating this series, Meatyard was inspired by Ambrose Bierce’s definition of “romance” in “The Devil’s Dictionary” – defined as “fiction that owes no allegiance to the God of Things as They are.”

Victoria Gonzalez. “The Family Album of Ralph Eugene Meatyard,” on the Musee website December 15, 2025 [Online] Cited 15/02/2026. Used under fair use conditions for the purposes of education and research

As an adult, Meatyard lived in the South but grew up in Normal, Illinois – an apt birthplace for this man who led a very normal life. (“Meatyard” is an arcane 17th century English surname, but its surrealistic sound is an apt byline for the photographer. Meatyard himself collected strange names that he noted in a loose-leaf binder.) He did not consider himself a Southerner, although he has often been associated with Southern photography.

Although Meatyard counted himself as an amateur and hobbyist, he exhibited his work nationally with fine art photographers such as Minor White (who introduced him to Zen Buddhism), Harry Callahan, Aaron Siskind and Emmet Gowin. His national reputation had grown enough that his 1972 passing garnered a New York Times obituary that described Meatyard as living (somewhat disparagingly) in a backwater. Yet, it was living outside major centers of art and photography that allowed him the freedom to pursue his idiosyncratic creative strategies.

Louise E. Shaw. “Experimentation beyond the lens: a retrospective of Ralph Eugene Meatyard debuts at the High,” on the ArtsATL website, January 8, 2026 [Online] Cited 15/02/2026. Used under fair use conditions for the purposes of education and research

Ralph Eugene Meatyard (American, 1925-1972)
Untitled (plate 20)
1962
Gelatin silver print
Estate of Ralph Eugene Meatyard
© Estate of Ralph Eugene Meatyard

Ralph Eugene Meatyard (American, 1925-1972)
Cranston Ritchie (plate 30)
c. 1958-1959
Gelatin silver print
Estate of Ralph Eugene Meatyard
© Estate of Ralph Eugene Meatyard

The photographs of his friends are more straightforward but equally poetic and surrealistic. An example is his portrait of close friend and fellow Lexington Camera Club member Cranston Ritchie (1923-1961). Like Meatyard, Ritchie received an untimely terminal cancer diagnosis, resulting in multiple amputations of his arm. Facing forward, Cranston stands with an armless mannequin and mirror, a humorous but tragic take on fate and mortality.

Cranston Ritchie was a photographer in the Lexington Camera Club and friend of fellow club member, Ralph Eugene Meatyard. Ritchie died young at the age of 38 from cancer. James Rhem in his essay, Gene’s Friend – Cranston Ritchie, writes, “A little knot the size of a grape and sore to the touch appeared on his right hand. It turned out to be a malignancy. Doctors then thought if the arm were removed above the elbow, the cancer might be stopped from continuing to his lungs. It wasn’t. After five surgeries, each an effort to stop the cancer’s spread, Ritchie died the day after Christmas in 1961.” Rhem quotes Meatyard’s 1971 recollection of Ritchie, “He will certainly be recognised in years to come as an outstanding individual photographer as many of the 19th century men are being recognised today.”

Text from the Gitterman Gallery website

Ralph Eugene Meatyard (American, 1925-1972)
Untitled (Madonna, plate 34)
1964
Gelatin silver print
High Museum of Art
Purchase with funds from the Donald and Marilyn Keough Family Foundation
Estate of Ralph Eugene Meatyard
© Estate of Ralph Eugene Meatyard

While Meatyard regularly photographed his family, his pictures are rarely conventional portraits and are not necessarily indicative of his relationships. Even when he wasn’t including masks, he often obscured his sitters’ identities by skilfully deploying exposure, shadow, depth of field, or motion blur. In this silhouetted image, his wife, Madelyn, and their daughter, Melissa, become the archetypal mother and daughter, their fused forms expressing intimacy and connection. The title of the piece, Madonna, and Meatyard’s use of the arched window as a framing device indicate his desire to place his work within an art historical lineage.

The High Museum of Art
1280 Peachtree St NE
Atlanta, GA
30309

Opening hours:
Tuesday – Saturday 10am – 5pm
Sunday 12 – 5pm
Monday closed

Secrets of the Darkroom | Alfred Buckham

Exhibition: ‘Alfred Buckham: Daredevil Photographer’ at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh

Exhibition dates: 18th October, 2025 – 19th April, 2026

Curator: Louise Pearson

Alfred Buckham (British, 1879-1956)
R100
about 1930
Gelatin silver print
National Galleries of Scotland
Purchased with Art Fund support, 2008
© Richard and John Buckham

This is an example of one of his shots of an impressive cloud formation. It features the R-100 airship, noted for its more oval, aerodynamic shape in comparison to the traditional Zeppelin. The R-100 embarked on its maiden flight in 1929 but in 1930 it was deflated and removed from service following the crash of her sister ship, the R-101, with the loss of forty-eight lives. Buckham painted the airship into the scene by hand.

Flights of fancy

What a man, what a daredevil, what an artist!

Member of the Royal Photographic Society and lecturer in photography before the First World War.

Joined the Royal Naval Air Service (precursor to the Royal Air Force) in 1916 and taught young recruits the basics of photography before requesting a transfer to active service. He became a pioneer in aerial reconnaissance over France when the pilots and observers/camera operators of biplanes over the trenches had no parachutes.

Invalided out of the service in 1918 after multiple crashes. After his ninth crash he had to undergo a tracheotomy and spent the rest of his life breathing through a tube.

Determined to continue his love affair with flying and photography, he rented planes and, strapping himself in and leaning over the side with his heavy plate camera, he captured romantic, rugged, aerial landscape photographs which combined dramatic, atmospheric shots of the landscape with photographic manipulation inside and outside the darkroom.

Rather than scratching in the original negative and/or making a composite negative (a la the Australian photographer Frank Hurley, 1885-1962) or using photomontage (the cutting and pasting physical photographs together), Buckham used combination printing – the use of multiple negatives to create seamless, “perfect” images, such as adding detailed skies to landscapes and biplanes to the skies, planes that were photographed on the ground – in the final, unique print. He often scratched the final print to emphasise highlights, and then used watercolour paints to blend in the areas where the different negatives overlapped in the print or to paint in details of aircraft wheels or bridge supports.

Buckham’s photographs of the landscape are truly beautiful. I love them.

The final prints are a heady mixture of romantic landscape (with their underlying nod to Pictorialism, emotional, romantic, and atmospheric scenes over realistic documentation) and modernist elements, of cutting edge machines, bridges, aeroplanes, airships and flying boats added through photographic manipulation in the darkroom, further enhanced by hand, through scratching and painting on the actual print.

To finally reveal what Buckham felt of the physical thrill of flying and the deeply felt emotional reaction to the landscape beneath him – can you imagine being him! – creating these photographs with deep, inward feelings impinging on his mind, his imagination, his memory. To perfectly present “so nearly, the effect that I saw” when in the air. Clouds in a sea of air.

These. These were his flights of fancy.

Dr Marcus Bunyan

Many thankx to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.

“I always stand up to make an exposure and, taking the precaution to tie my right leg to the seat, I am free to move about rapidly, and easily, in any desired direction; and loop the loop, and indulge in other such delights, with perfect safety… If you stand erect you will not have to resist the fatal tendency to rest your arms on the side of the aeroplane whilst making the exposure, for if you do so your photograph will surely be spoiled by the vibration of the engine.”

“Unfortunately, Nature does not always surmount her landscapes with clouds such as will compose well, as a whole, in the picture space, consequently I have provided a store of over 2,000 cloud negatives for such contingencies and from this suitable clouds for combination purposes are selected. And here is just where the hasty or unobservant worker may go badly astray, producing incredible or even appalling results. For the lighting of the landscape must be in correct relation to the light coming down from the sky, and heavy cloud masses insist that they shall have corresponding shapes upon the earth. Selection for the right negative for the purpose may entail the inspection of fifty or more, and on the print some handwork with a chemical reducer and stumping chalk, or other medium, is usually required to bring the whole into harmony. So before venturing upon combination work it is surely wise to serve some years of apprenticeship sketching and painting in the open air, which happens to have been my own way of approach to photography.”

“The open cockpit of a not-too-speedy airplane affords better facilities for working than a cabined plane. When the best weather conditions prevail for pictorial photography, the skyroad is disposed to be bumpy, descending and ascending currents of air moving beneath the big banks of cumulus cloud. A sudden drop of 300 or 400ft may be a little alarming if one is not prepared for it.”

Alfred Buckham

Installation view of the exhibition 'Alfred Buckham: Daredevil Photographer' at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh

Installation views of the exhibition Alfred Buckham: Daredevil Photographer at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh
Photos: Aly Wight

Installation view of the exhibition Alfred Buckham: Daredevil Photographer at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh showing Buckham’s photograph Edinburgh (about 1920, below)
Photo: Aly Wight

Alfred Buckham (British, 1879-1956)
Edinburgh
about 1920
Gelatin silver print
45.80 x 37.80 cm
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
Purchased 1990
© Richard and John Buckham

Buckham had crashed nine times before he was discharged from the Royal Naval Air Service as a hundred per cent disabled. Continuing to indulge his passion for aerial photography, he wrote that ‘If one’s right leg is tied to the seat with a scarf or a piece of rope, it is possible to work in perfect security’. Presumably these were the perilous conditions in which the photographer took this dazzling picture of Edinburgh, one of the city’s most popular aerial views.

Installation view of the exhibition Alfred Buckham: Daredevil Photographer at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh showing Alfred Buckham wearing googles by an unknown photographer (1918, below)
Photo: Aly Wight

Unknown photographer
Alfred Buckham wearing googles
1918
Gelatin silver print
Collection of Richard and John Buckham
© Richard and John Buckham

Unknown photographer
Alfred Buckham’s aeroplane hanging in a tree after a crash during the First World War
1916
Gelatin silver print
Collection of Richard and John Buckham
© Richard and John Buckham

Unknown photographer
Alfred Buckham in an aeroplane
1918
Gelatin silver print
Collection of Richard and John Buckham
© Richard and John Buckham

Unknown photographer
Camera belonging to Alfred G. Buckham
about 1920
National Galleries of Scotland
Purchased from Richard and John Buckham, 2019
© Richard and John Buckham

Take to the skies and discover the world from above the clouds through the remarkable work of Alfred Buckham: Daredevil Photographer.

A trailblazer in his field, Alfred Buckham soared above the realms of what was thought to be possible in 20th century photography and aviation. Meet the man behind some of the most iconic aerial photographs, marvel at the death-defying lengths he took to capture the perfect image and explore how his innovative techniques paved the way for modern technologies such as Photoshop and AI.

Text from the Scottish National Portrait Gallery website

Alfred Buckham’s first ambition was to be a painter, but after seeing JMW Turner’s pictures in the National Gallery in London, he returned home and made a bonfire of his own work. He was the first head of aerial reconnaissance for the Royal Navy in the First World War and later a captain in the Royal Naval Air Service. After crashing nine times he was obliged to undergo a tracheotomy and was discharged as a hundred per cent disabled. While recovering from surgery Buckham started making photo-montages, combining two or three photographs he had taken to compose a single image. He would look for a sky which complemented the city or landscape below, and even add tiny planes to create the look of a one-shot photograph. He continued to take aerial photographs with a heavy plate camera, leaning perilously out of the aeroplane, where his delight in picture making greatly increased the risk of accident.

Text from the National Galleries website

Transcript

Narrator: Lucy Armitage
Video duration: 00:03:43

[This film consists of animations illustrating the photographic techniques described in the narration]

Narrator

How would you have combined multiple photographs into one image in the days before Photoshop? From wartime aerial reconnaissance photographer to intrepid explorer, Alfred Buckham was a true daredevil.

But when he entered the darkroom, he was a meticulous and innovative artist. Let’s take a look at one of his most iconic composite photographs: Edinburgh, which was made using three separate negatives.

The first stage would have been to select one of the negatives he captured while literally dangling from his cockpit at death-defying heights.

He would then select a second negative from his impressive library of over 2,000 negatives of clouds. Selecting the right clouds sometimes required inspecting 50 or more options, and occasionally, he created new cloud formations by taping two negatives together.

He also built up a library of plane negatives, masking each plane from the background. All these planes were photographed from the ground, because it would have been impossible to capture a clear image of a plane, mid-flight, from another moving vehicle.

To make a photographic print, the negative would be placed into a device called an enlarger. Think of it like a top-down projector, shining light through the negative to project its image onto a sheet of light-sensitive photographic paper.

This paper would become a canvas for combining multiple negatives into one image. Buckham would first expose the image of Edinburgh onto the lower half of the paper for just the right amount of time. Next, he would expose the image of the sky onto the upper half. The longer the light projected the negative onto the paper, the darker the final image would be.

Throughout the exposure process, he used dodging and burning techniques to soften the horizon where the two negatives met. Dodging involves using your hand, or a piece of card, to block light on specific areas of the paper during exposure, making them appear lighter in the final print. Burning works in the opposite way, where you block light on the areas you’re happy with, and expose for longer the areas you want to darken.

Buckham used a pin mark to identify his chosen spot for the aeroplane. He would have to adjust the height of the enlarger to change the apparent size of the aeroplane. In this case, he also inserted the negative into the enlarger back to front to reverse the plane’s direction. Did you spot the backwards tail number?

After all three exposures, he would then place the paper into a shallow chemical bath called a developer for a set time. Slowly, as if by magic, the composite image would begin to appear on the paper. Subsequent chemical baths stopped the development process before fixing the image in place.

After washing and drying the paper, the print was ready for final adjustments. Buckham rarely edited negatives directly, as was common for photographers using glass plates. Instead, he made all his final adjustments in the print.

Here, he has used black watercolour to enhance the contrast between the brooding castle and the rest of the city. He would sometimes scratch away dark areas of the print to reveal the lighter colour of the paper beneath. Using this method, he could create the impression of spinning propeller blades or light glinting on key landmarks.

These artistic interventions resulted in each print being truly unique. Buckham’s photographs not only capture breathtaking moments at daring, dizzying heights, but are also the meticulous creations of a pioneering visionary artist.

Alfred Buckham (British, 1879-1956)
RAF Turnhouse Christmas Card
1918
Gelatin silver print
National Galleries of Scotland
Gift of the Bartholomew Family, Edinburgh, 2022
© Richard and John Buckham

A negative of The Forth Bridge, looking north towards Fife, was used as the basis for several prints. It was also used to produce this Christmas card for RAF Turnhouse in 1918. Showing an aeroplane flying towards the Forth Bridge, this is probably one of the first composite photographs Buckham created as it was made while he was still serving in the air force.

Alfred Buckham (British, 1879-1956)
Cloud Turrets
about 1920
Gelatin silver print
38.00 x 45.70cm
National Galleries of Scotland
Purchased with Art Fund support, 2008

This dramatic, and almost surreal photograph, shows the diversity of cloud formations during a fierce thunderstorm. Over the years Buckham amassed a vast collection of photographs of skies which he could integrate with a separate landscape photograph to enhance the drama and create a more impressive composition. He also often manipulated his images further by adding a hand painted aircraft, such as in this image, which heightens the viewer’s awareness of the dominating power and scale of the natural world.

Alfred Buckham (British, 1879-1956)
Clouds Massing Before a Thunderstorm
about 1920
Gelatin silver print
37.80 x 30.00cm
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
Purchased with Art Fund support, 2008

Buckham was renowned for his atmospheric shots of the landscape. He felt that the most spectacular cloud formations and theatrical light could be captured on ‘stormy days, with bursts of sunshine and occasional showers of rain’. Over the years Buckham built up a vast collection of photographs of skies which he could integrate with a separate landscape photograph to enhance the drama and create a more impressive composition. This is an example of one of his shots of an impressive cloud formation before a thunderstorm.

Alfred Buckham (British, 1879-1956)
Sunset over the Pentlands Range
about 1920
Gelatin silver print
46 x 38.6cm
National Galleries of Scotland
Purchased with Art Fund support, 2008
© Richard and John Buckham

Buckham was the leading aerial photographer of his day and was renowned for his atmospheric shots of the landscape. He felt that the most spectacular cloud formations and dramatic light could be captured on “stormy days, with bursts of sunshine and occasional showers of rain”. Over the years Buckham amassed a vast collection of photographs of skies which he could integrate with a separate landscape photograph to enhance the drama and create a more impressive composition. This photograph of the landscape over the Pentlands Hills near Edinburgh demonstrates this technique. It also illustrates another feature of Buckham’s photographs in the perfectly positioned silhouette of a biplane against the broken clouds, which Buckham would have painted on later.

Crafting an image | The photographic techniques of Alfred Buckham

Louise Pearson

Alfred Buckham created some spectacular photographs of the earth from the air. In 2018 curator Louise Pearson looked at how these images were created through a unique combination of daring escapades in the air and clever photographic manipulation on the ground.

Alfred Buckham was a passionate enthusiast of both photography and flight. By 1914 he was already an established photographer and a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society. During the First World War he was involved in the relatively new discipline of aerial reconnaissance, both as a teacher and a practitioner. It was a dangerous occupation and his military career ended as a result of the injuries sustained to his throat during his ninth crash. Despite this, his wartime activities had sparked a love of flying and on leaving the Royal Naval Air Service it seemed natural that he would continue to take photographs from the sky. Buckham subsequently created an astonishing series of photographs, ranging in subject from the Forth Bridge to the skyscrapers of New York and the volcanoes of South America.

The National Galleries of Scotland holds a group of Buckham’s photographs including Edinburgh, which has become one of the most popular works of art in the collection. When we decided to have a photography exhibition on the theme of transport it was clear that Buckham’s aerial photographs would take centre stage. I selected several of Buckham’s photographs for inclusion, including Edinburgh and The Forth Bridge, and started to look at the photographs in more detail with conservator James Berry. We also started planning a blog to explain how Buckham was able to create such dramatic images.

From previous research, and the work James was doing on conserving the photographs ahead of the exhibition, we knew that Buckham was using a technique called combination printing. This is when a photographer uses a number of different negatives to create a single photographic print. In order to fully understand his working methods, we needed to see the negatives he was using. Fortunately, Alfred Buckham’s entire archive of around 1400 negatives, nearly 300 prints, camera and associated archive material has remained with his family and is currently in the care of his grandsons Richard and John Buckham. Richard kindly allowed me to spend a day at his home in London, looking through this fascinating collection. Being able to compare the negatives to the prints in our collection, and read Buckham’s accounts of his photographic work, helped us to piece together how he would have made the atmospheric photograph Edinburgh.

The first stage in taking an aerial photograph is to select the right plane. Buckham took photographs around the world and would have used a number of different planes flown by various pilots to take his photographs. However he recorded that he always preferred to use older planes with open cockpits that travelled at the fairly sedate speed of 60 to 80 miles per hour. Through trial and error he discovered that flying between 1,000 and 2,000 ft gave the best results, as at that height the landscape could be captured with just the right level of detail. …

The other essential piece of equipment was the camera. Happily, as Buckham’s camera survives, we know exactly what he was using to make his exposures. In an article written for the benefit of prospective aerial photographers, he advised using the kind of cameras used by newspaper reporters, which operated at eye-level, rather than the cumbersome cameras which had originally been developed for aerial photography. ‘The camera best suited to the purpose and the one I usually employ has a F4.5 lens and a large direct vision view-finder the same size as the plate, fitted on the top of the lens panel’. He cautioned however that the leather bellows needed to be reinforced with cardboard or aluminium, as the otherwise delicate bellows could not withstand the force of the winds encountered at altitude.

The kind of camera favoured by Buckham used glass plate negatives, which was a conscious decision by Buckham at a time when photographic film was becoming readily available. He favoured double-coated panchromatic plates made in the USA, with dimensions of 10.0cm x 12.5cm. Throughout his career he reiterated that despite their bulk and delicacy, plates gave a far superior result to film.

Extract from Louise Pearson. “Crafting an image | The photographic techniques of Alfred Buckham,” on the National Galleries of Scotland website Nd [Online] Cited 11/02/2026. Used under fair use conditions for the purposes of education and research

Alfred Buckham (British, 1879-1956)
Aeroplane Negative
About 1920
© Richard and John Buckham

Buckham built up a library of negatives depicting only aeroplanes, where the original background was masked out. This meant that when the negative was exposed on top of an existing print the plane would appear to be part of the chosen landscape. Buckham would have also been able use an enlarger to match the scale of the plane to the landscape, making the scene appear realistic. While in most cases this technique produces a believable, if slightly incredible, final image there are examples where the planes appear too close together, or at impossible angles.

For Buckham, the final stage of creating a finished image was to use watercolour paints and sometimes ink to add detail to the final print and soften the areas where the two negatives meet. In some of his photographs these hand-drawn elements are easily visible, though in the case of Edinburgh they are more subtle. The clouds on the horizon have been softened to make the join where the two negatives meet less noticeable in the finished print, highlights have been added to the clouds to make them more dramatic and the light below Arthur’s Seat has been adjusted to better match the clouds above. In addition, some areas have been highlighted and others darkened to sharpen the details of key landmarks and make them more recognisable. The use of black watercolour or ink to strengthen and define specific areas of the photographs shows Buckham’s ingenuity. Whilst other photographers would alter the negatives and perhaps scratch out an area that they wished to appear darker, Buckham added the darker tone to the photographic print itself. He also used a scratching out technique, similar to Turner, where a dark area of the photograph is scratched revealing the lighter colour of the paper beneath. This artistic intervention results in each photograph being a unique piece of work. No two can be exactly the same.

It is clear then that Buckham’s photographs are not the result of a single, breath-taking moment in time but instead are a carefully crafted piece of art. He was using known photographic techniques, but created a style which was very much his own. As a result it is easy to see why Edinburgh has become one of the most popular artworks in the collection.

Alfred Buckham (British, 1879-1956)
Uplands Snowstorm Passing
about 1920
Gelatin silver print
National Galleries of Scotland
Purchased with Art Fund support, 2008
© Richard and John Buckham

In this image the undulations of the snow covered hills are mirrored in the cloudy sky. Buckham introduces a sense of scale through the lone plane silhouetted against a cloud.

Alfred Buckham (British, 1879-1956)
The Forth Bridge
about 1920
Gelatin silver print
National Galleries of Scotland
Purchased with Art Fund support, 2008
© Richard and John Buckham

Buckham felt that the most spectacular cloud formations and theatrical light could be captured on ‘stormy days, with bursts of sunshine and occasional showers of rain’. This creativity led to him being regarded as the leading aerial photographer of his day and he was renowned for his atmospheric shots of the landscape. Over the years he amassed a vast collection of photographs of skies which he integrated with a separate landscape photograph to enhance the drama and create an imposing composition. This image over the Firth of Forth, Scotland, encapsulates the romantic fusion of man’s engineering achievements against the dramatic beauty of nature. The three steel arches of the Forth Rail Bridge are mirrored in the three biplanes, which Buckham added later by hand, silhouetted against the spectacular sky.

Alfred Buckham (British, 1879-1956)
Sunshine, and Showers
about 1920
Gelatin silver print
National Galleries of Scotland
Purchased with Art Fund support, 2008
© Richard and John Buckham

This image shows Captain Jordan flying his Black Camel biplane at very close proximity to Buckham’s aircraft. Taken over the landscape around Rosyth, Fife, Scotland this was near to where Buckham crashed for the ninth time in 1918 and sustained serious injuries.

This autumn at the Portrait gallery in Edinburgh, take to the skies and see the world from above the clouds through the remarkable work of Alfred Buckham: Daredevil Photographer. From 18 October 2025 – 19 April 2026, meet the man behind some of the most iconic aerial photographs ever taken, marvel at the death-defying lengths he took to capture the perfect image and explore how his innovative techniques in the darkroom paved the way for modern technologies such as Photoshop and AI. Free to visit at the National Galleries Scotland: Portrait, this will be the first major exhibition dedicated to Alfred Buckham and can only be seen in Scotland.

This exhibition will bring together over 100 photographs and objects including popular works from the Scottish national collection, alongside extensive archival material generously loaned by Alfred Buckham’s grandsons, Richard and John Buckham. Thanks to the support of the Buckham family, personal objects including letters, photographs and even the passport Alfred Buckham used will be put on public display for the first time.

A maverick of early aviation, Alfred Buckham (1879-1956) created his own unique style of photography by combining daring exploits in the air with innovation in the darkroom. Born in London, Buckham learned his craft by teaching photography before joining the Royal Naval Air Service in 1916, a predecessor to the Royal Air Force. Hailed as an exceptionally skilled flyer, he combined his talent for aviation with his passion for photography, resulting in remarkable endeavours and trailblazing images. Based for most of his military career at RAF Turnhouse, now Edinburgh Airport, central Scotland became a natural playground for Buckham to refine his photographic techniques and let his imagination soar. Daredevil Photographer will chart his phenomenal story from his early photographic experiments in Scotland to exciting adventures in South America and look closer at the skilled and inventive ways he created his work.

Explore Scotland from the air and get a new perspective of well-known sights, just as Buckham himself would have. Daredevil Photographer celebrates the impact Scotland had on Buckham’s work through his images of recognisable landmarks including St Andrews Golf Links, Linlithgow Palace and the Wallace Monument in Stirling. The exhibition will also feature several images of the Forth Rail Bridge, Buckham’s most photographed landmark. The iconic bridge was the subject of one of his first composite photographs and appeared on the 1918 RAF Turnhouse Christmas card, which will go on display alongside the original photography.

Daredevil Photographer will delve into the darkroom and uncover more about the creative processes used to bring Buckham’s unique images to life. After the First World War, Buckham began experimenting with composite photography; a technique where several negatives are used to create one photographic print. While this wasn’t a new concept, composite photography added a layer of creative freedom to Buckham’s work, much like a very early form of Photoshop. From his vast collection of glass negatives – he had over 2000 cloud images alone in his ‘cloud library’ – Buckham had the means to create images which became immersive, giving a unique sense of flying alongside these incredible aircraft while viewing the world below.

It was through the technique of composite photography that some of Buckham’s most famous works were born, including the iconic aerial view of Edinburgh (about 1920). This striking photograph shows a bi-plane hovering amongst wispy clouds above Edinburgh Castle, with Arthur’s Seat visible through the mist in the background, and the bustling city below. For the first time, Edinburgh will be displayed alongside the camera and original glass negatives Buckham used to capture and create this much-loved image. Visitors will also be encouraged to get inspired and try their hand at creating their own composite creations through interactive exhibits.

Telling Buckham’s story through his own words and memories, Daredevil Photographer allows visitors to meet the courageous and humorous man behind the camera. Firsthand accounts of his incredible exploits in the air and ingenious creative methods on the ground will enhance his story and highlight his adventurous spirit: Ah! One was a rare daredevil in those days! (Alfred Buckham, The New York Times, 1930). A free and unique immersive audio experience will bring Buckham’s world of flight and imagination to life through his own words. Hear Buckham’s grandson Richard give a voice to his grandfather’s memories and reflections on his daredevil persona.

Daredevil in every sense of the word, Buckham went to incredible feats to capture the perfect shot, which the exhibition will explore. His preferred methods included standing in an open cockpit while mid-air, with his leg tied to the seat as a nod to safety. As a result, he experienced no less than nine crashes in his lifetime, one ending in a serious throat injury that cut his military career short. However, he would not be deterred, describing his eccentric photography methods in a surprisingly relaxed way:

“It is not easy to tumble out of an aeroplane, unless you really want to, and on considerably more than a thousand flights I have used a safety belt only once, and then it was thrust upon me. I always stand up to make an exposure and, taking the precaution to tie my right leg to the seat, I am free to move rapidly, and easily, in any desired direction; and loop the loop; and indulge in other such delights, with perfect safety” – Alfred Buckham, The Camera, January 1927.

Daredevil Photographer will celebrate Buckham’s skill in the air through a range of his mesmerising photographs. Encounter stunning images of the leading aircraft of the day, such as the Bristol Fighter, a two seated bi-plane designed for aerial reconnaissance, and the bizarre airships of the 1920s. See them soaring through the skies in all weathers, amongst an array of remarkable landscapes. The exhibition will include one of his most well-known works, The Heart of the Empire (1923), on loan from the V&A Museum in London and displayed in Edinburgh for the first time. The photograph follows a bi-plane as it glides across the London skyline, with landmarks such as Tower Bridge and the River Thames in view. Exhibited by the Royal Photographic Society in 1925, The Heart of the Empire secured Buckham’s position as one of Britain’s leading aerial photographers.

Experience the golden age of travel through Buckham’s portfolio of images spanning across the globe. In 1931, a commission from Fortune Magazine took Buckham on an epic fifteen-week trip across the Americas, covering 19,000 miles and setting a world record. Starting in New York City and taking the opportunity to capture the newly built Empire State Building, Buckham photographed his intrepid journey from the United States to the tip of South America to share with the world. Daredevil Photographer will chart Buckham’s incredible journey, from expansive views of Christ the Redeemer in Rio De Janeiro and the snowy caps of the Andes Mountains to perilous scenes of smoking volcanic creators in Guatemala and Mexico. Through his death-defying adventures and stunning photographs, Buckham expanded public understanding of the world, creating an exciting legacy which continues to capture imaginations today.

Louise Pearson, curator of photography at the National Galleries of Scotland says: “Alfred Buckham’s eye-catching photograph of Edinburgh is one of the most popular artworks in the National Galleries of Scotland collection. This enthralling image becomes even more intriguing when you learn that it is a darkroom jigsaw – a composite photograph made through a combination of technical skill and creative vision. Alfred Buckham: Daredevil Photographer tells the remarkable story of this maverick of early aviation whose adventures took him from aerial reconnaissance photographer to intrepid explorer via numerous loop the loops.”

Press release from National Galleries of Scotland

Alfred Buckham (British, 1879-1956)
Castle Island Loch Leven (Where Mary Queen of Scots was Imprisoned)
about 1920
Gelatin silver print
National Galleries of Scotland
Purchased with Art Fund support, 2008
© Richard and John Buckham

This photograph of Castle Island, where Mary, Queen of Scots was imprisoned in 1567, shows the vast expanse of the rolling countryside around Loch Leven, Scotland. The cloudy sky enhances the depth of the image and the small biplanes, which Buckham added later by hand, reinforce the dramatic scale.

Alfred Buckham (British, 1879-1956)
Flying Boat Over Sea
1930
Gelatin silver print
45.5 x 37.6cm
National Galleries of Scotland
Purchased with Art Fund support, 2008

This photograph captures the stormy ocean with its swelling crests of the waves illuminated white. Silhouetted against the threatening sky is a flying boat. This specialised form of aircraft was purposely designed to take off from, and land on, water. This feature was exploited during the World Wars but its use rapidly declined thereafter. Buckham was aware of the flying boat from his time in the Royal Naval Air Service and, specifically, his involvement in photographing the alterations required that allowed planes to take off from, and land on, a ship.

Alfred Buckham (British, 1879-1956)
The Loop
about 1930
Gelatin silver print
National Galleries of Scotland
Purchased in recognition of over 40 years of work on the National Galleries of Scotland photography collection by James Berry, Senior Paper Conservator
© Richard and John Buckham

Alfred Buckham (British, 1879-1956)
Volcano Crater of Popocatepetl
about 1930
National Galleries of Scotland
Purchased with Art Fund support, 2008
© Richard and John Buckham

In 1930 Buckham was commissioned by Fortune magazine to produce a portfolio of aerial photographs of his chosen area of the Americas. Buckman opted for central and South America and this dramatic photograph captures the centre of Mexican volcano, Popocatepetl. The snow covered edge of the crater contrasts against the ominous dark sky, creating a shot which captures the awe-inspiring power of an active volcano. Buckham described the journey of the flight as his aeroplane turned down into the crater: ‘Almost at once the aeroplane dropped about two hundred feet… Beneath us the circular lake of boiling lava emitted numerous spouts of smoke and steam, whilst round its edge played occasional fires which, suddenly springing up and flickering awhile, as suddenly disappeared.’

Alfred Buckham: Daredevil Photographer

Paperback – 12 Nov. 2025 by Louise Pearson (Author), James Crawford (Other Contributor)

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'Alfred Buckham: Daredevil Photographer' paperback November 2025, book pages

Alfred Buckham: Daredevil Photographer paperback November 2025, book pages

Scottish National Portrait Gallery
1 Queen Street, Edinburgh,
EH2 1JD, Scotland

Opening hours:
Daily, 10am – 5pm

National Galleries of Scotland website

Exhibition: ‘Early Gaze: Unseen Photography from the 19th Century’ at FOMU – Photo Museum Antwerp

Exhibition dates: 24th October, 2025 – 1st March, 2026

Curators: Tamara Berghmans (FOMU collection curator and researcher) and Ingrid Leonard (researcher at FOMU)

Adolphe Neyt (Belgian, 1830-1892)
Seascape
1881
Carbon print
FOMU Collection

An exhibition on an eclectic subject that I knew nothing about before assembling this posting: 19th century Belgian photography.

In order to give a better understanding of the life of the photographers I have added their dates and bibliographic information where possible.

My favourite photograph in the posting is the mysterious and atmos/pheric Portrait of Marguerite Khnopff by the artist Fernand Khnopff (c. 1900, below), where “atmos” are the “atoms” of energy and mood that surround the subject, the vapour that envelopes the body.

Dr Marcus Bunyan

Many thankx to FOMU for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.

The Early Gaze exhibition documents the birth of Belgian photography, from the very first mug shots to groundbreaking imagery in the arts, medical science and justice. It shows how an elite pastime grew out to become a powerful tool for capturing, controlling and constructing identity.

Early Gaze casts a fresh light on the rise and development of photography in 19th-century Belgium. The invention of photography did not only bring technological novelty, but also changed the way we see ourselves and the world. What began as a marvel of innovation quickly expanded into an instrument for control and image-building.

You will get a new perspective on the photographic pioneers who co-wrote the story of a young nation. You will discover forgotten portraits and unknown stories, and experience how the first photographic gaze still continues to influence our contemporary visual culture through phenomena such as agency, and consent.

Early Gaze illustrates that from the very start, photography was not a neutral registration of reality but a powerful instrument that helped shape the story of the ruling class.

The exhibition is accompanied by the book Early Gaze, published by Hannibal Books. With numerous unique photos by François Braga, Joseph Pelizarro, Guillaume Claine, Joseph Ernest Buschmann, Edmond Fierlants and others. Hardcover, Dutch/English, 304 pages, available for €55 in the FOMU shop.

Text from the FOMU website

installation view of the exhibition 'Early Gaze: Unseen Photography from the 19th Century' at FOMU, Antwerp

Installation views of the exhibition Early Gaze: Unseen Photography from the 19th Century at FOMU
© Tom Cornille / © FOMU

Early Gaze casts a fresh light on the rise of photography in 19th-century Belgium.

In 1839 the world was changed forever by the invention of photography. For the first time it was possible to capture reality with the use of light. Whereas France and England introduced this revolutionary technique, Belgium quickly followed.

In the young nation of Belgium – independent since 1830 – photography soon came to play a key role in the shaping of a national identity. Embracing the new medium, Belgian pioneers captured people, cities, landscapes and historical events. But what they didn’t show is just as telling. Not everyone had access to photography, and that is why photos also expose 19th-century power relations.

Countless unknown images and stories have come to light over the past years. At the same time there was a change in mindset about photography and cultural heritage. Early Gaze considers the questions these photos invoke today. Who was depicted, and who was not? Who took the pictures, and why? Which photos were kept? For one thing very soon became clear: photography was more than a technical novelty. It is a way of seeing, capturing and remembering.

This exhibition shows rare and never-seen-before images, original cameras and the earliest photographic techniques. Themes such as art, science, reportage, propaganda and colonialist image-making showcase photography’s versatility and force.

Early Gaze invites you to discover the first sixty years of Belgian photography: not as a closed chapter, but rather as a story that continues to evolve.

1/ A Magic Moment

The invention of photography in 1839 was a magical event: for the first time you could truly capture a moment from real life!

Two different techniques arose in France and England in this period. Frenchman Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre developed the daguerreotype: a unique image on a metal plate. In England, William Henry Fox Talbot invented the calotype: a negative- to-positive process using paper.

Not only did the techniques differ, so did the way in which these inventions were marketed. Daguerre, a clever businessman, immediately distributed a manual that made the technique gain popularity. Talbot decided on a patent: whoever wanted to use his method, would have to pay. This limited the popularity of the calotype.

In Belgium it was mainly the daguerreotype that found immediate success. Unfortunately, most early photographs were lost. Only a few examples were preserved, including two daguerreotypes of Saint Nicholas Church in Ghent, made by François Braga and Joseph Pelizzaro.

2/ From Experiment to Industry

Photography evolved at a rapid pace in the 19th century: from experiment to profession, from studio to industry.

In its pioneer years (1839-1842) photography was expensive, technically complex, and at times dangerous due to the use of chemical substances. Scientists, artists and optics professionals experimented, presented their results to academies, and applied for patents.

From 1842 a new profession arose: the portrait photographer. The high demand for portraits caused many engravers and miniature painters to switch to photography. Most of them did not yet have permanent photo studios, but travelled around. New techniques, such as wet collodion plates and the carte de visite, made the medium become more affordable and popular from around 1850. The number of photo studios – both small enterprises and larger ateliers – then grew quickly. The profession offered financial independence to many, as well as a chance at social advancement. Women were also active in the field, even if they often remained invisible or worked only under their initials.

Photography became a modern industry towards the end of the century. Belgian pioneers were internationally successful with their ready-made photographic materials. The introduction of simple devices by Kodak and Van Neck allowed even amateurs to document their lives. Photography became an everyday and personal medium.

Travelling photographers

In the early years of photography, many portrait photographers went from town to town. There were not enough customers yet to support a studio in a fixed location. Photographers advertised in newspapers, mentioning when they would be staying at a certain location or hotel. These pioneers often came from abroad. One Madame Guyard, for instance, was a travelling daguerreotypist. Her advertisement made her appear to be Parisian, though she was actually from Brussels and named Elisabeth Vandenplas. Were the French name and the reference to Paris meant to heighten her credibility as a photographer?

The democratising impact of the carte de visite

Photography underwent a major change in the second half of the 19th century. In 1854, Frenchman André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri introduced the carte de visite: a small-sized portrait (6 by 9 cm) on cardboard. He designed a multi-lens camera that allowed for multiple exposures to be registered on a single photographic plate. The photographs were then cut and separately glued onto cardboard: this way you could get multiple poses at the price of a single take. The photographer’s name and specialisation were listed on the back of the image. Cartes de visite made portrait photography quicker, cheaper and more accessible, especially to the middle class. Collecting these portraits of family, friends and acquaintances became all the rage. Countless commercial portrait studios appeared in Belgium, such as those of Adèle Daams, Ghémar Frères and François Deron.

Belgian camera manufacturers

In the 19th century’s final decades, Belgium saw a small scale, artisan production of cameras. Belgian manufacturers, often furniture makers by trade, built cameras locally as well as importing foreign models. France, England and Germany dominated the market, but Belgium as well had some well-known producers like Van Neck (Antwerp), the Drayé brothers (Merksem), Le Docte (Brussels) and Hofmans (Elsene). This era of camera production, however, was short-lived. Around 1900, increasing foreign competition put an end to this Belgian camera manufacturing.

Photo industry

Belgium initially was mostly a consumer of photographic technology. Between 1879 and 1900, small photochemical companies appeared in Ghent, Kortrijk and Brussels. Only some enterprises, such as that of Van Monckhoven and Beernaert Dry Plate from Ghent and that of Lieven Gevaert from Antwerp, truly achieved a breakthrough. They met the growing demand by professional and amateur photographers for faster and more user-friendly methods such as gelatin dry plates, optics, light-sensitive emulsions and photographic paper.

First female photo studio: Dorothée Detournay

In 1864 Dorothée J. Louise Detournay opened her own photo studio in Brussels, which was unusual for a woman. Specialising in ladies’ portraits, she herself stood behind the camera: a unique selling point that she accentuated in her advertising. After marrying Henri Dupont she worked at the Dupont studio, which was sometimes referred to as ‘Mr & Mme Henri Dupont’. After their divorce in 1877 she remained active in the field, together with her son Georges Dupont. She pioneered the use of electric lighting for her photographic work, displaying it at various exhibitions.

Gevaert Photo-Producten N.V.

In 1882, young Lieven Gevaert began working at the framing studio owned by his mother, Maria-Theresia Bruynseels. Together they opened a photo studio in Antwerp in 1890. Imported photo-paper was expensive and unreliable. That is why Gevaert began producing his own paper in 1894. His first product, Calcium Paper, was an instant success. Dozens of new varieties, such as Blue Star and Gevaluxe, would be added in the following decades – all with particular differences in sheen, texture and thickness. From a small studio, Gevaert Photo-Producten N.V. (later Agfa-Gevaert) grew into a major international player that could compete with companies such as Kodak and Ilford.

3/ Visualising Class

Due to the rise of photography, portraiture changed considerably in the 19th century. Initially it was an expensive and technically complex medium, only accessible to nobility and the rising bourgeoisie. Entrepreneurs, industrials and lawyers had their portraits taken or, for example, their castle domains photographed.

About halfway through the century, portrait studios offering a fixed selection of poses to a growing urban middle class came up everywhere. The carte de visite made photographic portraiture affordable. These small portrait pictures give a clear insight into the era’s dominant norms regarding class and gender: dignity, elegance and self- control were important. From 1870 onwards, ferrotype offered a first affordable chance for workers to be photographed.

Around 1890, snapshot photography and user-friendly cameras by companies such as Kodak and the Belgian Van Neck ushered in a new phase. Amateur photographers from the higher middle class would record their surroundings in informal situations.

Still, certain groups stayed largely invisible: people of colour or queer couples were rarely pictured. Photography, then, did not only capture memories, but also deepened social inequalities and notions of identity.

Stereo photography

Stereo photography is a technique in which a two-lens camera takes two photos of the same subject using slightly different angles. The camera simulates the distance between human eyes. When viewed through a stereoscope, the image appears to gain depth. Stereoscopes vary from portable models to large pieces of furniture.

Free time in the family album

Around 1890, a new era arrived with the advent of user-friendly cameras by companies like Kodak and the Belgian Van Neck. Amateur photographers from the higher middle class began photographing their daily lives: family trips, holidays and homely situations. See this album, for example: the image itself of a woman riding a bicycle even seems to have been taken from another bicycle in motion. These playful, spontaneous photos show how photography was coming within the reach of more people. That is how leisure time and personal memories became a fixed presence in a family’s visual memory.

Status in the portrait

In 19th-century photo studios the customers would pose sitting or standing, beautifully dressed and surrounded by prop objects to accentuate their status. Poses and props were often the same, and they were strongly determined by notions regarding social class, gender and current trends. Men and boys took serious poses with books, walking canes or rifles, while women and girls appeared in long dresses with parasols. Deviations, such as a smile, were inappropriate. You were allowed to show yourself, but within the boundaries of bourgeois expectation patterns. The result: stately portraits that resembled paintings and were supposed to radiate the portrayed person’s social status.

4/ From Document to Art

The value of photography as a versatile tool in art and science was recognised early on. In Belgium the medium soon came to play a key role in the systematic documentation of heritage and art objects: think of medieval sculpture, the Flemish primitives and baroque paintings. A small yet lucrative market arose for this type of art reproductions. Artists also turned to photography as a tool for sketches and preparatory drafts.

The end of the 19th century saw the rise of pictorialism. This movement considered photography to be a fully-fledged art form and sought inspiration in painting. Amateur photographers from the higher bourgeoisie in particular created poetic, dreamy images with a central focus on their personal expression. Photography thus became a means of presenting yourself artistically as well as socially. The Belgian state’s purchase of a large collection of photos by Pictorialists marked an important turning point in the recognition of photography as an art form. The medium, which up to then had been mostly connected to the industrial arts, now claimed its position amidst the visual arts.

Between art and eroticism

What is the difference between nude studies for artists and erotic nude photographs? Up to 1867, Belgian law forbade photos that violated ‘good morals’. It was unclear what exactly this meant, and the boundary between art and eroticism was a thin one. Whereas Belgium played an important role in the publication of erotic literature in the late 19th century, saucy photographs typically came from France. In addition there were photo magazines with nude models for artists. These were officially intended as a tool for painters, but attracted other audiences as well.

In the course of the 19th century, erotic imagery changed from being a luxury product to something that was affordable to a large group of people.

Pictorialism

Through the use of photography, the pictorialists sought a personal interpretation of reality. They strove for harmony in line, colour and atmosphere, using techniques such as gum, carbon and platinum printing to achieve a painterly effect. Photographers thus stayed fully in control: they could adjust tone values, add or remove details, and intervene in the printing process using brushes, pens or smudging tools. Pictorialists often printed on texture-rich paper or Japanese silk paper, making each photograph a unique work or art.

5/ National Identity

In the young nation of Belgium, photography played a key role in the representation of social status and the formation of a national entity. Photos of landscapes, monuments and historical figures supported the notion of Belgium as a nation state with a history and heritage of its own. King Leopold I soon understood photography’s potential for depicting the nation, just like other government entities and organisations.

Photographers themselves took initiatives of their own. They submitted project proposals, requested funding, and actively contributed to inventories of heritage. While the interest in the past grew, the lens was also aimed at the present: modernisation, industrial expansion and cities in transformation.

Industrial photography documented impressive infrastructure, such as railroads and factories. Such photographs accentuated Belgium’s image as a progressive industrial state. The easy reproducibility of photos caused photography to spread out quickly and to be used in education, promotional campaigns and propaganda. Thus photography was further shaped as a medium that balances between capturing, imaging and influencing.

Patrimony through the lens of Fierlants

In 1860, the Antwerp city government gave Edmond Fierlants the assignment of photographing city views and monuments just before the advent of drastic changes. Brussels and Louvain followed suit. Fierlants’ photographs, often in large formats, show medieval buildings, baroque churches and endangered urban areas. His monumental series of 165 images made Fierlants a leading figure in Belgian photography. This work aligns with the national ambition of preserving historical heritage in the Flanders and Brabant regions.

Patrimony through the lens of Radoux

As early as 1857, Gilbert Radoux photographed Belgian monuments using collodion negatives on glass. Recent analysis shows that he worked with a photographer from the French company of Bisson Frères in Ghent, Bruges, Louvain and Antwerp. Their images, featuring identical shooting positions and details, were also distributed in Paris. Radoux suddenly ended his practice in 1861. His photos long remained undervalued from a technical perspective, but today he is considered an early pioneer of Belgian architecture photography.

Britons in Belgium

Among the first photographers in Belgium (1840-1860) were a striking amount of Englishmen and Scots. They continued the tradition of travelling and capturing landscapes and monuments. Their images reflect a nostalgic, medieval Belgium. In 1846 William Henry Fox Talbot created one of Mechelen’s oldest calotypes of the city. Egbert Moxham established himself in Bruges in 1857, taking several photos there. His salted paper prints on decorative golden-edged cardboard appear to be intended for sale. Sir William Newton, too, took photographs in Bruges.

6/ Colonial Perspective and World’s Fairs

There was a downside to the splendour of young Belgium. In 1885 Leopold II, king of Belgium, also became the sole ruler and owner of the Congo Free State. Photography played a key role in the promotion of this colonial project. Belgian world’s fairs in 1885, 1894 and 1897 in particular made it painfully clear how deeply the ties ran between ambitions for progress and colonialism.

Without their consent, Congolese people were exhibited and photographed at these international exhibitions in Antwerp and Brussels. Such colonial photography was not neutral: it reflects the inequality and power relations of the colonial system. Mainly produced by white male photographers, the images confirmed the notion of European superiority and reduced the portrayed Congolese persons to objects: dehumanised and voiceless. In addition to photos of Congolese persons in a colonial context, other people of colour were also photographed from a colonial perspective. These images served as propaganda for the so-called ‘civilising mission’, reinforced racist stereotypes, and legitimised colonial domination.

7/ Photography as a Scientific Instrument

Driven by positivist thinking and belief in progress, photography became an essential tool for scientific disciplines in the 19th century. It was regarded as objective proof and used in observation, classification and documentation. In medical science, photography helped with the documentation of illness reports, surgery and anatomical anomalies. Patients are often recognisably pictured without consent or regard for their privacy.

Photographic micrography opened up a whole new world: bacteria, cells and tissue structures could now be studied visually. This marked the start of modern microbiology. In astronomy, photography replaced the eye of the observer, and the first photos of the moon were created. Within the legal domain, photography was used from 1860 onwards for identification purposes, and later also for the documentation of crime scenes.

In this manner the medium evolved into a powerful instrument of knowledge, control and power, but not without ethical consequences.

8/ Photoreporting On The Rise

Over the course of the 19th century, photography evolved into a technique that also allowed for the photographing of moving subjects. Photographers in Belgium documented a variety of subjects, such as processions, disasters, public celebrations and technological spectacles such as air balloon rides.

The options were initially limited by long exposure times and complicated methods such as the wet collodion process. Around 1870, new techniques brought more speed and flexibility. The introduction of the gelatin dry plate negative on glass in 1871, for example, was a turning point: the plate could be prepared in advance and developed afterwards. Thanks to this invention, photographers could work in a more dynamic manner.

Around 1900 photography became more mobile and faster, gaining it a regular presence in the illustrated press. From around 1885 photomechanical techniques such as halftone printing gradually replaced drawings. This allowed for image and text to be printed at the same time. It made photography a modern means of communication, an evolution with a lasting impact on both journalism and our visual culture.

Press release from FOMU

François Braga (Italian active Belgium, c. 1810 – after 1883) & Joseph Pelizzaro (Belgium, 1803- )
Ghent, view of Predikherenlei and Predikherenbrug
1839
Daguerreotype
STAM Collection – Ghent City Museum

François Braga was an Italian-born photographer and optician, active in Belgium, who is noted for taking one of the earliest known photographs in Belgium in 1839. In October 1839, Braga and his partner Joseph Pelizzaro created daguerreotypes of the Predikherenbrug and Predikherenlei in Ghent, which are considered the earliest photographic views of the city.

Along with his friend, print and engraving seller Joseph Pelizzaro, Braga captured the scene from the second floor of Judge Philippe Van de Velde’s residence on the Ajuinlei. Out of the four original plates they created, two are preserved in the STAM – Ghent City Museum, while the other two have been lost.

Joseph Pelizzaro (also spelled Pellizzaro) was a Ghent-based print seller, engraver, and a pioneering photographer born on August 29, 1803. He was the first professional daguerreotypist with a fixed abode in Ghent, Belgium.

Joseph-Ernest Buschmann (Belgian, 1814-1853)
Groenplaats, Antwerp
1848-1850
Salt print
FOMU Collection

Louis Ghémar (Belgian, 1820-1873)
Portrait of King Leopold I
1856
Salt print
Janssens Collection, Antwerp

In 1855 Louis Ghémar (1820-1873) opened a photo studio in Brussels, next to the studio of Jules Géruzet. In the beginning Louis Ghémar worked together with Robert Sévérin. Sévérin took the photos and Ghémar made the retouches and eventually colours the photos. But Sévérin left Brussels and was replaced by Louis Ghémars half-brother, Léon Auverlaux. From then on the name of the studio was changed to Ghémar Frères.

Louis Ghémar died in 1873 but the studio kept the name Ghémar Frères until 1894 when Géruzet takes over the studio, including all the negatives of Ghémar.

Ghémar Frères (Belgian, active 1859-1894)
Self portrait Louis Ghémar at a piano
c. 1862
Albumen print
Collection FOMU

The photo studio of the two brothers Ghémar was the most renowned Belgian photostudio in the period 1855-1870.

Louis Ghémar (Belgian, 1820-1873)
The hot air balloon “Le Géant”, by Nadar shortly before takeoff at the Botanical Garden in Brussels
1864
Albumen print
Collection Yper Museum

In the 19th century, hot air balloons embodied the promise of progress.

Balloon flights were spectacular events that drew large crowds, and the attention of photographers. Rising into the air symbolised technological ambition, curiosity and modernity. Capturing these moments via photography, however, proved challenging. Long exposure times made it difficult to photograph movement or unpredictable events.

In the exhibition Early Gaze you can see how photographers documented balloon ascents, such as the famous lift-off of Le Géant in Brussels in 1864. While the ascent could be photographed, unexpected moments, like the balloon’s emergency landing near Ypres, were still too fleeting for the camera and had to be represented through drawings instead.

Text from the FOMU Instagram web page

Unknown photographer
Hot air balloon
1899
Albumen print
Collection Janssens

Adolphe Neyt (Belgian, 1830-1892)
‘View of the Moon’, from Atlas photographique de la lune
1869
Albumen print
Collection University Library Ghent bieb

After some uninspired steps in politics, wealthy industrialist Adolphe Neyt decided to dedicate himself to his real interests: the sciences and fine arts. As part of this change in direction, he started to take photographs, convinced that the medium had a vital role to play in scientific research. In 1867, Neyt produced a series of stereoscopic photographs of micro-organisms, earning him international success and a silver medal at the World Exhibition in Paris. After this recognition, he ventured into astronomical photography. Neyt had a private observatory built at his home in Ghent’s Coupure to take shots of the moon. The project led in 1869 to his most impressive publication, the Atlas photographique de la lune. …

Although Neyt was not the first photographer to make recordings of the lunar surface, his results were distinguished from previous examples by their unrivalled clarity and sharpness. They were among the highlights of the Belgian pavilion at the 1873 World Exhibition in Vienna.

Text from the Dominique Somers website

Alexandre (Albert Edouard Drains) (Belgian, 1855-1925)
Iguanodon de Bernissart, excavated in 1878
1883
Albumen print
FOMU Collection

Born Edouard Albert Drains in Paris (1855-1925), the photographer known professionally as Alexandre moved to Brussels in 1875. His technical bravura, his willingness to try anything and his use of “instantaneous” flash photography attracted the attention of Khnopff. He was in close contact with Les XX, especially Jena Delville, Xavier Mellery and Mellery’s former pupil Khnopff. In 1896 Alexandre executed platinum plates of works by Khnopff, which Khnopff then enhanced with color, creating a series of unique new images. This work earned Alexandre an invitation to join the British Linked Ring Brotherhood (1893-1908), eventually becoming official photographer to the royal family. He died at Nice.

Text from the Anamorfose website

Alexandre (Albert-Édouard Drains) probably took his father’s Christian name as a pseudonym. He was a professional photographer, and member of the Association belge de photographie (ABP) as of 1886. In 1888 Alexandre already had a solo exhibition at the Cercle Artistique et Littéraire in Brussels. He was a prominent member of the Brussels bourgeoisie, and he had been running a professional photographer’s studio with his mother in the popular Marolles quarter since at least 1881. He opened a new studio in a posh uptown part of the city in 1897. He took photographs of a variety of subjects and in several photographic styles. This opened up very different opportunities for him.

An appointment as the official photographer of the Belgian royal family illustrates his prominence in the capital’s bourgeois circles. He was an accomplished portrait photographer but was also involved in the promotion of King Leopold II’s Congo Free State through photographic exhibitions and large-scale projections of photographs taken by the King’s colonial agents. One of these events was in honour of Henry Morton Stanley, the King’s chief agent, returning to Brussels in 1890. These activities may well have made Alexandre the ideal candidate to become the cinematographer of the International Exhibition of Brussels in 1897. His cooperation with L’Optique belge, the Brussels subsidiary of the French company L’Optique, may have made him the first Belgian cinematographer ever.

He produced a substantial number of photographs between 1880 and 1897, both professional commissions and artistic photographs with which he participated in exhibitions in Belgium and abroad. Alexandre was also connected to the Brussels artists association L’Essor and created works of art together with the symbolist painter Fernand Khnopff (1858-1921) in a mixed technique involving photography, pastels and chalk. As a notable professional member of the ABP Alexandre was favourably disposed to the emerging amateur pictorialist movement, and together with his fellow member, Hector Colard, he organised an exhibition of English Pictorialist photographers at the Cercle Artistique et littéraire in 1892. Next to his ABP membership as a professional photographer, Alexandre was a protector-member of the amateur pictorialist group L’Effort.

Alexandre is cited as a prominent pictorialist at the 1899 Berlin Exhibition of Art Photography, in which he participated with several photographs. The fifth issue of 1903 of Art in Photography, an authoritative German journal on Pictorialist photography, puts Alexandre in a category of his own, with nine of his photographs, and he is mentioned with his The Anatomy Lesson in the second issue of 1905. This is illustrative of the impasse Pictorialism was getting into. The photograph was already made before January 1888, at which time it was shown in the Cercle Artistique in Brussels. It could hardly be considered as a prime example of contemporary photography in 1905. In early pictorialist fashion, The Anatomy Lesson mimics painting. It clearly refers to Rembrandt’s The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp (1632). It also demonstrates his use of the magnesium lightning, an early nineteenth century flash device which could be ignited simultaneously with the opening of the camera’s shutter.

Most of his work after 1897 is inspired by the naturalist and impressionist tendencies of French Pictorialism. In 1907, two years after The Anatomy Lesson appeared in Art in Photography, Alexandre ceased to participate regularly in exhibitions. Although he used techniques which were innovative in his day, such as magnesium lighting and photographic enlargement, his artistic activity was limited in time, as he was increasingly focusing on commercial photography after he opened his studio in 1897. He continued in his capacity as royal photographer but closed his business in 1914.

Anonymous. “Alexandre,” on the Ghent University website Nd [Online] Cited 08/02/2026. Used under fair use conditions for the purposes of education and research

François Smeesters (Belgian, 1839-1922)
Aid for people with reduced mobility
1888-1890
Albumen print
FOMU Collection

From 1862 onwards, Smeesters was listed in the population registry as a journeyman photographer at various private addresses.

Ernest Huybrechts (Belgian, 1863- )
‘L’Explosion’, in La Catastrophe d’Anvers
6 septembre, 1889
Album contenant 18 planches
Au profit des victimes (Anvers: Section anversoises de L’Association belge de Photographie / Jos. Maes, 1889), 1889, Lichtdruk
Collection FOMU

Disasters, especially their aftermath, were an important theme for early reportage photographers in Belgium. The images are some of the rare early attempts to visually document widely discussed incidents and then distribute them comercially. Some of the photographs were sold to raise funds for victims, reflecting an early fusion of photographic journalism and charitable action.

Images of the disaster at the Corvilain gunpowder factory workshop in Antwerp in 1889, which claimed 95 lives, were compiled in two publications edited by Joseph Maes. One was sold for the benefit of the victims, the others served as a visual record of the tragedy.

Text from the FOMU Instagram web page

Charles E. Hofmans (Brussels)
Hofmans Multiphoto camera
1890
Multi-lens camera for 12 exposures, format 2.5 × 3cm on 13 × 18cm plates, twelve meniscus lenses, fixed focus, fixed aperture, camera cover serves as shutter
Collection FOMU

Charles Hofmans was a cabinet maker from Brussels, Belgium who became a well known camera manufacturer.

Hugo Piéron (Belgian, 1845-1906)
Frozen Scheldt, Antwerp
1891
Albumen print
Janssens Collection, Antwerp

Hugo Piéron was known for photographing Antwerp, including scenes of the city’s gates and the frozen Scheldt River in 1891, and he operated a studio under the name Pieron-Loodts, having taken over a studio around 1867.

Hugo Piéron (Belgian, 1845-1906)
Frozen Scheldt, Antwerp
1891
Albumen print
Janssens Collection, Antwerp

Victor Barras (Belgian, 1845-1916)
Four women and two dogs, Liège
1894
Collodion printing-out paper
15.9 × 11.4 cm
Collection FOMU

Little is known about this image, titled ‘Four women and two dogs’ that is part of the FOMU Collection and currently on show in the exhibition Early Gaze.

Within the FOMU collection, which contains millions of objects, we regularly encounter photographs whose origin or context is unknown. When information is scarce, we look closely at details within the image that might tell us more. In this case, handwritten notes on the back of the photograph (image 2) offer important clues.

The people portrayed are most likely members of the photographer’s personal circle. This can be deduced from a note on the reverse that reads: “… de la famille Duvivier Leys … de l’année 1894 et de ma fille chérie Louise Maes.”

The photograph is a daylight collodion silver print, an early photographic technique in which a collodion-coated glass plate had to be exposed and developed immediately after preparation – a process requiring speed and precision. The photograph was taken in 1894 by photographer Victor Barras in his studio in Liège.

Text from the FOMU Instagram web page

Henri Van Heurck (Belgian, 1838-1909)
X-ray of chest deformed by corset
1896-1897
Daylight gelatin silver print
Collection GUM – Ghent University Museum

Henri Ferdinand van Heurck (28 August 1838 – 13 March 1909) was a Belgian diatom specialist and microscopist. Born in an industrialist family, he taught himself microscopy and botany and wrote several pioneering works on diatoms, their study under the microscope and their preservation. He pioneered the use of electric lighting and its use in microphotography.

Henri Van Heurck (Belgian, 1838-1909)
X-ray from a mummified Egyptian Ibis
1897
Collection FOMU

Fernand Khnopff (Belgian, 1858-1921)
Portrait of Marguerite Khnopff
c. 1900
Daylight gelatin silver print
Collection FOMU

Khnopff’s use of photography highlighted, reflected on and contributed to the exploration of certain subjects and issues that defined European culture in the late nineteenth – early twentieth centuries in general as well as the artist’s œuvre in particular. These include the representations of the city of Bruges and its symbolic meaning in fin-de-siècle literature and visual tradition, the documentation of, and reaction to, Belgian colonialism in the Congo Free State as well as the representation of the colony in the colonising metropolis, and the employment of photographs as a substitute for a preparatory sketch or study at preliminary stage.

Text from the abstract of Fernand Khnopff (1858-1921): art and photography in the nineteenth century 2020

Khnopff’s oeuvre includes a large body of nearly monochromatic works on paper. A somewhat limited palette and restrained way of handling his medium become important features of his art, even when he is working in oils. The tendency towards monochromy in his work becomes an essential element in creating the remote and silent atmosphere of the scene.

Another factor in this aspect of his art, however, is the growing need for the photograph as reference, especially in his depictions of the city of Bruges (a kind of Shangi-la to him, a place he had only visited as a child). If he didn’t visit Bruges as an adult, the only plausible explanation for the accuracy of his later renderings of the town is the use of photography.

In public Khnopff disparaged the artistic merits of this growing medium and throughout his life carefully concealed the role photography played in the creation of some of his paintings.

After his death around forty photographs of Marguerite, who was both his sister and his favourite model, were discovered to remain despite her clearance of his studio and the destruction of much of his work and his personal papers. In them, she adopts poses in décor and costumes often alluding to Antiquity and the Far East, but also in dreamy contemporary scenes. It is clear that he was the photographer. Khnopff often did no more than rework the photographed motif in pastel or oil. …

Khnopff’s works based on photographs produced an image removed one more step from reality; remote, dreamlike, rendered in the shades and shadows of near monochrome which are perfect for conveying the ethereal ideas and themes of his art. This theatrical aspect of his photography makes him heir to slightly earlier photographers who were quite close to the Pre-Raphaelites such as Oscar Reijlander, Julia Margaret Cameron, Lewis Carroll and Lady Harwarden.

Associate Professor James McArdle. “November 12: Artifice,” on the On This Date in Photography website 12/11/2017 [Online] Cited 08/02/2026. Used under fair use for the purposes of education and research

Léon Bovier (Belgian, 1865-1923)
Portrait of Madeleine Bovier as a toddler
c. 1900
Daylight collodion silver print
FOMU Collection

Lambert Léon Bovier, born 6.3.1865. Photographic supplies. “Firm founded in 1889” (L’Echo de Courtrai, 22.8.1897). Already active as an amateur photographer in September 1886 when he was a member of the “Cercle des Touristes” and took views of the area between Spa and Stavelot. Recorded as a watchmaker domiciled in Liège, Rue Hocheporte at the occasion of his wedding in Liège on 6.7.1889.

1894-1914 > Bruxelles, Boulevard Anspach, 166<10-12> or 168<94-09; 14>
Partnership with Alphonse Roland (see that name) at this address, 1895-1897. Pictorialist (private address: Rue des Visitandines, 38). First prize winner in the fifth photography competition organised by the “Journal des Voyages” in 1894. Photographs on canvas imitating genre paintings. Corresponding member of the “Société Photographique de Lille” in 1900. Secretary of the “Cercle d’art photographique l’Effort”. Camera manufacturing. “Plates and papers of all makes. Recommended for radiographic laboratories. Construction of plate-holders for radiology” (Journal belge de radiologie, 1909). Reportedly lived in London [GB] from 1914 to 1917 and in Paris [F] from 1917 to 1918. Returned to Brussels after World War I. Bovier published several literary works in the 1920s under the pseudonym Léon Lambert. After his death, Bovier’s widow Antoinette Joséphine Marie Louise Robert (born Spa, 26.6.1868) was listed at this address under photographic suppliers until at least the 1950s. Their daughter “Madeleine” Marie Julie Pauline Bovier (born Brussels, 20.5.1896) would also play an active role in her father’s succession.

Text from the FOMU Directory of Belgian Photographers website

Léon Sneyers (Belgian, 1877-1949) 'L'Effort' 1901

Léon Sneyers (Belgian, 1877-1948)
L’Effort
1901
FOMU Collection

Jean Philippe Léon Sneyers, born 23.7.1877; died 24.9.1948. Architect-decorator, designer, art dealer and publicity agent, active from 1894. Also supplies for photographers at this address, according to the Mertens directory. Initiated into photography as an adolescent, when only 17 years old he was the president of a camera club for students, the “Detectiv-Club Belge”. Pictorialist. Landscapes, portraits and nudes. Secretary and leading light of the “Cercle d’art photographique l’Effort” (see that name). Member of the “Club d’amateurs photographes de Belgique”, which published several of his photographs in its “Bulletin”.

Both pupil and emulator of Paul Hankar, he discovered Viennese Secession architecture at the Turin exhibition in 1902. His surviving art nouveau buildings in Brussels include a house-cum-studio for the painter Albert Cortvriendt, Rue de Nancy, 6-8 and a shop front for Majolaine, Rue de la Madeleine, 7 created in 1904.

Commissioned by the government to design and decorate the science installation at the International Exhibitions in Liège, 1905, Brussels, 1910, and Ghent, 1913, and to design the Belgian installation at the exhibitions in Turin, 1902, Milan, 1906 and Venice, 1906-1907. He became a propagator of Viennese art nouveau via “L’Intérieur”, his art studio in Brussels at Rue de Namur, 9 which opened in 1906 and closed in 1918; thereafter Galerie Sneyers, Boulevard de Waterloo, 9 from 1918 to 1926. Collections of drawings and photographs in the “Archives d’Architecture Moderne” (AAM), Brussels. These constitute the small proportion of Sneyers’ archives saved from destruction in 1969.

Text from the FOMU Directory of Belgian Photographers website

Anonymous photographer
Studio portrait of two ladies in a boat
c. 1905
FOMU Collection

FOMU
Waalsekaai 47
2000 Antwerp

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FOMU website

Photographic series: Marcus Bunyan. ‘Metropolis’ 2025-2026

February 2026

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
No. 1 Brewery B
2026
from the series Metropolis

This is a selection of images from the new series. Please see the whole series on my website.

The base images for this series of work come from a book on the history of St. James’s Gate Brewery in Dublin published in 1931. These images have then been reflected, distorted, overlapped and filters have been used to produce the desired feeling. Each image has a different number of variations depending on this feeling. The 75 images in the series are sequenced as in the book.

The influences on the work were the architecture in Fritz Lang’s 1937 film Metropolis; the surrealist photography of Dora Maar notably her image Le Simulateur (The Pretender) 1936; the modernist photographs of factory machines by artists such as Jakob Tuggener and Albert Renger-Patzsch; and the prisons of Piranesi’s etchings published in Carceri d’invenzione, often translated as Imaginary Prisons, c. 1745 to 1750.

Please click on the photographs to see a larger version of the image.
Please view the work on a large computer screen if possible.
Please see the whole series on my website.
Many thankx to Elizabeth Gertsakis for her invaluable help.

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
No. 2 Brewery
2026
from the series Metropolis

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Boiler House B
2026
from the series Metropolis

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Old Engine A
2026
from the series Metropolis

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
'Electric Power Station A'
2026

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Electric Power Station A-B
2026
from the series Metropolis

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
'Compressor Machines A' 2026

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Compressor Machines A-B
2026
from the series Metropolis

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Refrigerating Plant A
2026
from the series Metropolis

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
'Robert St. Malt Store – Exterior A' 2026

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958) 'Robert St. Malt Store – Exterior B' 2026

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Robert St. Malt Store – Exterior A-B
2026
from the series Metropolis

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
'Robert St. Malt Store – Interior A' 2026

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Robert St. Malt Store – Interior A-B
2026
from the series Metropolis

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
'Loading Malt Wagons B' 2026

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958) 'Loading Malt Wagons D' 2026

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Loading Malt Wagons B, D
2026
from the series Metropolis

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958) 'Cooke's Lane Malt House A' 2026

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958) 'Cooke's Lane Malt House C' 2026

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Cooke’s Lane Malt House A-C
2026
from the series Metropolis

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Barley in Process of Being Malted
2026
from the series Metropolis

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Malt Train Outside No. 2 Brewery B
2026
from the series Metropolis

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
'Hops in Store A' 2026

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958) 'Hops in Store C' 2026

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Hops in Store A-C
2026
from the series Metropolis

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
'Loading Hop Wagons A'
2026

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958) 'Loading Hop Wagons B' 2026

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Loading Hop Wagons A-B
2026
from the series Metropolis

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Regulating Mash Temperatures B
2026
from the series Metropolis

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
'Copper Stage A' 2026

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
'Copper Stage B' 2026

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Copper Stage A-C
2026
from the series Metropolis

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
“Striking Off” a Copper
2026
from the series Metropolis

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
A Corner of No. 11 Vat House A
2026
from the series Metropolis

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Vat House – Another View B' 2026

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Vat House – Another View C' 2026

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Vat House – Another View A-C
2026
from the series Metropolis

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
'Cask Making Shop – Blazing A' 2026

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958) 'Cask Making Shop – Blazing B' 2026

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Cask Making Shop – Blazing A-C
2026
from the series Metropolis

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
'Cask Magazine A'
2026 from the series 'Metropolis'

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Cask Magazine A-C
2026
from the series Metropolis

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
'Cooperage Yard – Another View B' 2026

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958) 'Cooperage Yard – Another View F' 2026

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Cooperage Yard A-B
2026
from the series Metropolis

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
'Cask Cleansing Shed A'
2026 from the series 'Metropolis'

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Cask Cleansing Shed A-D
2026
from the series Metropolis

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Racking Room, Showing Casks being Filled
2026
from the series Metropolis

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Loading Railway Wagons
2026
from the series Metropolis

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
'Low Platform Vehicle B'
2026

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Low Platform Vehicle A-B
2026
from the series Metropolis

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Some of the Delivery Fleet About to Start
2026
from the series Metropolis

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
'Loading Wharf on River Liffey C' 2026

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958) 'Loading Wharf on River Liffey D' 2026

Marcus Bunyan (Australian, b. 1958)
Loading Wharf on River Liffey C-D
2026
from the series Metropolis

Marcus Bunyan website

The Photographers’ Gallery website

Exhibition: ‘Boris Mikhailov: Ukrainian Diary’ at The Photographers’ Gallery, London

Exhibition dates: 10th October, 2025 – 22nd February, 2026

Curators: Laurie Hurwitz and Shoair Mavlian in collaboration with Boris and Vita Mikhailov

Installation view of the exhibition Boris Mikhailov: Ukrainian Diary at The Photographers’ Gallery, London showing at left, photographs from his series Luriki (1971-1985, below) and Sots Art (c. 1975-1986, below); and at right, a photograph from the series National Hero (1991, below)

“The world is made up of many worlds. Some are connected and some are not.”

From the film Perfect Days, 2023 directed by Wim Wenders

I love this man’s work. I feel very connected to his worlds. His constructed discontinuities. His ruptures, compressions, ambiguities. His social codifications of rich, poor, haves and have nots, and, as someone said, his portrayal of “the overlooked, the uncomfortable, and the unabashedly human.”

“Mikhailov’s visual pairings deliver unambiguous messages, almost violent in their straightforwardness. Multiple juxtapositions of unconsciously drunk men prostrating under passers-by feet to that of stray dogs, dead or alive, explicitly comment on human’s life disintegration to the state of an animal, its reduction to bare bones – and yes, an animal carcass, a metaphoric sign of abject poverty, is also present in this visual narrative in a scene with two men dragging a piece of spinal vertebrae of a large creature, a cow or, perhaps, a horse. Rotten banana peels sit across the page from infected flaccid limbs and genitalia. A posture of a naked woman reclining on a sullied mattress echoes that of a rubber sex doll staring from the next page. A close-up of a bruised woman’s breast with a crude stitches over a wound parallels gaping cracks of a damaged mail box. Thus the physical body of a homeless person starts speaking about the city as an organism, equally abused and dismembered. Wounds inflected upon flesh are surface manifestations of wounds inflected upon the city and the society at large.”1

“By subverting idealised Soviet imagery, he proposed a raw, ironic, and unremarkable version of reality, always seeking to capture the spirit of his times through the everyday. Or, better yet, to condense that spirit for others, not through words but through a visual semantics of his own making.”2

Experimental, conceptual, staged, performative, his photographs appeal to my subversive nature, prodding as they do at the status quo. His “rebellious visual language” takes us on a journey – his journey, Ukraine’s journey – “a journey through time, loss, and transformation.”

I wrote of his work in an earlier posting on this exhibition when it was at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP), Paris:

“Mikhailov’s photographs are emotionally powerful, politically astute and uncannily effective conversations with the world… about subjects that should matter to all of us: war, destitution, poverty, oppression, and the power of an authoritarian state to control the thoughts and actions of human beings under its control. They are about the freedom of individual people to live their lives as they choose; and they are about the freedom of a group of people which form a country to not be subjugated under the rule of another country to which they are historically linked.

His photographs are about choice and difference, they are about life.

They perform a task, that is, they bring into consciousness … the ground on which we stand together, against oppression, for freedom. Of course, no country is without its problems, its historical traumas, prejudices and corruption but the alternative is being ruled over without a choice, which is totally unacceptable.

Against the “failed promises of both communism and capitalism” and the “economic history that is written on the flesh” of the poor, Boris Mikhaïlov’s Ukrainian diary documents day after day the dis-ease and fragility, but also resilience, of his subjects and the world in which they live. He uses his art as a visual tool for cultural resistance. And the thing about his images is: you remember them. They are unlike so much bland, conceptual contemporary photography because these are powerful, emotional images. In their being, in their presence, they resonate within you.”

In this earlier posting you will find a longer text that I wrote, descriptions of the each of the artist’s series and more images. I hope you can view the posting.

Dr Marcus Bunyan

1/ Extract from Olena Chervonik, “Urban Opera of Boris Mikhailov,” on the MOKSOP website, 9th April 2020 [Online] Cited 27/01/2026

2/ Kateryna Filyuk. “Recalcitrant Diarist of the Everyday,” on The Photographers’ Gallery website Nd [Online] Cited 05/02/2026

Many thankx to The Photographers’ Gallery, London for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.

“I chose to focus on ordinary, everyday scenes and the search for formal solutions to translate this mundaneness into photography.”

Boris Mikhailov, “Everyone has became more circumspect…,” in Tea Coffee Cappuccino. Köln: König, 2011, p. 230

“Central themes – heroism, failure, power, the body, identity, absurdity, ideology – recur throughout, not as definitive conclusions but as open-ended provocations that invite sustained contemplation. In this way, the exhibition operates as both a temporal sequence and a constellation of moments – fragmented yet interconnected – that collectively evoke the complexity, contradictions, and richness of Mikhailov’s visionary practice.”

Laurie Hurwitz curator

“The explicit, dramatic and total power of the absolute monarch had given place to what Michel Foucault has called a diffuse and pervasive ‘microphysics of power’, operating unremarked in the smallest duties and gestures of everyday life. The seat of this capillary power was a new ‘technology’: that constellation of institutions – including the hospital, the asylum, the school, the prison, the police force – whose disciplinary methods and techniques of regulated examination produced, trained and positioned a hierarchy of docile social subjects in the form required by the capitalist division of labour for the orderly conduct of social and economic life.”

John Tagg. The Burden of Representation. Essays on Photographies and Histories. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1993

From the beginning, we conceived two video works as conceptual bookends. At the entrance, Yesterday’s Sandwich – a seminal project from the late 1960s – presents a hallucinatory sequence of double exposures set to music by Pink Floyd. These psychedelic, surreal images, rejecting Soviet visual orthodoxy, open up a new, rebellious visual language. At the exit, Temptation of Death (2019) offers a quieter, meditative counterpoint. Combining images from a crematorium in Ukraine with intimate portraits and cityscapes, it evokes the myth of Charon, ferryman of the dead, and a journey through time, loss, and transformation. Together, these two works, created nearly fifty years apart, frame the exhibition with a meditation on mortality, reinvention, and the fragile persistence of life.

Lucile Brizard. “”Where are we now?”: An Exclusive Interview with Photographer Boris Mikhailov on Ukraine’s Past and Present,” on the United 24 Media website, October 29, 2015 [Online] Cited 27/01/2026

Luriki, 1971-1985

Boris Mikhaïlov (Ukrainian, b. 1938)
From the series Luriki (Coloured Soviet Portrait)
1971-1985
Hand-coloured gelatin silver print
© Boris Mikhailov, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Courtesy Boris and Vita Mikhailov

Sots Art, 1975-1986

Boris Mikhaïlov (Ukrainian, b. 1938)
From the series Sots Art
1982-1983
© Boris Mikhailov, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Courtesy Boris and Vita Mikhailov

National Hero, 1992

Boris Mikhaïlov (Ukrainian, b. 1938) from the series 'National Hero' 1991

Boris Mikhaïlov (Russian, b. 1938)
From the series National Hero
1991
Chromogenic print
120 x 81cm
© Boris Mikhailov, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Courtesy Boris and Vita Mikhailov

Installation view of the exhibition Boris Mikhailov: Ukrainian Diary at The Photographers’ Gallery, London showing at left, photographs from his series Salt Lake (1986, below); at at right in the background, photographs from his series I am not I (1992, below)

Salt Lake, 1986

Boris Mikhaïlov (Russian, b. 1938)
From the series Salt Lake
1986
Chromogenic print toned sepia
75.5 x 104.5cm
© Boris Mikhailov, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Courtesy Boris and Vita Mikhailov

I Am Not I, 1992

Boris Mikhaïlov (Russian, b. 1938)
From the series I am not I
1992
Sepia silver print
30 x 20cm
© Boris Mikhailov, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Courtesy Boris and Vita Mikhailov

A major retrospective of work by influential Ukrainian artist Boris Mikhailov (b. 1938, Kharkiv, Ukraine).

Ukrainian Diary is the first major UK retrospective of work by Boris Mikhailov, one of the most influential contemporary artists from Eastern Europe. Mikhailov has explored social and political subjects for more than fifty years through his experimental photographic work.

Described as an outsider, a trickster and ‘a kind of proto-punk’, Mikhailov combines humour, mischief and tragedy in his pioneering practice, ranging from documentary photography and conceptual work, to painting and performance. Since the 1960s, he has been creating a powerful record of the tumultuous changes in Ukraine that accompanied the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Ukrainian Diary brings together work from over twenty of his most important series, up to his more recent projects. Viewed today, against the backdrop of current events and ongoing war in Ukraine, Mikhailov’s work is all the more poignant and enlightening.

Text from The Photographers’ Gallery website

Red, 1965-1978

Boris Mikhaïlov (Ukrainian, b. 1938) from the series 'Red' 1968-1975

Boris Mikhaïlov (Russian, b. 1938)
From the series Red
1968-1975
Digital chromogenic print
© Boris Mikhailov, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Courtesy Boris and Vita Mikhailov

“The word ‘red’ in Russian contains the root of the word for beauty. It also means the Revolution and evokes blood and the red flag. Everyone associates red with Communism. Maybe that’s enough. But few people know that red suffused all our lives, at all levels.”

Boris Mikhailov

Boris Mikhaïlov (Russian, b. 1938)
From the series Red
1968-1975
Digital chromogenic print
© Boris Mikhailov, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Courtesy Boris and Vita Mikhailov

Yesterday’s Sandwich, 1960s-1970s

Boris Mikhaïlov (Ukrainian, b. 1938)
From the series Yesterday’s Sandwich
1960s-1970s
© Boris Mikhailov, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Courtesy Boris and Vita Mikhailov

Boris Mikhaïlov (Ukrainian, b. 1938)
From the series Yesterday’s Sandwich
1966-1968
© Boris Mikhailov, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Courtesy Boris and Vita Mikhailov

Boris Mikhaïlov (Ukrainian, b. 1938)
From the series Yesterday’s Sandwich
1960s-1970s
© Boris Mikhailov, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Courtesy Boris and Vita Mikhailov

Boris Mikhaïlov (Ukrainian, b. 1938)
From the series Yesterday’s Sandwich
1966-1968
© Boris Mikhailov, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Courtesy Boris and Vita Mikhailov

Ukrainian Diary is the first major UK retrospective of work by Boris Mikhailov (b. 1938, Kharkiv). One of the most influential contemporary artists from Eastern Europe, Mikhailov has explored social and political subjects for more than fifty years through his experimental photographic work.

Described as an outsider, a trickster and ‘a kind of proto-punk’, Mikhailov combines humour, mischief and tragedy in his pioneering work, ranging from documentary photography and conceptual work, to painting and performance. Since the 1960s, he has been creating a powerful record of life in the Ukraine and the tumultuous changes that accompanied the collapse of the Soviet Union.

From early underground works and images of everyday life in Kharkiv, to his self-depreciating self-portraits which mock traditional Soviet masculine stereotypes, Mikhailov creates an ambiguous, fragmented view of a world in constant flux. His photographs contradict the onesideness of Soviet ideology, especially during the time when photography was heavily controlled and censored in the Soviet Union.

Ukrainian Diary brings together work from over twenty of Mikhailov’s most important series, including Yesterday’s Sandwich, I am not I, Salt Lake, Red, Sots Art, Luriki, Case History and Theatre of War.

Self-taught and ‘somewhat careless’ (in his words), Yesterday’s Sandwich (1960s-1970s), one of his most important series, began as an accident when a handful of slides stuck together. He was fascinated by the result and continued to randomly layer slides, creating new combinations which ‘reflected the dualism and contradictions of Soviet Society’.

Mikhailov created ‘bad photography’ as a way to undermine official Soviet aesthetics, as introduced in the series Black Archive (1968-1979). Badly printed, damaged or poor-quality productions were an artistic device that Mikhailov described as ‘lousy photography for a lousy reality’.

The series Red (1965-1978) bridges documentary photography and conceptual art – over 70 images taken in the late 1960s and 1970s highlighting the colour red in everyday objects and scenes. His documenting of red reveals the extent to which communist ideology saturated daily life.

Together his uncompromising, subversive work is a powerful photographic narrative on Ukraine’s contemporary history.

The exhibition is organised in collaboration with the MEP – Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris.

About Boris Mikhailov

Born in Kharkiv, Ukraine in 1938, Boris Mikhailov is a self-taught photographer. Having trained as an engineer, he was first introduced to photography when he was given a camera to document the state-owned factory where he worked. With access to a camera, he took advantage of this opportunity to take nude photographs of his first wife – an act forbidden under Soviet norms – which he developed and printed in the factory’s laboratory. He was fired when the photographs were found by KGB agents. From then he pursued photography full time, using it as a subversive tool and operating as part of the underground art scene. His work first gained international exposure in the 1990s with the series Case History, a shockingly direct portrayal of the realities of post-Soviet life in the Ukraine.

Press release from The Photographers’ Gallery

Series of Four, early 1980s

Boris Mikhaïlov (Russian, b. 1938)
From the series Series of four
1982-1983
Silver gelatin print, unique copy
From a 20-part series
Each 18 x 23.80cm
© Boris Mikhailov, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Courtesy Boris and Vita Mikhailov

At Dusk, 1993

Boris Mikhaïlov (Russian, b. 1938)
From the series At Dusk
1993
Chromogenic print
© Boris Mikhailov, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Courtesy Boris and Vita Mikhailov

Recalcitrant Diarist of the Everyday

Curator and researcher, Kateryna Filyuk, explores the intimate diaristic qualities of Boris Mikhailov’s subversive body of work.

Even before seeing Ukrainian Diary at The Photographers’ Gallery, I found myself thinking about its title. The idea of a diary fits naturally with Mikhailov’s work: instead of creating a grand, official narrative inherent to Soviet photography, he developed an intimate and fragmented way of seeing. The term Ukrainian, however, is less straightforward. Some of his more recent bodies of work that directly address Ukrainian events: Parliament  (2015-17); and Temptation of Death  (2014-19), which adopts the Kyiv Crematorium as its binding motif, are not included in the exhibition.

Mikhailov began challenging Soviet photographic norms as early as the mid-1960s, working with a circle of like-minded friends. At the time, photographing “for no reason” could be equated with spying; showing Soviet life as anything less than ideal was seen as an attack on communist values; and photographing the naked body could result in prison. Mikhailov did all of this and more. He turned his camera toward mundane subjects, mixed genres freely and questioned photography’s claim to present an ultimate truth. By subverting idealised Soviet imagery, he proposed a raw, ironic, and unremarkable version of reality, always seeking to capture the spirit of his times through the everyday. Or, better yet, to condense that spirit for others, not through words but through a visual semantics of his own making.

Art historian Nadiia Bernard-Kovalchuk reflects on whether Ukrainian is an appropriate label for the Kharkiv School of Photography, of which Mikhailov is a founding figure. She writes that ”the school’s activities stretch between two heterogeneous historical realities: on the one hand, Brezhnev’s ‘stagnation’ and the perestroika fatal to the USSR, and on the other, the economically brutal birth of the Ukrainian state.” [2] This dramatic time span, during which Ukrainians experienced long-awaited yet destabilising transformation, offers a more fitting temporality for understanding Mikhailov’s work in Ukrainian Diary. Geographically, most of his projects take place in what was first Soviet Ukraine and later became independent Ukraine. Temporally, however, they exist within a landscape marked by ruptures, discontinuities, and perpetual new beginnings.

In the preface to one of his most audacious works, Case History  (1997-98), Mikhailov reflects on the lack of a photographic record documenting complex historical shifts in Ukraine: ”I was aware that I was not allowed to let it happen once again that some periods of life would be erased.” [3] After returning to Kharkiv from a year in Berlin, he was struck by the stark divide between the newly rich and the newly poor, a process already in full swing. Yet his aim in photographing the homeless did not follow the classic documentary model, such as the USA Farm Security Administration’s work, which sought to highlight a social problem and prompt state intervention. Instead, by showing the everyday lives of those most affected by the collapse, Mikhailov “directly assaults the onlookers’ sensitivity” [4] and “transgresses the acceptable limits of representation,” [5] His goal was not to provoke pity or shock though.

Rather, Mikhailov asserts something more fundamental: the individual’s right to exist and express themselves beyond convention. Through his unwavering attention to ordinary lives, he bears witness to massive transformations unfolding beyond any single person’s control. Ukrainian Diary, then, is not simply a national label or a chronological record. It is a testament to how one artist has persistently documented a world defined by instability, reinvention, and the fragile, but enduring presence, of everyday life.

Kateryna Filyuk

Kateryna Filyuk is a curator and researcher, who holds PhD from the University of Palermo. In 2017-2021 she served as a chief curator at Izolyatsia., a Platform for cultural initiatives in Kyiv. Before joining Izolyatsia, she was co-curator of the Festival of Young Ukrainian Artists at Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv (2017). The co-founder of the publishing house 89books in Palermo, she has participated in curatorial programmes at Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo (Turin, 2017), De Appel (Amsterdam, 2015-16), the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Seoul, 2014) and the Gwangju Biennale (2012). In 2023 Filyuk was a visiting PhD student at the Central European University (Vienna) and in 2024 a visiting researcher at FOTOHOF Archiv (Salzburg) and the Predoctoral Fellow at the Bibliotheca Hertziana (Rome). Currently she develops a two-year scholarly initiative – the Methodology Seminars for Art History in Ukraine in collaboration with the Bibliotheca Hertziana and the Max Weber Foundation’s Research Centre Ukraine.

Footnotes

1/ Boris Mikhailov, “Everyone has became more circumspect…,” in Tea Coffee Cappuccino (Köln: König, 2011), 230.
2/ Nadiia Bernard-Kovalchuk, The Kharkiv School of Photography: Game Against Apparatus. Kharkiv: Museum of Kharkiv School of Photography, 2020, 17.
3/ Boris Mikhailov, Case History (Zurich: Scalo, 1999), 7.
4/ “Symbolic Bodies, Real Pain: Post-Soviet History, Boris Mikhailov and the Impasse of Documentary Photography,” in The Image and the Witness: Trauma, Memory and Visual Culture (London: Wallflower Press, 2007), 58.
5/ Olena Chervonik, “Urban Opera of Boris Mikhailov,” MOKSOP, accessed November 25, 2025

Text from The Photographers’ Gallery website

Installation view of the exhibition Boris Mikhailov: Ukrainian Diary at The Photographers’ Gallery, London showing photographs from his series Case History (1997-1998, below)

Case History, 1997-1998

Boris Mikhaïlov (Russian, b. 1938)
From the series Case History
1997-1998
Chromogenic print
© Boris Mikhailov, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Courtesy Boris and Vita Mikhailov

Boris Mikhaïlov (Ukrainian, b. 1938) from the series 'Case History' 1997-1998

Boris Mikhaïlov (Russian, b. 1938)
From the series Case History
1997-1998
Chromogenic print
© Boris Mikhailov, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Courtesy Boris and Vita Mikhailov

Urban opera of Boris Mikhailov

Olena Chervonik

In the [Case History] book preface, Mikhailov explains that already in 1997 he vividly apprehended the rupture of Ukrainian society into new, burgeoning social strata, when the new rich and the new poor began to acquire features of class identities with their own psychology and behavioural modalities. The new rich were already hard to approach, protecting themselves with bodyguards and other social fences. The new poor, however, specifically the bomzhes (homeless people with no social support) could still allow an outsider in their midst – this was “a chance”, according to Mikhailov, that could only last for a short period of time. Most of the book’s protagonists had only recently lost their homes. Their rapidly deteriorating social position was still uncertain, malleable, and flickering with hope. Yet, the transformation was inevitable, which propelled the artist to act: “For me it was very important that I took their photos when they were still like “normal” people. I made a book about the people who got into trouble but didn’t manage to harden so far.” [2] …

Mikhailov’s visual pairings deliver unambiguous messages, almost violent in their straightforwardness. Multiple juxtapositions of unconsciously drunk men prostrating under passers-by feet to that of stray dogs, dead or alive, explicitly comment on human’s life disintegration to the state of an animal, its reduction to bare bones – and yes, an animal carcass, a metaphoric sign of abject poverty, is also present in this visual narrative in a scene with two men dragging a piece of spinal vertebrae of a large creature, a cow or, perhaps, a horse. Rotten banana peels sit across the page from infected flaccid limbs and genitalia. A posture of a naked woman reclining on a sullied mattress echoes that of a rubber sex doll staring from the next page. A close-up of a bruised woman’s breast with a crude stitches over a wound parallels gaping cracks of a damaged mail box. Thus the physical body of a homeless person starts speaking about the city as an organism, equally abused and dismembered. Wounds inflected upon flesh are surface manifestations of wounds inflected upon the city and the society at large. …

The majority of Mikhailov’s photographs provide no emotional crutches to lean on, no mechanism of ennobling or aestheticising infected abused flesh of the homeless. It is presented “as is”: frontal, looming large with all its detailed naturalistic vividness. If there is a visual code that Mikhailov activates in these images, it comes from a clinical rather than an art discourse, from surveilling patents for medical records. It is a discourse that John Tagg described as a nineteenth century record-keeping practice associated with certain disciplinary institutions such as an asylum or a prison that with the help of photography created a new social body of dependent subjects upon whom power could be exercised due to their newly-minted subaltern position.

Art, following Barthes’ dictum, domesticates and tames photography [21]. It generates the level of “studium”, accepted cultural knowledge that veils the trauma, renders it familiar, therefore trivial, therefore easily dismissed. Mikhailov makes his viewers constantly oscillate between images that give themselves for contemplation and images that confront with their clinical nature that can be scrutinised and observed but certainly not contemplated. Not one or the other type of image, but the switch between the two unsettles the viewing process. Mikhailov orchestrates poses and gestures of his subjects to create this visual roller-coster of plunging in and out of the aesthetic.

2/ Boris Mikhailov, Case History (Zurich: Scalo, 1985)
21/ Matthias Christen, “Symbolic Bodies, Real Pain: Post-Soviet History, Boris Mikhailov and the Impasse of Documentary Photography,” in The Image and the Witness. Trauma, Memory and Visual Culture (London: Wallflower Press, 2007), 52-66

Extract from Olena Chervonik, “Urban Opera of Boris Mikhailov,” on the MOKSOP website, 9th April 2020 [Online] Cited 27/01/2026. Used under fair use conditions for the purposes of education and research

Dance, 1978

Boris Mikhaïlov (Ukrainian, b. 1938)
From the series Dance
1978
Chromogenic print
© Boris Mikhailov, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Courtesy Boris and Vita Mikhailov

The Theater of War, Second Act, Time Out, 2013

Boris Mikhaïlov (Russian, b. 1938)
From the series The Theater of War, Second Act, Time Out
2013
Chromogenic print
© Boris Mikhailov, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn. Collection Akademie der Künste, Berlin

The Photographers’ Gallery
16-18 Ramillies Street
London
W1F 7LW

Opening hours:
Mon – Wed: 10.00 – 18.00
Thursday – Friday: 10.00 – 20.00
Saturday: 10.00 – 18.00
Sunday: 11.00 – 18.00

Exhibition: ‘Gabrielle Hébert: Amour fou à la Villa Médicis’ at the Musée d’Orsay, Paris

Exhibition dates: 28th October, 2025 – 15th February, 2026

Curator: Marie Robert, Chief Curator, photography and cinema Musée d’Orsay

Gabrielle Hébert (French born Germany, 1853-1934)
Peppino Scossa endormi dans les bras de sa mère, 11 août 1888
(Peppino Scossa asleep in his mother’s arms, August 11, 1888)
1888
Aristotype à la gélatine (Gelatin Aristotype)
8.7 x 11.7cm
© Musée National Ernest Hébert, Paris
Photo: Musée d’Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Alexis Brandt

Amour fou, amour tu

This is one of those unheralded exhibitions on a photographer that you may never have heard of that Art Blart likes to promote.

Gabrielle Hébert as she became, married the painter Ernest Hébert in 1880. She was 28, he was 63. From 1888 until his death in 1908 at the age of 91, she documented her husband painting, their surroundings and their affluent, upper class social milieux. And then she stopped, she gave up photography, she lost the amour fou, that incredible passion that had driven her for so many years to take photographs.

While “her photographs provide an intimate look into the artistic life of the time, portraying artists, models, and domestic scenes” they also do something more – they represent the viewpoint of a female artist which challenges the masculine conventions of the day. “Overturning gender stereotypes, she watched him obsessively and was never tired of capturing him on film… Thanks to her images, which she shared and exchanged with her friends and family, she became recognised as an auteur and gained social status in a milieu where artistic creation was the preserve of men.” (Text from the Musée d’Orsay website)

Further, from my point of view, Gabrielle Hébert was not an amateur photographer taking snapshots for her “visual diary” but an artist fully conversant with current trends in photography. While there are the standard documentary photographs of sculptures and Ernest Hébert and friends painting … there is so much more!

Photographs such as the allegorical Peppino Scossa endormi dans les bras de sa mère, 11 août 1888 (Peppino Scossa asleep in his mother’s arms, August 11, 1888) (1888, above) and La duchesse de Mondragone et l’une de ses bellessoeurs posent pour une Annonciation, juin 1890 (The Duchess of Mondragone and one of her sisters-in-law pose for an Annunciation, June 1890) (1890, below) are redolent of the photographer Julia Margaret Cameron (British born India, 1815-1879).

Other photographs such as Lys des parterres, juin 1890 (Flowerbed lilies, June 1890) (1890, below) evidence her consummate skill at capturing the perfume of a place whilst images such as Procession sur le port de Brindisi (Pouilles) (Procession in the port of Brindisi (Apulia)) (1893, below) show her ability to picture the informality of large groups of people and the atmosphere of the scene.

Then there are the joyous highs of a modern woman looking at the world with perceptive eyes. In the photograph Amalia Scossa et Ernest Hébert à sa peinture La Vierge au chardonneret sur la terrasse du campanile (around 1891, below), Gabrielle Hébert was not afraid to dissect the pictorial plane with strong verticals, horizontal and diagonal lines, providing the viewer with the feeling of an almost voyeuristic in-sight into the creative scene, each section of the photograph holding out attention – two chairs, one upturned on the other, supporting the umbrella shielding the painter from the sun; the Virgin and her child filling the distant space; the painting on the easel leading our eye down and then back up into the cloaked, wizened figure of the artist holding his easel; folding stool for him to rest and other accoutrements earthing the foreground; and the massive pillars slightly askew enclosing our furtive view. Magnificent!

My favourite photograph in the posting is Garçon au coin de la place Zocodover, Tolède, 31 octobre 1898 (Boy on the corner of Zocodover Square, Toledo, October 31, 1898) (1898, below), taken when Hébert had abandoned her large format camera for a more portable Kodak. A wonderful use of depth of field, movement, vanishing point, light, architecture and the ghostly presence of a boy, forever peering at us through eons of time, lend the image an enigmatic, allegorical mystery … as to the passage of time, the journey of life.

How I wish we could have seen more of these later photographs where Hébert proposed “daring viewpoints – notably from a speeding train – a camera in motion, glances towards the camera, the operator’s shadow cast on the ground, motion blur of people and things (smoke, clouds, and waves), truncated figures, and close-ups.” (Marie Robert)

And then there is the crux of the matter. As the text on the Musée d’Orsay website insightfully observes, “… above all, photography revealed her to herself: through capturing a particularly remarkable geography and era, she effectively invented her own mythology.”

Through love and life, through devotion to husband, through devotion to photography, and through devotion to herself, she revealed her to herself and to the world. What crazy, mad love!

Dr Marcus Bunyan

PS. With photographs like Femmes à la fenêtre, Taormine (Sicile), mai 1893 (Women at the window, Taormina (Sicily), May 1893) (1893, below) it is likely Gabrielle Hébert would have met Baron Wilhelm von Gloeden (German, 1856-1931) who lived and worked there between 1878-1931.

Many thankx to the Musée d’Orsay, Paris for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.

Active between 1888 and 1908, Gabrielle documented daily life at Villa Medici in Rome, where her husband served as director of the French Academy. Her photographs provide an intimate look into the artistic life of the time, portraying artists, models, and domestic scenes. The exhibition features original prints, albums, diaries, glass plate negatives, and her cameras, alongside works by Ernest Hébert and personal items that tell their love story. With over 3.500 prints, Gabrielle Hébert is considered a pioneer of female photography, having sensitively and precisely documented an artistic environment predominantly male.

Veronica Azzari on the Bvlgari Hotel Paris website

When Gabriele von Uckermann and a friend discovered Ernest Hébert’s painting, La Mal’aria [below], at the Munich International Exhibition of Fine Arts in 1869, the two young women sent a telegram to the artist expressing their admiration. A few months later, the painter agreed to receive Gabriele in his Parisian studio, and their marriage in 1880 sealed their whirlwind romance. He was 63, she was 28. Five years later, Ernest Hébert’s reappointment as director of the French Academy in Rome allowed the young woman to have her own studio. Gabrielle Hébert, who had Gallicized her first name, dates her photographic debut to July 8, 1888. From that day forward, she never stopped photographing her husband. She also dedicated herself to visually documenting their stay at the Villa Medici, as well as their travels in Italy, Sicily, and Spain. …

The exhibition’s subtitle, “Mad Love at the Villa Medici,” while certainly catchy, is somewhat misleading, as the section strictly devoted to photographs related to her stay at the French Academy in Rome represents only a third of the exhibition. However, each period of this prolific output is contextualised using a variety of documents: diary entries, correspondence, camera footage, albums, contact sheets, and more.

Christine Coste. “Gabrielle Hébert, un itinéraire photographique singulier,” on the Le Journal des Arts website, 17th December, 2025 [Online] Cited 02/01/2026. Translated from the French by Google Translate. Used under fair use conditions for the purposes of education and research

Ernest Hébert (French, 1817-1908)
The Mal’aria
1848-1849
Oil on canvas
1930 x 1350cm
Musée d’Orsay, dist. RMN / Patrice Schmidt
Bought 1851

Used under fair use conditions for the purposes of education and research

Alexis Axilette (French, 1860-1931)
Ernest et Gabrielle Hébert et leurs chiens sur la terrasse du bosco
(Ernest and Gabrielle Hébert and their dogs on the terrace of the bosco)
Around 1888
Aristotype à la gélatine (Gelatin Aristotype)
8.7 x 12.2cm
© Musée National Ernest Hébert, Paris
Photo: Musée d’Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Alexis Brandt

Gabrielle Hébert (French born Germany, 1853-1934)
Ernest Hébert aquarelle l’arc du balcon de la Casa Poscia, Viterbe, août 1888
(Ernest Hébert watercolour the arch of the balcony of the Casa Poscia, Viterbo, August 1888)
1888
Aristotype à la gélatine (Gelatin Aristotype)
9 x 12cm environ
© Musée National Ernest Hébert, Paris
Photo: Musée d’Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Alexis Brandt

Gabrielle Hébert (French born Germany, 1853-1934)
Le peintre pensionnaire Alexis Axilette et son modèle Elvira dans le Bosco de la Villa Médicis, Octobre 1888
(Resident painter Alexis Axilette and his model Elvira in the Bosco of the Villa Medici, October 1888)
1888
Négatif au gélatino-bromure d’argent sur plaque de verre (Silver gelatin bromide negative on glass plate)
9 x 12cm
© La Tronche, musée Hébert
Photo: Musée Hébert, Département de l’Isère

The photograph above shows a nude woman posing for the artist Alexis Axilette for his painting Summertime (c. 1891, below)

Alexis Axilette (French, 1860-1931)
Summertime
c. 1891

Only a black and white reproduction is available of this work

At the Salon exhibition of 1891, a picture which attracted a marked amount of attention was a vividly painted midsummer landscape, with the figures of three wood-nymphs, basking in the flood of golden sunshine. It was entitled “Summertime.” The painter was A. Axilette, a Parisian artist whose studio was already well known to collectors. The success of “Summertime” in Europe was enormous. It was successively exhibited at various continental exhibitions, and everywhere repeated the hit it had made in France. It was, in fact, one of those works of which it is said that they “make” their authors, and in the sense that it completely established the painter’s reputation, “Summertime” realised this figure of speech.

Mary S. Van Deusen. “Alexis Axilette,” on the Master Paintings of the World website 2007 [Online] Cited 02/01/2026. Used under fair use conditions for the purposes of education and research

Alexis Axilette (French, 1860-1931)

Alexis Axilette was born in 1860 in Durtal, a small town in Maine-et-Loire. From a modest background – his father was a merchant – his future seemed predetermined, far removed from the world of art. His parents, who dreamed of a career as a notary’s clerk for him, were nonetheless surprised to discover his talent for drawing. After encouraging him to prove his abilities, they supported his choice to become an artist, a vocation he embraced with passion and determination. This ambition led him to become one of the most remarkable painters of his time.

A Promising Start

At the age of 16, Alexis Axilette began working as an apprentice in a photography studio, retouching photographs by hand, a modern activity for the time. At the same time, he attended evening classes at the Angers Municipal School of Fine Arts, where he distinguished himself with his talent and won several prizes. Supported by his teachers, he obtained a scholarship to attend the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Between 1878 and 1880, he learned Neoclassical principles there under the influence of the renowned painter Jean-Léon Gérôme, teachings that would profoundly shape his artistic approach.

The Rise to Recognition

At 24, Alexis Axilette reached a major turning point in his career by winning the prestigious Premier Grand Prix de Rome with his painting Themistocles Taking Refuge with Admetus (1885), a masterfully executed historical scene. This success, achieved at such a young age only by Fragonard, propelled his career, marked by gold medals, honorary distinctions, and the Legion of Honor. From that moment on, he became a central figure in the artistic and literary life of the Third Republic, frequenting high society and financial circles. An accomplished artist, he traveled throughout Europe and forged an international reputation, becoming a sought-after portraitist with prestigious commissions, notably from the Imperial Court of Russia.

In 1898, he received a major state commission: the creation of a monumental triptych for the ceiling of the Social Museum, entitled Humanity, Fatherland, and Muse. This work, both moral and balanced, perfectly embodies the republican ideals of the time.

Historical and Artistic Context

Under the Third Republic, the arts were seen as a privileged means of promoting national cohesion. Axilette’s academic style, rooted in moral and patriotic values, perfectly aligned with this objective. However, the late 19th and early 20th centuries saw the emergence of new artistic movements such as Impressionism, Symbolism, and Expressionism. Axilette’s attachment to classicism and a rigorous aesthetic set him apart from the avant-garde movements that favored experimentation and creative freedom. Thus, although he perfectly embodied his era, his art gradually came to be perceived as outdated and obsolete.

A Transition to Pastels

In the 1910s, as artistic tastes evolved, Alexis Axilette turned to the use of pastels. This more subtle and delicate medium allowed him to explore a new sensibility while remaining true to his academic style. His works from this period, primarily portraits and landscapes, testify to his desire to renew his approach while remaining rooted in classical tradition. These pastels reveal an undiminished technical mastery and a willingness to adapt to new artistic trends, although his style seems to have been less appreciated at this time.

Posthumous Oblivion

Like many academic artists, Alexis Axilette suffered from the evolution of tastes in the 20th century. Classical art, once revered, lost ground to the avant-garde, relegating its works to museum storage. Furthermore, his image as a society artist, associated with the establishment of the Third Republic, did not help his legacy. While artists like Gauguin symbolized rebellion and innovation, Axilette remains perceived as a representative of a bygone academicism.

A body of work to be rediscovered

Alexis Axilette died on July 3, 1931, in Durtal, his birthplace. Today, his legacy lives on through his works held in private and public collections: academic drawings, nude sketches, portrait studies, landscapes, and historical paintings. These paintings bear witness to his exceptional talent and his dedication to his art. Although he was a major figure of his time, he remains relatively unknown today. He embodies the fate of many artists: celebrated in their lifetime, but gradually forgotten by history.

Anonymous. “Alexis Axilette,” on the French Wikipedia website, translated by Google Translate

Gabrielle Hébert (French born Germany, 1853-1934)
Le temps est sublime. Je photographie Lily et Farfalette, mon buste, Puech, Charpentier et Gardet, 20 novembre 1888
(The weather is sublime. I photograph Lily and Farfalette, my bust, Puech, Charpentier and Gardet, November 20, 1888)
1888
Aristotype à la gélatine, papier (Gelatin Aristotype, paper)
11 x 8cm
© Musée National Ernest Hébert, Paris
Photo: Musée d’Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Alexis Brandt

Designed in partnership with the Musée Départemental Ernest Hébert in La Tronche (Isère), where it will be hosted in spring 2026, the exhibition will also be presented at the French Academy in Rome – Villa Medici in autumn 2026, where the exhibition’s curator Marie Robert spent a year in the context of a Villa Medici/ Musée d’Orsay cross-residency.

The exhibition Who’s Afraid of Women Photographers? (1839-1945) presented at the Musée d’Orsay and the Musée de l’Orangerie in 2015 was a milestone for recognition of women artists in France. One of the many photographers featured was Gabrielle Hébert (1853, Dresden, Germany – 1934, La Tronche, France). Born Gabrielle von Uckermann, she was an amateur painter before marrying Ernest Hébert in 1880, an academic artist twice appointed Director of the French Academy in Rome. She went on to develop an intensive, extremely prolific photography practice, begun at Villa Medici in 1888 and ending twenty years later in La Tronche (near Grenoble) following the death of the man she had idolised, her elder by almost forty years, and whose place in history she largely ensured by supporting the creation of two monographic museums.

In the late 19th century, between France and Italy, like many artists and writers (including Henri Rivière, Pierre Bonnard, Maurice Denis and Émile Zola) who equipped themselves with a camera to record their and their families’ daily lives, Gabrielle Hébert pursued a private, sentimental photography practice, helped along by the technical and aesthetic revolution brought about by the invention of snapshot photography. At Villa Medici, as the wife of its director, she organised receptions and received elite visitors. She was not long in escaping her assigned duties, however, and acquired a camera. She took a few lessons with a Roman professional and, along with a resident of her own age, set up a darkroom to develop and print her negatives and retouch the results. It was the beginning of an extremely voluminous output of photos, which she consigned to her diaries. Hardly a day passed without her taking a snapshot, interspersing them with remarks that tell us how she set about taking pictures: “Je photo…. Je photographie…”.

Although Gabrielle Hébert shared her taste for society portraits and tableaux vivants with Luigi and Giuseppe Primoli, Princess Mathilde Bonaparte’s nephews and pioneers of snapshot photography in Italy, she explored all photographic genres on her own at Villa Medici, including nudes, reproductions of artworks, landscapes, still lifes and “photographic recreations” … Providing us with the viewpoint of a permanent resident who is dazzled by the palace, the site and its inhabitants (artists in residence, employees, models, dogs and cats) as seen from the inside and in all seasons, her output reveals a completely unknown aspect of life in that artistic phalanstery. Her “diary in images” is the first photo-report on daily life in the institution, a centre for residencies, training and creation by winners of the Grand Prix de Rome (many of whose works are now conserved by the Musée d’Orsay) as well as a laboratory for the new political relationship between France and Italy, which had just been “unified” (1861) and of which Rome became the capital in 1871. It also constitutes a unique testimony on one of the first couples of creators at Villa Medici. Although Gabrielle assisted Ernest with his activities as an artist, posing for him, preparing his canvases, retouching his paintings and even copying them, it was Ernest himself who was the photographer’s real focus. Overturning gender stereotypes, she watched him obsessively and was never tired of capturing him on film. Posing sessions with sitters, progress made in his paintings, moments of conviviality with visitors and interactions with residents, along with walks in the Roman countryside, bathing in the sea and alone in his office: all these aspects of artist, director and husband Ernest Hébert’s life were scrutinised and documented. When she returned permanently to France with him, Gabrielle stopped cultivating her passion for photography, a passion born in Italy and in exile, but nevertheless continued to photograph Hébert until the very end of his life, determined to immortalise him through images. Before that, though, in 1898, she escaped the closed quarters formed by the Renaissance Palace and its eccentric occupants and performed her photographic swansong during a trip to Spain, which she photographed with a resolutely modern eye influenced by the early days of cinema.

This chrono-thematic exhibition, from Gabrielle Hébert’s photographic beginnings (1888) to her last images (1908), will seek to present what she made of photography and what photography made of her. Thanks to her images, which she shared and exchanged with her friends and family, she became recognised as an auteur and gained social status in a milieu where artistic creation was the preserve of men. But above all, photography revealed her to herself: through capturing a particularly remarkable geography and era, she effectively invented her own mythology. By doing so, she was Villa Medici’s first photographic chronicler and made a place for herself in the medium’s history.

Most of the works on exhibition are original prints (in 9 x 12 cm format), along with photograph albums created by Gabrielle Hébert, her diaries, boxes of glass plates and cameras she used. Enlargements created from negatives she never printed will add further life to the presentation. The itinerary will be rounded out by drawings and paintings by Ernest Hébert, as well as sentimental relics (palette, medallion and letters), testimony to a story of love for a man and a country.

Text from the Musée d’Orsay website

Gabrielle Hébert (French born Germany, 1853-1934)
L’architecte Hector d’Espouy devant son Projet de plafond pour la décoration de la Villa Médicis
(The architect Hector d’Espouy in front of his ceiling design for the decoration of the Villa Medici)
1889
Aristotype à la gélatine (Gelatin Aristotype)
8 x 10.5cm
© Musée National Ernest Hébert, Paris
Photo: Musée d’Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Alexis Brandt

Gabrielle Hébert (French born Germany, 1853-1934)
Esquisse de La Sirène de Denys Puech dans son atelier (envoi règlementaire de quatrième année)
(Sketch of The Mermaid by Denys Puech in his studio (required submission for fourth year))
1889
Aristotype à la gélatine, papier
11.5 x 5.8cm
© Musée National Ernest Hébert, Paris
Photo: Musée d’Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Alexis Brandt

Gabrielle Hébert (French born Germany, 1853-1934)
Le jeune modèle Peppino sur l’un des lions de la loggia, 18 juin 1890
(The young model Peppino on one of the lions of the loggia, June 18, 1890)
1890
Aristotype à la gélatine, papier (Gelatin Aristotype, paper)
© Musée National Ernest Hébert, Paris
Photo: Musée d’Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Alexis Brandt

Gabrielle Hébert (French born Germany, 1853-1934)
La duchesse de Mondragone et l’une de ses bellessoeurs posent pour une Annonciation, juin 1890
(The Duchess of Mondragone and one of her sisters-in-law pose for an Annunciation, June 1890)
1890
Négatif au gélatino-bromure d’argent sur plaque de verre (Silver gelatin bromide negative on glass plate)
8.4 x 11.6cm
© Musée National Ernest Hébert, Paris
Photo: Musée d’Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Alexis Brandt

Gabrielle Hébert (French born Germany, 1853-1934)
Modèles ciociare sur les marches de la loggia (Ciociare models on the steps of the loggia)
Around 1890
Aristotype à la gélatine, contrecollé sur carton (Gelatin Aristotype, mounted on cardboard)
8.3 x 11.3cm
© Musée National Ernest Hébert, Paris
Photo: Musée d’Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Alexis Brandt

“Ciociaria” refers to a historic, rustic region southeast of Rome in Italy, and “ciociara” (singular) or “ciociare” (plural/feminine) describes people, especially women, from that area, known for their traditional leather sandals (ciocie), embodying a simple, rural Italian identity, famously portrayed in the film La Ciociara (Two Women). The term evokes a strong connection to the land, traditional life, and the unique culture of this central Italian territory.

Google AI

Gabrielle Hébert (French born Germany, 1853-1934)
Lys des parterres, juin 1890 (Flowerbed lilies, June 1890)
1890
Aristotype à la gélatine (Gelatin Aristotype)
10.5 x 12.7cm
© Musée National Ernest Hébert, Paris
Photo: Musée d’Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Alexis Brandt

Gabrielle Hébert (French born Germany, 1853-1934)
La duchesse de Mondragone, des photographies de Gabrielle Hébert sur les genoux
(The Duchess of Mondragone, with photographs of Gabrielle Hébert on her lap)
1890
Aristotype à la gélatine (Gelatin Aristotype)
8.4 x 11.3cm
© Musée National Ernest Hébert, Paris
Photo: Musée d’Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Alexis Brandt

Gabrielle Hébert (French born Germany, 1853-1934)
Étude de lys dans les jardins par le pensionnaire Ernest Laurent et Ernest Hébert, en compagnie du modèle Amalia Scossa, 7 juin 1890
(Study of lilies in the gardens by boarder Ernest Laurent and Ernest Hébert, in the company of model Amalia Scossa, June 7, 1890)
1890
Aristotype à la gélatine, contrecollé sur carton (Gelatin Aristotype, mounted on cardboard)
8.1 x 11.4cm
© Musée National Ernest Hébert, Paris
Photo: Musée d’Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Alexis Brandt

Adaptation of the texts from the exhibition in large print

Introduction

An amateur painter and wife of the artist Ernest Hébert, director of the French Academy in Rome, Gabrielle Hébert began photography intensively and passionately at the Villa Medici in 1888. She abruptly stopped twenty years later in La Tronche (near Grenoble), upon the death of the man she idolised and who was forty years her senior. She will ensure her legacy through the creation of
two monographic museums.

Like Henri Rivière, Maurice Denis, or Émile Zola, who at the end of the 19th century seized upon a camera to record family life, Gabrielle developed a private and sentimental practice, fostered by the technical and aesthetic revolution of the snapshot. As the entries “I take photos” or “I photograph” in her diary show, not a day went by without her taking pictures. Securing her place as an author through these images in a milieu where artistic creation was reserved for men, she discovered herself.

Through the chronicle of her chosen land and happy days, she creates a work of memory and inscribes herself in History.

A Woman Under the Influence

On July 21, 1888, Gabrielle “went out to buy things necessary for photography.” This marked the beginning of an obsessive production of two thousand photographs, mostly taken at the Villa Medici where, as First Lady of a prestigious cultural institution, she organised receptions and received visiting high society. Gabrielle quickly escaped the constraints of her duties: she acquired a camera, took lessons from Cesare Vasari, a Roman professional, and, together with fellow resident Alexis Axilette, set up a darkroom to develop her negatives, print, and retouch her photographs.

She already had an eye for it thanks to her artistic background and her practice of painting and drawing. But it was with the Franco-Italian counts Giuseppe and Luigi Primoli that Gabrielle explored the potential of the instantaneous, becoming the subject of a creative and existential experience: photography.

An art of joy

Gabrielle chronicles the Villa Medici, at once an architectural masterpiece overlooking the Eternal City, a residence for the winners of the Grand Prix de Rome, and a laboratory for a new relationship between France and Italy, newly unified. She focuses her gaze on its inhabitants: artists and models, foreign visitors on holiday, Italian employees at work, flowers, and animals. She enjoys working alongside the “button-pushers” in her circle, as amateurs equipped with handheld cameras are known.

She also observes professionals capturing perspectives of the palace with their imposing camera. “Magnificent weather. I’m photographing the residents”: Gabrielle often associates the day’s weather with an urgent need to act. Present in the world, joyful in her being, she then presses the shutter. Taking the picture is an epiphany. “I photograph, therefore I exist,” she seems to be saying.

Mein Alles (My Everything)

Gabrielle focuses her attention on her husband, around whom she circles and whose activities she seems to observe when he is painting or showing guests around the premises. The tender and sensitive portrait she paints of him is that of a director, an artist entirely devoted to his work at his workplaces, or sketching en plein air on excursions. She also captures him in his nakedness, as an elderly man bathing in the sea. She is concerned about his state of health; she notes how he slept or the time he got up.

The couple’s asymmetry, commonplace at that time and in that social circle, is also expressed in their writings: while he uses the informal “tu” with her, she uses the formal “vous” and addresses him with the superlative phrase “Mein Alles”: My Everything.

Travels in Italy

During their eleven-year stay in Italy, Ernest and Gabrielle travelled all over the country.

The artist enjoys returning to favorite places painted during her youth. They take with them a boarder or student, Amelia Scossa, Ernest’s beloved model, or a few friends; the dogs are always present. In 1893, they travel to Sicily, to the Duke of Aumale’s estate, and then explore the ancient sites of Selinunte and Agrigento, and the Greek theaters of Syracuse and Taormina. By escaping the confines of the Villa Medici and its eccentric inhabitants, Gabrielle literally leaves her social milieu.

With an attention full of empathy for popular and regional culture, she manages to get groups of strangers, women
and men, to pose in front of her lens, no doubt placed on a tripod, whom she brings together in an amusing jumble around a fountain or on the steps of a building, arousing in return a certain curiosity.

In Spain, a cinematic perspective

In 1896, the couple left Italy with great regret and sorrow, returning to Paris and La Tronche where they continued to lead an intense social life. Two years later, Gabrielle completed her photographic swan song during a final journey, this time to Spain, which took them both from Burgos to Granada via Madrid, El Escorial, Toledo, Granada, and Seville.

Abandoning her large-format camera for a Kodak, she amplified in nearly three hundred photographs what she had already experimented with: daring viewpoints – notably from a speeding train – a camera in motion, glances towards the camera, the operator’s shadow cast on the ground, motion blur of people and things (smoke, clouds, and waves), truncated figures, and close-ups.

The nascent cinematograph had passed by. She no longer poses her subjects; she captures them on the fly. She seizes fleeting gestures, radiant moments, the stroll of passersby, the burst of laughter. This journey is an enchanted interlude that allows the couple to get back on their feet, one last time.

The tomb of an artist

Upon returning from Spain, Gabrielle ceased to cultivate her passion, born under the Italian sky. Her output diminished significantly, ceasing altogether in 1908, with Ernest’s death.

During his final months, she recorded his last visits and outings in the sun, his walks, and setting up his easel outdoors. She portrayed him as a draftsman and painter to the very end, then staged his posthumous portrait, for eternity. Containing the seeds of anticipation of the end, the photographs of moments lived, places visited, and people met, were in reality intended to be viewed by others besides their sole author.

With her thousands of images, Gabrielle composed a tomb, in the poetic sense of the word, erected in memory of her husband and their love. In the museum she created in Isère, in La Tronche, in honour of Ernest, it would take until the beginning of the 21st century for her photographic work to be discovered by a happy accident.

Marie Robert, Chief Curator, Photography and Cinema at the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, translated from the French by Google Translate

Gabrielle Hébert (French born Germany, 1853-1934)
Arrière de la statue d’Apollon vainqueur du monstre Python, 13 mai 1891
(Back of the statue of Apollo victorious over the Python monster, May 13, 1891)
1891
Aristotype à la gélatine (Gelatin Aristotype)
8.2 x 10.9cm
© Musée National Ernest Hébert, Paris
Photo: Musée d’Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Alexis Brandt

Gabrielle Hébert (French born Germany, 1853-1934)
La façade du palais sous la neige, 16 janvier 1891 (The palace façade under the snow, January 16, 1891)
1891
Aristotype à la gélatine (Gelatin Aristotype)
8.2 x 11.2cm
© Musée National Ernest Hébert, Paris
Photo: Musée d’Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Alexis Brandt

Gabrielle Hébert (French born Germany, 1853-1934)
Éléonore d’Uckermann, le modèle Natalina, le prince Abamelek-Lazarev et le chien Farfaletta sur la terrasse du bosco, 5 janvier 1891
(Eleanor d’Uckermann, the model Natalina, Prince Abamelek-Lazarev and the dog Farfaletta on the terrace of the bosco, January 5, 1891)
1891
Aristotype à la gélatine (Gelatin Aristotype)
8 x 10.8cm
© Musée National Ernest Hébert, Paris
Photo: Musée d’Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Alexis Brandt

Prince Semyon Semyonovich Abamelek-Lazarev (also Abamelik-Lazaryan; Russian: Семён Семёнович Абамелек-Лазарев; 24 November 1857 in Moscow – 2 October 1916 in Kislovodsk) was a Russian millionaire of Armenian ethnicity noted for his contributions to archaeology and geology.

Gabrielle Hébert (French born Germany, 1853-1934)
Amalia Scossa et Ernest Hébert à sa peinture La Vierge au chardonneret sur la terrasse du campanile
(Amalia Scossa and Ernest Hébert at his painting The Virgin with the Goldfinch on the bell tower terrace)
Around 1891
Aristotype à la gélatine (Gelatin Aristotype)
9.6 x 12.3cm
© Musée National Ernest Hébert, Paris
Photo: Musée d’Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Alexis Brandt

The painting in the photograph is probably La Vierge de Chausseur by Ernest Hébert (c. 1891, below)

Ernest Hébert (French, 1817-1908)
La Vierge de Chausseur
c. 1891
Oil on canvas
73cm (28.7 in); width: 47cm (18.5 in)
Public domain

Gabrielle Hébert (French born Germany, 1853-1934)
Sarah Bernhardt dans le studio aménagé de Giuseppe Primoli, Rome, février 1893
(Sarah Bernhardt in Giuseppe Primoli’s furnished studio, Rome, February 1893)
1893
Négatif sur plaque de verre au gélatinobromure d’argent (Gelatin silver bromide glass plate negative)
9 x 12cm
© La Tronche, musée Hébert
Photo: Musée Hébert, Département de l’Isère

Giuseppe Primoli (Italian, 1851-1927)

Count Giuseppe Napoleone Primoli (in French, Joseph Napoléon Primoli; 2 May 1851 in Rome – 13 June 1927 in Rome) was an Italian nobleman, collector and photographer. …

Giuseppe Primoli lived in Paris from 1853 to 1870. He befriended writers and artists both in Italy and France, and was host to Guy de Maupassant, Paul Bourget, Alexandre Dumas fils, Sarah Bernhardt and others in Palazzo Primoli in Rome. In 1901 he became the sole owner of the palazzo, which he enlarged and modernised between 1904 and 1911.

Primoli was a bibliophile and collector, who assembled a large collection of books and prints. He amassed a collection of books by Stendhal as well as many from the writer’s library.

During the last decades of the nineteenth century, Primoli, an avid photographer, produced over 10,000 photographs.

Text from the Wikipedia website

Anonymous photographer
Giuseppe Primoli in his palace in Rome
c. 1911-1912
Primoli Foundation, Rome

Gabrielle Hébert (French born Germany, 1853-1934)
Femmes à la fenêtre, Taormine (Sicile), mai 1893 (Women at the window, Taormina (Sicily), May 1893)
1893
Aristotype à la gélatine, papier (Gelatin Aristotype, paper)
7.8 x 11.4cm
© Musée National Ernest Hébert, Paris
Photo: Musée d’Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Alexis Brandt

With photographs like the one above, taken at Taormina, it is likely Gabrielle Hébert would have met Baron Wilhelm von Gloeden (German, 1856-1931) who lived and worked there between 1878-1931.

Gabrielle Hébert (French born Germany, 1853-1934)
Paysans avec leurs chèvres, Sicile, mai 1893 (Peasants with their goats, Sicily, May 1893)
1893
Aristotype à la gélatine, papier (Gelatin Aristotype, paper)
7.9 x 10.9cm
La Tronche, Musée Hebert
© Musée Hébert, Département de l’Isère

Gabrielle Hébert (French born Germany, 1853-1934)
Procession sur le port de Brindisi (Pouilles) (Procession in the port of Brindisi (Apulia))
1893
Aristotype à la gélatine, papier (Gelatin Aristotype, paper)
8.0 x 11.4cm
© Musée National Ernest Hébert, Paris
Photo: Musée d’Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Alexis Brandt

Gabrielle Hébert (French born Germany, 1853-1934)
Garçon au coin de la place Zocodover, Tolède, 31 octobre 1898
(Boy on the corner of Zocodover Square, Toledo, October 31, 1898)
1898
Aristotype à la gélatine (Gelatin Aristotype)
10 x 10cm
La Tronche, musée Hebert
© Musée Hébert, Département de l’Isère

Gabrielle Hébert (French born Germany, 1853-1934)
Ernest Hébert sur son lit de mort, novembre 1908 (Ernest Hébert on his deathbed, November 1908)
1908
Aristotype à la gélatine (Gelatin Aristotype)
9.5 x 9.8cm
© Musée National Ernest Hébert, Paris
Photo: Musée d’Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Alexis Brandt

Musée d’Orsay
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Musée d’Orsay website

Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP) website

Exhibition: ‘Edward Weston: Becoming Modern’ at Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP), Paris

Exhibition dates: 15th October, 2015 – 25th January, 2026

Curators: Simon Baker & Laurie Hurwitz, MEP and Polly Fleury & Hope Kingsley, Wilson Centre for Photography

Installation view of the exhibition Edward Weston: Becoming Modern at Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP), Paris, 15th October, 2015 – 25th January, 2026 showing at left, Edward Weston’s ‘M’ on the Black Horsehair Sofa, 1921 (below); and at right, Tina Modotti (Nude in Studio), 1922 (below)

Shadow man

You can always learn from the great artists now matter how many times you have seen their work, especially when the photographs are simply, effectively hung ‘on the line’ in a beautiful space.

Here are photographs by Edward Weston I have never seen before: Pictorialist photographs of suffused and intimate beauty. An exhibition of Weston’s Pictorialist work would be magnificent to behold.

And then Weston’s Peppers (1929, below).

I don’t know why I have never seen this photograph before, why his Pepper (1930, below) is more famous, for this is a monstrous image of dark, writhing, semi-abstract figurative forms, just as valid an artistic statement (in a completely different way) than the more famous image.

Can you imagine holding a vintage print of this photograph in your hands!

Gloria virtutem tanquam umbra sequitur

Dr Marcus Bunyan

Many thankx to Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP) for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.

“Only rhythm, form and perfect detail to consider – first conceptions coming straight through unadulterated.”

“What I seek now is simplicity – the form reduced to its essence.”

Edward Weston. Daybooks II: California (1930-1945). Aperture, 1961

“The camera should be used for a recording of life, for rendering the very substance and quintessence of the thing itself.”

“To see the Thing Itself is essential: the Quintessence revealed direct without the fog of impressionism.”

Edward Weston. The Daybooks of Edward Weston, from Edward Weston: The Flame of Recognition. Aperture, 1965

Edward Weston (American, 1886-1958)
‘M’ on the Black Horsehair Sofa
1921
© Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents / Edward Weston, Adagp, Paris, 2025
Courtesy Gregg Wilson

Edward Weston (American, 1886-1958)
Tina Modotti (Nude in Studio)
1922
© Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents / Edward Weston, Adagp, Paris, 2025
Courtesy Gregg Wilson

Installation view of the exhibition Edward Weston: Becoming Modern at Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP), Paris, 15th October, 2015 – 25th January, 2026 showing at left, Edward Weston’s Shell 1927 (below); and right, Santa Monica (Nude in Doorway) 1936 (below)

Edward Weston (American, 1886-1958)
Shell
1927
Gelatin silver print
© Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents / Edward Weston, Adagp, Paris, 2025
Courtesy Gregg Wilson

Edward Weston (American, 1886-1958) 'Santa Monica (Nude in Doorway)' 1936

Edward Weston (American, 1886-1958)
Charis, Santa Monica (Nude in Doorway)
1936
Gelatin silver print
© Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents / Edward Weston, Adagp, Paris, 2025
Courtesy Wilson Centre for Photography

Installation views of the exhibition Edward Weston: Becoming Modern at Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP), Paris, 15th October, 2015 – 25th January, 2026

The exhibition

The MEP presents Edward Weston: Becoming Modern, the most significant exhibition dedicated to Edward Weston in Paris in nearly thirty years. A pioneering figure of photographic modernism, Weston helped forge a new visual language – marked by clarity, formal rigour, and a profound engagement with the essential qualities of the photographic medium.

Originating from an idea by Michael Wilson – founder of the Wilson Centre
for Photography in London and one of the world’s foremost collectors –
Becoming Modern brings together a rare selection of vintage prints from his
collection, many of which have never been exhibited in France. These works
offer an exceptional insight into Weston’s evolving practice and the emergence
of a distinctly photographic modernism.

Spanning more than three decades, from 1908 to 1945, the exhibition traces
Weston’s artistic trajectory. His early pictorialist photographs, created in
California during the 1910s and early 1920s, draw upon 19th-century artistic
traditions, employing soft focus, carefully staged settings, and symbolic imagery. Over time, his vision transformed: his images became sharper, compositions more austere, with an increasing emphasis on form, surface, and structure. By the 1920s, many of his photographs approached geometric abstraction – though Weston was never confined to a single style. This transformation unfolded gradually, as motifs intertwined and techniques evolved in a subtle, ongoing dialogue, revealing an artist continuously refining and deepening his vision.

Highlights include works from Weston’s time in Mexico, where, in close
collaboration with Tina Modotti – an artist, political activist, and his lover –
he created portraits and nudes imbued with a newfound freedom and
radicalism These are complemented by evocative landscapes of the dramatic
California coastline near Point Lobos and Carmel. At the heart of the
exhibition are his most iconic series: sensuous close-up studies of natural
forms – peppers, shells, fruits, and vegetables – captured with an almost
obsessive intensity; dune and rock landscapes from Point Lobos and Death
Valley; and luminous nudes of his muse, Charis Wilson. Throughout, Weston
reveals the universal beauty of everyday subjects, transforming them into
pure, sculptural forms. Recurring themes – portraiture, the nude, still life,
and nature – are placed in dialogue, uncovering deeper connections across
his oeuvre. His work displays remarkable strength and variety, with many natural forms taking on subtle anthropomorphic qualities.

Becoming Modern invites audiences to rediscover a bold innovator whose
visionary approach helped shape the course of photographic history.
The exhibition also includes a selection of rare works by leading Pictorialist
photographers, offering a broader context for Weston’s early influences and
the artistic milieu from which his modernism emerged.

Edward Weston biography

Widely regarded as one of the masters of 20th-century photography, Edward Henry Weston (March 24, 1886 – January 1, 1958) reshaped the medium through a vision rooted in clarity, form, and a profound sensitivity to the physical world. Over a career spanning more than forty years, he forged a style that was both radically modern and deeply grounded in the landscapes and materials of the American West.

Born in Highland Park, Illinois, Weston spent his early years in the Chicago
area, where his fascination with photography first took hold. By 1903,
as a teenager, he was already exhibiting his early works. At sixteen, he
received his first camera – a gift from his father that marked the beginning
of a lifelong creative journey. He studied at the Illinois College of Photography
from 1908 to 1911 before relocating to California, where, at age 25, he opened a portrait studio in Tropico, operating from 1911 to 1922. In his early career, Weston worked within the Pictorialist tradition – a popular style of the early 20th century characterised by soft focus and romantic, painterly effects. His portraits from this period brought him recognition from the art community. Yet by the early 1920s, he began to move away from this approach, embracing a sharper, more precise, and abstract visual language that emphasised form and detail.

A turning point in Weston’s artistic journey occurred in 1922 on a trip to New York, where he met influential modernist photographers such as Alfred Stieglitz, Paul Strand, and Charles Sheeler. They recognised the originality of his work and encouraged him to fully embrace this new direction, which soon included close studies of fruits, vegetables, shells, and stones, rendered with astonishing clarity and sculptural intensity. Through close observation and meticulous composition, he revealed the inherent beauty of form, transforming the ordinary into the iconic.

In the mid-1920s, Weston travelled to Mexico with the photographer and political activist Tina Modotti, with whom he shared a studio and a deep creative partnership. Immersed in the vibrant cultural life of Mexico City, he engaged with a dynamic community of artists and thinkers whose ideas further catalysed his break from tradition.

Returning to California in 1928, Weston found new inspiration in the rugged coastal terrain of Point Lobos. The region’s intricate rock formations, windswept trees, and tide pools became a central focus of his work, offering endless opportunities for visual exploration and formal innovation. In 1932, Weston co-founded Group f/64 – a collective of West Coast photographers dedicated to “straight” photography, emphasising sharp focus, rich tonality, and the use of large-format cameras. The group championed an unmanipulated approach to the medium. Weston’s contributions during this period, especially his landscapes, remain among the most enduring images in American photography.

Text from MEP

Edward Weston (American, 1886-1958)
Chicago River Harbor
1908
© Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents / Edward Weston, Adagp, Paris, 2025
Courtesy Wilson Centre for Photography

Edward Weston (American, 1886-1958)
Portrait of Enrique (Enrica, Wearing a Black Cross, Looking Sideways)
1916-1919
© Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents / Edward Weston, Adagp, Paris, 2025
Courtesy Wilson Centre for Photography

Edward Weston (American, 1886-1958)
Daughter of John Cotton No. II
1920
© Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents / Edward Weston, Adagp, Paris, 2025
Courtesy Wilson Centre
for Photography

Edward Weston (American, 1886-1958)
Tina Reciting (Tina Modotti)
1924
© Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents / Edward Weston, Adagp, Paris, 2025
Courtesy Gregg Wilson

Edward Weston (American, 1886-1958)
Heaped Black Ollas
1926
Gelatin silver print
© Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents / Edward Weston, Adagp, Paris, 2025
Courtesy Wilson Centre for Photography

Edward Weston (American, 1886-1958)
Excusado (Toilet)
1926
© Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents / Edward Weston, Adagp, Paris, 2025
Courtesy Wilson Centre for Photography

Exhibition overview

Becoming Modern traces Edward Weston’s evolution from the soft pictorialism
of his early years to the clarity and precision that came to define modern
photography. Spanning nearly three decades, the exhibition presents more
than 100 rare vintage prints from the Wilson Centre for Photography. It invites
viewers to rediscover one of photography’s most visionary pioneers through
an extraordinary body of work.

The exhibition opens with two emblematic photographs that frame its central
theme, reflecting a curatorial concept developed by Michael Wilson to highlight
Weston’s extraordinary range and experimentation. On one side hangs
M on the Black Horsehair Sofa (1921, above), a quintessential example of the
Pictorialist style: a languid pose, softly diffused light, and a painterly atmosphere enriched by symbolic elements – a floral bouquet, a circular mirror. Opposite it, Tina Modotti (Nude in Studio) (1922, above) marks a striking departure. The figure sits upright, smoking, in a bare studio – captured with crisp focus and a stark, modern sensibility. Though created just a year apart, these works embody the transformative arc at the heart of Weston’s career: a restless search for new ways of seeing. From these beginnings, Weston’s exploratory approach soon dissolved strict categories, embracing a practice defined by an ongoing dialogue between subjects and forms.

From here, the exhibition situates Weston’s early work within the broader
context of the Pictorialist movement. His prints are shown alongside key images by photographers who shaped or anticipated his early style – Edward Steichen, George Seeley, Anne Brigman, Dorothea Lange, Margrethe Mather, and Alfred Stieglitz. A tireless advocate for photography as a fine art, Stieglitz helped define the medium’s possibilities through his publications Camera Work and 291, and through his influential New York gallery of the same name. Weston’s own early prints – including a striking self-portrait – are exhibited alongside these historic works. These are placed in conversation with later photographs that capture Weston and his creative circle in 1920s California, evoking a distinct artistic atmosphere. Rooted in the landscape and rhythms of the West Coast, Weston’s early vision subtly diverged from that of his East Coast contemporaries.

The exhibition then turns to the pivotal decade of the 1920s, a period of
remarkable transformation and experimentation in Weston’s practice. Rather
than unfolding in a linear progression, this section reveals how Weston moved
fluidly between subjects and styles – returning repeatedly to certain motifs
while continually refining his formal vocabulary.

This section opens with works from Weston’s extended stays in Mexico
from 1923 to 1926 with photographer and political activist Tina Modotti – his
muse, lover, and collaborator – where he encountered a vibrant avant-garde
community. Immersed in the artistic and political ferment of 1920s Mexico,
Weston developed a bold new visual language focused on form, contrast, and
a sense of immediate presence. A striking portrait of Modotti, presented in both
gelatin silver and palladium prints, showcases Weston’s ongoing technical
experimentation alongside his deepening sensitivity to tonal nuance. Modotti
encouraged Weston toward an even more radical vision, challenging him to
see the world anew through his camera.

His Mexican experience deepened Weston’s experimental impulse, introducing
sharper contrasts and new formal rigor that reverberated through his portraits
and nudes. His obsession with natural forms intensified. He photographed
them repeatedly, seeking the perfect composition and meticulously refining
his prints to reveal the interplay of light, shadow, and volume.

These subjects interact and reflect one another through Weston’s lens.
The sinuous curves of a shell echo the lines of a nude; the gleaming porcelain
of Excusado (Toilet) (1926) takes on the quiet sensuality of the human body.
Shell (1927, above), one of Weston’s most iconic images, exemplifies his singular ability to elevate everyday objects into studies of luminous purity, rendering form, texture, and light with a precision so distilled that they verge on abstraction – not simply photographs of things, but meditations on form itself. During this period, his treatment of the nude also evolved dramatically: the body becomes fragmented and abstracted, its anatomy transformed into sculptural rhythm. This exploration reaches its pinnacle in Charis, Santa Monica (Nude in Doorway) (1936, above), one of Weston’s most celebrated images.

At the heart of the exhibition are many of Weston’s most exceptional works
from the late 1920s and 1930s, in which he famously transformed the ordinary
into something sensuous and unexpected. In his iconic studies of vegetables –
particularly peppers – their curves and folds evoke the flesh and contours
of the human torso, recalling both modernist sculpture and the body. Using
the camera to express, in his words, “the very substance and the quintessence
of the thing itself,” Weston also photographed in close-up what he saw around
him: an egg-slicer, the plank from a barley sifter, a gnarled tree.

His portraits from this period grew sharper in focus and more daring
in composition, echoing the dynamic perspectives emerging in European
Modernist photography. By the late 1920s, after returning to California,
his work had begun to appear in major exhibitions linked to the New Objectivity
movement, which championed photographic clarity and rejected painterly
effects. This evolution is also evident in his treatment of the nude: the body
is fragmented and abstracted, its forms studied as sculptural elements.

Weston’s practice moved fluidly between subjects, embracing both the human
body and the natural world, constantly refining his vision through intense study and formal innovation. Close-up studies of nature – sand patterns, rocks,
and wood – verge on abstraction, including Rock Erosion and Sandstone
Erosion (Point Lobos) – photographs made along the dramatic California
coastline that Weston returned to repeatedly. Jagged rock formations, knotted
seaweed, wind-twisted cypress trees, and bleached driftwood became recurring
motifs, offering endless opportunities for formal exploration. These works also
include a group of powerful portraits, from images of his future wife, Charis Wilson, and her brother Leon, to Weston’s son Brett and daughter-in-law Elinore Stone.

Text from MEP

Edward Weston (American, 1886-1958)
Peppers
1929
Gelatin silver print
© Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents /
Edward Weston, Adagp, Paris, 2025
Courtesy Wilson Centre for Photography

Edward Weston (American, 1886-1958)
Pepper
1930
Gelatin silver print
© Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents / Edward Weston, Adagp, Paris, 2025
Courtesy Gregg Wilson

Edward Weston (American, 1886-1958)
Eggs and Slicer
1930
Gelatin silver print
© Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents / Edward Weston, Adagp, Paris, 2025
Courtesy Wilson Centre for Photography

Edward Weston (American, 1886-1958)
Shell and Rock Arrangement
1931
Gelatin silver print
© Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents / Edward Weston, Adagp, Paris, 2025
Courtesy Wilson Centre for Photography

Edward Weston (American, 1886-1958)
Nude (Dorris)
1933
Gelatin silver print
© Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents /
Edward Weston, Adagp, Paris, 2025. Courtesy Wilson Centre
for Photography

Edward Weston (American, 1886-1958)
Nude on Sand, Oceano
1936
Gelatin silver print
© Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents / Edward Weston, Adagp, Paris, 2025
Courtesy Wilson Centre for Photography

Edward Weston (American, 1886-1958) 'Clouds, Santa Monica' 1936

Edward Weston (American, 1886-1958)
Santa Monica
1936
Gelatin silver print
© Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents / Edward Weston, Adagp, Paris, 2025
Courtesy Wilson Centre for Photography

Edward Weston (American, 1886-1958)
Tomato Field, Big Sur
1937
Gelatin silver print
© Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents / Edward Weston, Adagp, Paris, 2025
Courtesy Wilson Centre for Photography

Edward Weston (American, 1886-1958)
Sandstone Erosion, Point Lobos
1942
Gelatin silver print
© Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents / Edward Weston, Adagp, Paris, 2025
Courtesy Wilson Centre for Photography

Edward Weston (American, 1886-1958)
Exposition of Dynamic Symmetry
1943
Gelatin silver print
© Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents / Edward Weston, Adagp, Paris, 2025
Courtesy Wilson Centre for Photography

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The best of Art Blart in 2025

December 2025

Around the world, 2025 hasn’t been a great year for photography exhibitions. As a friend of mine said on Facebook it has been a dreary year and I would tend to agree with him.

Curatorially, everything was pretty cut and dried, relying on the usual one artist show or group exhibition on a theme with nobody prepared to take a risk on anything creative, inventive even.

I found little to inspire me in terms of idiosyncratic but illuminating pairings of photographers or unusual insights into the conditions and conceptualisation of photographic production and presentation – other than a few of the exhibitions noted below: costume, gesture and expression – yes! the development of colour photography pre the ubiquitous American artists – yes! and the life in self-portraits of a photobooth operator in Melbourne, part magician, part artist – YES!

Out of the 60 postings on Art Blart in 2025 I’ve picked what I think are the 11 best exhibitions, plus a couple of honourable mentions.

I hope you enjoy the selection and a Happy New Year to you all!

Dr Marcus Bunyan

1/ Marcus Bunyan. “Past present,” on the exhibition Still Performing: Costume, Gesture, and Expression in 19th Century European Photography at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, August 2024 – January 2025

Victor Plumier (Belgian, 1820-1878)
Lady in Costume
About 1850
Daguerreotype, half plate
5 1/2 × 4 1/2 inches
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Gift of the Hall Family Foundation

“The emotions and the sentiments, the gestures and the expressions.
The actor and the stage, the photographer and the sitter.
The staged photograph and the tableaux vivant.
The Self and the Other.” ~ MB

2/ A Long Arc: Photography and the American South since 1845 at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, October 2024 – January 2025

Andrew Joseph Russell (American, 1829-1902)
Slave Pen, Alexandria, Virginia
1863
Albumen silver print
High Museum of Art
Purchased with funds Lucinda Weill Bunnen Fund and the Donald and Marilyn Keogh Family

“Photographs are containers of, fragments of, memories of, histories of, events – remembrances of events – brought from past into present, informing the future, showing only snippets of the stories of both past and present lives. Parallel to the usual thought that photographs are about death, they are also memory containers for (still) living people.” ~ MB

3/ Marcus Bunyan. “Out in the midday sun,” on the exhibition Martin Parr. Early Works at Fotografie Forum Frankfurt (FFF), September 2024 – February 2025

Martin Parr (British, 1952-2025)
Mayor of Todmorden’s inaugural banquet, Todmorden, West Yorkshire, England, 1977
1977
Gelatin silver print
© Martin Parr | Magnum Photos

“I am always fascinated with the early work of an artist. In essence, the photographs tell you what are the primary concerns for the artist and these themes usually remain with them for the rest of their career. These early black and white photographs provide a window into that ongoing investigation, that golden path. They are more subtle in their modulation of British life than in the later colour work – it’s as though the artist had to change gears with the use of colour developing a more ironic way of seeing British life through a different spatial relationship to his subjects – but in these photographs there is still that deprecating humour that is often missing in the work of his contemporaries…” ~ MB

4/ Saul Leiter – An Unfinished World at Foam, Amsterdam, January – April, 2025

Saul Leiter (American, 1923-2013) 'Pull' c. 1960

“There are the things that are out in the open, and there are the things that are hidden, and life has more to do, the real world has more to do with what is hidden.” ~ Saul Leiter

5/ True Colors: Color in Photography from 1849 to 1955 at Albertina Modern, Vienna, January – April, 2025

Léon Vidal (French, 1833-1906)
Oriental Onyx Sardonyx Cup (16th century)
1876
Photomechanical proof (photochromy using the Léon Vidal process) mounted on cardboard
H. 20.8 ; L. 26.2 cm.
Don Fondation Kodak-Pathé, 1983

“What a wonderful exhibition. It’s so exciting to see the history and development of colour photography pre the ubiquitous, American artists William Eggleston and Stephen Shore, much as I like both artists.” ~ MB

6/ The basement: photography from Prahran College (1968-1981) at the Museum of Australian Photography, Wheelers Hill, Melbourne, March – May 2025

Julie Millowick (Australian, b. 1948)
Mother and child from 46 Blanche Street, St Kilda
1977
Gelatin silver print
15.9 x 23.7cm
Museum of Australian Photography, City of Monash Collection donated by Julie Millowick 2024

“Prahran College itself played a critical role in the legitimisation of photography as an art form within Australia. It spearheaded the integration of art photography into tertiary education curricula, fostering an environment where young artists … could experiment formally and conceptually.”

James McArdle. “Epoch,” on the On This Date in Photography website, 25th April, 2025 [Online] Cited 28/04/2025

7/ Peter Mitchell: Nothing Lasts Forever at The Photographers’ Gallery, London, March – June 2025

Peter Mitchell (British, b. 1943) 'Opticians, London, 1975' 1975

“The wit, the humour (pigeons sitting outside the racing pigeon shop), the stiff upper lip, the carry on regardless, the working class pantomime of life and death – the public commission flats where people formed caring communities that were destroyed through redevelopment – the integrity of an existence that has largely come and gone pictured with warmth and empathy.” ~ MB

8/ Auto-Photo: A Life in Portraits at RMIT Gallery, Melbourne, June – August 2025

Installation view of the exhibition Auto-Photo: A Life in Portraits at RMIT Gallery, Melbourne, June – August, 2025
Photo: Marcus Bunyan

“Through the strip self-portraits Adler took while servicing and then testing the photobooths that he operated in Melbourne, Australia we become immersed in an archive of his world, the exhibition becoming a joyous ode to a man who devoted his life to photography (not in the traditional sense): in turns humorous and historical, a travelogue, his travelogue, through time and space.’ ~ MB

9/ Street Photography. Lee Friedlander, Joseph Rodríguez, Garry Winogrand at Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany, May – October 2025

Joseph Rodriguez (American, b. 1952) '220 West Houston Street, NY' 1984

Joseph Rodríguez (American, b. 1952)
220 West Houston Street, New York
1984
Gelatin silver paper, print after 1988
25.3 x 37.2cm
© Joseph Rodríguez, Courtesy Galerie Bene Taschen
Repro: Historisches Archiv mit Rheinischem Bildarchiv

“Rodríguez’s moody, high contrast photographs of humanity and street scenes pictured from behind the wheel of his taxi in New York proffer an intuitive, empathetic and subjective view of the city and its people at a time of great economic and social upheaval…

Uncertain times, uncertain angles and perspectives, uncertain light give rise to a powerful body of work made certain by the talent of an impressive photographer. Glorious work.” ~ MB

10/ Marcus Bunyan. “Myths of the American West,” on the exhibition Richard Avedon ‘In the American West’ 1979-1984 at the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson, Paris, April – October 2025

Richard Avedon (American, 1923-2004)
Sandra Bennett, twelve year old, Rocky Ford, Colorado, August 23, 1980
1980
Gelatin silver print
© The Richard Avedon Foundation

“Avedon, while undercutting the myth of the American West through his storytelling, doesn’t seek to document, exploit or misrepresent his subjects, but to subjectively present them as on a theatrical set devoid of scenery – where their very appearance becomes scene / seen. As he himself said, “My concern is… the human predicament; only what I consider the human predicament may simply be my own.”” ~ MB

11/ Bernd & Hilla Becher – History of a Method at Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur, Cologne, September 2025 – February 2026

Bernd and Hilla Becher (German, 1931-2007/1934-2015)
Wassertürme, USA (Water towers, USA)
1974-1983
Gelatin silver prints
© Estate Bernd & Hilla Becher, vertreten durch Max Becher
Courtesy Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur – Bernd und Hilla Becher Archiv, Köln, 2025

“The Bechers’ typologies and grids, their topographic state, their same same photographs and perspectives of industrial sculptures and landscapes are anything but objective. Their pictorial grammar, underlaid by a conceptual approach to subject matter, continuously reflected in the systematics of capture and display (the juxtaposition of works together), is constantly undermined by the ghost in the machine – those viral codes of mutation and difference which cannot be controlled.” ~ MB

Honourable mentions

Typologien: Photography in 20th-century Germany at Fondazione Prada, Milan, April – July, 2025

Heinrich Riebesehl (German, 1938-2010)
Menschen Im Fahrstuhl, 20.11.1969 [People in the Elevator, 20.11.1969]
1969
Gelatin silver print, printed 2007
Kicken Berlin
© Heinrich Riebesehl, by SIAE 2025

Objective / subjective
Pattern / randomness
Isolation / extinction
Morphology / mutation
Specific / anonymous
Repetition / difference
Same / other
Structure / creativity
Orientation / disorientation
Universal / individual
Reality / imagination
Documentation / disruption
Omnipresent / unique
Exact / imprecise
Composed / emotional
Staged / snapshot
Concept / feeling
Formal / intuitive
Ritual / subversion
Collaboration / resistance

Et cetera, et cetera…

Inherent in one is the other.

Every photo within a Becher grid contains its own difference. ~ MB

Carrie Mae Weems: The Heart of the Matter at Gallerie d’Italia, Turin, April – September, 2025

Carrie Mae Weems (American, b. 1953)
Welcome Home
1978-1984
From the series Family Pictures and Stories 1978-1984
© Carrie Mae Weems and reproduced courtesy of the artist and Gladstone Gallery, New York, Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, and Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin

“Weems blends the poetic and conceptual in photographs and bodies of work which investigate history, identity, racism, executive and patriarchal power from the perspectives of female / Black American.

What a fabulous artist, a guide into circumstances seldom seen, now revealed.” ~ MB