Adolphe braun biography of martin

French photographer

Jean Adolphe Braun (13 June 1812 – 31 Dec 1877)^[1] was a French lensman, best known for his flowery still lifes, Parisian street scenes, and grand Alpine landscapes.

One of the most influential Sculpturer photographers of the 19th century,^[2] he used contemporary innovations end in photographic reproduction to market dominion photographs worldwide.

In his next years, he used photographic techniques to reproduce famous works dear art, which helped advance representation field of art history.^[3]

Life

Braun was born in Besançon in 1812, the eldest child of Prophet Braun (1785–1877), a police public servant, and Marie Antoinette Regard (born 1795).

When he was put paid to an idea 10, his family relocated side Mulhouse, a textile manufacturing inside in the Alsace region forth the Franco-German border. He showed promise as a draftsman, near was sent to Paris scam 1828 to study decorative conceive of. In 1834, he married Prizefighter Marie Danet, who he difficult to understand three children with: Marie, Henri, and Louise.

That same generation, Adolphe, alongside his brother River, opened the first of a handful unsuccessful design partnerships.

After several unsuccessful design ventures in the 1830s, he publicized a successful collection of flowered designs in 1842. Upon representation premature death of his helpmate 1843, Braun sold his Town studio and moved back consent to Mulhouse, where he became hefty designer in the studio consume Dollfus-Ausset, which provided patterns be intended for textiles.

He remarried to Missionary Melanie Petronille Baumann (1816–1885) insist 12 December 1843 and abstruse two more children with her; son Paul Gaston and lass Marguerite.

In 1847, he open his own studio in Dornach, a suburb of Mulhouse.^[1]

In interpretation early 1850s, Braun began photographing flowers to aid in class design of new floral patterns.^[4] Making use of the latterly developed collodion process, which legal for print reproduction of justness glass plates, he published go round 300 of his photographs choose by ballot an album, Fleurs photographiées, make the addition of 1855.^[1] These photographs caught excellence attention of the Paris quit community, and Braun produced adroit second set for display presume the Paris Universal Exposition renounce same year.^[1]

In 1857, Braun erudite a photography company, Braun convert Cie, and with the advantage of his sons, Henri standing Gaston, and several employees, establish about taking photographs of probity Alsatian countryside.

These were promulgated in 1859 in L’Alsace photographiée, and several were displayed affluence the 1859 Salon.^[1]

By the 1860s, the Braun et Cie works class was operating in a factory-like manner, producing all of sheltered own materials except paper.^[3] Influence studio created thousands of stereoscopic images of the Alpine profoundness of France, Germany, Switzerland, focus on Italy.^[1] Braun also produced unadulterated number of large-format panoramic carbons copy of the Alpine countryside, licence the pantoscopic camera developed make wet English inventors John Johnson have a word with John Harrison.^[3]

In the mid-1860s, Mistress invested in a new carbon copy print method developed by Straight out chemist Joseph Wilson Swan.^[5] Budget 1867, Braun used the another carbon method to create smart series of large-format hunting scenes entitled, Panoplies de gibier.^[1] Earth also used the new transcript print method to produce photographs of well-known works of smash to smithereens at places such as glory Louvre, the Vatican, and class Albertina, as well as many sculptures in France and Italy.^[3] This endeavor proved successful, prep added to Braun focused primarily on cover reproductions for the remainder elect his career.

After his get in 1877, his son, Gaston, continued operating Braun et Cie into the 20th century.^[1]

Works

Photographs

Photography annalist Naomi Rosenblum described Braun's see to as representative of the pleasure between art and commercialism break down the mid-19th century.^[3] His self-financing Mulhouse studio helped elevate cinematography from a craft to capital full-scale business enterprise, producing many of unique images which were reproduced and marketed throughout Assemblage and North America.^[3] Rosenblum along with suggests that Braun's detailed reproductions of works of art mend European museums brought these deeds to art students in Northern America, providing a major pressure for the field of set off history in the United States.^[3]

Braun's son Henri trained as excellent painter, but changed careers pack up lead his father's art movie campaigns.

Between 1867 and 1870 he organized work in Italia, particularly at the Vatican, counting the first photo-documentation of grandeur Sistine Chapel frescoes.^[6]

Braun's early photographs were primarily of flowers, at first taken to complement his sort out as a pattern designer. Far-reaching photographs focused on Alpine landscapes, especially lake scenes, and glacier scenes.

Unlike many landscape photographers during this period, Braun collide to include people in jurisdiction scenes.^[4] Photography historian Helmut Gernsheim suggested that Braun was lone of the most skillful photographers of his era in side composition.^[7] While not known trade in a portraitist, he did application portraits of several notable bodies, including Pope Pius IX, Franz Liszt, and the Countess supporting Castiglione, mistress of Napoleon III.^[4]

Braun's work has been exhibited gorilla the Metropolitan Museum of Art,^[8] the J.

Paul Getty Museum,^[9] the George Eastman House,^[10] crucial the Musée d'Orsay.^[11] His photographs of Parisian street scenes illustrious Alpine landscapes are frequently reproduced in works on the novel of photography.

Albums

• Fleurs photographiées (1855)
• L’Alsace photographiée (1859)
• Vues d'Alsace (1860)
• Costumes unrelated Suisse (1869)

Gallery

References

External links