Adolphe Braun

Adolphe Braun

b. 1811 Besançon, France, d. 1877
photographer
French

Trained as a fabric designer, Adolphe Braun began his photography career in 1853. His photographs of flowers, for a catalog titled Fleurs photographiées, were to be transferred onto printing blocks for wallpaper and fabric designs. It was an extremely successful project for Braun; one album of the photographs was presented to Empress Eugénie of France, and it earned him a medal at the 1855 Paris Exposition Universelle.

By the early 1860s, Braun's focus had shifted to the making of topographical views of scenes throughout Europe and, beginning in 1866, to reproductions of works of art. The reproduction of paintings, drawings, lithographs, engravings, and sculpture was an important endeavor in France, and photography provided an accurate record. Braun opened a photography studio that became one of the world's largest publishers of such images. In 1869 Braun's was one of only two photographic firms invited to photograph the opening of the Suez Canal in Egypt.

	Still Life of a Hunting Scene
	Adolphe Braun French, 1860 Carbon print 30 7/16 x 22 1/8 in. 84.XP.252.1

The J. Paul Getty Trust © J. Paul Getty Trust | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use

Adolphe Braun French, 1860 Carbon print 30 7/16 x 22 1/8 in. 84.XP.252.1

The category of still life painting emerged during the Baroque period in Italy and Belgium. Adolphe Braun photographed works of art from numerous European collections, so he was certainly familiar with such paintings from those assignments. This image of the hunt, with a dead boar and bird, rifle, trumpet, and woodsy vegetation suggests the sporting scene. At first glance the assemblage appears to be an effusively illuminated initial E from a manuscript. Then the gruesome scene reveals itself. The reality of the boar's lifeless body is less picturesque in this highly detailed photograph than it might be in a similar scene in a painting. The photograph's ability to imitate nature so realistically makes for a sober, macabre image.

Jump to image

Braun, Adolphe
French (1812-1877)

DESCRIPTIVE TITLE: Floral Still Life
ALBUM TITLE: "Fleurs, Photographiees de Adolphe Braun"

ca. 1857
albumen print
20.8 x 17.1 cm. (oval)
Museum Purchase
GEH NEG: 31905
67:0045:0006

BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCE: Mulligan, Therese & Wooters, David. --Photography from 1839 to today: George Eastman House, Rochester, NY.-- Cologne: Taschen, 1999. p. 351.//

NOTES: Catalogued 5/90, MMC.

SUBJECT: still life, flowers

Jump to text

Reposition image