Charles Marville
(Charles Marville: 21. Jeanne Hachette. Le Jardin du Luxembourg (Luxembourg Gardens, Paris))
Charles Marville (France, 1816–1879)
21. Jeanne Hachette. Le Jardin du Luxembourg (Luxembourg Gardens, Paris). 1852–1854
Salted paper print from calotype paper negative
8 1/4 x 5 5/8 in. image size
Henry Art Gallery, Joseph and Elaine Monsen Photography Collection, 2001.127
(Charles Marville: Paris 13e Arrondissement (13th District of Paris))
Charles Marville (France, 1816–1879)
Paris 13e Arrondissement (13th District of Paris). c. 1865
Albumen print
9 1/2 x 13 11/16 in. image size
Henry Art Gallery, Joseph and Elaine Monsen Photography Collection, gift of Joseph and Elaine Monsen and The Boeing Company, 97.105
Beginning in 1852, and continuing for almost 20 years, French photographer Charles Marville recorded the cobbled, medieval Parisian neighborhoods that were being destroyed by massive urban renewal projects under Napoleon III. His balanced city compositions are often devoid of people and reveal his eye for detail. This image displays a poignant regard for the character and texture of a vanishing cityscape, showing us how documentary images can be invested with a poetic dimension.
(Charles Marville: Trees in the Bois de Bologne)
Charles Marville (France, 1816–1879)
Trees in the Bois de Bologne. 1852
Salted paper print from calotype paper negative
8 9/16 x 6 7/16 in. image size
Henry Art Gallery, Joseph and Elaine Monsen Photography Collection, 2007.56
In the late 1850s the city of Paris commissioned photographer Charles Marville to document the city’s landmarks and neighborhoods before modernization changed them forever. The Bois de Boulogne was an immense new public garden to the west of the city, founded in 1852. Trees in the Bois de Boulogne is a very early image of this untouched park.