WEEKLY TRANSMISSION N°11
THURSDAY 16 MARCH 2017
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EUROPEAN DIMENSION OF PHOTOGRAPHY: ADOLPHE BRAUN IN THE ALPS
contents: Adolphe Braun liked to include people in his scenes Weekly Cartoon by Théophile: Alpinists Adolphe Braun was a European photographer 55 Braun’s Alpine Landscapes at Auction, Binoche & Giquello, 17 May 2017 Braun’s Secret Recipe published in Dictionnaire de chimie photographique, 1904 Elements of Braun Family Tree WWW.PLANTUREUX.FR
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Braun's early photographs were primarily of flowers, originally taken to complement his work as a pattern designer. Subsequent photographs focused on Alpine landscapes, especially lake scenes, and glacier scenes. Unlike many landscape photographers during this period, Braun liked to include people in his scenes. Braun's work has been exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the J. Paul Getty Museum, the George Eastman House, and the Musée d'Orsay...
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N°11-2017: ADOLPHE BRAUN IN THE ALPS Previous related transmissions can be found at www.plantureux.fr
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Thursday 16 March 2017
ADOLPHE BRAUN 55 Alpine Landscapes Vente Binoche et Giquello, 17 mai 2017 Sale Wednesday, May 17th, 3pm Public Exhibitions Tuesday, May 16th, 11am-6pm Wednesday, May 17th, 11am-12am Drouot Room 1 contact à l’étude : Raphaelle Laxan +33147704895 +33147704800 r.laxan@betg.fr
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Weekly Cartoon: Alpinism by ThĂŠophile Bouchet Galliano
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Adolphe Braun (1812-1877) was a European photographer, best known for his floral still lifes, Parisian street scenes, and grand Alpine landscapes. One of the most influential photographers of the 19th century, he used contemporary innovations in photographic reproduction to market his photographs worldwide. In his later years, he used photographic techniques to reproduce famous works of art, which helped advance the field of art history. Nothing more difficult than to photograph the mountains, problem of accessibility, light, composition, as you can read in the preface by Daniel Girardin of Vertical No Limit, catalogue Lausanne, 2017 (based on the premise that photography invented the mountain landscape by revealing it to the eyes of the world).
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Jean Adolphe Braun was born in Besançon in 1812, the eldest child of Samuel Braun, a Napoleon Bonaparte European Empire police officer, and Antoinette Regard. When Adolphe was a young boy, his father could not hope any job under the French Restauration and the family relocated to Mulhouse, a textile manufacturing center in the Alsace region along the new Franco-German border. He showed promise as a draftsman, and when, after some political change, his father was allowed to return to Paris to work as a policeman, Adolphe was able to study decorative design in the French capital. He created his first company, design ventures in 1834 and married Louise Marie Danet in November 1834, he published a successful collection of floral designs in 1842, dedicated to his wealthy friend Daniel Dollfuss-Ausset (1797-1870). In 1843, after the tragic death of his wife (22 January 1843) Braun sold his Paris studio and moved back to Mulhouse with three young children Louise Marie Adélaïde, Adolphe Henry and Louise Joséphine. There he became chief designer in the studio of Dollfus-Ausset, which provided patterns for textiles. Dollfus Ausset organized the first daguerreian expeditions in the Alps. In Alsace, Braun founded soon a new family, married Melanie Baumann on 12 December 1843 and had his son Paul Gaston Braun (1845-1928). In 1847, he opened his own studio in Dornach, a suburb of Mulhouse, with his brother Charles Braun (soon married to Melanie’s sister, Sara Celie Baumann, 17 January 1845).
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Soon, Braun began photographing flowers to aid in the design of new floral patterns. Making use of the recently developed collodion process, he published over 300 of his photographs in an album, Fleurs photographiĂŠes, in 1855. These photographs caught the attention of both the Industrial circle and the Paris art community, and Braun produced a second set for display at the Paris Universal Exposition.
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In 1857, Braun formed a photography company, Braun et Cie, and with the help of his sons, Henri and Gaston, his father Samuel, his brother Charles and several employees, set about taking photographs of the Alsatian countryside. These were published in 1859 in L’Alsace photographiée, an ambitious album whose most complete copy was given to the new Emperor and several were displayed at the 1859 Salon. Advertising started in La Lumière, here number December 1859.
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In 1864, Adolphe Braun became a member of the Sociétéfrançaise de photographie. At the same period his former commercial relations with Parisian photographers Gaudin brothers had moved to hate, still a puzzling question for historian. By the 1860s, the Braun et Cie studio was operating in a factory-like manner, producing its own energy and all of its own materials except paper. A very unusual entreprise, conceived in an autarchic way. The studio created thousands of stereoscopic images of the Alpine regions of France, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy and most of Europe. Braun also produced a number of large-format panoramic images of the Alpine countryside, using the pantoscopic camera developed by English inventors John Johnson and John Harrison. In the mid-1860s, Braun invested in a new carbon print method developed by English chemist Joseph Wilson Swan. After 1866, Braun used the new carbon method to create a series of large-format alpine scenes as well as hunting scenes entitled, Panoplies de gibier. He also used the new carbon print method to produce photographs of well-known works of art at places such as the Louvre, the Vatican, and the Albertina, as well as various sculptures in France, the Netherlands and Italy. This endeavor proved successful, and the Braun studio focused primarily on art reproductions.
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After the 1870-1871 Franco-Prussian War, the Treaty of Frankfurt gave the residents of the Alsace and Moselle until October 1, 1872 to choose between emigrating to main France or remaining in the annexed region and having their nationality legally changed to German. Adolphe Braun opted for the German choice. Paul Gaston Braun made a different choice and married on 11 September 1873 EĚ lise Ernestine Pierson, daughter of the famous Pierre Louis Pierson. In 1876 he became the official successor of Adolphe under difficult circumstances (see PWT 10-2017, la France Belliqueuse). Adolphe died from a stroke during a stressful family meeting on 31 December 1877. Paul Gaston with the help of backing partners avoided bankrupcy. With his two sons, Gaston Jr (1875-1914) and Adolphe Jr (1879-c.1950), Paul Gaston will follow on the international development of the Braun Company, opening an office in New York in 1910. In 1904, Gaston Jr and his brother Adolphe Jr published the secret of the Braun’s carbon print recipy in the Dictionnaire (see page 12).
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Thursday 16 March 2017
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ADOLPHE BRAUN. La Mer de Glace et l’Aiguille du Dru, expédition de 1875 Épreuve albuminée d’époque, circa 240x300 mm, numéro au crayon au verso : “38” numérotation reprise. Cette belle composition illustre la couverture de l’Histoire de l'alpinisme de Roger Frison-Roche et Sylvain Jouty. Vente Binoche et Giquello, 17 mai 2017
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ADOLPHE BRAUN. Massif du Mont-Blanc, La Pierre de Béranger, Expédition de 1875 Épreuve albuminée, circa 240x300 mm, numéro au crayon au verso : “42”. On remarque deux personnages Vente Binoche et Giquello, 17 mai 2017
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ADOLPHE BRAUN. Glacier du Rosegg, années 1870 Trois épreuves albuminées, circa 240x300 mm, numéros au crayon aux versos : “796-797798”. Vente Binoche et Giquello, 17 mai 2017
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ADOLPHE BRAUN. Panorama depuis le sommet du Stanserhorn, années 1870 Exceptionnel panorama en huit feuilles, huit épreuves albuminées, circa 240x300 mm, numéro au crayon au verso : “811 à 818”. Une feuille tirée légèrement plus claire pour mettre en valeur les deux personnages Vente Binoche et Giquello, 17 mai 2017
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ADOLPHE BRAUN. Le Mont Rose, vers 1860. Épreuve charbon vers 1867 sur papier fin, circa 500x400 mm, numéro au crayon au verso : “87”. Vente Binoche et Giquello, 17 mai 2017
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ADOLPHE BRAUN. Grindelwald, Glacier inférieur et les Fischerhörner, années 1870 Épreuve charbon sur papier légèrement teinté, 500x400 mm, numéro au crayon au verso : “314”. Comparer avec la 24x36 Vente Binoche et Giquello, 17 mai 2017
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ADOLPHE BRAUN. Zermatt. Glacier du Gorner et Breithorn, vers 1860 Épreuve charbon vers 1867 sur papier fin, circa 500x400 mm, numéro au crayon au verso : “89”. Les glaciers croissent et rétrécissent, au fil des siècles et des millénaires. Le glacier du Gornergrat a atteint sa plus grande extension dans les années comprises entre 1859 et 1865, mais aussi auparavant en 1667 et en 1385. Entre-temps, il a reculé respectivement d'environ 1000 mètres. En l'an 1000 et dans les siècles de la naissance du Christ, il n'y avait pratiquement pas de masse glaciaire qui pouvait être nommée glacier du Gorner, en fait il n'existait pas. Vente Binoche et Giquello, 17 mai 2017
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GASTON BRAUN (1875-1914) & ADOLPHE BRAUN jr (1879-c.1950). Dictionnaire de chimie photographique à l'usage des professionnels et des amateurs, Gauthier-Villars, 1904 Édition originale, longue dédicace à leurs parents.
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ELEMENTS OF BRAUN FAMILY TREE SHOWING THE SEVEN MEMBERS OF THE BRAUN FAMILY WHO WERE INVOLVED IN THE PHOTOGRAPHIC STUDIO
SAMUEL BRAUN (1785-) married Antoinette Regard (1795-) CHARLES NICOLAS BRAUN (1815-) married Sara Baumann Marie Barbe Madeleine (1823-?) JEAN ADOLPHE BRAUN (1812-1877) married Louise Marie Danet in 1834 Marie Adélaïde ADOLPHE HENRY (c.1837-c.1910) Joséphine married Pauline Baumann (1816) in 1843 Marguerite PAUL GASTON BRAUN (1845-1928) married Mlle Pierson GASTON BRAUN (1875-1914) PAUL ADOLPHE BRAUN Jr (1879-c.1950)
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ADOLPHE BRAUN. Le Mont Cervin, vers 1893. Très grande épreuve au charbon d’époque, circa 800x650 mm, numéro au crayon au verso : “2609”. Vente Binoche et Giquello, 17 mai 2017
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