Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris at The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 
January 29 - May 4, 2014 

Widely acknowledged as one of the most talented photographers of the 19th century, CHARLES MARVILLE (French, 1813–1879) was commissioned by the city of Paris to document both the picturesque, medieval streets of old Paris and the broad boulevards and grand public structures that Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann built in their place for Emperor Napoleon III. Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris at The Metropolitan Museum of Art presents a selection of around 100 of his photographs.

Charles Marville (French, 1813–1879)

Sky Study, Paris, 1856-1857

Albumen print from collodion negative

16.7 x 20.6 cm (6 9/16 x 8 1/8 in.)

Gilman Collection, Purchase, Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee Gift, 2005 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art (2005.100.353)

Charles Marville achieved moderate success as an illustrator of books and magazines early in his career. It was not until 1850 that he shifted course and took up photography—a medium that had been introduced just 11 years earlier. His poetic urban views, detailed architectural studies, and picturesque landscapes quickly garnered praise. Although he made photographs throughout France, Germany, and Italy, it was his native city— especially its monuments, churches, bridges, and gardens—that provided the artist with his greatest and most enduring source of inspiration.

By the end of the 1850s, Marville had established a reputation as an accomplished and versatile photographer. From 1862, as official photographer for the city of Paris, he documented aspects of the radical modernization program that had been launched by Emperor Napoleon III and his chief urban planner, Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann. In this capacity, Marville photographed the city’s oldest quarters, and especially the narrow, winding streets slated for demolition. Even as he recorded the disappearance of Old Paris, Charles Marville turned his camera on the new city that had begun to emerge. Many of his photographs celebrate its glamour and comforts, while other views of the city’s desolate outskirts attest to the unsettling social and physical changes wrought by rapid modernization. 

Charles Marville (French, 1813–1879)

Cour Saint-Guillaume, ca. 1865

Albumen silver print from glass negative

34.2 x 27.2 cm (13 7/16 x 10 11/16 in.) Classification:

Gilman Collection, Purchase, Alfred Stieglitz Society Gifts, 2005

The Metropolitan Museum of Art (2005.100.378)

Haussmann not only redrew the map of Paris, he transformed the urban experience by commissioning and installing tens of thousands of pieces of street furniture, kiosks, Morris columns for posting advertisements, pissoirs, garden gates, and, above all, some twenty thousand gas lamps. By the time he stepped down as prefect in 1870, Paris was no longer a place where residents dared to go out at night only if accompanied by armed men carrying lanterns. Taken as a whole, Marville’s photographs of Paris stand as one of the earliest and most powerful explorations of urban transformation on a grand scale.

By the time of his death, Marville had fallen into relative obscurity, with much of his work stored in municipal or state archives. This exhibition, which marks the bicentennial of Marville’s birth, explores the full trajectory of the artist’s photographic career and brings to light the extraordinary beauty and historical significance of his art. 

Charles Marville (French, 1813–1879)

Rue de Constantine (fourth arrondissement), 1866

Albumen silver print from glass negative

27.3 x 36.8 cm (10 3/4 x 14 1/2 in.)

The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Fund, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 1986

The Metropolitan Museum of Art (1986.1141)

Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris was organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, in association with The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The exhibition is curated by Sarah Kennel, Associate Curator of Photographs at the National Gallery of Art. The presentation of the exhibition in New York is organized by Jeff L. Rosenheim, Curator in Charge, and Doug Eklund, Curator, based on a curatorial program established by Malcolm Daniel, former Senior Curator, of the Metropolitan Museum’s Department of Photographs. The exhibition is made possible in part by Jennifer S. and Philip F. Maritz. 

Paris as Muse: Photography, 1840s-1930s 

William Henry Fox Talbot (British, 1800–1877)

View of the Boulevards of Paris, 1843

Salted paper print from paper negative

6 5/16 × 8 1/2 in. (16.1 × 21.6 cm)

Bequest of Maurice B. Sendak, 2013

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2013.159.57)

Nadar (French, 1820–1910)

Catacombs, Paris, April 1862

Albumen silver print from glass negative

23.7 x 18.6 cm (9 5/16 x 7 5/16 in.) 

Gilman Collection, Purchase, Denise and Andrew Saul Gift, 2005

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2005.100.813)

Concurrent with Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris, a related installation in the adjacent Howard Gilman Gallery will be on view at the Metropolitan Museum. Paris as Muse: Photography, 1840s-1930s (January 27 - May 4, 2014) celebrates the first 100 years of photography in Paris and features some 40 photographs, all drawn from the Museum’s collection. The installation focuses primarily on architectural views, street scenes, and interiors. It explores the physical shape and texture of Paris and how artists have found poetic ways to record through the camera its essential qualities. The curator for Paris as Muse: Photography, 1840s–1930s, is Jeff L. Rosenheim. 

Eugène Atget (French, 1857–1927)

Boulevard de Strasbourg, Corsets, Paris, 1912 

Gelatin silver print from glass negative 

22.4 x 17.5 cm (8 13/16 x 6 7/8 in.) 

Gilman Collection, Purchase, Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee Gift, 2005 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2005.100.511)

Ilse Bing (German, 1899–1998)

Lamp Post, rue de la Chaise, Paris, 1934 

Gelatin silver print 

22.3 x 28.2 cm (8 3/4 x 11 1/8 in.) 

Bequest of Ilse Bing Wolff, 1998 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2003.151.11)

© Estate of Ilse Bing, Courtesy Edwynn Houk Gallery

The Metropolitan Museum of Art 
www.metmuseum.org