7.15.2010

CAMILLE SILVY: 19th Century Modern Life

Adelina Patti as La Somnambula, 1880-1881.
(Patti was a highly acclaimed Opera diva of the time)
Photograph (c) National Portrait Gallery, London

Sarah Forbes Bonetta Davies, Goddaughter of Queen Victoria, with her husband James Pinson Labulo Davies. September 15, 1862. Photograph (c) National Portrait Gallery, London

Camille Silvy with a Boy, August 1859
Photograph (c) National Portrait Gallery, London

View of the House, ca 1862
Photograph (c) National Portrait Gallery, London

Henry Ker Seymer's Dog, 1860
(
HKS was a
Member of Parliament for Dorset)
Photograph (c) National Portrait Gallery, London

John Robert Townshend, 1st Earl Sydney, 1860
Photograph (c) National Portrait Gallery, London

Honore de Balzac, 1862
Photograph (c) National Portrait Gallery, London

CAMILLE SILVY
Photographer of Modern Life: 1834-1910

"Camille Silvy was a pioneer of early photography and one of the greatest French photographers of the nineteenth century. Working under the patronage of Queen Victoria, Silvy photographed royalty, aristocrats and celebrities. He also portrayed uncelebrated people, the professional classes and country gentry, their wives, children and servants. The results offer a unique glimpse into nineteenth-century society through the eyes of one of photography's outstanding innovators.

This exhibition includes many remarkable images which have not been exhibited since the 1860s. The over 100 images,
including a large number of carte de visites, focus on a ten-year creative burst from 1857-67 working in Algiers, rural France, Paris and London, and illustrates how Silvy pioneered many now familiar branches of the medium including theatre, fashion and street photography."


8 comments:

Mona Diane Conner said...

Wonderful pics! Especially love Adelina Patti.

Anonymous said...

Amazing, I bet it will be a wonderful exhibition :)

concretenprimroses said...

Wow! I wish I could go!
Kathy

P.Gaye Tapp at Little Augury said...

truly enchanting, as you know I love this. pgt

Susan said...

Old photos are so fascinating from both a creative and an historical standpoint. I must search for the ones I have stored away - of my grandmother's relatives - and dating back to the 1840s.

PS My latest post is about a fabulous floral photography exhibition in London.

Momo Luna S!gnals said...

Wonderful, wonderful. I love these photo's a lot!

Mary Helen-Art Saves Lives said...

This is the first photo of Balzac I have seen and the sepia colors are so elegant. Imagine and Live in Peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart

Karen and Sara Brown said...

i love these! right up my alley. hope you are enjoying the summer...heat and all!