French Photography. The Flowering of Early French Photography, 1840-1870.

April 28-June 28, 1987. J. Paul Getty Museum, 1987. Essay on the first decades of photography in France by Eugenia Parry Janis. Foldout pamphlet published for exhibit, 6 pages, 5 finely printed sepia illustrations by Nadar; Eugene Durieu & Eugene Delacroix; Gustave Le Gray; Charles Marville; and Adolph Braun. Two tiny light spots on cover margin, otherwise like new.  Summary:

The Flowering of Early French Photography, 1840–1870 (held at the J. Paul Getty Museum from April to June 1987, followed by a national touring version through 1989) is an exhibition curated from the Getty's permanent collection documenting the formative three decades of French photography.

Key Details & Summary

• Scope & Era: The exhibition traces the rapid evolution of French photography from its earliest experiments following Louis Daguerre's 1839 discovery through the mid-19th century.

• Technical Breakthroughs: It explores the transition from unique, metal-plate daguerreotypes to paper negatives (salted paper prints and calotypes), glass collodion plates, and early commercial printing processes.

• Pioneering Figures: The show highlights major early French masters, including Hippolyte Bayard, Édouard Baldus, Gustave Le Gray, Henri Le Secq, Charles Nègre, Nadar, Charles Marville, and Désiré Charnay.

• Themes & Subjects: Works span architectural surveys, cityscapes of Paris, landscapes, still lifes, ethnographic portraits, and artistic studies—illustrating how early photographers balanced documentary recording with the fine-art aesthetic traditions of painting and printmaking.