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Home>Exhibitions>Past>2013>Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris

# Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris

September 29, 2013 – January 5, 2014West Building, Ground Floor, Inner Tier Galleries

The Seine from the Pont du Carrousel Looking towards Notre Dame

Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris
*Church of Bacharach, Southern End*, 1854salted paper print from paper negativeBibliothèque nationale de France, Paris

In 1853 and 1854, Marville traveled throughout Germany making landscapes, cityscapes, and architectural studies that were published in an album titled*Les Bords du Rhin* (The Banks of the Rhine). Marville made this self-portrait in the tumbled-down ruins of the Werner Chapel in Bacharach, a town along the Rhine. These Gothic ruins were a popular subject of travel literature and illustration in the 1830s and 1840s.

Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris
*Self-Portrait at a Window*, February 20, 1851salted paper print from paper negativeMusée d’Orsay, ParisImage © Réunion des Musées Nationaux / Art Resource, NY

In this early self-portrait, Marville stands in a flood of light at the window of his studio in the heart of the city. Holding what is presumably one of his photographs, Marville assumes the thoughtful and focused air of a sophisticated connoisseur.

Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris
*The Seine from the Pont du Carrousel, Looking toward Notre Dame,* c. 1854salted paper print from paper negative mounted on paperboardNational Gallery of Art, Washington, Patrons' Permanent Fund

Views of Paris with the bridges of the Seine were very popular in mid-19th-century France, thanks in part to the expanding genre of illustrated travel literature. Marville’s photograph catalogues numerous delightful details, from the sacks on the wharf awaiting transport and the scaffolding on the Louvre at left, to the piles of quarried stone by the Institut de France (a scholarly society) at right. Although panoramic cameras were available at the time, Marville made this photograph by joining two negatives and printing them together as a single seamless image.

Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris
*South Portal, Chartres Cathedral,* 1854salted paper print from paper negativeLent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Jennifer and Joseph Duke Gift and The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Fund, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 2000Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The deep shadows framing this doorway at Chartres cathedral create spatial depth and draw the gaze toward a tiny detail: a small lamp hanging in the center of the open doorway. Marville’s keen ability to harness the play of light, especially against three-dimensional surfaces, made him a sought-after photographer of architecture and sculpture. This print was formerly in the collection of the sculptor Adolphe-Victor Geoffroy-Dechaume, who contributed to the restoration of Chartres in the 1850s and who frequently hired Marville to photograph his work.

Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris
*Spire of Notre Dame, Viollet-le-Duc, Architect*, 1859–1860albumen print from collodion negativeThe AIA/AAF Collection, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC

Starting in the 1830s, a heightened awareness of the precarious condition of France’s medieval monuments (many of which had been damaged during the French Revolution) fueled vast restoration projects all across the country. Although Marville worked closely with Viollet-le-Duc, who oversaw renovations to Notre Dame, this view of the cathedral’s spire with the city spread out below was most likely commissioned by the company that manufactured the leadwork and many of the decorative ornaments on the cathedral’s roof.

Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris
*The Roofs of Notre Dame, from the Gallery of Towers,* 1859–1860albumen print from collodion negativeThe AIA/AAF Collection, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC

 

Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris
*Sky Study, Paris*, 1856–1857albumen print from collodion negativeLent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gilman Collection, Purchase, Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee Gift, 2005Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art

 

Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris
*Sky Study, Paris*, 1856–1857albumen print from collodion negativeLent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Fund, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 1987Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art

 

Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris
*Musée Carnavalet, Paris*,*The Emperor’s Kiosk, Bois de Boulogne,* 1858–1860albumen print from collodion negativeMusée Carnavalet / Roger-ViolletImage © Musée Carnavalet / Roger-Viollet

**

 

Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris
*Longchamps Windmill, Bois de Boulogne,* 1858–1860albumen print from collodion negativeMusée Carnavalet, ParisImage © Musée Carnavalet / Roger-Viollet

Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris
*Passage Saint-Benoît (sixth arrondissement),* 1864–1867albumen print from collodion negativeMusée Carnavalet, ParisImage © Musée Carnavalet / Roger-Viollet

The motif of an opening at the back of the picture appears in many compositions, and, like the small streets and alleys themselves, serves to connect the immediate foreground subject with other spaces just at the edge of the camera’s reach.

Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris
*Rue de Constantine (fourth arrondissement),* 1866albumen print from collodion negativeLent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Fund, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 1986Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art

This view, looking toward the Palace of Justice, was made shortly before the rue de Constantine was destroyed and replaced with a wider avenue. Just visible in the lower left corner is a poster advertising a new invention, retractable umbrellas “in the American style.”

Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris
*Rue de la Bûcherie (from the cul de sac Saint-Ambroise) (fifth arrondissement),* 1866–1868albumen print from collodion negativeNational Gallery of Art, Washington, Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation through Robert and Joyce Menschel

The trickle of shimmering liquid on the paving stones is not what it seems. The streets of Old Paris were notoriously filthy and frequently full of raw sewage, prompting one writer to observe that “a stream of black mire constantly runs through many of the streets . . . . often becoming a rapid torrent. It requires no inconsiderable agility to leap across it, and the driver of the cabriolet delights in plentifully splattering its black and disgusting contents on every unfortunate pedestrian.”

Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris
*Bas-reliefs de l’Hôtel Colbert (fifth arrondissement),*1862 – 1866albumen print from collodion negativeMusée Carnavalet, ParisImage © Musée Carnavalet / Roger-Viollet

 

Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris
*Passage de l’Opéra (Galerie de l’Horloge) (ninth arrondissement),* c. 1868albumen print from collodion negativeMusée Carnavalet, ParisImage © Musée Carnavalet / Roger-Viollet

 

Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris
*Passage de l’Opéra (from the rue Le Peletier) (ninth arrondissement),* c. 1868albumen print from collodion negativeMusée Carnavalet, ParisImage © Musée Carnavalet / Roger-Viollet

The Passage de l’Opéra, named for the nearby Opéra Le Peletier, was inaugurated in 1823. The passage was formed by a pair of parallel two-story galleries for shops, cafés, a restaurant, and a nightclub, as well as apartments on the top floor. Marville photographed both galleries (see the previous photograph) and the glass-roofed corridor that connected them—the view pictured here. The Passage de l’Opéra disappeared in 1926 on the completion of boulevard Haussmann.

Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris
*The Bièvre River (fifth arrondissement),* c. 1862albumen print from collodion negativeJoy of Giving Something, Inc.

 

Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris
*Banks of the Bièvre River at the Bottom of the rue des Gobelins (fifth arrondissement),* c. 1862albumen print from collodion negativeMusée Carnavalet, ParisImage © Musée Carnavalet / Roger-Viollet

 

Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris
*Construction of the avenue de l’Opéra: The Butte des Moulins (from the rue Saint-Roch),* December 1876albumen print from collodion negativeMusée Carnavalet, ParisImage © Charles Marville / Musée Carnavalet / Roger-Viollet

The Butte des Moulins (literally “windmill hill”) was a small hill—part natural, part built up—that had existed in Paris since ancient times. Dotted with windmills, it was a working-class neighborhood dominated by small trades until the mid-1870s, when its population was cleared and the hill was leveled to construct the avenue de l’Opéra—which would become widely celebrated as the most glamorous street in Paris.

Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris
*Construction of the avenue de l’Opéra*, December 1876albumen print from collodion negativeMusée Carnavalet, ParisImage © Musée Carnavalet / Roger-Viollet

 

Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris
*Urinal, Jennings System, plateau de l’Ambigu,* 1876albumen print from collodion negativeMusée Carnavalet, ParisImage © Musée Carnavalet / Roger-Viollet

 

Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris
*Hôtel de la Marine,* 1864–1870albumen print from collodion negativeNational Gallery of Art, Washington, Diana and Mallory Walker Fund

 

Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris
*Arts et Métiers (Ancien Modèle),* 1864albumen print from collodion negativeLent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Alfred Stieglitz Society Gifts, 2007Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art

 

Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris
*Boulevard Henri IV (from the rue de Sully) (fourth arrondissement),* c. 1877albumen print from collodion negativeMusée Carnavalet, ParisImage © Musée Carnavalet / Roger-Viollet

This desolate space was in the process of being transformed into one of the most magnificent boulevards in Paris, cutting a long vista between the Panthéon and the July Column, a monument commemorating the revolution of 1830. In Marville’s photograph, the column appears as a mirage hovering in the middle distance, separated from the viewer by scarred earth, half-demolished buildings, and a team of complacent horses awaiting their orders.

Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris
*Rue des Saules (18th arrondissement),* c. 1877albumen print from collodion negativeMusée Carnavalet, ParisImage © Musée Carnavalet / Roger-Viollet

Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris
*Avenue du Commandeur (from the rue d’Alésia) (14th arrondissement),* 1877–1878albumen print from collodion negativeMusée Carnavalet, ParisImage © Musée Carnavalet / Roger-Viollet

 With their yawning, half-built foregounds, struggling vegetation, and inert figures (such as the one posed against the wall), Marville’s photographs of the periphery of Paris convey the sense of neighborhoods in transition. Even as the city trumpeted its glories at the 1878 Universal Exhibition, the outskirts of Paris became a familiar subject in art and literature, serving as convenient shorthand for the dislocation and exile many Parisians experienced in their changed city.

**This exhibition is no longer on view at the National Gallery.**

 Around 1832 Parisian-born Charles-François Bossu (1813–1879) shed his unfortunate last name (*bossu* means hunchback in French) and adopted the pseudonym Marville. After achieving moderate success as an illustrator of books and magazines, Marville shifted course in 1850 and took up photography, a medium that had been introduced 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, 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. 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.

**Organization:** The exhibition is organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, in association with The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.**Sponsor:** The exhibition is made possible through the generous support of Leonard and Elaine Silverstein. Additional support is provided by The Exhibition Circle of the National Gallery of Art.

**Attendance:**  46,209

**Catalog:**Charles Marville, Photographer of Paris, by Sarah Kennel et al. National Gallery of Art: Washington, 2013.

**Other Venues:**  The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, January 27–May 4, 2014Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, June 15–September 14, 2014

                    - Marville, Charles
                    - French , 1813 - 1879

Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris

Paris in Transition: Photographs from the National Gallery of Art

Photographic Discoveries: Recent Acquisitions

Collection: Photographs

Press Release

Exhibition Checklist

                  - Old Topographics: Photography and Urbanization in Nineteenth-Century Paris :  Ruptures in the Urban Fabric (Boots on the Ground): Paris/Beijing, Part 7
                  -                                     Audio, Released:                                    April 22, 2014, (33:36 minutes)                                
                  - Old Topographics: Photography and Urbanization in Nineteenth-Century Paris :  Paris Plays Itself: The Modernizing City Seen through the Lens (in Rewind), 1926 – 1865, Part 6
                  -                                     Audio, Released:                                    April 15, 2014, (32:33 minutes)                                
                  - Old Topographics: Photography and Urbanization in Nineteenth-Century Paris :  The Quarry in the City: Charles Marville’s Landscapes of the Carrières d’Amérique, Part 5
                  -                                     Audio, Released:                                    April 8, 2014, (29:55 minutes)                                
                  - Old Topographics: Photography and Urbanization in Nineteenth-Century Paris :  Marville’s Street Lamps, Part 4
                  -                                     Audio, Released:                                    April 1, 2014, (41:16 minutes)                                
                  - Old Topographics: Photography and Urbanization in Nineteenth-Century Paris :  Place Saint-Michel, A Case Study in Second Empire Urban Form, Part 3
                  -                                     Audio, Released:                                    March 11, 2014, (28:48 minutes)                                
                  - Old Topographics: Photography and Urbanization in Nineteenth-Century Paris :  Urban Graphics: Mapping, Picturing and Constructing the Nineteenth-Century Parisian Grid, Part 2 
                  -                                     Audio, Released:                                    March 11, 2014, (28:37 minutes)                                
                  - Old Topographics: Photography and Urbanization in Nineteenth-Century Paris :  Transit and Transition in Marville’s Paris, Part 1
                  -                                     Audio, Released:                                    February 25, 2014, (111 minutes)                                
                  - Press Event: Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris
                  -                                     Audio, Released:                                    September 24, 2013, (86:24 minutes)                                

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