Adolphe Braun (1811-1877)

Flower studies, 1855, by Adolphe Braun

Still Life of a Hunting Scene

Adolphe Braun

negative about 1867, print about 1880

Carbon print, 30 7/16 x 22 1/8 in.

Adolphe Braun

b. 1811 Besançon, France, d. 1877

photographer

French

“Trained as a fabric designer, Adolphe Braun began his photography career in 1853. His photographs of flowers, for a catalog titled Fleurs photographiées, were to be transferred onto printing blocks for wallpaper and fabric designs. It was an extremely successful project for Braun; one album of the photographs was presented to Empress Eugénie of France, and it earned him a medal at the 1855 Paris Exposition Universelle.

By the early 1860s, Braun's focus had shifted to the making of topographical views of scenes throughout Europe and, beginning in 1866, to reproductions of works of art. The reproduction of paintings, drawings, lithographs, engravings, and sculpture was an important endeavor in France, and photography provided an accurate record. Braun opened a photography studio that became one of the world's largest publishers of such images. In 1869 Braun's was one of only two photographic firms invited to photograph the opening of the Suez Canal in Egypt.”

From: GETTY Museum

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Introduction to the History of Photography

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