Currently not on view
Photographic Views of the Imperial Asylum at Vincennes (Vues photographiques de l'Asile Impérial de Vincennes),
1858–59
Charles Nègre, French, 1820–1880
2016-89
A former pupil of the neoclassical painter Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Charles Nègre took up photography in 1844, and by 1850 he had become one of its most celebrated practitioners, innovating photographic processes and publishing. In 1855, Napoleon III decreed the construction of an imperial asylum on the outskirts of Paris, to provide injured workers with modern convalescent care comparable to that given to French military veterans. Nègre was commissioned to publish photographic views documenting the new facility in 1859; this work was among the earliest examples of documentary photography deployed as reportage in the service of progressive social values.
Information
Title
Photographic Views of the Imperial Asylum at Vincennes (Vues photographiques de l'Asile Impérial de Vincennes)
Dates
1858–59
Maker
Medium
Album of fifteen albumen prints
Dimensions
each sheet: 46.8 × 64 cm (18 7/16 × 25 3/16 in.)
album (closed): 47.7 × 64.5 cm (18 3/4 × 25 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund
Object Number
2016-89
Place Depicted
Europe, France, Vincennes
Culture
Materials
Techniques
