Louis-Camille d'Olivier
[Theatrical Scene]

Public Domain

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Artist Louis-Camille d'OlivierFrench, 1827–1870

CultureFrench

Titles

[Theatrical Scene]

Date1850s

MediumSalted paper print from glass negative

DimensionsImage: 8 15/16 × 6 9/16 in. (22.7 × 16.6 cm)
Sheet: 8 15/16 × 6 9/16 in. (22.7 × 16.6 cm)
Mount: 12 1/16 × 9 5/16 in. (30.6 × 23.6 cm)

Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by the Buddy Taub Foundation, Dennis A. Roach and Jill Roach, Directors

Object number2019.245

Not on view

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Department

Photography

Object Type

PHOTOGRAPHS

DescriptionTrained at the French art school École des
Beaux-Arts, Louis Camille d’Olivier specialized in painted portraits, which he
exhibited at the annual Salon from 1848 to 1870. Like many artists of his
generation, d’Oliver also learned photography, applying his skills as a painter
to the new medium. From the mid-1850s onward, d’Olivier is known almost exclusively
for photographs of “artistic nudes”—a 19th-century phrase that suggests light
erotica—with hand-painted backdrops and luxurious settings. Even when masked in
the guise of history, allegory, or theater, as in this case, d’Oliver’s
photographs have an undeniable element of eroticism, heightened by the female
model’s direct stare and her exposed leg.
Provenance[Robert Hershkowitz Limited, Sussex, England]; purchased by MFAH, 2019.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

Inscribed in pencil, verso, top right: VA [illegible symbol]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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