In 1864, Aubry was a newcomer to photography, having spent his entire career as a designer of carpets, textiles, wallpaper, and other decorative arts. His self-education in photography and his creation of a body of studies “after nature” came at a moment of crisis in French decorative arts, when the relaxation of trade restrictions with Great Britain and the display of products at the Universal Exhibition of 1862 in London made clear that the British had surpassed the French in the design of industrial goods, particularly for the middle and lower classes. British investment in hundreds of art schools and the creation of the South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria and Albert) suggested that the French system of educating its designers was in need of reform.

Aubry hoped to provide part of the solution and registered a company in January 1864 to provide plaster casts and photographs of plants and flowers, proposing that the Ministry of Fine Arts purchase his series of several hundred photographs for distribution to art and industrial schools throughout France. Aubry overestimated the potential of government support and anticipated a change in the design curriculum that never wholly materialized. He declared bankruptcy in January 1865 but continued to make photographs throughout the decade, albeit at a slower pace.