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Classic Camera Collectors Club Informatif website of Frank Lakiere |
1. What are CDVs ?
2. Literature about CDVs
3. Some interesting CDVs
3.1. One very special CDV
3.2. CDVs of members of the belgian monarchy
3.3. CDVs of famous people
3.4. Coloured CDV
3.5. Full page with 8 CDVs
3.6. CDVs used for religious purposes
3.7. Touristic CDVs
4. Old photos from the period 1870-1890
1. What is that : a CDV ?
In the beginning the photographic technique was difficult and the exposure times were long.
This changed with the collodium glasplate negatives en the albumin paper. And so around 1858 photography was more user friendly and not so expensive anymore. In the 1860's the chemical reagents, photographic paper, cameras, lenses, materials for the studio, ... were made and sold on a large scale.
The success of photography in this period was primarily due to 2 kinds of images : the stereographic cards (1851-1943) and the cartes de visite (1854-1925).
Both were photographs that were put on a piece of thick cardboard.
The stereocards shows 2 images of the same subject. These are made in such a way that, when viewed in a special stereoviewer, you see the image in 3 dimensions. Stereocards are mostly photographs of landscapes and buildings.
The CDV is a single photo, approximately the size of a visit card. Most CDVs are portraits of 1 person, but there are CDVs with landscapes, buildings, statues, ...
Disdéri is the first photographer who makes CDVs on a commercial scale. These little cards with a photographic portrait are immensely popular and they are made until World War I and even sporadically until 1925.
William Darrah writes that ' these CDVs are made by thousands of photographers .... '
I collect CDVs of Belgian photographers but also interesting ones from foreign origin.
I now have some 400 CDVs from approx. 150 photographers.
I cannot show you all these CDVs but hereafter you can see some interesting ones.
2. Literature about CDVs
As a collector it is imperative to know as much as possible on the subject. About CDVs I can recommend the following books :
Inventaris van de Belgische Fotografen 1850-1905 (2 volumes)
The Photographic Museum of Antwerp, in co-operation with Agfa-Gevaert, made an iventory of all the Belgian photographers from 1850 - 1905.
This book is a great help with the dating of Belgian CDVs.
Cartes de Visite in 19th Century Photography, by William C. Darrah.
The ISBN code is 0-913116-05-X en it was published by W.C. Darrah, Gettysburg, Pa, USA (1981).
This book is really a must for every CDV collector but it is out of print and so it is not easy to find.
Although Darrah is focused on American CDVs and more especially on the period of the American Civil War, this book is also very useful for European CDVs.
There are 3 chapters :
Part 1 : The history and diversity of the Cartes de Visite
Part 2 : A subject guide for Cartes de Visite
Part 3 : Documentation and interpretation of Cartes de Visite
This book also contains many illustrations.
3. Some interesting CDVs
3.1. One very special CDV
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Photographer : Photographie artistique, F. Jacobs-De Rudder, Rue de Courtrai 12, Gand
This is a CDV of my grandfather in his army uniform.
The photo was taken in 1913, shortly after he was mobilised and just before the beginning of World War I.
In 1915 during a fierce fight in Flanders Fields he was hit several times by a machine gun. More dead than alive he was taken from the battlefield and via Ostend he was shipped to England.
In the end he survived and after a long recovery he was sent back to France and later to occupied Germany.
All in all his army service lasted more than 6 years.
3.2. CDVs of members of the belgian monarchy
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Photographer : Ghémar Freres, Photographes du Roi, 27, Rue de l'Ecuyer, Bruxelles
The brothers Ghémar are the most renowned Belgian photostudio in the period 1850-1870.
Louis Ghémar was not only a succesful photographer but also a writer, caricaturist and painter.
In 1855 Louis opens a photostudio in Brussels, next to the librairy of Jules Géruzet.
In 1856 Ghémar makes a portrait of the belgian King Leopold I. That photograph has been used as a model for a series of stamps. Since then Ghémar has the permission to caal himself 'photographe du roi' (photographer of the King). In the beginning Louis Ghémar works together with Robert Sévérin. Sévérin takes the photos and Ghémar makes the retouches and eventually colours the photos.
But Sévérin leaves Brussles and he is replaced by Louis Ghémars halfbrother, Léon Auverlaux. From then on the name of the studio is changed to Ghémar Frères.
Ghémar is a good friend of the great Parisian photographer Nadar. They regularly write to each other and in 1868 they go on a trip to Switzerland together.
Louis Ghémar dies in 1873 but the studio keeps the name Ghémar Frères.
Next door to Ghémar is the studio of Géruzet.
The studio was founded by Jules Géruzet. He was born in Braine (next to Soissons/Aisne, France on march 30th 1817 and died in Brussels on december 23th 1874. He married with Fanny Bernays in Paris on january 30th 1841 and had two sons : Albert (1842-1890) and Alfred (1845-1903). He established himself in 1842 in Brussels as a librarian in the rue de l'Ecuyer 27b. Next to his shop, in number 27, was the photostudio of his friend Ghémar. It was later, after a dispute with the latter, that he went to Antwerp in order to study photography. He later came back to Brussels and opened a photo studio next to his former friend and now rival Ghémar. During the summer of 1858 Jules Géruzet was the first photographer to have a studio at the seaside in Ostend. There he makes photographic portraits of the nobility that is staying there, many of them are German princes. In 1874, with the dead of Jules Géruzet, his sons, Albert and Alfred, took over his business and carried on under the name "Géruzet Fréres". Their main photographic work was portraits and so-called "cartes-de-visite" but they were very important in the Belgian photography. Alfred Géruzet was a founding member of the Association Belge de Photographie and was the president of the association from 1879 to 1884. Albert Géruzet was a member of the Brussels branch of the association in 1875 until 1890. Gèruzet frères were just not quite as popular as Ghémar, although they made also equally good quality photographs. And although Géruzet did not have the right to call himself "photographe du roi" he was able to receive permission to be called "photographe de la reine" (photographer of the Queen).
In the end Géruzet is the only surviving studio, because in 1894 the Ghémar studio is closed and his livelong rival Géruzet takes over the studio with all the negatives.
3.3. CDVs of famous people
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The first photograph is a very rare CDV of the cardinal Giacomo Antonelli (1808-1876). From 1848 until his dead in 1876 Antonelli was the personal secretary of Pope Pius IX and head of the Foreign Office of the Vatican.
This function made him for decennies one of the most powerful men of Europe.
He played a key-role in the movement against the unification of Italy and so he was an adversary of men like Garibaldi, Cavour and Massini in Italy, but also of Napolean III and Bismarck in Europe.
He even was involved in the diplomacy in the American Civil war.
He also was a forefighter for the dogma of the infallibilty of the Pope.
After the loss of the Papal States in 1870 he remained loyal at the side of Pius IX as a prisoner in the Vatican.
He is not yet clear where and when the photographer d'Hoy from Ghent has made this photo.
The second CDV is of the French Marshall McMahon. After his bloody victory against the Commune of Paris in 1870 he became the president of the second French republic.
3.4. Coloured CDVs
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This is a coloured CDV from Germany.
Until the 1930's colour photography was still in its experimental stage. So coloured CDVs are black-and-white images that have been coloured by hand. This colouring was already done in the early days of Daguerreotypy. Especially in portraits the face was made a bit rosy and juwelry was accentuated by adding some small drops of goldpaint.
This was later also done on paper photos and some studios had specialised personnel to paint the photos.
3.5. Full page with uncut CDVs
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CDVs were made with special cameras with 4 lenses. This way the photographer could take 8 different photos on 1 large negative. The development and printing could be done once and the large print was then cut into 8 smaller photos.
Prints like these of a large photo that remained uncut are very rare.
3.6. CDVs used for religious purposes
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These CDVs are from 1887 and were given as a memento at the burial. The back of the card can be printed (name of the dead person, a prayer,...) or a printed paper with these data is glued on the card.
Photos of dead people, children as well as adults, are quite common. Photography provided the middle class with a relatively cheap and quick method for memorializing dead loved ones. These photographs served as a keepsake to remember the deceased. This was especially done with infants and young children for in the 19th century childhood mortality rates were extremely high, and a post-mortem photograph might be the only image of the child the family ever had. With the invention of the carte de visite copies of the image could be mailed to relatives.
The earliest post-mortem photographs are usually close-ups of the face or shots of the full body and rarely include the coffin. The subject is usually depicted so as to seem in a deep sleep, or else arranged to appear more lifelike. Children were often shown in repose on a couch or in a crib, sometimes posed with a favorite toy or other plaything. It was not uncommon to photograph very young children with a family member, most frequently the mother. Adults were more commonly posed in chairs or even braced on specially-designed frames. Flowers were also a common prop in post-mortem photography of all types. The effect of life was sometimes enhanced by either propping the subject’s eyes open or painting pupils onto the photographic print, and many early images (especially tintypes and ambrotypes) have a rosy tint added to the cheeks of the corpse. Later examples show less effort at a lifelike appearance, and often show the subject in a coffin. Some very late examples show the deceased in a coffin with a large group of funeral attendees; this type of photograph was especially popular in Europe and less common in the United States.
3.7. Touristic CDVs
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Touristic CDVs by Giacomo Brogi, Firenze.
On the back of these CDVs it is mentioned that Brogi has a large collection of CDVs with sights of Italy and Palestine as well as CDVs with images of paintings from European musea.
4. Old photos from the period 1870-1890
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There are of course lots of photos that are not a CDV or a stereocard. I have a small collection of photos from the period 1870-1890.
These are albumin prints on. The printing paper was very thin and almost alxways the photo was glued on a supporting cardboard.
PICTURES are COMING SOON....