Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris | The Metropolitan Museum of Art https://www.metmuseum.

org/exhibitions/listings/2014/charles-marville

Exhibitions / Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris

Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris

At The Met Fifth Avenue
JANUARY 29–MAY 4, 2014

Exhibition Overview
Widely acknowledged as one of the most talented photographers of the nineteenth century,
Charles Marville (French, 1813–1879) was commissioned by the city of Paris to document both
the picturesque, medieval streets of old Paris and the broad boulevards and grand public
structures that Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann built in their place for Emperor Napoleon
III. This exhibition presents a selection of around one hundred of his photographs.

Marville achieved moderate success as an illustrator of books and magazines early in his
career. It was not until 1850 that he shifted course and took up photography—a medium that
had been introduced just eleven years earlier. His poetic urban views, detailed architectural
studies, and picturesque landscapes quickly garnered praise. Although he made photographs
throughout France, Germany, and Italy, it was his native city—especially its monuments,
churches, bridges, and gardens—that provided the artist with his greatest and most enduring
source of inspiration.

By the end of the 1850s, Marville had established a reputation as an accomplished and
versatile photographer. From 1862, as official photographer for the city of Paris, he
documented aspects of the radical modernization program that had been launched by
Emperor Napoleon III and his chief urban planner, Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann. In this

1 of 5 24/07/2021 19:28
Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris | The Metropolitan Museum of Art https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2014/charles-marville

capacity, Marville photographed the city's oldest quarters, and especially the narrow, winding
streets slated for demolition. Even as he recorded the disappearance of Old Paris, Marville
turned his camera on the new city that had begun to emerge. Many of his photographs
celebrate its glamour and comforts, while other views of the city's desolate outskirts attest to
the unsettling social and physical changes wrought by rapid modernization.

Haussmann not only redrew the map of Paris, he transformed the urban experience by
commissioning and installing tens of thousands of pieces of street furniture, kiosks, and Morris
columns for posting advertisements, pissoirs, garden gates, and, above all, some twenty
thousand gas lamps. By the time he stepped down as prefect in 1870, Paris was no longer a
place where residents dared to go out at night only if accompanied by armed men carrying
lanterns. Taken as a whole, Marville's photographs of Paris stand as one of the earliest and
most powerful explorations of urban transformation on a grand scale.

By the time of his death, Marville had fallen into relative obscurity, with much of his work stored
in municipal or state archives. This exhibition, which marks the bicentennial of Marville's birth,
explores the full trajectory of the artist's photographic career and brings to light the
extraordinary beauty and historical significance of his art.

"Crystal-clear documents of a now-vanished city."—New York Observer

The exhibition is made possible in part by Jennifer S. and Philip F. Maritz.

The exhibition was organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, in association with
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in

Exhibition Objects
View All Objects

2 of 5 24/07/2021 19:28
Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris | The Metropolitan Museum of Art https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2014/charles-marville

3 of 5 24/07/2021 19:28
Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris | The Metropolitan Museum of Art https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2014/charles-marville

Exhibition Objects

Related Installation
Concurrent with Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris, a related installation in the adjacent
Howard Gilman Gallery will be on view at the Metropolitan Museum. Paris as Muse:
Photography, 1840s–1930s (January 28–May 4, 2014) celebrates the first one hundred years of
photography in Paris and features some forty photographs, all drawn from the Museum's
collection. The installation focuses primarily on architectural views, street scenes, and
interiors. It explores the physical shape and texture of Paris and how artists have found poetic
ways to record through the camera its essential qualities.

Charles Marville (French, Paris 1813–1879 Paris). [Rue de Constantine], ca. 1865. Albumen silver print from glass negative. The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 1986 (1986.1141)

The Met Cloisters

99 Margaret Corbin
Drive
Fort Tryon Park
New York, NY 10040
Phone: 212-923-3700

4 of 5 24/07/2021 19:28
Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris | The Metropolitan Museum of Art https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2014/charles-marville

About The Met

Mission and History

Collection Areas

Conservation Departments

Press

Support

Membership

Host an Event

Corporate Support

Follow us

Join our newsletter

Enter your email Sign Up

Site Index
Terms and Conditions
Privacy Policy
Contact Information

© 2000–2021 The Metropolitan Museum of Art. All rights reserved.

5 of 5 24/07/2021 19:28