Vue prise du Couvent des Dominicains, Chalais (Isère), France

c. 1865

Félix Thiollier

(French, 1842–1914)

Culture

France, 19th century

Medium

albumen print from collodion negative

Measurements

Image: 13.1 x 20 cm (5 3/16 x 7 7/8 in.); Paper: 13.1 x 20 cm (5 3/16 x 7 7/8 in.); Mounted: 31.7 x 49.1 cm (12 1/2 x 19 5/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Michael Mattis and Judith Hochberg 2022.36

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Location

230 Photography

Did You Know?

Félix Thiollier, a wealthy industrialist, retired at 35 to pursue photography and local history.

Description

Félix Thiollier brought to landscape photography the emotional power and mystery of the Barbizon and naturalist painters whom he collected and befriended. This dramatic view provides a deep vista more commonly found in photographs of the Western United States at the time. Underlying it, however, are a geometric structure of overlapping triangles, curved top border, and atmospheric clouds and mist that relate directly to precedents in painting.