Gambetta
c. 1876
Medium
Woodburytype, from the periodical “Galerie Contemporaine Littéraire, Artistique” (1876), volume 1
Dimensions
Image: 20.4 × 16.9 cm (8 1/16 × 6 11/16 in.); Paper: 23.6 × 19.1 cm (9 5/16 × 7 9/16 in.); Mount: 34.2 × 26.2 cm (13 1/2 × 10 3/8 in.)
Classification
woodburytype
Department
Photography and Media
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
144662
Art Historical Context
Étienne Carjat's *Gambetta* (c. 1876) captures the commanding presence of Léon Gambetta a fiery French statesman and key architect of the Third Republic. a celebrated photographer of Parisian intellectuals, writers, and politicians, Carjat immortalized Gambetta during a pivotal era following France's defeat in the Francoussian War. This woodburytype portrait, sourced from the inaugural volume of the prestigious periodical *Galerie Contempor Littéraire, Artistique reflects the growing fascination with photographic likenesses of cultural and political luminaries in late 19th-century Europe. The...
About the Artist
Etienne Carjat · 1828–1906
Étienne Carjat (1828–1906) was a French photographer, caricaturist, and journalist who became one of the defining portraitists of nineteenth-century Parisian cultural life. Born in Fareins in the Ain department, he arrived in Paris as a young man and initially made his name as a caricaturist and writer, contributing to several satirical publications and cofounding the journal Le Boulevard in 1861....