Matra Reinhard
Medium
albumen print from wet collodion negative
Dimensions
image: 17.2 × 12.3 cm · matted: 45.7 × 35.6 cm
Classification
Photograph
Department
Photography
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
John L. Severance Fund
Accession Number
1999.114
Tags
About this artwork
These striking portraits of working-class girls were made as ethnographic or artistic studies of types. Potteau’s photograph was part of an anthropological series the naturalist produced for the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. Employing the standard commercial portrait studio conventions of the time, he carefully posed his subject in an even light. However, instead of a painted backdrop, Potteau used a plain background as if shooting a scientific specimen. On the mount he recorded h...