Portrait of the Actor Pierre Bocage and Friend
c. 1860
Medium
albumen print from wet collodion negative
Dimensions
image: 24.1 × 17.8 cm · matted: 50.8 × 40.6 cm
Classification
Photograph
Department
Photography
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
John L. Severance Fund
Accession Number
1999.21
Tags
About this artwork
Unlike the nearby two theatrical portraits, which show the actors in character, Bocage is shown as himself. Known by the stage name Bocage, Pierre-Martinien Tousez was a star of the Comédie-Française. Here he poses with a younger friend whose identity is unknown. Physical contact and gestures of affection between men are common in 19th- and early 20th-century photographs. They are most widely read as expressions of friendship, although some contemporary scholars suggest that a portion of these p...
About the Artist
Eugène Colliau (French)
Georges Hugnet (1906–1974) was a multifaceted French artist, poet, writer, and critic whose innovative collages and graphic works bridged Dada and Surrealism. Born in Paris on July 11, 1906, he spent much of his early childhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina, returning to France around 1913. His early life and artistic training remain sparsely documented, with no records of formal art school attendanc...