The Madame B Album
Medium
Albumen prints with watercolor (in album)
Dimensions
29.2 × 41.9 cm (11 1/2 × 16 1/2 in.)
Classification
photograph
Department
Photography and Media
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
200918
Art Historical Context
Step into the intimate world of 19th-century photography with *The Madame B Album* by-Blanche Hennelleier, created in the 1870s. This charming album, measuring 29.2 × 41.9 cm, features albumen prints delicately enhanced with watercolor, blending the precision of early photographic processes with artistic hand-coloring. Housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Photography and Media, it exemplifies the era's innovative fusion of science and creativity. Albumen prints, introduced in the 1840s, were the gold standard for sharp, detailed images, coated on paper with egg whites for a glossy sheen. ...
About the Artist
Marie-Blanche Hennelle Fournier · 1831–1906
Marie-Blanche Hennelle Fournier (1831–1906), known affectionately as Blanche, was a French artist whose life intertwined with the peripatetic world of diplomacy. As the second wife of career diplomat Hugues-Marie-Henri Fournier, she accompanied him on postings to Stockholm, Sweden, and later Rome, Italy, during the 1870s. The couple had a daughter, Pauline, born in 1855, whose portraits frequently...