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
200942
Art Historical Context
Step into the intimate world of 19th-century domestic photography with *The Madame B Album* Marie-Blanche Hennelle Fournier, created in the 1870s. This charming album, measuring 29.2 × 41.9 cm, features albumen prints delicately enhanced with watercolor, a popular technique that blended the precision of photography with the artistry of painting. Albumen prints, coated with egg whites for sharp detail and rich tones, were the gold standard of the era, capturing everyday moments with remarkable clarity. Hennelle Fournier, a pioneering female photographer, crafted this personal album during a ti...
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...