id: 152349 accession number: 1985.203 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1985.203 updated: 2023-03-14 12:01:26.136000 Untitled, c. 1900–1906. Robert Demachy (French, 1859–1936). Gum bichromate print; image: 21.6 x 17.8 cm (8 1/2 x 7 in.); paper: 23.6 x 18.2 cm (9 5/16 x 7 3/16 in.); matted: 45.7 x 35.6 cm (18 x 14 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas A. Mann 1985.203 title: Untitled title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1900–1906 creation date earliest: 1900 creation date latest: 1906 current location: creditline: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas A. Mann copyright: --- culture: France, 20th century technique: gum bichromate print department: Photography collection: PH - French 20th Century type: Photograph find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Robert Demachy (French, 1859–1936) - artist Robert Demachy French, 1859-1936 Born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Robert Demachy was a banker of independent means whose rarefied and varied interests ranged from racing cars to music, literature, and art. His American wife, Julia Adelia Delano, was related to Franklin Roosevelt. In the field of photography, Demachy was both practitioner and theoretician, writing five books and more than 1,000 articles on aesthetic and technical issues. He was a leader in the manipulative style in which the negative was used as the basis for producing prints that approached aquatint and other intaglio media in their overtly artistic, handworked qualities. He was especially known for his work with the gum bichromate and oil printing processes, the latter of which he pioneered and developed with Alfred Maskell. He later abandoned photography for sketching and drawing. Demachy's photographs often have the quality of paintings, drawings, or intaglio prints and are frequently printed in color. His varied subject matter is often treated in an idealized manner, characteristic of the pictorialism prevalent during the time he worked (roughly 1880-1914). Demachy was a member of the Société française de photographie, the Linked Ring, and the Photo-Secession. In 1894 he helped to found the Photo Club de Paris. He was also a member of honor of the Royal Photographic Society and a chevalier of the Légion d'honneur. T.W.F. --- measurements: Image: 21.6 x 17.8 cm (8 1/2 x 7 in.); Paper: 23.6 x 18.2 cm (9 5/16 x 7 3/16 in.); Matted: 45.7 x 35.6 cm (18 x 14 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: Written in blue pencil on verso: "Coating too thick / not enough bichromate / to [sic] much development in / the high lights [sic] D"; in pencil on verso: "couche trop épouse"; "78" translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 1996-11-24T05:00:00 Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 24, 1996-February 2, 1997). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * Ville de Chalon-Sur-Saone, Musee Nicephore Niepce, Feb. 11 - March 14, 1977: "Robert Demachy," exhibition catalogue no. 423.
CMA, February 12 - April 20, 1986: "Year in Review 1985," CMA Bulletin, 73 (February 1986), p. 66, no. 96, repr. p. 54.
CMA, July 21 - October 18, 1987: "Fraternite: Artistic Relations between France and America," Gallery A, no exhibition catalogue.
CMA, November 20,1996 - February 2, 1997: "Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art." --- PROVENANCE Jacques Demachy date: footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: The son of a wealthy Parisian banker, Robert Demachy's financial independence enabled him to pursue his interests in music and art. Beginning in the 1880s, he made photographs in the pictorial style and in 1894 began to use the gum bichromate process, which allowed considerable handwork to be done on the print. Demachy was a prominent defender of the use of manipulative printing techniques, and wrote more than a thousand articles and numerous books on the technical processes and issues involved. With their soft details, reminiscent of Impressionist paintings, his photographs were greatly admired by his contemporaries. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996. page number: Reproduced: P. 139 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1985.203/1985.203_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1985.203/1985.203_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1985.203/1985.203_full.tif