Limited-edition subscription portfolios of large-plate photogravures were issued by the Photo-Club de Paris commemorating their annual photographic salons held between 1894-1897.

The Photo-Club de Paris was created by members who seceded from the Société de Francaise de Photographie.  Contemporary author Janet Buerger writes of the organization:

“The Photo Club de Paris was formed as an idea at the International Congress of Photography in 1889. In 1891 it published its first Bulletin. Its initial salon album, published in 1894, was the first of at least four that set the standards for fine gravure folios in the period.” 1.

Continuing, Buerger states:

“These gravures are valued as original prints, because of their superior quality and because they are often all we have left of the extremely rare images of this period.” 2.

1894 was the first year the club hosted one of the most lavish and international of the artistic photographic salons of the late nineteenth century. Precedents to this had been set by the first 1888 Vienna salon, followed by their salons of 1891 and 1892 and the first London (Linked Ring) salon of 1893. These secessionist clubs broke away from the older established photographic societies inclusive but frequently interested in technical rather than artistic achievement.

“The series constitutes a highpoint of pictorialism in print, the permanent visual record of an influential event that brought together work by most of the international masters in the medium”… 3.

Please visit here to continue with our overview of The Photo-Club de Paris and the first year portfolio.

1. FRANCE: JANET E. BUERGER, THE LAST DECADE: THE EMERGENCE OF ART PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE 1890’S: ROCHESTER: INTERNATIONAL MUSEUM OF PHOTOGRAPHY AT GEORGE EASTMAN HOUSE: 1984: P. 24
2. IBID
3. EXPOSITION D’ART PHOTOGRAPHIQUE: SHELIA J. FOSTER:IMAGINING PARADISE-THE RICHARD AND RONAY MENSCHEL LIBRARY AT GEORGE EASTMAN HOUSE, ROCHESTER: STEIDL: GÖTTINGEN: P. 201