Pictorialism Photographer Notes the Centenary of Photography: “I have found successful examples of the ozotype process”

Demachy’s family fortune allowed him to concentrate on artistic pursuits including the violin and drawing. During the 1870s, he began experimenting with photography to which he devoted the next three decades, becoming the leading French proponent of Pictorialism. His ongoing experiments with different processing methods while simultaneously manipulating the photograph, imbued his images with a painterly effect. A supporter of Alfred Stieglitz’s work, Demachy directed the Photo-Club de Paris, similar to Stieglitz’s Photo-Secession movement, the Viennese Kleeblatt and British Brotherhood of the Linked Ring. In addition to practicing his art with a single-mindedness that prompted his wife to divorce him at a time when such actions were scandalous, he wrote prolifically about photography. Inexplicably, in 1914, he gave up photography completely, though he occasionally wrote articles on the subject, as evidenced by our letter mentioning Thomas Manly (?-?) inventor of the ozotype and ozobrome methods of photographic processing, which he perfected in 1899 and 1905, respectively.

Our letter mentions French photographer Claude de Santeul (?-?) who published on the subject of photography and served as president of the Sociétés Photographiques de France and Société Photographique et Cinématographique de Picardie.

Demachy is likely referring to the centenary of photography marking 100 years since Niépce’s first experiments in obtaining fixed images on a photosensitive surface.

In excellent condition and uncommon.