Villeneuve les Avignon 1861 - 1864

Edouard Baldus made this photograph of Villeneuve les Avignon using the Calotype process, one of the earliest forms of photography. This involved coating paper with silver iodide, exposing it in a camera, and then developing the latent image. The Calotype process is significant because it allowed for the production of multiple prints from a single negative, paving the way for mass reproduction of images. You can see that the texture and weight of the paper, combined with the developing process, gives this photograph a soft, almost painterly quality, very different from the sharp detail we associate with photography today. This was cutting-edge industrial technology at the time, but one with a visible hand-made character. Baldus’s choice of subject matter, an image of the architecture and landscape of France, speaks to the way photography was being used in the 19th century to document and celebrate national identity. The Calotype process, with its ability to capture light and shadow, imbues the scene with a sense of history and atmosphere. By focusing on the materiality and making of this photograph, we see how technical innovation is intertwined with artistic vision and cultural values.