In the mid-nineteenth century Baron Haussmann’s famous transformation of Paris into the city of wide boulevards and parks that we now know erased a medieval Paris of narrow streets and congested neighborhoods. This older Paris was captured by the photographer Charles Marville just before its demolition. Marville also photographed the new Paris as well as doing cloud studies and other experiments with the camera. In this extensive exhibition of this contemporary of Nadar, the museum will account for Marville’s life and the full range of his work.
Charles Marville, Photographer of Paris • January 29 to May 4
Arts et Métiers (Ancien Modèle) by Charles Marville (1813-1879), 1864. Albumen silver print from glass negative. Metropolitan Museum of Art.
