Victor-Marie Hugo (French, 1802-1885)

Artist Charles-Victor Hugo (French, 1826-1871)

Artist Auguste Vacquerie (French, 1819-1895)

Date1852-1853

MediumSalted paper print from waxed paper negative (calotype)

DimensionsOverall, Image: 3 15/16 × 3 1/4 in. (10 × 8.2 cm)
Overall: 9 13/16 × 7 1/4 in. (24.9 × 18.4 cm)
Overall, Mat: 20 1/16 × 16 in. (51 × 40.6 cm)

ClassificationsPhotography

Credit LineIn memory of Virgilia (Jill) Pifer Childress, purchase funded by contributions from her friends

Object number98.17

Terms

Victor-Marie Hugo
New Jersey

On View

Not on view

DescriptionThis is a half-lenth seated portrait of the author Victor-Marie Hugo; he is posed against a stone or brick wall.

Label TextCharles-Victor Hugo French (1826-1871) with Auguste Vacquerie French (1819-1895) Victor-Marie Hugo, (French, 1802-1885), 1852-53 Salted paper print from waxed paper negative mounted on original album page In memory of Virgilia (Jill) Pifer Childress, purchase funded by contributions from her friends 98.17 ~ Is not the eye the window to the soul…. Victor Hugo in Claude Gueux, 1834 Although best known as the author of Les Miserables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Victor-Marie Hugo was involved with photography for a time . From 1852 to 1853 while in exile on the isle of Jersey, Hugo, his son Charles, and Auguste Vacquerie spent much of their time making photographic portraits of family members, compiling them into albums, much as families do today. This print comes from one of those family albums. In The Art of French Calotype, Andre Jammes and Eugenia Parry Janis write that, "The Hugo family portraits may be distinguished from all other photographic portraits of the time by a mysterious all-pervading atmosphere of intense psychic energy concentrating around each sitter." Edited By: GLY Edited Date: 11/07/2003