Photograph by Shannon Ruff, Canon EOS Mark II D digital slr-2007.

A squall on Mont-Blanc, seen from Planpraz (Un bourrasque sur le Mont-Blanc, vue de Planpraz

Artist Auguste Rosalie Bisson (French, 1826 - 1900)

CultureFrench

Date1860

MediumAlbumen print from collodion negative

DimensionsOverall, Image: 9 1/8 × 15 1/2 in. (23.2 × 39.4 cm)
Overall, Support: 13 7/8 × 19 1/2 in. (35.2 × 49.5 cm)
Overall, Mat: 20 × 24 1/8 in. (50.8 × 61.3 cm)
Overall, Frame (estimated): 21 1/4 × 25 5/8 × 1 1/4 in. (54 × 65.1 × 3.2 cm)

InscribedIn red, lower right: "Bisson freres". In pencil, on the back: "No. 12 Bourrasque sur le Mt. Blanc". Blue ink stamp: "Bisson Freres Photographie 3(?) Rue Garaneger".

Credit LineGift of Virginia and Lee Kitchin, and Museum purchase, in memory of Alice R. and Sol B. Frank

Object number2006.1.2

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 228

DescriptionAlbumen print from a wet collodion negative mounted on its original board. Mountains partly covered with snow. Clouds sit right above the mountains and cast shadows on the snow.

Label TextBisson frères, active 1852–63 Auguste-Rosalie Bisson French, 1826–1900 A squall on Mont-Blanc, seen from Planpraz, 1859 negative, 1860 print Albumen print from collodion negative In 1855, Bisson frères received a huge investment from Alsatian textile merchant and avid mountaineer Daniel Dollfus-Ausset that funded Auguste-Rosalie’s first attempted ascent of Mont-Blanc in 1859. Thwarted by violent weather, Rosalie’s team retreated to Chamonix before reaching the summit. A small group subsequently hiked across the valley to get this crystalline view of the sun-swept peaks. Shot with a long lens from a safe vantage point, the print formed part of a series of Alpine views at a moment when France regained the contested Savoy region from the Kingdom of Sardinia. Gift of Virginia and Lee Kitchin, and Museum purchase, in memory of Alice R. and Sol B. Frank 2006.1.2 ProvenanceSerge Plantereux, France; Robert Hershkowitz, England, 2005; Chrysler Museum of Art, Gift of Virginia and Lee Kitchin and Museum purchase in memory of Alice R. and Sol B. Frank, 2006 Exhibition History"New Frames of Reference: Early French Photographers at Home and Abroad," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va, gallery 228, September 5, 2024 - February 16, 2025. "Les Frères Bisson photographes: De flèche en cime, 1840-1870," Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris, 15 June-29 August, 1999. A print of this photograph "The World of Photography," Alice R. and Frank B. Sol Photography Galleries, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, June 20, 2007 - May 25, 2008 "Photographic Histories," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, May 10 - August 17, 2014. "New Light on Land: Photographs from the Chrysler Collection," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, January 28 - May 15, 2016.Published ReferencesBernard Marbot, _Les Frères Bisson photographes: De flèche en cime, 1840-1870_, exh. cat., Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris, 58 rue de Richelieu, 1999, no. 165. A print of this photograph Sotheby's, _Sotheby's Paris Auction Cataloque_, sale PF2003, auction cat., March 21, 2002, Paris, France, lot 132. A print of this photograph