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Louis Auguste Bisson
Moulded Busts from Nature
1841-1846
Lithograph, made from daguerreotypes
13 1/2 x 11.25 in.
Archive Farms
The Patrick Montgomery Collection, Object No. 2017.477q
LL/112604
Notes: Large lithographic plate reproducing two daguerreotypes by Louis-Auguste Bisson ca. 1841 of busts from natives of Port-Sorelle and the valley de Georges River, Crnwall Coats. With printed attribution "Voyage au Pôle Sud & Dans L'Océanie / Anthropologie, Pl. 22 bis / Gide Éditeur / Lith par Léveillé d'après les bustes moules sur nature, photographié par Bisson, sous la Direction de Mr. le Dr. Dumoutier / Imp. par Thierry Frères a Paris. From the rare illustrative supplement to Dumont D'Urville, "Voyage au Pôle Sud et dans l'Océanie..." (1842-7). The subjects are identified in the image GUENNEY, Natif de Porte-Sorelle (Comte de Dixon) Cote-Nord de la terre de Van Diemen (Melanesie) and TIMMEY Natif de la vallee de George's River, Compte de Cornwall, Cote-Est de la terre de Van-Diemen (Melanesie). This is reported to be the first use of photography in a government publication.
Produced at the very dawn of the photographic era, these daguerreian lithographs are one of the earliest uses of photography as a scientific mirror of the external world. Their meticulous detail and strong three-dimensionality recreates the impression of the original daguerreotype plates. Some of Bisson's original daguerreotypes from the project survive in museums, and two (of skulls) are illustrated in "Le daguerréotype français: Un objet photographique" (2003), pp. 369-370, as well as in "Les Freres Bisson photographies" (1999) cat 213 & 214.
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