"Image and Enterprise: The Photographs of Adolphe Braun"
2000-06-18 until 2000-08-27
Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, OH, USA

This is the first American exhibition to examine the work of the 19th-century French photographer Adolphe Braun (1812-1877). The show's 100 original prints include works from every important period of his enterprise. Braun began his career as a textile designer, but took up photography to supply floral studies to artists and manufacturers of fine goods.

An ambitious businessman, he established a studio in 1868 that eventually became one of the largest photographic publishing houses in the world. His primary purpose was to identify new uses for photography and, through the application of art and technology, to reach the widest possible audience. Braun's work is distinguished by its remarkably diverse subject matter, including celebrity portraits, architectural studies, mountain landscapes, still lifes, rare animal studies, and art reproductions. Braun's story is a model for understanding the interconnectedness of science, technology, design, and education in the second half of the 19th century.

This project was organized by the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design and made possible in part by generous funding from: the National Endowment for the Humanities, dedicated to expanding American understanding of history and culture; and with support from the RISD Museum Associates; Olympus America Inc.; the Florence Gould Foundation, the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation; Mr. and Mrs. V. Duncan Johnson; and anonymous donors.

Image:
Adolphe Braun,
Valley of Lauterbrunnen, Staubbach Falls,
carbon print ca. 1875.
Private collection.

Related Links:

Indepth Arts Resources for the State of Ohio

Other Important Exhibitions in Cleveland