"biograph picture" | A photographer named "Salomon"

[Caroline Fuchs]

Hi everyone,

I writing a PhD dissertation on the autochrome in England. I have two question I would appreciate some help with:

- In an article from the BJP 1907, F. C. Tilney writes about the "plain biograph picture". This may be a language problem (I am German), but I am not really sure what he means by that. Until now, I have never come accross this term before? Does anyone know it or know what it signifies?

The second question may not belong into British photographic history. I apologize, if it doesn't
- Another article on pictorialism from the same year refers to Julia Margaret Cameron and someone called "Salomon" as examples of straight photograpers. Does anyone know who Salomon could be?

Any hint as to the answer to my questions would help me greatly!

Caroline

[Caroline Fuchs]

Dear Mark, Dear Matthew,

thank you for helping me with Salomon. Looks like Adam-Salomon is the one I was looking for.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge. It is very much appreciated!
Caroline



Mark Jacobs said:

Caroline,
I think Matthew Mawson is correct in suggesting that Antoine Samuel Adam-Salomon, (1818-1881) is probably the Salomon you're looking for. He studied photography with Franz Hanfstaengl in Munich in 1858 and was quite well-known during his lifetime. He was also well-known to English writers on photography such as the British Journal of Photography Almanac's editor J. Traill Taylor. The Philadephia Museum of Art has a number of images on-line:


http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/results.html?searchTxt=&...

There was also a Louis Salomon, a German photographer who was active in the the 1870's-1880's and who participated a few exhibitions in 1875, 1876, 1880 and 1883 but can't really tell you much else about him.

[Caroline Fuchs]

Dear Michael,

thank you very much for help with this. Another riddle solved!

Thanks again,
Caroline



Michael Pritchard said:

As I suspected the sentence referes to moving pictures. In this context the 'plain' appears to refer to black and white moving pictures as part of a comparison Tilney is making to colour in still photography.

Michael.


Caroline Fuchs said:

Hi Michael,

thank you for this very kind offer! Here is the complete reference:

TILNEY, F. C., Colour Reproduction from the Point of View of the Man in the Street, in: British Journal of Photography (Colour Photography Supplement), Bd. 1, Nr. 6, 1907 (7.6.1907), 41–42.

The sentence I am reffering to is at the end of the first paragraph on page 41.

[Mark Jacobs]

Caroline,
I think Matthew Mawson is correct in suggesting that Antoine Samuel Adam-Salomon, (1818-1881) is probably the Salomon you're looking for. He studied photography with Franz Hanfstaengl in Munich in 1858 and was quite well-known during his lifetime. He was also well-known to English writers on photography such as the British Journal of Photography Almanac's editor J. Traill Taylor. The Philadephia Museum of Art has a number of images on-line:


http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/results.html?searchTxt=&...

There was also a Louis Salomon, a German photographer who was active in the the 1870's-1880's and who participated a few exhibitions in 1875, 1876, 1880 and 1883 but can't really tell you much else about him.

[Michael Pritchard]

As I suspected the sentence referes to moving pictures. In this context the 'plain' appears to refer to black and white moving pictures as part of a comparison Tilney is making to colour in still photography.

Michael.


Caroline Fuchs said:

Hi Michael,

thank you for this very kind offer! Here is the complete reference:

TILNEY, F. C., Colour Reproduction from the Point of View of the Man in the Street, in: British Journal of Photography (Colour Photography Supplement), Bd. 1, Nr. 6, 1907 (7.6.1907), 41–42.

The sentence I am reffering to is at the end of the first paragraph on page 41.

[Caroline Fuchs]

Hi Michael,

thank you for this very kind offer! Here is the complete reference:

TILNEY, F. C., Colour Reproduction from the Point of View of the Man in the Street, in: British Journal of Photography (Colour Photography Supplement), Bd. 1, Nr. 6, 1907 (7.6.1907), 41–42.

The sentence I am reffering to is at the end of the first paragraph on page 41.

[Michael Pritchard]

Hi, Caroline. I hope your research is proceeding well. Do you have the page reference to the 1907 BJP? I have that volume but it would save me time to go straight to the piece - I will read it and give my opinion of what Tilney means. Usually 'biograph' would have been used in the context of cinematographic pictures.

[Matthew Mawson]

Hello Caroline

The only other reference to Salomon i can find in my records is Anthony Adam-Saloman (1818-1881). He was a french portrait photographer (Paris) in the late 19th century. I know nothing more about him except that he took portraits of the rich and famous. Might be worth some further research. Matthew

[Caroline Fuchs]

Dear Mathew,

I just looked up Dr. Erich Salomon. According to Kevin S. Reilly in the Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century-Photography, Salomon took up photography in 1927. My text dates from 1907, so it must refer to another Salomon, I think. Do you know an earlier Salomon as well?
Caroline

[Caroline Fuchs]

Dear Matthew,

thank you very much for the information!

Caroline

[Matthew Mawson]

"Saloman" would be Dr Erich Saloman - a german photographer from early 20th Century. Based in Berlin and an early photojournalist, who pioneered candid techniques of reportage - what could be refered to as straight photography.

The "plain biograph picture", i think, is a definition of a photograph taken for purely biographical purposes, such as an authors photograph that may appear on a book's dust jacket.