Twee gezichten op het Meer van Genève de Mont Blanc before 1889

These photographs of Lake Geneva and Mont Blanc come to us from the Swiss photographer, publisher and inventor Frédéric Boissonnas. Boissonnas was a key figure in the development of modern photography. He took an active interest in how photographic technologies could represent the world. Here we see him experimenting with orthochromatic plates, which render colours closer to how they appear to the human eye than standard plates. Switzerland, a nation that had only recently formed in 1848, was in this period consolidating its cultural identity. The depiction of scenery such as this played a vital role. These photographs speak to a modernising, progressive and patriotic society. To learn more, we can turn to the archives of photographic societies, as well as the historical collections of Swiss museums and libraries, in order to properly understand Boissonnas' project and his contribution to the self-image of a nation.