The Madame B Album c. 1870s

"The Madame B Album" is a window into 19th-century French society, captured by Marie-Blanche Hennelle Fournier. These are photographic portraits arranged with hand-painted floral decorations. During this era, photography was becoming more accessible, yet portraiture remained a privilege often associated with bourgeois aspirations. Fournier, herself a woman navigating a male-dominated art world, presents these women, each framed within oval vignettes and adorned with delicate blossoms. Are these women members of a social circle, bound by kinship or friendship, or perhaps archetypes of femininity? It invites us to reflect on the gaze, visibility, and the ways women were both seen and unseen in the 1800s. While the painted flora adds beauty to the album, it also invites questions about identity, representation, and the personal stories held within the faces of these women. Fournier’s lens captures not just images, but the quiet complexities of female existence.