The Madame B Album c. 1870s

This is an album of photographs, compiled in the late 19th century by Marie-Blanche Hennelle Fournier. Photography was still a relatively new medium, and the laborious wet-plate collodion process required considerable skill. What’s striking is how Fournier has arranged her prints on these pages. Rather than filling the album, she's left generous margins of paper. Each photograph thus becomes almost like a specimen pinned to a collector's board, or an exquisite jewel set within a frame. This relates to the social context of photography at the time. It was beginning to be widely used, but was not yet considered an artform in itself. By presenting her photographs in this deliberate, careful manner, Fournier elevated them, giving them the precious quality of a drawing or watercolor. It's a perfect example of how the presentation of a work can transform its meaning and status. The album format also reminds us that artistic creation is always a form of collecting, ordering, and presenting, as much as it is about pure originality.