The Madame B Album c. 1870s

This is a photograph from the "Madame B Album" by Marie-Blanche Hennelle Fournier. It's made using the 19th-century technique of albumen print, where paper is coated with egg white to create a glossy surface, then exposed to light with a negative. This process makes a sepia-toned image with great detail, evident in the architectural subject, a church. The final print quality depended on many variables: the skill of the photographer in preparing the albumen paper, controlling the exposure time in the sun, and the chemicals used to develop and fix the image. The photographer had to be mindful of these factors to create a successful print. Photographs like this one, mass-produced and widely accessible, played a crucial role in shaping visual culture, offering new ways of seeing the world and documenting the lives of both everyday people and architectural monuments like this church. Fournier challenges the old distinctions between art and craft, through her combination of technical skill and artistic expression.