Marseille 1860 - 1862

Edouard Baldus made this photograph of Marseille using the calotype process, a technique which preceded the use of gelatin silver prints we are more familiar with today. Baldus, a naturalized French citizen of Prussian birth, had initially trained as a painter, but turned his attention to photography in the 1840s. Here we see the port city of Marseille, a key site in France’s colonial history, represented at a moment of industrial expansion. The image quietly captures the uneasy relationship between the country’s imperial ambitions and its internal transformation. Consider how Baldus presents this scene, emphasizing the imposing architecture while positioning it in contrast to the more distant, less defined landscape. What might this suggest about the changing relationship between the urban and natural worlds? Photography at this time, while touted as objective, was deeply intertwined with the social and political projects of the era. Baldus’ work, in its own way, reminds us of the complex and sometimes contradictory forces shaping modern identity.