Maxime du Camp

Works by this Artist

Colossal Statue of Ramesses II at Abu-Simbel
Maxime du Camp, c. 1850

Background

wealthy family

Studies

calotype photography with Gustave Le Gray and Alexis de Lagrange

Career

1849 –commissioned by Ministry for Public Education to photograph monuments and inscriptions in the Middle East; writer Gustave Flaubert accompanies him

1852-54 – publishes Egypt, Nubia, Palestine and Syria (Egypte, Nubie, Palestine et Syrie: Dessins photographiques recueillis pendant les années 1849, 1850, 1851, accompagnés d’un texte explicatif et précédés d’une introduction), the first French publication to include photographs

Travels

Middle East, including Egypt, Jerusalem, and Baalbek (1849-51)

Commissions from

French government

Readings:

Berg, K.A. “The Imperialist Lens: Du Camp, Salzmann and Early French Photography,” Early Popular Visual Culture, vol. 6 no. 1 (2008): 1-18

Golia, Maria. Photography and Egypt. London: Reaktion, 2010