Constant Puyo
Encyclopedia
Émile Joachim Constant Puyo (November 12, 1857 – October 6, 1933) was a French photographer, active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As the leading advocate of the Pictorialist
movement in France, he championed the practice of photography as an artistic medium. For most of his career, Puyo was associated with the Photo Club of Paris, serving as its president from 1921 to 1926. His photographs appeared in numerous publications worldwide, and were exhibited at various expositions in the 1900s.
in 1857. His father, Edmond Puyo (1828–1916), was a painter, amateur archaeologist, and politician, who served as Mayor of Morlaix in the 1870s. His uncle, Édouard Corbière
, was a best-selling author, and his cousin, Tristan Corbière
, was a well-known poet. Puyo studied at the École Polytechnique
before joining the French Army as an artillery officer, rising to the rank of commandant during his career, and commanding a squadron at the School of Artillery at La Fère
. He served with the French Army in Algeria
during the 1880s.
Puyo began drawing at a young age. Around 1882, he started using cameras to photograph his drawings. Fascinated with cameras, he began using photography to document his various travels in North Africa. By the following decade, he had become one of a growing number of photographers who believed photography was itself a form of high art, in the same manner as other art forms such as painting or sculpture. These photographers formed what became known as the Pictorialist movement.
In 1894, Puyo joined the Photo Club of Paris, which had been founded by Maurice Bacquet, and helped organize a Salon for the club. He wrote several articles for the club's Bulletin, establishing himself of the chief theoretician of the French Pictorialist movement. In 1896, he published his first book, Notes sur la Photographie Artistique, which explained how photography could be used to create works of art.
Following his retirement from the military in 1902, Puyo was able to devote himself more fully to photography. In an effort to achieve greater artistic effects, Puyo and the Photo Club experimented with gum bichromate
and oil pigment processes, and developed special soft-focus lenses that achieved impressionistic effects. Puyo wrote or cowrote several books for the club during this period describing these processes in detail.
After World War I
, the decline of Pictorialism in favor of straight, unmanipulated photographs was a source of continuing frustration for Puyo. As president of the Photo Club during the 1920s, he remained passionately dedicated to the Pictorial style.
Puyo retired as Photo Club president in 1926, and returned to his home in Morlaix. He died in 1933, and is interred with his family at the Cemetière Saint-Martin-du-Morlaix.
Common themes in Puyo's photographs include landscapes, female figures in various poses, and various aspects of late 19th century Parisian life. He was greatly influenced by artistic movements of the day, especially Impressionism
. One of Puyo's better known works, Montmartre, was inspired by Edvard Munch
's Rue Lafayette. Art Nouveau
patterns appear in many of Puyo's photographs of women.
Puyo's work has been exhibited at museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art
, the Philadelphia Museum of Art
, and the Centre Atlantique de la Photographie in Brest
. A large number of Puyo's photographs are on display at the Morlaix Museum, a museum founded by his father in the 1870s.
Pictorialism
Pictorialism is the name given to a photographic movement in vogue from around 1885 following the widespread introduction of the dry-plate process. It reached its height in the early years of the 20th century, and declined rapidly after 1914 after the widespread emergence of Modernism...
movement in France, he championed the practice of photography as an artistic medium. For most of his career, Puyo was associated with the Photo Club of Paris, serving as its president from 1921 to 1926. His photographs appeared in numerous publications worldwide, and were exhibited at various expositions in the 1900s.
Biography
Puyo was born to a prominent bourgeois family in MorlaixMorlaix
Morlaix is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.-Leisure and tourism:...
in 1857. His father, Edmond Puyo (1828–1916), was a painter, amateur archaeologist, and politician, who served as Mayor of Morlaix in the 1870s. His uncle, Édouard Corbière
Édouard Corbière
Jean Antoine René Édouard Corbière was a French sailor, shipowner, journalist and writer, considered to be the father of the French maritime novel.- Early years :...
, was a best-selling author, and his cousin, Tristan Corbière
Tristan Corbière
Tristan Corbière , born Édouard-Joachim Corbière, was a French poet born in Coat-Congar, Ploujean in Brittany, where he lived most of his life and where he died....
, was a well-known poet. Puyo studied at the École Polytechnique
École Polytechnique
The École Polytechnique is a state-run institution of higher education and research in Palaiseau, Essonne, France, near Paris. Polytechnique is renowned for its four year undergraduate/graduate Master's program...
before joining the French Army as an artillery officer, rising to the rank of commandant during his career, and commanding a squadron at the School of Artillery at La Fère
La Fère
La Fère is a commune in the Aisne department in Picardy in France.-Population:-References:*...
. He served with the French Army in Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
during the 1880s.
Puyo began drawing at a young age. Around 1882, he started using cameras to photograph his drawings. Fascinated with cameras, he began using photography to document his various travels in North Africa. By the following decade, he had become one of a growing number of photographers who believed photography was itself a form of high art, in the same manner as other art forms such as painting or sculpture. These photographers formed what became known as the Pictorialist movement.
In 1894, Puyo joined the Photo Club of Paris, which had been founded by Maurice Bacquet, and helped organize a Salon for the club. He wrote several articles for the club's Bulletin, establishing himself of the chief theoretician of the French Pictorialist movement. In 1896, he published his first book, Notes sur la Photographie Artistique, which explained how photography could be used to create works of art.
Following his retirement from the military in 1902, Puyo was able to devote himself more fully to photography. In an effort to achieve greater artistic effects, Puyo and the Photo Club experimented with gum bichromate
Gum bichromate
Gum bichromate is a 19th century photographic printing process based on the light sensitivity of dichromates. It is capable of rendering painterly images from photographic negatives. Gum printing is traditionally a multi-layered printing process, but satisfactory results may be obtained from a...
and oil pigment processes, and developed special soft-focus lenses that achieved impressionistic effects. Puyo wrote or cowrote several books for the club during this period describing these processes in detail.
After World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, the decline of Pictorialism in favor of straight, unmanipulated photographs was a source of continuing frustration for Puyo. As president of the Photo Club during the 1920s, he remained passionately dedicated to the Pictorial style.
Puyo retired as Photo Club president in 1926, and returned to his home in Morlaix. He died in 1933, and is interred with his family at the Cemetière Saint-Martin-du-Morlaix.
Photographs
Puyo believed that in order for a photograph to be considered art, it must create a beauty independent of the subject, and thus believed art photographers should be more concerned with beauty rather than fact. He considered the manipulation of a photograph to be an expression of individuality, and believed that manipulation was necessary to eliminate the sense that the photograph was produced by an unemotional machine.Common themes in Puyo's photographs include landscapes, female figures in various poses, and various aspects of late 19th century Parisian life. He was greatly influenced by artistic movements of the day, especially Impressionism
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s...
. One of Puyo's better known works, Montmartre, was inspired by Edvard Munch
Edvard Munch
Edvard Munch was a Norwegian Symbolist painter, printmaker and an important forerunner of expressionist art. His best-known composition, The Scream, is part of a series The Frieze of Life, in which Munch explored the themes of love, fear, death, melancholia, and anxiety.- Childhood :Edvard Munch...
's Rue Lafayette. Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
patterns appear in many of Puyo's photographs of women.
Puyo's work has been exhibited at museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
, the Philadelphia Museum of Art
Philadelphia Museum of Art
The Philadelphia Museum of Art is among the largest art museums in the United States. It is located at the west end of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia's Fairmount Park. The Museum was established in 1876 in conjunction with the Centennial Exposition of the same year...
, and the Centre Atlantique de la Photographie in Brest
Brest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...
. A large number of Puyo's photographs are on display at the Morlaix Museum, a museum founded by his father in the 1870s.
Literature
- Notes sur la Photographie Artistique (1896)
- Le Procédé à la Gomme Bichromatée (1904)
- Les Objectifs d'Artiste (1906), coauthored with Jean Leclerc de Pulligny
- Les Procédés d'Art en Photographie (1906), coauthored with Robert DemachyRobert DemachyRobert Demachy was a prominent French Pictorial photographer of the late 19th and early 20th century. He is best known for his intensely manipulated prints that display a distinct painterly quality.-Early years :...
- Le Procédé Rawlins à l'Huile (1907)
- Comment Composer un Portrait (1925)