Edouard Baldus

Edouard Baldus (French, 1813–1889), a central figure in the early development of French photography and acknowledged in his day as a pioneer in the still-experimental field, was widely acclaimed both for his aesthetic sensitivity and for his technical prowess. Establishing a new mode of representing architecture and describing the emerging modern landscape with magnificent authority, he enjoyed high patronage in the 1850s and 1860s. Baldus made his reputation with views of the monuments of Paris and the south of France, with dramatic landscapes of the Auvergne, with photographs of the New Louvre, and with a poignant record of the devastating floods of 1856. In 1994, The Metropolitan Museum published a monograph of his photographs. His work can be found in major collections worldwide, including the Met, the National Gallery of Art, The Art Institute of Chicago, and Musée d’Orsay.