Snapshot : Painters and Photography, Bonnard to Vuillard

The advent of the Kodak camera in 1888 made photography accessible to the general public as well as to professionals. Artists were not immune to its allure. At around this time, many began using the camera as an amusing toy, a means of capturing images to be used as studies for final works, and another way to observe the world and the people in it. Snapshotinvestigates the intriguing photographic experiments of seven Post-Impressionist painters and printmakers: Pierre Bonnard, George Hendrik Breitner, Maurice Denis, Henri Evenepoel, Henri Riviere, Felix Vallotton, and Edouard Vuillard. Although celebrated for their works on canvas and paper, these artists also made many personal and informal snapshots. Depicting a wide range of subjects, including interiors, city streets, nudes, and portraits, these photographs were kept private and were never exhibited. As a result, they have received little attention in scholarly studies, and most have never been published. Juxtaposing personal photographs with the related paintings and prints by these Post-Impressionist artists, Snapshotoffers a new perspective on the story of early photography and on the synthesis of painting and photography at the end of the 19th century.

Elizabeth Easton is the cofounder and director of the Center for Curatorial Leadership. Clément Chéroux is a photographic historian and curator of the photographic collection at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Michel Frizot is professor of the history of photography at the Ecole du Louvre, Paris. Todd Gustavson is curator of technology at the George Eastman House in Rochester, NY. Françoise Heilbrun is the head curator of photography at the Musée d’Orsay. Ellen W. Lee is chief curator at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Anne McCauley is David Hunter McAlpin Professor of the History of Photography and Modern Art at Princeton University. Saskia Ooms works at Netwerk, a center for contemporary Art in Belgium. Katia Poletti is conservator at the Fondation Félix Vallotton. Eliza Rathbone is chief curator of the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC. Hans Rooseboom is curator of photography at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.