Portrait de Emile Zola

Photoglyptie from the Galerie contemporaine. Portrait of Zola at the age of 35-40 years.
Mounted sheet on which a 19x24cm photoglyptie has been laid down. Caption at bottom of mount: Galerie Contemporaine, 126 boulevard de Magenta. Phot. Goupil et Cie. Cliché Carjat, 10, rue Notre-Dame de Lorette. One tiny white spot in the beard. Very fine condition.
Similar to a carbon print in its warm and deep tones, photoglyptie is a complex photomechanical process for photographic reproduction which was used by publishers for about 20 years, from 1875 to 1895. Seeking an ideal and aesthetic image of famous men, the plates were always retouched and repainted, to smooth out an unsightly wrinkle or too obvious defect, to polish the hair, etc. Thus photography and printmaking converge in a new form of representation.
The Galerie Contemporaine became a publishing house that sold images of contemporary men; these images were assembled in 8 folio volumes by Paul de Lacroix but continued to be sold separately at the headquarters of the Galerie Contemporaine.