Claude-Marie Ferrier (1811–1889) was an early French photographer, known for his portraits of prominent French people, his work at the London

Great Exhibition The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary The Crystal Palace, structure in which it was held), was an International Exhib ...

, and for his production of stereoviews to be viewed through the

stereoscope A stereoscope is a device for viewing a stereoscopic pair of separate images, depicting left-eye and right-eye views of the same scene, as a single three-dimensional image. A typical stereoscope provides each eye with a lens that makes the ima ...

invented by

David Brewster Sir David Brewster KH PRSE FRS FSA Scot FSSA MICE (11 December 178110 February 1868) was a British scientist, inventor, author, and academic administrator. In science he is principally remembered for his experimental work in physical optics ...

Biography

Ferrier was born in 1811 in

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

, France. He began his career as an artist, studying at the ''

École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Lyon The École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Lyon is a school of art and design in Lyon, located in Les Subsistances, in the 1st arrondissement of Lyon, in the Rhône-Alpes region of France. It is part of the École des Beaux-Arts tradition, ...

''. He then became interested in photography and began to experiment with the new medium, initially becoming known for his portraits of notable French people. By 1851 he had settled in Paris and in that year he exhibited at the Great Exhibition in London. His work so impressed the organisers that, together with the English photographer, Hugh Owen, he was asked to make photographs of the exhibits. More than 140 bound sets of reports and accompanying photographs, known as the ''Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, 1851: Reports by the Juries on the Subjects in the Thirty Classes into which the Exhibition was Divided'' were presented to, among others,

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

, Heads of Foreign Governments, the Exhibition commissioners, and the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

. In 1855, Ferrier exhibited at the '' Exposition Universelle'' of Paris, where he was awarded a silver medal. He is credited with creating the first glass stereoviews for the Brewster stereoscope in 1852. These became very popular and in 1857 he produced several series of stereoviews of France, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Greece and Turkey. Initially he collaborated with

Jules Duboscq Louis Jules Duboscq (March 5, 1817 – September 24, 1886) was a French instrument maker, inventor, and pioneering photographer. He was known in his time, and is remembered today, for the high quality of his optical instruments. Life and wo ...

, with the two selling each other’s stereoviews. This arrangement came to an end when Duboscq experienced financial difficulties. In 1859 Ferrier went into partnership with his son and with another stereo photographer, Charles Soulier, with the business being sold in 1863 to Léon & Lévy, a company that specialized in stereoscopic views and picture postcards. However, Ferrier and Soulier continued to sell their photographs through the company. Ferrier continued to work as a photographer until his death on 13 July 1889. His photographs are held in collections around the world.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferrier, Claude Marie 19th-century French inventors Pioneers of photography 19th-century French photographers 1811 births 1889 deaths