Gabriel Cromer was a photographer, a historian of photography and a collector of photographs. He was born in

Rethel Rethel () is a commune in the Ardennes department in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture and third-most important city and economic center in the department. It is situated on the river Aisne, near the northern border of Champagne and 37& ...

, in the Ardennes, France, the 1st of April 1873 and died in

Clamart Clamart () is a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. The town is divided into two parts, separated by a forest: ''bas Clamart'', the historical centre, and ''petit Clamart'' with urbaniz ...

, in the Isle-de-France on the 14th of November 1934.

Biography

Michel Alexandre Edmond Joseph Gabriel Cromer was born in Rethel on the 1st of April 1873 to a wealthy family, with jurists on his father's side and Protestant textile manufacturers on his mother's. Cromer was raised in Paris and learnt photography early on. After earning a law degree Cromer did not pursue a career in law, but instead devoted himself to photography. Around 1900, he built a villa in

, a fashionable suburb of Paris, with a large photographic studio, and several laboratories. However, Cromer did not establish a professional photography business: as a person of private means, he practiced photography as an amateur. He began collecting photographica around 1906 and became one of the 20th century's most important collectors of

daguerreotypes Daguerreotype (; french: daguerréotype) was the first publicly available photographic process; it was widely used during the 1840s and 1850s. "Daguerreotype" also refers to an image created through this process. Invented by Louis Daguerre an ...

, cameras and photographs. He built his collection both through traditional means (auctions, dealers, antiquarian bookstores), and also by establishing relationships with the descendants of family members and friends of figures such as

Louis Daguerre Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre ( , ; 18 November 1787 – 10 July 1851) was a French artist and photographer, recognized for his invention of the eponymous daguerreotype process of photography. He became known as one of the fathers of photog ...

(one of the inventors of photography) and Jean-Baptiste Sabatier-Blot (an important early practitioner of the daguerreotype process). He was an enlightened amateur photographer and scientific popularizer, organising many conferences on the history of photography. He became a member of the

Société française de photographie The Société française de photographie (SFP) is an association, founded on 15 November 1854, devoted to the history of photography. It has a large collection of photographs and old cameras. Among the founding members were Olympe Aguado, Hippoly ...

in 1912 and became the society's librarian in 1927. On the 23rd May 1924, Gabriel Cromer delivered a lecture to the Société française de photographie devoted to the research of the French protographer, François Willème, the inventor of photosculpture. In 1928,

Louis Lumière Louis Jean Lumière (5 October 1864 Besançon – 6 June 1948, Bandol) was a French engineer and industrialist who played a key role in the development of photography and cinema. Early life and education Lumière was one of four children of ...

gave him a series of first attempts at autochrome plates, including a portrait of Louis taken by his brother Auguste around 1902-1905. Gabriel Cromer wanted his collection to form the basis for a French national museum of photography. On 26 December 1924, he gave speech to the Société francaise de photographie, exhorting the group to create, or at least join him in actively advocating, for a French national museum of photography. However, the cultural authorities of the State did not appear interested. After his death in 1934 he was described as having been the future curator of the French national museum of photography. With the approach of the Second World War, the Kodak company showed interest and, in 1939, after negotiations with Cromer's widow, acquired a large part of Cromer's collection. In 1949, this acquisition was transferred to the newly formed Photographic Museum at George Eastman House. Two years earlier, in 1947, Cromer's widow had donated the remaining pieces from the collection to the National Library of France.

'Cromer's Amateur'

'Cromer's amateur' was a photographic pioneer whose identity is unknown. He is named after Gabriel Cromer, who included the unknown amateur's photographs in his collection. The hundred or so surviving daguerreotype plates date from the period 1845 to 1851. The photographs show portraits, interiors, still lifes, landscapes, street scenes and offer " ..a rare personal look at life in Paris in the mid-19th century".

The Cromer Collection at Georges Eastman House

Cromer's collection of photographica was sold to the Eastman Kodak Company in 1939, five years after Gabriel Cromer's death. It was then donated to the George Eastman House Museum, founded in 1949, which still owns the daguerreotypes made by Cromer's amateur to this day. The collection contains around 6,000 images that belonged to Gabriel Cromer, most of them preserved in albums. The collection consists of some 500 technological artifacts, 76 bound volumes of photographs, more than 500 daguerreotypes, 3000 other photographs and 125 pre-cinema objects and about 500 volumes about photography and moving images. The collection includes the portrait of

, by Jean-Baptiste Sabatier-Blot, as well as works by

Nadar Gaspard-Félix Tournachon (5 April 1820 – 20 March 1910), known by the pseudonym Nadar, was a French photographer, caricaturist, journalist, novelist, balloon (aircraft), balloonist, and proponent of Aircraft#Heavier-than-air – aerodynes, h ...

Étienne Carjat Étienne Carjat (28 March 1828 – 8 March 1906) was a French journalist, caricaturist and photographer. He co-founded the magazine ''Le Diogène'', and founded the review '' Le Boulevard''. He is best known for his numerous portraits and ca ...

Charles Marville Charles Marville, the pseudonym of Charles François Bossu (Paris 17 July 1813 – 1 June 1879 Paris), was a French photographer, who mainly photographed architecture, landscapes and the urban environment. He used both paper and glass negatives. ...

Gustave Le Gray Jean-Baptiste Gustave Le Gray (; 30 August 1820 – 30 July 1884)Le Corre, Florence "Translated from the catalogue ''Une visite au camp de Châlons sous le Second Empire: photographies de Messieurs Le Gray, Prévot...'', Paris: musée de l'Armée, ...

, Edouard Baldus, and the Bisson Brothers and albums by

Eugène Durieu Eugene is a common male given name that comes from the Greek εὐγενής (''eugenēs''), "noble", literally "well-born", from εὖ (''eu''), "well" and γένος (''genos''), "race, stock, kin".Désiré Charnay Claude-Joseph Désiré Charnay (2 May 182824 October 1915) was a French traveller and archaeologist notable both for his explorations of Mexico and Central America, and for the pioneering use of photography to document his discoveries. Biograph ...

and

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cromer, Gabriel 1934 deaths 1873 births French photographers Historians of photography History of photography