history of photography The history of photography began in remote antiquity with the discovery of two critical principles: camera obscura image projection and the observation that some substances are visibly altered by exposure to light. There are no artifacts or de ...

Olympe Aguado Count Olympe-Clemente-Alexandre-Auguste Aguado de las Marismas (3 February 1827 – 25 October 1894) was a Franco-Spanish photographer and socialite, active primarily in the 1850s and 1860s. One of several early photographers who learned the prac ...

Hippolyte Bayard Hippolyte Bayard (20 January 1801 – 14 May 1887) was a French photographer and pioneer in the history of photography. He invented his own process that produced direct positive paper prints in the camera and presented the world's first public e ...

Alexandre Edmond Becquerel Alexandre-Edmond Becquerel (24 March 1820 – 11 May 1891), known as Edmond Becquerel, was a French physicist who studied the solar spectrum, magnetism, electricity and optics. He is credited with the discovery of the photovoltaic effect, the ...

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".Edmond Fierlants,

Jean-Baptiste Louis Gros Jean-Baptiste-Louis Gros (1793–1870), also known as Baron Gros, was a French diplomat and later senator, as well as a notable pioneer of photography. Life and career He entered the French diplomatic service in 1823 and was given the title of ...

,

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, ...

and Henri Victor Regnault. Henri Victor Regnault was the first president.

History

The Société française de photographie, founded on 15 November 1854, was based on the short-lived Société héliographique (1851) but differed in that it was less elitist and more forward-looking. Some accounts mistakenly link the two organizations more closely, referring simply to a change in the name with a view to giving the SFP the status of the world's oldest photography organization. A careful analysis of the Société héliographique describes in detail how the initial enthusiasm for the organization quickly disappeared resulting in the discontinuation of its activities. The SFP was thus established without any formal connection to the Société héliographique. The objectives of the SFP were therefore far more commercially oriented and more concerned with future developments, like the

Académie des sciences The French Academy of Sciences (French: ''Académie des sciences'') is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research. It was at ...

. Its members — ambitious amateurs, artists, businessmen and scientists — had regular meetings at an established venue, with a written agenda. The objectives were published in a programme and there were regular bulletins. For the remainder of the 19th century, the association was exclusively concerned with improvements to photography. There were regular exhibitions of the members' images, as well as conferences and presentations addressing new techniques, their artistic potential and the latest innovations. The SFP considered itself both an academy of photography and a library of archives. The photographs exhibited were properly archived, together with many comments from the members. From the beginning of the 20th century, the SFP set itself the task of safeguarding historic works. Today it acts as a research centre on the history and development of photography. Since 1997, it has published the twice-yearly journal ''Études photographiques'' with articles on prominent photographers and on the history of photography. The association has a valuable historic collection consisting of some 10,000 images and 50,000 negatives (including 5,000 autochromes. There is also a specialist library with 8,000 books and over 650 journals. The first president of the SFP was Henri Victor Regnault. Its current president is

Paul-Louis Roubert Paul-Louis Roubert (born 1967) is an associate researcher at the ''Laboratoire d'histoire visuelle contemporaine'', senior lecturer in photography at Paris 8 University and, since December 2010, president of the Société française de photographie. ...

, an art historian specializing in photography who has actively contributed to the association in recent years.André Gunthert, "Paul-Louis Roubert élu maître de conférences à Paris 8"
Actualités de la Recherche en histoire visuelle. Retrieved 4 March 2011.

List of presidents

The list of presidents and presidents of honour, published by the association is as follows:

Presidents

*

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".Antoine Jérôme Balard Antoine Jérôme Balard (30 September 1802 – 30 April 1876) was a French chemist and one of the discoverers of bromine. Career Born at Montpellier, France, on 30 September 1802, he started as an apothecary, but taking up teaching he acted as ...

(1858) * Eugène Péligot (1868) * Louis-Alphonse Davanne (1876) * Hippolyte Sebert (1901) *

Léon Gaumont Léon Ernest Gaumont (; 10 May 1864 – 10 August 1946) was a French inventor, engineer, and industrialist who was a pioneer of the motion picture industry. He founded the world’s first and oldest film studio Gaumont Film Company, and worked in ...

(1930) * Léopold Lobel (1933) * Edouard Belin (1937) * Georges Moreau (1953) *

Marcel Abribat Marcel may refer to: People * Marcel (given name), people with the given name Marcel * Marcel (footballer, born August 1981), Marcel Silva Andrade, Brazilian midfielder * Marcel (footballer, born November 1981), Marcel Augusto Ortolan, Brazilian ...

(1955) *

Robert Auvillain The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

(1957) *

Fernand Obaton Fernand is a masculine given name of French origin. The feminine form is Fernande. Fernand may refer to: People Given name * Fernand Augereau (1882–1958), French cyclist * Fernand Auwera (1929–2015), Belgian writer * Fernand Baldet (18 ...

(1969) * Robert Mauge (1971) * Jean Prissette (1975) * Alain Jeanne-Michaud (1993) * Michel Poivert (1995) *

Paul-Louis Roubert Paul-Louis Roubert (born 1967) is an associate researcher at the ''Laboratoire d'histoire visuelle contemporaine'', senior lecturer in photography at Paris 8 University and, since December 2010, president of the Société française de photographie. ...

(2010)"L'Association"
, ''Société française de photographie''. Retrieved 3 March 2011.

Presidents of honour

Henri-Victor Regnault (1810-1878), chimiste et physicien français

* Henri Victor Regnault (1855) * Jules Janssen (1891) *

Étienne-Jules Marey Étienne-Jules Marey (; 5 March 1830, Beaune, Côte-d'Or – 15 May 1904, Paris) was a French scientist, physiologist and chronophotographer. His work was significant in the development of cardiology, physical instrumentation, aviation, cinema ...

(1894) * Gabriel Lippmann (1897) * Jules Janssen (1900) * Aimé Laussedat (1903) * Jules Violle (1906) * Jules Carpentier (1909) * Henri Deslandres (1912) * Prince

Roland Bonaparte Roland Napoléon Bonaparte, 6th Prince of Canino and Musignano (19 May 1858 – 14 April 1924) was a French prince and president of the Société de Géographie from 1910 until his death. He was the last male-lineage descendant of Lucien Bonapart ...

(1920) *

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 ...

(1923) * Hippolyte Sebert (1926) * Paul Heilbronner (1929) *

Georges Perrier Georges Perrier (born 1943) is a French chef who emigrated in the United States in 1967 and lived in Philadelphia, where he founded and ran Le Bec-Fin and other restaurants, bars and cafés across the country. Early life At age 12, Perrier cr ...

(1932) *

Charles Fabry Maurice Paul Auguste Charles Fabry (; 11 June 1867 – 11 December 1945) was a French physicist. Life Fabry graduated from the École Polytechnique in Paris and received his doctorate from the University of Paris in 1892, for his work on i ...

(1935) * Armand de Gramont (1938) *

Fernand Baldet Fernand Baldet (16 March 1885 – 8 November 1964) was a French astronomer. He worked with Count Aymar de la Baume Pluvinel observing Mars from the newly built observatory on Pic du Midi in 1909. The resulting photographs, taken with the ...

(1947) * Georges Poivilliers (1949) * Edouard Belin (1952) * Georges Poivilliers (1956) *

Marcel Abribat Marcel may refer to: People * Marcel (given name), people with the given name Marcel * Marcel (footballer, born August 1981), Marcel Silva Andrade, Brazilian midfielder * Marcel (footballer, born November 1981), Marcel Augusto Ortolan, Brazilian ...

(1958) * Albert Arnulf (1965) * Jean-Jacques Trillat (1971–1987)

Founding members

Among the SFP's founding members were: *

Olympe Aguado Count Olympe-Clemente-Alexandre-Auguste Aguado de las Marismas (3 February 1827 – 25 October 1894) was a Franco-Spanish photographer and socialite, active primarily in the 1850s and 1860s. One of several early photographers who learned the prac ...

* Félix Avril *

Hippolyte Bayard Hippolyte Bayard (20 January 1801 – 14 May 1887) was a French photographer and pioneer in the history of photography. He invented his own process that produced direct positive paper prints in the camera and presented the world's first public e ...

*

Edmond Becquerel Alexandre-Edmond Becquerel (24 March 1820 – 11 May 1891), known as Edmond Becquerel, was a French physicist who studied the solar spectrum, magnetism, electricity and optics. He is credited with the discovery of the photovoltaic effect, the o ...

* Louis-Auguste Bisson * Auguste-Rosalie Bisson * Louis Désiré Blanquart-Evrard *

Farnham Maxwell-Lyte Farnham Maxwell-Lyte FRSC (sometimes Farnham Maxwell Lyte) (10 January 1828 – 4 March 1906) was an English chemist and the pioneer of a number of techniques in photographic processing. As a photographer he is known for his views of the Frenc ...

* Fortuné Joseph Petiot-Groffier * Julien Vallou de Villeneuve

References

''This article draws heavily on the French Wikipedia article with the same title.''

Bibliography

* Alain Jeanne-Michaud, "La Société Française de Photographie", in '' France Photographie'' , No. 176, April 2002 * Michel Poivert, André Gunthert, Carole Troufléau, "L'Utopie photographique. Regard sur la collection de la Société française de photographie", , exhibition catalogue, ''le Point du jour'', 2004

External links

SFP website

SFP blog

Revue ''Études photographiques''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Societe francaise de photographie Photography museums and galleries in France Photo archives in France Photography organizations established in the 19th century Photographic technology museums Learned societies of France Organizations established in 1854 1854 establishments in France 19th-century French photographers