The festivities for Paris Photo and the Mois de la Photo always provide the opportunity to discover hidden gems of photography old and new. The current exhibition at the Chinese Cultural Center (Centre Culturel de la Chine) shows early photography in China of Alphonse Eugène Jules Itier (1802-1877). These rare photographs, which belong to the Musée français de la photographie in Bièvres, remained unknown until the 1970s. And they are finally beginning to get the exposure they deserve.

In 1839, photography was still in its infancy, divided between the precise rendering of the French daguerreotype and the grainy English calotype. Both techniques were still unstable and required bulky materials that were difficult to handle. This state of affairs might have discouraged some people from venturing to far-off lands equipped in such a way, but not Jules Itier, who, from 1843 to 1846, traveled to China armed with a Lerebours daguerreotype camera and a laboratory’filled with equipment and supplies.

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Read the full text of this article on the French version of Le Journal.

Jules Itier : Premières photographies de la Chine 1844
Centre Culturel de Chine à Paris
1, boulevard de la Tour Maubourg
75007 Paris
France