ticketsMember | Make a donation

[Puyo, Robert Demachy, and Paul de Singly with Model]

1909
Not on view
A career officer in the French army, Commandant Puyo was, with Robert Demachy, a major figure of French Pictorialism. Together, they were among the founders, in 1894, of the Photo Club de Paris and the organizers of its first salon. A skilled technician, Puyo designed new soft-focus lenses for portraits and adjustable ones for landscapes; he perfected the gum bichromate and oil transfer printing processes, writing widely on the subject; and with Demachy, who had revived the gum bichromate print, he published a treatise on photographic printing.

Mostly decorative, with a nod to a modish symbolism, Puyo's work is permeated with a Gallic joie de vivre and a fondness for beautiful women. Women appear in various guises: figure studies, nudes, portraits of professional models or elegant demimondaines; they are also seen simply, and more successfully, in pastoral landscapes as graceful silhouettes in vaporous, flowing dresses. Women gathering fruit or flowers was a favorite subject of the Pictorialists, who saw in the motif an agreeable enrichment of a feminine ideal. In a rare view of the photographer at work, this image of Puyo, Demachy, and their friend Paul de Singly reveals, not without irony, the photographers as hunters converging on their prey.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: [Puyo, Robert Demachy, and Paul de Singly with Model]
  • Artist: Emile Joachim Constant Puyo (French, 1857–1933)
  • Date: 1909
  • Medium: Platinum print
  • Dimensions: Image: 2 11/16 × 3 3/16 in. (6.9 × 8.1 cm)
    Mount: 3 1/8 × 3 1/2 in. (7.9 × 8.9 cm)
  • Classification: Photographs
  • Credit Line: Gilman Collection, Purchase, Harriette and Noel Levine Gift, 2005
  • Object Number: 2005.100.118
  • Curatorial Department: Photographs

More Artwork

More Artwork
A slider containing 5 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
The Reader
Emile Joachim Constant Puyo
ca. 1905
[The Water's Edge]
Emile Joachim Constant Puyo
1906
Été
Emile Joachim Constant Puyo
1903
[Sunset]
Emile Joachim Constant Puyo
1906
Landscape
Emile Joachim Constant Puyo
1906

Related Content

Timeline of Art History

Entries from The Met's art encyclopedia.

Publications

Books, guides, and catalogues published by The Met.

Research Resources

The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.

To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.

Feedback

We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.