Antoine-Samuel Adam-Salomon

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Antoine-Samuel Adam-Salomon

French, 1818 - 1881

BiographyAntoine-Samuel Adam-Salomon (1818-1881) was a French photographer and sculptor regarded for his elegant photographic portraits that included elaborate costumes and sets with adjustable props. Despite a controversy over whether he retouched his negatives, Adam-Salomon was celebrated during his lifetime for his artistic compositions and technical mastery in portraits that could take “one hour to pose, fifteen seconds to shoot, and up to three hours to print.”

Originally working as a sculptor in Paris, Adam-Salomon became interested in photography in mid-life when he first began to study it under the Munich photographer Franz Hanfstaengel in 1858. The following year, the artist exhibited and opened his own portrait studio in Paris, followed by a second location in 1865. As his career flourished, Adam-Salomon exhibited his portraits of European notables and members of the French upper class at increasingly more prestigious venues including the Paris International Exhibition of 1867. He was made a member of the Société française de photographie in 1870 and received the Légion d'Honneur the same year. Only three years later, an illness forced Adam-Salomon to give up photography.

Today he is best remembered for his marvelous arrangement of light and shade and innovative use of props to make his subject's pose appear more natural. His photographs appeared in Galerie Contemporaine (1876-1884) and similar illustrated publications that focused upon renowned public figures of the day. Adam-Salomon’s work can be found in collections including the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Art Institute of Chicago; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; National Portrait Gallery, London; and the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.

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