Pierre Dubreuil 1872-1944

oil print, on a buff-colored paper mount, titled by the photographer in pencil on the mount, signed, annotated 'M. L. S. P.,' and alternately titled 'Jour de Pluie' by the photographer in pencil and inscribed with his '28 Rue Delocht, Bruxelles' address by him in ink, and annotated 'No. 12-  Propriété de G. GHEUD--President A. B. P. C., Bruxelles' in an unidentified hand in ink, and stamped 'DB/69' in red ink on the reverse, 1909

London, Royal Photographic Society, Pierre Dubreuil Retrospective, 1935

Paris, Musée d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Pierre Dubreuil, Photographs 1896 – 1935, 1987

San Diego, The Museum of Photographic Arts, Pierre Dubreuil Rediscovered, 1988; and thereafter to Alliance Française, New York, 1989; and The Detroit Institute of Arts, 1990

Santa Fe, New Mexico, Museum of Fine Arts, Proto-Modern Photography, 1992

 

Tom Jacobson, Pierre Dubreuil, Photographs 1896 – 1935 (San Diego, 1987, in conjunction with the exhibition at the Musée d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou), pl. 10 (this print)

It is believed that the photograph offered here is the only example of this version of l’Opera in the oil print process.  An unsigned, unmounted gelatin silver print of this image, from the collection of Kaspar Fleischmann of Galerie zur Stockeregg, was sold by Christie’s New York on 4 October 1999 (Sale 9306, Lot 51).  A variant of the image offered here, in the oil print process, with the umbrella entering the picture from the right side, was sold at Christie’s New York on 3 October 1996 (Sale 8482, Lot 202). 

Pierre Dubreuil was one of most widely exhibited Pictorialist photographers of his day, and his work was typified by both technical mastery and artistic innovation.  Like most of his photographic colleagues, Dubreuil had experimented with the full range of processes then available in the early 20^th century, including platinum, carbon, and gum bichromate.  In 1904, however, he discovered the Rawlins oil process.  While this process was a demanding one, it had the advantage of allowing Dubreuil a great deal of control over the final appearance of his photographs; the resultant prints had the added benefit of being permanent.  Dubreuil quickly mastered the intricacies of the process, and used it throughout his career.   

In l’Opera, Dubreuil has created an evocation of a rainy day on the streets of Paris by seamlessly fusing two negatives.  The orthochromatic plates Dubrueil used were not sensitive enough to both freeze motion and give the deep focus visible in the image.  It would have been impossible for Dubreuil to capture both the detailed background and the umbrella in foreground on one negative.  With characteristic ingenuity, Dubreuil solved the problem by photographing the foreground and background separately, and then combining the negatives in the printing process.    

While Dubreuil exhibited his work widely, there are exceedingly few surviving examples of his work.  On the eve of the second World War, experiencing financial difficulties and concerned for the safety of his life's work, Dubreuil sold his negatives and many of his prints to the Gevaert photographic company in Belgium. The Gevaert factory was subsequently bombed during the war, and Dubreuil’s work was completely destroyed.