Pierre Dubreuil

warm-toned, matte-surface printing-out-paper print, framed, 1908

Collection of Tom Jacobson, San Diego

Barry Friedman, Ltd., New York

Acquired from the above by private collector

Acquired by the present owner from the above

Another print of this image:

Tom Jacobson, Pierre Dubreuil, Photographs 1886 - 1935 (San Diego, 1987), pl. 2, believed to be the only other extant print of this image

This expertly-rendered print is on single-weight paper with a matte surface. The photograph has attractive milk-chocolate tones and is in very good condition. There is a small amount of light scattered foxing along the top edge of the image. There are four tiny discreet dark spots in the upper left corner of the image. When the print is examined closely in raking light, some faint handling creases can be seen – none of these break the emulsion. These condition issues are apparent upon close examination, but they do not seriously undermine the appearance of this rare and early print. There is a Barry Friedman, Ltd., label on the reverse of the frame.
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It is believed that only one other print of this image exists: an oil print sold in these rooms on 10 October 2005 (Photographs from the Collection of Joseph and LaVerne Schieszler, Sale 8164, Lot 21).   

While Pierre Dubreuil exhibited his photographs widely during his lifetime, prints of his images – even an icon such as Eléphantaisie – are scarce.  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. 

Eléphantaisie was included in the Open Section of Alfred Stieglitz's monumental 1910 International Exhibition of Pictorial Photography in Buffalo.  Dubreuil made this image with the Dallmeyer Bergheim lens, the first soft- focus lens available.  The lens's telephoto, variable focal length capabilities allowed him to take this image from quite a distance, and effectively compress the space between the elephant sculpture and the Eiffel Tower in a way that would have been novel for 1908.