At Drouot in Paris, the sale Salt and Paper held until Tuesday, November 25, 2025.
Collecting photographs by non-photographers—now that’s where things get genuinely interesting. Why not track down images made by people who never had any intention of joining the photographic art circle ?
This means writers, painters, poets, thinkers—those who picked up a camera more out of curiosity, exile, or intern necessity.
Picture Victor Hugo in Jersey, orchestrating the power of the medium through exile, Alexandrine Tinné crossing Africa’ terra Incognita with a camera, or Clementina Hawarden dreaming up private, theatrical visions at home.
Then you have the generation of Emile Zola at Médan shooting friends and family, the Indian Sukumar Ray, mixing poetry with snapshots; the Russian Prokudin-Gorsky experimenting with early color and Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, crafting bizarre and unforgettable portraits.
